This is a list of glitches in the game Super Mario 3D World.

Glitches

NOTE: All names are conjectural unless otherwise specified.

Air Jump Glitch

In the level A Beam in the Dark, if the player enters the left or center doors, they will come out of the upper left or right doors with no platforms underneath. However, if the player jumps while pressing any direction on the joystick while leaving the door, they will be able to jump in the air as if there was a platform.

Baddie Box Sound Glitch

If a Baddie Box is destroyed while it is activated, its sound will loop indefinitely.^[1][2]

Camera Angle in Super Bell Hill Glitch

This glitch can occur in Super Bell Hill near the end of the level if the player has the Cat Suit. The player must jump to the other side of the fence, then continually claw at the wall and fence while moving to avoid falling. Eventually, the camera will pan down, after a few moments it will go back to the player.^[2]

Cannon Box Glitch

To perform this glitch, the player should go to a level with Cannon Boxes, such as Bowser's Bullet Bill Brigade, with Cat Toad. If Toad walks into the wall beneath a cannon box, claws under it, then jumps, Toad's head and arms disappear as if he were wearing the Cannon Box, but the box will not be visible, and Toad will be invincible. When Toad grabs another power-up, a Cannon Box will show but it will not move with him. The glitch will end when Toad grabs the Goal Pole.^[1][3]

Cat Momentum Glitch

While wearing the Cat Suit, if the player dives, cancels it before hitting the ground, claws immediately before hitting the ground, then jumps again, the player will retain the momentum from the dive and gain speed.^[1]

Deepwater Dungeon Madpole Glitch

In Deepwater Dungeon, if the player freezes one of the two Madpoles with the Wii U Gamepad at the beginning of the level where the water moves up and down, the Madpole automatically disappears and reappears at the top of the water when released.^[1][2]

Disappearing Face Glitch

In a multiplayer game, if one player wearing the Tanooki Suit or Cat Suit (except for Tanooki Peach) performs a Rolling Long Jump and bounces off the head of another character, the player's face will become temporarily invisible.^[1]

Duplicating Koopa Shell Glitch

To perform this glitch, the player must remove a Koopa Troopa from its shell, then rub the shell with the Wii U GamePad as the Koopa attempts to re-enter the shell. If done correctly, the shell will appear duplicated, with the Koopa wearing a shell and the isolated shell still visible. If the Koopa is attacked again, however, the extra shell disappears and the game returns to normal. If this glitch is performed at the end of Koopa Troopa Cave with a second player inside the shell, attempting to throw the shell with the player inside at the flagpole may cause the game to softlock.^[1]

Float With Koopa Shell Glitch

In Koopa Troopa Cave, if the player grabs a Koopa Shell and jumps into a cloud, landing the edge of the shell on the cloud, the player will get stuck and appear to be floating. This glitch can be canceled if the player releases the shell and spins.^[1][2]

Float With Koopa Shell Glitch 2

To perform this glitch in Koopa Troopa Cave near the beginning of the level, the player must break only one of the Brick Blocks, revealing a gap that leads to the secret area beneath. Then, if the player picks up a Koopa Shell and falls into the hole, they will be stuck inside the hole temporarily. The player can exit the glitch by attempting to move.^[1][2]

Go Inside Captain Toad's Level

If the player completes a Captain Toad's Adventures course, exits the game, and opens it back up, the player can go through the preview of Captain Toad's level.

Green Star Illumination Glitch

In some dark-themed levels, if the player uses a fireball to capture a Green Star, the star's light may still be visible in its original location for a few seconds.^[2]

Inside the Floor Glitch

To perform this glitch in Trick Trap Tower, the player must advance to the end of the level before the Goal Pole with a Cat Suit. If the player jumps off the corner of the stage and returns with a Cat Dive, the player will clip inside the floor. The glitch ends if the player jumps.^[4] A similar glitch can be performed in Captain Toad Plays Peek-a-Boo. To perform it, the player should stand underneath a Donut Block and in the threshold between the floor and a particular Touchstone block. When it is activated, the player will clip inside the block.^[1]

Invisible Bob-Omb Glitch

This glitch can be performed in Bob-ombs Below. If the player wears the Invincibility Suit and carries a Bob-omb while it explodes, they will continue hold their arms in the air as if they were still carrying the Bob-omb as long as the player continues to hold . Releasing causes the player to throw nothing and cancels the glitch.^[1]

Invisible Platform Glitch

In Tricky Trapeze Theater, if the player wears a Cat Suit and slides down the left edge of the Clear Pipe near the end of the level, they will appear to stand on an invisible platform at the bottom of the pipe.^[1]

Invisible Water Glitch

In Super Bell Hill in the area after the Checkpoint Flag and near the pool of water with the coins, the player can access an invisible pool of water outside the stage by Long-Jumping off the edge near the corner of the stage.^[1]

Long Jump Glitch

If Small Blue ToadLong Jumps into a Snowball, he sits down and slides right while holding the Snowball. He will be unable to jump and will continue gaining momentum while moving. This glitch can be canceled by letting go of the Snowball.^[1][2][5]

Out of Bounds Glitch 1

To perform this glitch, the player needs to be wearing a Cat Suit with a Tanooki Suit in storage. Then, they must go to the top of the mountain in Mount Beanpole or Spiky Mount Beanpole. Then they should take the Tanooki Suit from storage and do the Cat Momentum glitch into the Tanooki Leaf and towards the beginning of the stage, before immediately jumping. If the player continues to hold down on the control stick, they'll fly out of bounds. The player can only exit this glitch by waiting until the time runs out or by restarting the game. If the player goes too far, the background will start duplicating frames of objects on the screen, resulting a screen artifact.^[1][2][6][7]

If the player presses and then goes back in the game, the duplicated screens will disappear causing a black screen. The player can still create duplication frames by moving the character.

Out of Bounds Glitch 2

To perform this glitch, the player needs to go to Snowball Park, grab a Propeller Box, run (while performing the Super Speed Exploit by crouching repeatedly on the ice) to the end of the ice path with the Para-Biddybuds, and jump off it and fly towards where the goal. The player will go off the screen, but not die.^[8]

Secret Room 1

To perform this glitch, the player must go to Towering Sunshine Seaside with the Cat Suit and go to the wall near the Goomba Tower with the third Green Star. By jumping on the Goomba Tower for a boost, the player should climb to the top of the building. The building has no roof and the player can fall into it, however they are unable to leave it. The camera will occasionally go into the building.^[2][9] Also, if the player manages to get to the other side of the 'invisible roof', there will be an invisible path. This also can be done in the Sunshine Seaside, but the camera will not follow the player.^[10]

Skip Meowser Cutscene

This is a major glitch, which allows the player to skip the Meowser cutscene and skip straight to the autoscroller section of the battle.^[1][11]

In order to perform this glitch, the player must be playing as Peach in the level The Great Tower of Bowser Land with a Cat Suit with a Tanooki Suit in storage. The player must advance to the ramp before the sliding platform that leads to Meowser. The player must align in between the 4 tiles in the 4th column, starting after the ramp. Then, they should throw the Tanooki Suit out and leave it there. Then, the player should proceed to slide in the opposite direction of the Super Leaf, go back, jump above it, and perform the Cat Dive Cancel exploit to gain speed. Then, the player should slide down the ramp, jump at the very end, cat dive back into the ramp, jump, float, grab the Tanooki Suit in mid-air, and float to the left of the blue platform around the platform that leads to Meowser. The player must let go of the float button right before landing on the very edge of the blue platform, and then, he or she should jump in order to maintain momentum.

As the player is floating to the east of the bridge after performing the jump, the player must try to align with a black bar at the side of the tower. This is not necessarily required, but is a good visual cue. If the player gets close enough, the cloud platforms will start appearing in the distance. The player must head into the direction of the clouds, as it will make Peach land onto the autoscroller section, skipping a small chunk of the level as well as the cutscene.

This trick, however, can result in the loss of a life if done incorrectly. Doing the last section incorrectly will result in the game thinking the player is still on the platform leading to the bridge, but outside the boundaries of where the game expects the player to be. This results in a major camera shift, which often results in Peach losing a life. A good visual cue is the camera angle; if the camera moves too much and obstructs the player's view, then the player has done the trick incorrectly and will lose a life. If the camera moves only slightly and still allows the player to see Princess Peach, then the trick has been done correctly. Doing this glitch prevents any music from playing during the climb through the tower.

Snowball Separation Glitch

In World 3-1, if the player attempts to place two snowballs right next to each other, they will be pushed apart. ^{[citation needed]}

Stuck Bouncing Glitch

Spinning after exiting the pipe before a boss cutscene during four-player games can cause the player to become stuck bouncing on another player's head, unable to move and land to begin the cutscene. ^{[12][dead link]}

Super Bell Inside Brick Blocks Glitch

This glitch can be performed in Mount Beanpole. If the player wears a Cat Suit and attacks a Cat Goomba underneath a vertical stack of Brick Blocks, the Super Bell can partially clip inside the stack.^[2]

Super Speed Exploit

If the player repeatedly taps the crouch button on ice or other slippery surfaces, their speed will increase dramatically, and the momentum can be continued by jumping forward or repeating the glitch. Combining this with a Tanooki Suit or Propeller Box allows the player to fly very far.^[2][13] In some cases, performing this glitch while running into a corner in specific ways can allow the player to gain a large amount of momentum while stationary, which can cause the player to fly out of bounds when released.^[1]

Tanooki Gliding Glitch

See: List of Super Mario 3D Land glitches#Tanooki Gliding Glitch

Transform Items Glitch

Sometimes, if two power-ups are placed directy next to each other, then ground-pounded together, one item transforms into a new one (e.g., if the player puts a Super Bell on a Super Leaf, they will get a Super Mushroom). If players are using a Lucky Bell and overlap a Fire Flower on a Tanooki Leaf, they will get a Fire Flower as the power-up and also will receive an extra Fire Flower. This glitch can be done with all power-ups. The results depends on the combination of the power-ups. However, if the player gets any item to overlap an Invincibility Leaf, the item in the inventory will clone itself.^[1][14]

Unactivated Enemies Glitch

Sometimes, when a player takes a shortcut, certain enemies will not attack. This is because the game relies on the player to step on a certain trigger to activate the enemies, so when the trigger is skipped, the enemies will not attack. They can still cause damage when touched, and can still be defeated.^[1]

Wind Blow Glitch

Just before the timer counts down after getting the flagpole, if the player blows on the mic on the Wii U Gamepad, the sound of the wind won't stop until the score screen comes up.^[1]

World Map Jump Glitch

On the World Map, if the leading player jumps and enters a Captain Toad's Adventures course before touching the ground again, the player will remain standing in the air until the course screen wipe.^[1]

World Map Out of Bounds

If done correctly, one can get on top of the World Bowser entrance pipe by jumping onto the nearby pole first, and then fall to the worlds down below. Additionally, if the player quits the game while he/she is falling out of bounds, the progress will not be saved, and when restarting the game, the music of the world the player was in when the glitch was activated plays for a short time.^[1][15]

References