Portals

Portals are special objects in Geometry Dash, Geometry Dash Lite, Geometry Dash Meltdown, Geometry Dash World and Geometry Dash SubZero. They modify how the level is interacted with as well as change the icon into different forms, each with unique gameplay and design.

Description[]

Form portals
Type	Portal		Form	Description		Technical details		Introduced
Type	Normal	Labelled	Form	Regular size	Mini size	Vertical grid (default zoom)	Safe contact	Geometry Dash	GD Lite	GD Meltdown	GD World	GD SubZero
Cube				Performs small jumps [2.1333 units] (can be sustained [2.233 units]) given that there is contact with a surface and falls steeply	Performs smaller jumps [1.3583 units] so can jump faster in succession [1.435 units]	No ceiling	In the direction of gravity; H-blocks above and below	Initial release: Stereo Madness	Initial release: Stereo Madness	Initial release: The Seven Seas	Initial release: Payload	Initial release: Press Start
Ship				Propels rapidly upwards (can be sustained) and naturally descends gradually	Ascends and descends faster	10 grid spaces	Above and below	Initial release: Stereo Madness	Initial release: Stereo Madness	Initial release: The Seven Seas	Initial release: Machina	Initial release: Press Start
Jetpack ¹					Ascends and descends faster	10 grid spaces	Above and below	Update 2.2	-	-	-	-
Ball				Moves steeply by inverting gravity given that there is contact with a surface	Ascends and descends faster	8 grid spaces	Above and below	Update 1.2: Cycles	Update 2.0: Cycles	Initial release: Airborne Robots	Initial release: Embers	Initial release: Press Start
UFO				Performs small hops [1.5666 units] and naturally descends gradually	Performs smaller hops [1.2 units] and descends faster	10 grid spaces	Above and below	Update 1.5: Theory of Everything	Update 2.12: Theory of Everything	-	Initial release: Space Pirates ²	-
Wave ³				Diagonally propels upwards and descends Diagonally	Ascends and descends faster and at steeper angles	10 grid spaces	Ground and ceiling; D-blocks above and below	Update 1.9: Blast Processing³	Update 2.21.4: Blast Processing	-	Initial release: Monster Dance Off	Initial release: Nock Em
Robot				Performs scaled jumps [up to 3.5111 units sustained] given that there is contact with a surface and falls steeply	Performs smaller jumps [up to 2.7666 units sustained] and descends faster	No ceiling	In the direction of gravity; H-blocks above and below	Update 2.0: Geometrical Dominator	Update 2.21.4: The Cellar	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Press Start
Spider				Teleports given that there is contact with a surface to the nearest overhead surface and inverts gravity	Performs identically	9 grid spaces	In the direction of gravity; H-blocks above and below	Update 2.1: Fingerdash	-	-	Initial release: The Challenge	Initial release: Nock Em
Swing ³				Moves gradually by inverting gravity, does not need contact with a surface	Ascends and descends faster	10 grid spaces	Above and below	Update 2.2: Dash³	-	-	Update 2.2.14⁴	-

Manipulation portals
Type	Portal		Effect		Introduced
Type	Activation	Deactivation	Effect		Geometry Dash	GD Lite	GD Meltdown	GD World	GD SubZero
Gravity			Inverts the icon's gravity. The green gravity portal flips the icon's gravity regardless of whether it was previously normal or inverted.		Initial release: Dry Out	Update 1.4: Dry Out	-	Initial release: Frontlines	Initial release: Press Start
Gravity					Update 2.2 ⁵	-	-	-	-
Mirror			Reverses the screen direction		Update 1.1: Time Machine	Update 1.921: Time Machine	-	Initial release: Striker	Initial release: Nock Em
Size			Changes the icon's size		Update 1.4: Clutterfunk	Update 2.11: Clutterfunk	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Nock Em
Speed		-	Changes the horizontal movement speed	Slow (~0.807×, 8.372 grid units per second)	Update 1.7 ⁵, Update 1.8: Hexagon Force	Update 2.21.3: Hexagon Force	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Press Start
		-		Normal (1.0×, 10.386 grid units per second)	Update 1.7 ⁵, Update 1.8: Hexagon Force	Update 2.21.3: Hexagon Force	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Press Start
		-		Fast (~1.243×, 12.914 grid units per second)	Update 1.7: Electrodynamix	Update 2.21: Electrodynamix	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Press Start
		-		Very fast (~1.502×, 15.6 grid units per second)	Update 1.7: Electrodynamix	Update 2.21: Electrodynamix	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Press Start
		-		Extremely fast (~1.849×, 19.2 grid units per second)	Update 2.1 ⁵	-	-	Initial release ⁴	-
Dual			Creates a second icon with inverted colours and gravity		Update 1.8: Hexagon Force	Update 2.21.3: Hexagon Force	-	Initial release ⁴	-
Teleportation			Teleports the icon between portals (prior to Update 2.2, along the y-axis only)		Update 2.0: Deadlocked	-	-	Initial release ⁴	Initial release: Press Start

Notes

¹ Substitutes the ship in platformer levels
² Form introduced at the start of the level, portal not shown
³ Not yet available in platformer levels
⁴ Available from user levels
⁵ Available from user levels and usable in the level editor

Trivia[]

If entering a form portal of a higher or lower position to the previous portal, the grid will vertically shift to realign with the new portal, with the exception of the cube and robot portals which do not lock the grid. This is demonstrated only once in a main level, Stereo Madness, with the alternate route for the third secret coin.
Until Fingerdash was released, main levels always featured all previously released forms. Fingerdash omits the ball gamemode, likely due to its similarity with the spider.
Power Trip is the first official level to omit the ship gamemode (not counting the Geometry Dash World levels), and the second to omit the ball gamemode after Fingerdash.
Years, Space Pirates, and Embers are the only official levels in the Geometry Dash franchise to entirely omit the cube form.
- The Secret Hollow is the only official level in the Geometry Dash franchise to include the cube form but not start the level with it.
Until Update 1.4, the ship only used the selected primary colour with slight shading. This can still be observed from the images in the How to play section of the Settings menu.
The ship and UFO each carry a shrunken version of the selected cube design.
Under the Options section of the Settings menu, the cube and ball can be configured to each use an alternate mini icon design that substitutes the Icon Kit selection, and are not displayed in the Icon Kit. While the ship and UFO are under the effects of the size portal, they also display the cube's alternative mini design. Prior to Update 2.0, this was the default and only configuration.
Mathematically, the wave's movement can be mapped as:
- Regular: slope = ±1 / ±45°
- Mini: slope = ±2 / ~±63.435°
Due to naturally unchanging momentum, the wave does not respond to jump pads or rings, while gravity pads and orbs flip gravity on contact without further effect on momentum.
- Dash rings, spider rings, and spider pads all affect the wave the same as the other gamemodes.
Similar to other decorative level elements that pulsate to the music, the wave's trail will also pulsate to the music in Normal mode.
The robot portal and the spider portal are the only form portals that does not share their colours with a manipulation portal.
Prior to Update 2.2, the activation gravity portal was the only manipulation portal that did not share its colour with a form portal.
- As of the aforementioned update, it shares its colour with the swing portal.
Entering form portals triggers a brief coloured inward pulse to occur as the icon passes through:
- The cube portal lacks this effect.
- The ship portal has a purple flash.
- The ball portal has a red flash.
- The UFO portal has a yellow flash.
- The wave portal has a yellow flash and thin icon-primary-coloured outward pulse.
- The robot portal has a red flash.
- The spider portal has a red flash.
- The swing portal has a yellow flash.
Prior to its formal introduction, the deactivation gravity portal is encountered in Back On Track and Polargeist as part of collecting secret coins, being implemented in Update 1.6.
The size portal is the only manipulation portal that neither its activation nor deactivation variant uses the colour blue.
While under the effects of the dual portal, a crash with either icon will terminate the other, although they cannot collide with each other. This plays a unique animation where the icon that did not crash will fly against the direction of movement and fade out.
While under the effects of the dual portal, the grid is locked to 9 vertical units, unless at least one of the forms is a ship, a UFO, a swing, or a wave, where the grid is then locked to 10 vertical units.
While under the effects of the dual portal, changing gravity with a gravity portal, orb, or pad with one icon will automatically flip the gravity of the other.
- If a ball falls onto another ball on the ground and with the same gravity, the falling ball will have its gravity flipped and an expanding ring similar to the one when passing by an orb will appear. This mechanic is not present for the spider form, allowing two spiders to overlap.
The UFO gamemode has not appeared in any official level made after the release of Update 2.1, namely Dash, Press Start, Nock Em, Power Trip, and every level in the Tower.
The colours of the teleportation portals are a reference to the game series Portal, with blue being the entry portal colour and orange being the exit portal colour.
Using teleportation portals that exit outside of the grid will result in the icon being returned beside the nearest boundary with no realignment of the grid. This does not occur for the cube or robot since they are not limited by a ceiling.
Entering manipulation portals triggers additional visual cues with colours matching the active portal:
- The gravity portal triggers brief coloured lines moving in the direction of the gravity.
- The mirror portal triggers every object to move horizontally towards the opposite side of the screen.
- The size portal triggers a bolt of coloured lightning striking the icon along with the screen flashing twice, referencing the lightning bolt in the Super Mario Kart series.
- The speed portal triggers coloured particles moving against the direction of the icon for a short time.
- The teleportation portal triggers a bolt of lightning between the two portals along with the screen flashing briefly.
The name of the swing form may come from the 2014 game Swing Copters. The mechanics of the Swing and the game share many similarities, with the main difference of the Swing Copters player moving left and right compared to the Swing's movement up and down.

Portals

Description[]

Trivia[]

Form animations