Developing a video game can sometimes feel like Mission Impossible. Just one tiny mistake can derail key components like graphics, gameplay, and physics. Many AAA games have been released with glitches that look like they were caused by a gang of gremlins.
Some glitches are so ridiculous that they become the most memorable part of the game. These days, they become memes very quickly.
Let’s dig into the crates and cherry-pick the most iconic game glitches. What caused them? Did developers fix them? And what impact did they have on gaming culture? All will be revealed below.
What causes game glitches?
There are many reasons why games are plagued with glitches. But if we had to shortlist some key causes, they would be:
- Gameplay physics issues: Inaccurate movement calculations or collision detection resulting in characters or objects behaving unpredictably.
- Programming errors: Coding mistakes or ignored game mechanic interactions that cause unintended behaviors.
- Testing limitations: Developers might not pick up on player behavior anomalies during game testing.
- Memory overflow: Poor memory management can cause data to corrupt certain parts of the game.
- Hardware/software clashes: Differences in system configurations can reveal hidden glitches.
By identifying the causes of game glitches early, developers can optimize their game’s performance efficiently. The only downside? They might miss out on creating a history-making glitch—like the ones below…
The most infamous game glitches ever
Let’s travel back in time to explore the most unforgettable game glitches, including their causes and whether they were fixed or not.
1. MissingNo – Pokemon Red and Blue (1999)
Main cause: Memory overflow
Many millennials remember when they first encountered Missingno in Pokemon Red and Blue. Did you know that this pixel monster’s name stands for “missing number?” Capturing it required talking to an old man in Viridian City before traveling to Cinnabar Island.
The results? Your player pack’s sixth item increased to 128 and MissingNo could put up a good fight. Unfortunately, many players reported game malfunctions. These included random jumbled graphics, scrambled Hall of Fames, and corrupted save game data. So the negatives outweighed the positives.
Aftermath: Nintendo never officially fixed MissingNo. They ended up releasing a PR piece, referring to it not as a glitch, but as a “programming quirk.”
2. Disappearing Faces – Assassin’s Creed Unity (2014)
Main cause: Programming errors
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed has had many hits and misses. One miss was its Unity installment. Of all the problems the game had (including dancing, and wall-climbing NPCs), its infamous face glitch took the cake. Unity had a bug that didn’t render the character’s head, only showing teeth, hair, and eyes. It was a horrifying image for any gamer of any age.
Aftermath: Ubisoft fixed the corrupted texture files after the glitch already went viral. Also, they wrote an email of apology to all players, offering them free content to limit reputational damage.
3. Minus World – Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Main cause: Programming errors
The “Minus World” in the classic Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. is the stuff of legends. If you jump through a certain pipe and brick wall, you’ll find a “hidden” pipe. This leads Mario to an underwater stage. Then, you have three choices: Either die, run out of time, or find the exit pipe, only to return to the beginning again. An eternal loop, kind of like video game purgatory.
Aftermath: Nintendo didn’t fix it. The Minus World was the result of memory allocation errors. This mysterious glitch was replicated in other Super Mario installments and has since been removed from remakes.
4. Tiny Titan Christian – Madden NFL 15 (2014)
Main cause: Testing limitations
It’s amazing what one coding error can do to a sports simulation game. In this EA Sports title, including a miniature version of linebacker Christian Kirksey was definitely an accident. After all, he is 6ft 2 and 235 lbs in real life. Tiny Christian grabbing at the opposition’s ankles and playing with a giant ball? Yes, please!
Aftermath: EA Sports didn’t fix it. Instead, they made a joke out of it with Kirksey. He played a tiny version of himself in the video interview “The Story of Madden Tiny Titan Christian Kirksey.”
5. Swing Set Launcher – Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)
Main cause: Gameplay physics issues
A game with an open world as detailed as GTA IV will have some minor glitches here and there. But there’s nothing minor about being catapulted into the sky after your car backs into a playground swing set. The landing’s never pretty, with the car getting wrecked beyond repair.
Aftermath: Rockstar never fixed the Swing Set Launcher. It was a physics-based glitch caused by incorrect collision detection. They just realized that players loved it too much to remove it.
6. “Shaun!” – Heavy Rain 4 (2010)
Main cause: Programming errors
It’s amazing how one glitch can completely undermine a narrative adventure game as serious and emotionally charged as Heavy Rain. This classic psychological thriller sees protagonist Ethan searching for his kidnapped son, Shaun.
In the final level, players can tap X to shout Shaun’s name, conveying Ethan’s desperation. But there’s no limit to how many times you can yell “Shaun.” This includes during the showdown with the main villain (the Origami killer), and when Ethan finally reunites with his son. This glitch turned the game’s tense climax into a complete joke.
Aftermath: They never fixed it or even addressed it. “Shaun” became a hilarious meme in the gaming community.
7. Corrupted Blood – World of Warcraft (2004)
Main cause: Testing limitations
A year after its initial release, World of Warcraft had a new patch. Players take on a blood god (Hakkar the Soulflayer), who casts a corrupted blood spell that drains players’ health rapidly. What should’ve been contained in one place for a few seconds ended up spreading. It became a full-on in-game pandemic, spreading throughout WoW’s environment.
Players approached the glitch differently. Some were happy to risk their characters’ lives by exposing themselves. While others actually quarantined themselves upon hearing the news.
Aftermath: Blizzard fixed this debuff by resetting the servers and adding stricter rules to contain similar mechanics. Amazingly, epidemiologists studied this glitch to better understand behavioral patterns during pandemics.
8. Backwards Long Jump – Super Mario 64 (1996)
Main cause: Physics issues
Known as the BLJ, the Backwards Long Jump from Super Mario 64 has become ingrained in gaming glitch folklore. As Mario can accelerate in reverse ad infinitum, players can effectively break the game’s physics. With this glitch, players could skip entire game sections, overcome obstacles, and reach inaccessible stages. They could complete the game in record times that not even the developers at Nintendo could anticipate.
Aftermath: Nintendo decided to prevent the glitch from reoccurring in future installments like Super Mario’s 3D All-Stars. They did this by adjusting the game’s physics to prevent unintended backward momentum.
9. The Speed-Up Glitch – Space Invaders (1978)
Main cause: Hardware/software clashes
Some say this is the glitch that started it all. Most casual gamers easily understand the core gameplay loop of this classic arcade game. Incoming spaceships get quicker the longer you stay alive. This natural way to raise a game’s difficulty was actually a complete accident. Reduced sprite rendering caused the Space Invaders bug. It simply runs quicker when fewer characters are on screen.
Aftermath: The developer was so pleased with the glitch’s results that they simply made it a feature. It elevated the game to iconic status.
Infamous game glitches: Noteworthy mentions
Here are some other infamous game glitches that didn’t quite make the cut but deserve some attention:
- Giant Launch – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
- Super Bounces – Halo 2 (2004)
- Y2K20 Glitches – WWE 2K20 (2019)
- Spinning Guards – GoldenEye 007 (1997)
- Creeper Pigs – Minecraft (2011)
- The Y2K Bug – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
- The Killer Doll – The Sims 3 (2009).

Joshua is Keewano’s Blog Editor-in-Chief, a gaming enthusiast passionate about the connections between games, data, and AI. He covers topics like game development, user behavior, and analytics to bring fresh insights to the blog.