A glitch is, usually, a good game's arch nemesis. Things aren't always so black and white, though, and there are games out there that provide experiences so great that they aren't hindered by a few glitches.
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There are even some games that are actually improved by a bit of wonky code — spiced up by a few inspired glitches. Some glitches don't get enough credit for the fun they add to the game — or for their instrumental role in shaping some projects into the masterpieces they are today. This list aims to celebrate some of the great games out there with glitches that actually enhance player fun.
1 Pokemon Red & Blue
Missingno Was a Very Powerful Weapon
Pokemon Red
- Released
- February 27, 1996
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Game Freak
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, JRPG
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Game Boy
- A very dangerous glitch.
The original Pokémon Red and Blue isn't a particularly difficult game. At some point during their first playthrough, players will find out how to become rather overpowered and cruise through most of the game. Still, there's no such thing as having too much power — or the ability to attain a vast amount of power in a shorter amount of time.
The gateway for that is Missingno, a glitch in the system posing as a Pokémon that players who surf along the coast of Cinnabar Island or Seafoam Island might come across. In a way, this is the most powerful Pokémon in the game, not because of its fighting prowess (pretty much any hit will immediately cause it to faint) but because of what it might grant players when handled right. The Missingno is such a strange glitch that it can duplicate items like Rare Candies — or partially corrupt the save files if misused. Despite the risks, this glitch felt like something of a secret endgame.
2 Halo: Combat Evolved
The Super-Powered Magnum Ensured No One Would Ever Underestimate a Pistol Again
Halo: Combat Evolved
- Released
- November 15, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bungie
- Publisher(s)
- Microsoft Game Studios
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox (Original), Xbox 360, Xbox One
- Accidentally, the best pistol in games.
The Magnum for the original Halo — a weapon the players pretty much start the game with access to — is by far the most powerful weapon in the game. None of the weapons in the super-advanced Covenant's arsenal can even compare. In fact, no weapon in the history of the Halo series can quite compare to its overall awesomeness.
The most interesting part, however, is how it was never meant to be that powerful. The Magnum in Halo was supposed to work as the weapon players would use once the assault rifle's ammo got depleted, but it ended up as a much more powerful weapon than the assault rifle could ever be. Why? Because rushed pre-release changes to the game accidentally made it way more powerful than it was supposed to be, and the rest is (video game) history.
3 Super Mario Bros.
Minus World Was a Glitch Many Thought Was a Feature
Super Mario Bros.
- Released
- November 17, 1985
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo R&D4
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Entertainment System
- There's no escape, but there's a lot of mystique.
The Minus World from the original Super Mario Bros. Is arguably the first truly popular glitch in mainstream gaming. It's about an area in the game that players could accidentally enter but not leave. It's called Minus World because it's displayed as WORLD -1 at the top of the screen, and it looks like a regular underwater map would.
The problem, however, is that players were never meant to get there, so there's no exit other than via Game Over. Though entering the Minus World means doom for the player, the very existence of Minus World sparked a sense of wonder in players and developers alike, who have been using this cursed area as inspiration for their own versions of evil secret areas.
4 Grand Theft Auto 4
The Swing Set Glitch was the Fastest Way to Travel
Grand Theft Auto 4
- Released
- April 29, 2008
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- And also the least safe way to travel.
"What if GTA had fast travel?" Is a question nobody ever asked before Grand Theft Auto 4, but it was one that the game did answer, albeit in a completely accidental manner. Walk — or drive a car — into any of the swing sets in Liberty City's parks, and players will see them catapulting toward the skies.
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Doing this without a car will most surely result in death, but doing so while inside a car might actually result in landing on the other side of the city with only a minor concussion. It's not the healthiest way to travel, but it's one of the most fun and original ones, which makes the Liberty City parks one of the greatest landmarks in the game.
5 Red Dead Redemption 2
Glitchy Bridges Let Players Fly Higher Than Any Plane in GTA Ever Could
Red Dead Redemption 2
- Released
- October 26, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- Up, up, and away!
Some glitches, even some of the best ones, are hard to reproduce. The wooden bridge glitch from Red Dead Redemption 2, however, is so easy to trigger that it might as well count as a feature. All players need is to find a wooden bridge and have some throwing knives in their pockets.
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Putting someone (perhaps someone tied up in ropes), or even Arthur himself, on the bridge, then throwing a few knives at the portion of the bridge that's still in contact with the ground on one of its edges will cause the bridge to malfunction in the best possible way. It'll begin to twitch erratically, and this will always culminate with it sending whatever's on top of it into the skies as if it got catapulted. The original Red Dead Redemption was known for many riotous physics glitches, but this one outdoes them all.
6 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Spawning a Small Army of Dogs Was Revitalizing
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Released
- November 11, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- Hard to find a more wholesome glitch.
There's a room in Skyrim where all the bodies of dead NPCs land when they despawn. It's real, and, scariest of all, this room filled with tons of death was created on purpose. Luckily, there's a wholesome counterpart to that: the room of dogs. Yes, it's born out of a glitch — likely brought about by the universe's need to balance things out — but it's beautiful.
This is a room in Skyrim where one player found out dogs would spawn, which immediately sent the community into a frenzy. Why is this a glitch and not a feature? Not a stretch for a series where players can do so much cool stuff under the guise of "magic," so, if any Elder Scrolls 6 developer is reading this, then know everyone would love this.
7 Grand Theft Auto
The Cop Car Glitch Might Be the Most Profitable Coding Error in History
Grand Theft Auto
- Released
- November 28, 1997
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar North
- Publisher(s)
- BMG Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action
- This glitch turned the entire game around.
Sometimes, it's not just the case of a glitch accidentally making a game better; sometimes, it's straight-up the case of a glitch making a game happen. And, as fate would have it, the most successful franchise in history — a game famously about crime — owes its entire existence to malfunctioning cops.
As the developers of the original GTA have previously shared, the game wasn't originally about crime, or at least not about the same type of crime. The whole thing was meant to be about illegal racing, where players would try to outdo each other, and the cops would chase them, but there was one problem. Due to a glitch, these cops were too aggressive and turned every race into something more akin to Carmageddon. This inspired the developers to shift the focus of the game to getting away from these fast and furious cops, and the rest is history.
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