Tremor Trampoline

When an earthquake usually hits, it tends to shake things up a bit. Sometimes however, the ground can shake violently up and down. And when that happens, characters are bounced about, usually about a foot into the air.

And then there are cases when massive objects or large characters falling, and when they land, any nearby characters are flung into the air, usually much higher than the aforementioned earthquake. What's going on?

It's simple. The characters are on a Tremor Trampoline.

If the ground moves up so fast, physics kicks in, and the upward movement is transferred into the characters. When the ground suddenly reverses and falls, the upward movement remains in the characters, making them bounce.

And when there are heavy things making an impact, the energy spreads through the ground and propels everyone else nearby. It's a long story.

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Advertising

 * This Fiat Grande Punto advert from 2007 had buildings that jumped up and down to the music like bars on a equaliser. Inside one of them, we see a couple literally get bounced out of their bed, in slow motion, and inside another one, a guy is bounced off of his feet, throwing the milk from the glass he was drinking out of, also in slow motion. In both cases, every object not bolted down (chairs, tables, window blinds, etc) is also bounced into the air slightly.

Newspaper Comics

 * This comic strip of Garfield shows Garfield bouncing up and down on some unknown surface, this surface waving and bending like it was gelatin. Garfield then identifies it as a hardwood floor when Jon shows up.
 * Played more straight in this strip.

Video Games

 * Mega Man 8 Bit Deathmatch has Chaos Generator Upgraded, which applies three crazy effects during a match. One effect, called Jelly World, moves the level terrain so much that it literally makes players and items bounce up and down. While Jelly World is present in the original Chaos Generator release, the movement is less severe and did not feature the bouncing effect.
 * In Super Mario RPG, one of the residents in Monstro Town is a Thwomp, who, when talked to, will rise up and slam back down again, making everyone in the room bounce.
 * This is one of Gold Lightan's attacks in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, where he stomps the ground and sends the opponent flying. This stomp is also used in one of his hypers.
 * The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time has Bongo Bongo, who bounces the player about by drumming on the floor.
 * Justified since the arena he is fought on is a giant drum.
 * Mega Man V on the Game Boy had Uranus Is Showing, who shook the ground violently with every jump. While it did not outright knock Mega Man over, like Guts Man's quakes did, it did make him bounce up and down slightly, which interrupts him out of sliding, or the usage of Break Dash, which Uranus is weak to.
 * Neptune, an earlier boss, could also shake the ground whenever he wanted to.
 * After defeating Bowser in Super Mario Bros 3, his resulting impact bounces Mario quite high into the air.
 * Mario Kart Wii has Maple Treeway, which features a massive bouncing net bridge near the end of the lap, which players can do tricks on for speed boosts. While the game has other wobbly areas, like in Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road, the net bridge wobbles so much that it is the only place that can bounce stationary karts.
 * Maple Treeway also appeared in Mario Kart 7, but the bridge was removed in favour for a hangglider section.
 * Speaking of Mario Kart 7, near the end of Melody Motorway (or Music Park depending on game version), are large music-note creatures that jump up and down at intervals; all nearby karts get bounced into the air when they land.
 * The first undulating section in Mario Kart 7's version of Rainbow Road isn't strong enough to lift a kart by itself but it's second wavy ribbon segment later on is.
 * And in SNES Rainbow Road, the Thwomps cause ripples on the floor when they slam down. These ripples can then launch racers into the air.
 * In Wario Land 2 and 3, Wario's ground pounds are capable of bouncing enemies slightly into the air.
 * In Wario Land Shake It, bosses cause this when they slam into the ground. In fact, to beat some of the missions you have to avoid being on the ground when it shakes since otherwise Wario will fly up and get knocked out for a second.
 * Painkiller has the Guardian. If the player fails to jump when the boss slams the ground, he will take damage and be catapulted into the air, and then take more damage from the resulting fall damage.
 * Spyro 2 Riptos Rage had Gulp, who stomped the ground everytime he took damage. The impact bounces all the current items into the air (and Spyro as well, even if he was already in midair), destroying them. This was probably done to prevent Spyro from using the items against Gulp too quickly.
 * Stomping the ground won't save him from the, however.
 * And probably due to the bouncing from Gulp's stomps, Ripto's throne falls out of the castle in the cutscene following the fight.
 * However, in the final battle, averts this and doesn't bounce anything up at all.
 * In the first Super Smash Bros.. game, the only unlockable stage, Mushroom Kingdom, has a POW Block that when hit, violently shakes the stage, sending anyone standing on the ground flying high into the air, sometimes KO'ing at high percentages.
 * Then Brawl featured the Mario Bros. stage, where the POW Block returns, but this time it simply harmlessly bounces groundbound characters a few feet into the air.
 * The second Mini Boss in Adventure Island IV is giant snake whose jumps fling Master Higgins upwards unless he jumps first, but otherwise the earthquake causes no physical damage.
 * The second boss in Castlevania Bloodlines can jump and cause an earthquake which bounces the player character quite high, likely increasing the chance of being hit by a falling boulder caused by said earthquake.

Western Animation

 * This often happens in SpongeBob SquarePants whenever Pearl comes running in. In "Talent Show", Pearl's cheerleading routine sends the whole crowd flying every time she jumped.
 * In the Tom and Jerry cartoon "Solid Serenade", the vibrations of Tom's bass shake Jerry out of bed.
 * Bugs Bunny and his hutch are shaken by a circus setting up overhead in the Looney Tunes short "Acrobatty Bunny".
 * In Song of the South, Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear get in a Big Ball of Violence, out of which Br'er Rabbit escapes while Bear pounds on Fox, thinking it's Rabbit. Every time Bear pounds Fox the ground shakes, which slows Rabbit's escape briefly.
 * Mowgli and Bagheera during the Elephant Patrol's introductory scene in The Jungle Book.
 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: "Applebuck Season" - A stampede bounces Pinkie Pie up and down, and cheerfully comments how it makes her voice sound silly.
 * Avalanche would often cause this in X-Men Evolution.