Improvised Platform

Faced with an impassable obstacle, such as a body of water, characters create improvised platforms in order to transverse safely.

The ability to create platforms to cross wide gaps is a common Power-Up in platformers/action-adventure games.

See also Stepping Stones in The Sky and Lily Pad Platform. May overlap with Bridge Logic.

Literature

 * In the Mabinogion, the giant Bendigeidfran lets his men use him as a bridge. A fo ben, bid bont ("He who would be a head, let him be a bridge")!

Toys

 * Bionicle: Kopaka uses his ice Elemental Powers to create a pillar of ice for him and Matoro to land on after being ambushed near a cliff by a Nui-Rama.

Video Games

 * Donkey Kong Country 3: one level requires the Kongs to throw barrels in the water as platforms, since the water is occupied by a Nibbla.
 * Squitter, one of the animal companions in Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3, lets you create platforms out of webs.
 * One of the brush techniques in Okami creates lily pads on water for you to stand on.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2 has the Cloud Cap which makes clouds under Mario.
 * Several of the Mega Man games have a power that lets you summon up to three platforms.
 * The first game had a weapon that allowed you to fire a temporary platform from his arm cannon, and was necessary to complete the game.
 * Mega Man 2 had the "1", "2", and "3" devices, which created platforms of various types: "1" were platforms that floated up in midair, "2" was a platform that traveled horizontally, and "3" climbed against walls.
 * Later games featured Mega Man's canine sidekick Rush, whose "Rush Jet" functioned as a moving, midair platform. Rush also gained Spring and Marine versions.
 * Mega Man 5 had the "Super Arrow", which stuck to walls and could be used as temporary platforms.
 * Mega Man 9 had the "Concrete Shot", which upon impact created a temporary block to stand on.
 * In the first Mega Man X game, it was Ice Shot, when charged to full.
 * X2 had Crystal Hunter, which trapped weaker enemies in crystal blocks that you could step on.
 * Ditto Frost Spear in X3, but only when in the water (it becomes a large ice block underwater).
 * In X4, it was Lightning Web.
 * Half-Life: you put bits of scrap and other rubbish on the sand to avoid disturbing the Antlions.
 * In Scribblenauts, you can write the name of any object you want, such as "dock" or even "floating platform".
 * I Wanna Be the Guy: in the second screen, you need to
 * Also, when fighting Birdo and Zangief, you have to jump on the things they shoot at you to be able to shoot at the boss.
 * Metroid: the Ice Beam and Ice Missile are used to make improvised platforms out of things such as enemies.
 * From Super Metroid on, the fight against Kraid always features Samus needing to jump on the things Kraid shoots at her in order to reach his face.
 * Valkyrie Profile
 * The ice arrows are used to make platforms on the water in the Great Bay Temple of The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask.

Western Animation

 * Ben 10 Alien Force - Ultimate Alien: Gwen uses mana to create platforms.