Developing video games can be a tough occupation in the industry today. Unless you’re Bethesda or Ubisoft, everything has to be refined to the point where everything looks and moves so fluently and flawless. Glitches can be so common in video games, whether they would be ones to completely deform the looks of characters and objects in the virtual world, or neat little tricks gamers can discover to go where they are not supposed to, it can be hard to find a game that is perfectly polished. Nintendo is one of the best companies in the industry at quality assurance. It is very rare to find technical mistakes within their games, but guess what? Even they have their list of mistakes, especially in older video games that had smaller development teams, in which they would be more common.
The Super Mario series is one of the most iconic series in gaming, and it’s one that Nintendo treasures very deeply. They put a lot of love and care in developing all of their games really, but Mario always has that special bit of attention to detail. Yet, despite that, even the Super Mario series is littered with glitches and mistakes that make you wonder how did they miss that? Here we will go through a list of technical errors that show that even Super Mario games aren’t invulnerable from mistakes. Most of these mistakes aren’t the kind to break your game, but they can bring about a little bit of fun to discover and toy around with.
30 How We Really Feel When The Princess Is In Another Castle
This glitch can be activated in Super Mario Bros. through perishing and completing a castle level simultaneously. To do that you’ll need to be small while touching the axe, but when you touch it, Bowser would have to hit you at the same time.
If pulled off with no more lives remaining, you’ll still pass the level, but when you receive the message from Toad that the princess is in another castle, the game over screen will then show up.
In other words, this pretty much sums up how most gamers feel when they make the effort to rescue Princess Peach, only to find out that she isn’t there.
29 A Bird? A Plane? No, It’s That Dog From Super Mario Odyssey
You know that random, oddly realistic looking pup that follows Mario around in the kingdoms of Super Mario Odyssey? Well, there is a bit of a mistake in the dog’s physics. If you happen to jump off the dog while it is in mid-air, the dog will stay there until it jumps again. This glitch can actually be stacked once it jumps again, allowing you to pull off some insane height as long as you continue to do cap throws. It is easiest to pull this off in the Moon Kingdom due to having less gravity to pull the dog down.
28 Hey Mario, You’re Missing An Arm And A Leg
As a kid, you probably have had moments where you just want to play around with the physical game cartridge despite clear warning signs telling you not to do so? Maybe it was for good luck, or perhaps frustration like when you kick a vending machine hoping it spews out the snack you paid for. Well doing something similar can visually affect Mario’s appearance in the N64 version of Super Mario 64.
By tilting the game cartridge while on, Mario will appear to start losing limbs.
His jumps will start to look a bit more awkward and everything starts to become extra glitchy. However it is important to point out that this could cause data corruption, so tilt with caution.
27 A Gray Hammer Mario Color Swap Actually Looks Cool
In a world 7 level in Super Mario Bros. 3, if you have a Tanooki suit and turn into a statue right before you grab a Hammer suit, Mario will retain the monochromatic color of the statue but still transform into Hammer Mario.
This color swap is actually a really good look for Mario, too bad there isn’t much you can do with it.
You can still play around with hammers, but unfortunately, a side effect of the glitch is that you can’t use the warp pipe to leave the room, leaving you stuck until the timer reached zero.
26 Check Out Yoshi’s Super Puffed Cheeks
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, once you reach Yoshi Star Galaxy, find a Yoshi to ride on. Then you should do what you can to have Yoshi flutter above the golden berry and then eat it. After that, activate the launch star as soon as it appears.
You’ll be treated to a hilarious moment where Yoshi’s cheeks are still puffed up.
This visual mishap will only last for the duration of your launch. Once you land, Yoshi will immediately eat the golden berry, returning back to normal.
25 How Did Nintendo Miss This Mistake?
One of the most basic graphical mistakes you will probably ever find in a Nintendo game occurs in Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS. This flaw is as clear and noticeable as any other. All you simply have to do is watch the shadows of Mario or Luigi as you are jumping on a platform. If there is ground underneath, you’ll notice that Mario or Luigi’s shadow will appear on the platform as well as appear in the land below, and no, these platforms aren’t translucent either.
24 Mario Walking Underwater And Can Breathe Too!
In Super Mario Sunshine if you go to the small pool of water behind the large Shine Sprite gate, dive down to the bottom and simply press B, Mario will go right through the wall. Sometimes he will land underground and you can get out normally, other times he may trigger another glitch where he actually falls to the bottom of the water, but able to walk and run as if he was on dry land. You could explore the entire Isle Delfino like this, even reach the island at the edge without the need for a boat.
23 The Banana Is Alive!
This funny little error can be triggered in Dolphin Shoals of Mario Kart 8. Here you’ll need to have a banana peel ready as you approach the area with multiple warp pipes that generate wind. If you throw the banana at the correct angle into the wind, it would land in a tilted part of the course. At that point, the banana itself will slide around and become mobile in the course. A banana that can move on its own will only make the course more dangerous, which is actually kind of frightening when you think about how it would be like a green shell.
22 Super Mario World, Completely Discolored!
The overworld in Super Mario World could look a little bit different if you finish Chocolate Island 3 a certain way. Once you get to the goal, you want to jump off of Yoshi under the goal to get to the Giant Gate. This would prevent the screen from scrolling up, and if done right, you’ll only see a part of Mario as the level is finished.
When you arrive back to the map, it will start to appear mostly red.
Traversing to certain areas will make it look somewhat whitish-pink, but in order to restore things back to normal, simply complete a level or enter a pipe or Star Road.
21 Beware Of The Camera Quake
This is another mistake in Super Mario 3D Land that doesn’t require any effort to notice. In World 8-1, you must take a spiked ball from the reversible platforms to the end of the flipping ones. Doing so will cause the spiked ball to fall between the platforms and the ground on the other side. The ball will start to shake rapidly, and so will the camera. This can be corrected back to normal by simply jumping, and causing the spike ball to fall.
20 This Mistake Makes Bowser More Difficult To Beat
For most gamers, the fights against Bowser in Super Mario 64 may not be very challenging, if anything there is a challenge in enduring the pain from spinning that N64 analog stick whenever you throw him.
There could be a way you could make these simple battles more interesting by turning Bowser invisible.
In the second Bowser fight, “Bowser in the Fire Sea,” Bowser will often teleport himself to move around. This is the only boss fight where he does this. If you actually grab his tail just as he is about to teleport, Bowser will then turn invisible through a glitch. He will stay that way until you throw him off the stage or he teleports again, but it can make things a bit more hectic for Mario.
19 Want To Take A Closer Look Inside Mario’s Head?
Since Mario wears his cap the majority of the time you see him, you don’t really think about how unimpressive and basic his hair-style is. But you could get a nice look at his hair in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
All you have to do is go to first-person view during the credits roll. It seems silly that Nintendo would make the mistake of not thinking about possibly doing that, but they clearly overlook it once you realize they didn’t even program his face for first-person use during the credits. When you see inside Mario’s head, you’ll notice his whole head from the inside, how silly his bangs look, and how white his hair is. Mario must have managed a ton of stress over the years of saving Princess Peach.
18 Yoshi’s Tongue Can Stretch Really REALLY Far
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, once you can ride Yoshi on the Starship Mario, you must go to the warp pad to the Starshroom and press B quickly while mounted on him. Doing so will cause Yoshi’s tongue to stay in place.
If you end up all the way to the Starshroom, it will look as if Yoshi’s tongue is much longer than his entire body, and it looks awesomely disgusting.
If only Yoshi could use that length in some of the other games he is in, that would make him a really broken character if nothing is out of his reach.
17 Super Mario Bros. Could Only Support One Power-Up At A Time
While the original Super Mario Bros. was an impressive technological achievement for its time, there are still some visual limitations that could damper the experience. One such flaw was that at no point in time could there be more than one power-up on the screen.
This might cause an issue if you were giving yourself a better chance to grab a power-up, but this was also present in Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels.
In fact, you could use this to your advantage in that game by removing poison mushrooms as they are technically considered a power-up. Talk about making the best of someone’s mistakes.
16 Wait A Minute, This Isn’t Where That Pipe Was Supposed To Go
Video game programming was a bit different than what it is like today. As in the case for Super Mario Bros. the game had to continuously update itself whenever a new location was within reach. Normally, it could do that in time before the player even has a chance to go through a pipe or climb a secret vine. However, if the player advances to the far right, quick enough to move faster than the scrolling screen (with backward jumps) and then enter a pipe, that pipe may take you to a different location. The two levels that provide such an opportunity are World 4-2 and 8-4.
15 Where No Plumber Would Ever Want To Go: The Minus World
The Minus World is one of the more fascinating glitches in Super Mario Bros. in which you would end up in an endless underwater level, with no way to succeed as the timer will run out. To get to this doomed area you’ll have to perform a series of jumps in World 1-2 right at the pipe that would take you above ground. First hit the second and third blocks from the right, then go to the left edge on top of the pipe, duck and jump backward to the right. Mario will then start to float through the walls. If you enter the pipe that normally would bring you to World 4-1. Then you’ll end up in World -1, and then you can enjoy the inevitable doomed you have brought upon yourself.
14 When The Vine Just Can’t Reach The Sky
What can easily expose mistakes in classic games is when the player does something they just aren’t expected to do. Super Mario Bros. 3 has two such examples in Worlds 3-8 and 6-10. In both of those levels, there is a beanstalk that is supposed to reach the sky and into a secret area.
You could cut the poor plant’s growth by backtracking as soon as you activate it.
When you come back, the vine will then appear to be severed in half, preventing you to reach the secret area. It is such a shame that classic games can be so vulnerable to easy to find mistakes.
13 Whoops, Looks Like The 1-Up Mushroom Is Confused
It’s so nice that 1-Up Mushrooms will start to home in on the player once they are found in Super Mario 64. However, you could confuse the 1-Up mushroom and activate a physics-related glitch where it starts to float and circle above you by simply just crouching. There isn’t anything real punishing about it, just simply stand and you’ll receive it. It’s just one way you could play around with a game’s physics, but you wouldn’t want to treat the poor 1-Up mushroom like that would you? After all, it just wants to help.
12 Mario Is So Perfect He Can Literally Walk On Air
Mario really is a character with a lot of talents, jumping, fighting, driving, playing just about any sport well, he is so good he can even walk in the air! Super Mario Bros. 3 has a simple little glitch that will appear to have Mario walking in mid-air.
He is probably moving his feet so fast that it generates the wind that allows him to stay in the air.
You’ll need to be in a level with quicksand, but all you have to do is run with the Power Meter full (or use a Magic Wing,) and then jump as soon as you touch the quicksand. Once you do, Mario’s running animation will carry over into the air.
11 Mario Can Also Moonwalk Through Walls
Walking through walls is one of the more common exposed mistakes in many old 2D platforming games and Super Mario Bros. is no exception. This was already covered in the Minus World entry, but this is a common mistake in any level that featured a ceiling with gaps. You’ll need to move to so that the gap is halfway cutoff by on the left side of the screen. Then have Mario jump repeatedly toward the left inside the gap. If you do it enough he’ll start moon-walking Michael Jackson-style through the walls.
