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Video Game Glitches Discussion

Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros. - Page 1

Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: xtreme713ify
Date: 2017-01-07 03:11:42
The other day, I was playing a good ol' game of Super Mario Bros, and I made it as far as 2-1 when something very strange happened. See, there's a spring in this level that's needed to jump over a wall to get to the flagpole, but when I jumped on it, it just disappeared out of thin air! What's worse is that Mario was isolated in the air, unable to move. All he could do was a running animation, but he wouldn't move left or right at all. It looked like if I just sat the timer out it would've been okay. I ended up just resetting the game though, and it hasn't happened since.

So… WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: ISSOtm
Date: 2017-01-07 06:42:20
Tick one of the following boxes :
A glitch no one had heard of before
A slight hardware malfunction

My glitch theories :
1. You crossed a tile border the frame where / after you landed on the spring, which made Mario not above it anymore, putting Mario in a state where he was unable to move.
2. A really precise timing made an interrupt break the execution of the spring code, which resulted in a partial spring state (spring disappearing but no animation, Mario's position being locked…
Do you remember where you were on the switch ? Like, did you bounce on an edge of it or in the middle ? That'd help.

These theories aren't backed by anything. Just intuition. But looking at spring code disassembly could maybe help, yet I don't know NES ASM (6502 if I'm correct)

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: Charmy
Date: 2017-01-07 14:38:02

Tick one of the following boxes :
A glitch no one had heard of before
A slight hardware malfunction

Was that on a emulator? If yes, possibly a emulation error, if not, possibly it happened because your NES is old.

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: xtreme713ify
Date: 2017-01-07 20:35:02
@ISSOtm I jumped on the spring, it pushed down, and the split second I began ascending it vanished. I was right above where the spring was.

@Charmy I was using Wii Virtual Console

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: ISSOtm
Date: 2017-01-08 08:28:52
The disassembly holds the answer. I don't have time to check it though.

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: SatoMew
Date: 2017-01-08 09:58:22
[size=1em]First of all, check the ROM version you have. In the case of Super Mario Bros., the Wii Virtual Console release for PAL regions matches the original PAL release on the NES since it has the same distorted music, etc. (t[font=verdana]he conversion from NTSC 60 Hz, used in Japan and the US, to PAL 50 Hz, used in Europe and Australia, causes bugs).[/font]

If you have access to the ROM file, check its hash to confirm its version:
[/size][size=1em]There's also some discussion on TCRF about the revisional differences: https://tcrf.net/Talk:Super_Mario_Bros.#Regional_and_Revisional_Differences[/size]

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2017-01-08 10:39:35

The other day, I was playing a good ol' game of Super Mario Bros, and I made it as far as 2-1 when something very strange happened. See, there's a spring in this level that's needed to jump over a wall to get to the flagpole, but when I jumped on it, it just disappeared out of thin air! What's worse is that Mario was isolated in the air, unable to move. All he could do was a running animation, but he wouldn't move left or right at all. It looked like if I just sat the timer out it would've been okay. I ended up just resetting the game though, and it hasn't happened since.

So… WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!


Very interesting glitch. Must have felt weird for it to suddenly happen like that.

I'd like to offer an explanation but sadly can't because I don't know much about Mario series glitches.

A good place to ask about it re: what causes it and whether somebody else experienced it before may be on the talk page of the Mario Wiki article. https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Super_Mario_Bros._glitches

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: Dandaman955
Date: 2017-01-11 03:05:07
Speaking of which, there is a mention of a disappearing trampoline on World 3-1 in that page. Exact same one you describe, by the sounds of it.

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: Jchu
Date: 2017-05-23 12:15:52
Fun sounding glitch! 8) Okay, maybe more so annoying than 'fun' xD

Also, I have heard that older game systems are prone to a lot of glitches when they get older and the like? A friend of mine said she didn't like playing her old N64 or something at night due to that, lol.I think this was already when the system got very old too.

Re: Weird glitch in Super Mario Bros.

Posted by: ISSOtm
Date: 2017-05-23 16:07:04
Well, like everything, the hardware decays, and produces some read errors, write fails, etc.
You can always 1. take care of it, and 2. repair the components. I prefer the former ^^