Platforming

I feel... light?

Susie, when platforming mode is first unlocked, Chapter 5

Platforming (JP: プラットフォーム purattofōmu, lit. "platform") is a gameplay mechanic introduced in Chapter 5 of Deltarune, featured throughout Flower Kingdom. It is unlocked after the Petal Feather is obtained in the end of Garden.

Overview

Upon activation, the camera changes from the typical top-down perspective to a side-scrolling platformer, enabling the party to explore exclusive areas, with some having chests. Platforming can be swapped on and off by interacting with or attacking the Mysterious Statues.

In this state, the party has an animated idle. Objects such as doors are visible but cannot be interacted with, and SAVE points do not appear in platforming segments.

Character talksprites and dialogue are in a unique text box instead of the typical Dark World-bordered one, with the talksprites having a black background, and the dialogue space being slightly transparent.

Gameplay

The camera changing into a side-scrolling platformer

When platforming is active, it is not possible to walk. The inventory, equipment, stats, or Config menus can only be accessed from the blue wardrobe.

Flowery Dollars can be earned from the real-time encounters, or destroying objects such as grass and hanging bells.

If the party falls off a cliff, they take no damage. Without any objects below, they get pushed back by the wind's gust, which sends them back to their last ground position.

Dashing sections can be used while platforming. The party automatically dashes horizontally, and their primary movement option is jumping, which can clear gaps multiple times the length of the screen.

Party abilities

The party remaining idle in platforming mode

All party members have unique ACTs while platforming is active. Interactable objects can indicate which party member can perform one with a glowing circle over it: cyan for Kris, purple for Susie, and light green for Ralsei.

Susie and Ralsei primarily follow Kris. On a long platforming segment at Top of Castle, Susie and Ralsei automatically perform their respective Actions based on Kris's movements after failing enough times. This is the only instance where Susie and Ralsei perform platformer Actions on their own.

Kris

Main article: Kris

Kris attacking on ground

Kris attacking in midair

CONFIRM button - Kris attacks with their sword, letting them attack anything in the sword's swipe range or interact with objects such as flowers and vines.

On the ground, Kris performs up to three ground slashes by holding CONFIRM, or one slash per successive button tap. The third attack has slightly more range. While performing a ground attack, Kris cannot move.

In the air, Kris performs a spinning wide slash, which damages anything around them. Up to two spinning slashes can be done in a single high jump.

CANCEL button - Kris jumps. The height of their jump is based on how long the button was held. Kris can jump up to three tiles high.

(The buttons for jump and attack can also be swapped in the Config menu during these segments if the player accesses a wardrobe.)

There is generous coyote time after leaving the ground without jumping where jumping is possible. This applies to any method of leaving the ground without jumping normally, including having Ralsei move to another platform and bouncing off a bounce flower.

Kris accessing the menu through a blue wardrobe

MENU button - When Kris ACTs, most movement is completely paused, and they can issue commands to Susie or Ralsei or select interactable objects using the ACT menu. When ACT is active, the SOUL becomes visible, Kris gets a cyan outline, and an ACT can be selected with the movement keys. The ACT menu slows down timers for timed-events, but does not stop them, such as Hopschef's sourdough minigame. It is also the only way to interact with blue wardrobes to access the menu while platforming is enabled. By holding down the attack button and mashing the MENU button, Kris can attack much more quickly than normal.

Susie

Main article: Susie

Susie's S-Action

S-Action - Susie casts a homing Rude Buster that goes through walls and can damage enemies. It has a 4-second cooldown between uses.

• Ralsei Fall - Releases Ralsei from the object he is currently hanging on, causing Ralsei to Splat.
• Fruitbuster - Susie cuts down fruit from a tree, showering juice particles on the party, that Susie eats.
• Stunbuster - Makes enemies become stunned for a few seconds while also dealing minor damage.
• Litebuster - Deals damage to enemies. It can only be used on specific instances of Aqua's bullet patterns, the variant of book bullet patterns that move towards the player, and Yellow's "Hyper Punishment Gun", replacing Stunbuster in these cases.
• Bellbuster - Destroys hanging bells that drop Flowery Dollars. It cannot be used on pink bells that drop Pink Coins.
• Doughbuster - Destroys the dough circles in Hopschef's challenge.
• Flowerbuster - Activates closed bounce flowers, allowing Kris to attack them and launch off of them.
• Spin Left/Right - Spins pinwheels in the specified direction, changing the direction of wind.

Ralsei

Main article: Ralsei

Ralsei's R-Action

R-Action - Ralsei wraps his scarf around an object and himself, letting him act as a platform. When hanging from objects suspended in the air, his weight causes it to drop down, allowing easier access to other objects or to expose a weak point. If Ralsei falls off a hookable object and there is visible ground underneath him, Ralsei goes splat, which has a 4-second cooldown. If Ralsei is offscreen or far enough from Kris, he reappears in the party.

• Hook - Hook onto vines. As this occurs, his head follows Kris's position.
• Hookflower - Hook onto the stems of the flowers near the Netskie area.
• Hang (Umbrella) - Ralsei hangs off the sticks of the Umbrellas.
• Glasses - Ralsei hooks onto Seth's bullet pattern glasses.
• Trigger - Ralsei hangs onto the trigger of one of Yellow's gun bullet patterns, pulling the gun downwards.
• Dog - The Annoying Dog hooks onto the second-to-last hook in the platforming section leading to bromide-drawing-room at Top of Castle. This ACT disappears after the Annoying Dog has been jumped on once.

Encounter

The battle system is instead in real-time versus the bullet patterns, where moving, jumping, and attacking must be done to avoid damage. For the remainder of the fight, the camera gets locked in a fixed position with a bullet board encompassing the combat area, with the typical black vignette in the background. Similar to overworld gameplay, the SOUL becomes visible and Kris gains a red outline around them, with a checkered diamond background overlapping their sprite. If the SOUL gets hit, the entire party receives damage.

Regular enemies such as Leafling still trigger a normal turn-based encounter instead.

Platforming objects

• Vine: blocks the path, but the party can stand on uncut parts. It can be cut with Kris's sword. A vine quickly regrows on its own.
• Bounce flower: launches the entire party in a direction depending on the flower. Blue with arrows launch the party at a set direction, while yellow with a target launches in the direction they were attacked from.
• Giant yellow flowers: Ralsei can hook onto them and bring it lower. The wind gust can move the flower's position.
• Blue roses: the red pulsing spikes around it damages the party. Often stacked in a line, though Kris's ground attack can destroy two, and a midair attack can destroy three. It respawns after exiting the room it appears in.
• Umbrellas: floating Darkners that serve as platforms. They can be bounced on to reach higher areas, with an increased bounce height if CANCEL is pressed just before landing. Some Umbrellas possess a hook on the bottom which can be latched onto by Ralsei.

Mysterious Statues

Active Mysterious Statue

Throughout Flower Kingdom, Mysterious Statues can be found to change the gameplay back to regular or platforming. These "mysterious statues" are initially inactive until the Petal Feather has been obtained. When active, it resembles the Delta Rune emblem.

Mysterious Statues cannot be activated if Kris has a watering can on their head.

Area	Description	Image
Garden
Hopschef's room	Path goes to first dash path and Tropical Starwalker Bird.
First dash path	Reachable by going south of the Ideal Diner. Path goes to Hopchef's room and Tropical Starwalker Bird's room.
First dash path	Only reachable by platforming, leads to Tropical Starwalker Bird's room.
Way Home	North of the SAVE point, requires climbing to get to. Path goes to the Shrine.
Way Home	In the room east of the SAVE point. Beanstalk path goes to the Cliffs.
Shrine	Appears after collecting the Petal Feather, path goes to Way Home.
Final climb	Reachable by platforming from Way Home, climbing from the Beginning's SAVE point. Path goes both ways.
Cliffs
Layered cavern	At the bottom of the room, on a raised platform seen immediately upon entering.
Layered cavern	At the top of the room, next to the whirlwind leading out of the room.
Yellow chasm	On a raised platform at the beginning of the area, immediately preceding a floating flower platform.
Yellow chasm	On a floating island above the chasm. Path leads to an entrance to Yellow's cave.
Shop entrance	At the eastern end of the room, next to a shortcut door and a staircase leading to the Shop.
Orange chasm	At the beginning of the area, on a raised platform immediately preceding the chasm.
Orange chasm	At the top of the area, next to a whirlwind leading out of the room.
Purple dash path	At the beginning of the room, on a raised platform immediately preceding the dash gate.
Shi's cave	On top of the raised staircase leading to the Shi.
Below Castle	At the bottom of the area, preceding a platforming ascent to the top.
Below Castle	At the top of the ascent, at the base of the staircase leading to Flower Castle.
Flower Castle
Shoji door hall, east wing	Reachable after passing through the first round of Aqua's knife bullet patterns.
Shoji door hall, east wing	Reachable after dodging more of Aqua's rotating knives, on a raised platform near a shoji door.
Mysterious Puzzle, east wing	At the end of the upper northeast path, placed between the first shadow puzzle and a shortcut door.
Shadow platforms, east wing	At the beginning of the room, on a raised platform before meeting Orange.
Shadow platforms, east wing	Reachable northwest by platforming in the following room, leads to the Right Diner.
Shadow platforms, east wing	At the beginning of the second shadow platform segment, on a raised platform further north of the Netskie hunt room.
Shadow platforms, east wing	Available after cutting the hedge on the right in the Foyer, on a raised platform near the entrance to the Right View SAVE point.
Shadow platforms, east wing	Accessed in the room featuring the second shadow puzzle, west of the second shadow platform segment.
Zen rock path, west wing	On a raised platform, placed before encountering some of Yellow's miniature bullet patterns.
Zen rock path, west wing	At the end of the path, after breaking through a wall of Asgore's notes.
Left Doors, west wing	Appears west of the room, preceding a string of flowers and Yellow's bullet pattern.
Yellow's show, west wing	At the beginning of the room, on a raised platform seen after Yellow heads west.
Yellow's show, west wing	Nearby the Jail slide, accessed after defeating Yellow's "Hyper Punishment Gun".
Blue door	Located south of the room, on a raised platform that leads to a dodging segment.
Top of Castle
Blue and Yellow gauntlet	At the beginning of the room, on a protrusion north of the path.
Blue and Yellow gauntlet	At the end of the gauntlet, on a raised platform preceding a path leading further east.
Aqua dash	At the beginning of the room, just before the dash gate.
Aqua dash	At the end of the room, on a protrusion north of the path leading to the second staircase.
Platforming ascent	At the bottom of the room, preceding an elaborate platforming segment.
Dog platforming	At the end of the platforming section, on a raised platform to the left of the doorway.
Pink Door	On a protrusion to the left of the door.
Final Gauntlet	At the end of the gauntlet, on a protrusion preceding a doorway into the Last Room.

Creation and development

Toby Fox conceptualized the platforming mechanic, and Ondy began intermittently working on programming it in October 2021. Towards the end of Chapter 4, other developers such as Enjl started working on the prototype.

To preserve Deltarune's identity as "an RPG game with a focus on character interaction", rather than turning it into a action platformer akin to Hollow Knight, a few features were added to the platforming mode:

• Many optional lines of dialogue that appear when doing various silly actions while platforming.
• A couple of Deltarune's typical encounters, such as Leaflings.
• The ACT system, which was created in October 2024. The developers thought of many different ACTs for Susie and Ralsei, but it was eventually cut down to just hooking for Ralsei and Rude Buster for Susie for the sake of simplicity.

Due to the possibility of Deltarune being a player's first time playing a platformer, the required platforming challenges in the game were intentionally kept simple. However, some difficult challenges were included in optional areas to make the game more interesting for more experienced players of platforming games.

Early prototype

In the DELTARUNE Summer Newsletter 2026, Toby Fox shared three videos of prototypes for the platforming mechanic:

• One showcasing Ondy's initial example of platforming.
• One showcasing platforming enemies corresponding to each of the 7 Colored Flowers except Flowery and Seth.
• One showcasing a combination of the platforming mode and the bookshelf pushing puzzles previously featured in Dark Sanctuary. These combined puzzles were deemed too hard to understand and removed from the final game.

Taxiderby came up with the idea for the bounce flowers, which they intended to be a simple, fun, and understandable movement option that also provides another use for the attack button.

They also created the idea of the puzzles involving moving around square platforms behind fusuma walls to manipulate the shape of the collidable platforms, and Ralsei hanging from fusuma walls to bring them down.

Allusions

• While grounded, pressing DOWN causes Kris to slightly shift their stance, lowering their sprite by only a single pixel. This may be a reference to the 2D platformer Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, in which each playable character responds to the same input in a near-identical fashion to Kris.

Gallery

• 
  Kris's idle animation
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  Susie's idle animation
• 
  Ralsei's idle animation
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  Kris's running animation
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  Susie's running animation
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  Ralsei's running animation
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  Kris's jumping animation
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  Susie's jumping animation
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  Ralsei's jumping animation
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  Mysterious Statue while inactive, wings folded
• 
  Concept art of Kris's platforming moveset by Temmie Chang