List of Super Mario 64 glitches
This is a list of glitches in Super Mario 64. For glitches found exclusively in the remake, see List of Super Mario 64 DS glitches. Unless otherwise noted, all names are conjectural. Glitches marked with an asterisk (*) are fixed in the North American, PAL, Rumble Pak, iQue Player, and Virtual Console releases.
Audio
Big Boo's Haunt music cut-out
In Big Boo's Haunt, the player should choose any mission other than Go on a Ghost Hunt, then defeat Big Boo in the Merry-Go-Round but ignore the Star. Instead the player needs to leave, collect a Vanish Cap and acquire 100 coins. After the Vanish Cap expires, the player should collect the 100-Coin Star. Now the background music does not play, though sound effects can still be heard, including ambient noises outside the mansion. Should the player wear the Vanish Cap again, the music restarts after the cap wears off.
Infinite cap music glitch
NOTE: This glitch does not work in the Japanese version.
After selecting the second mission in Bob-omb Battlefield, the player should talk to Koopa the Quick while wearing the Wing Cap. While racing him up the mountain, the player must use a small alcove to warp higher up the mountain; the Wing Cap will seemingly disappear, after which the player should reach the flag at the summit and wait for Koopa the Quick to arrive. After talking to Koopa the Quick, the Wing Cap background music plays endlessly. Alternatively, the player can talk to King Bob-omb while wearing the Wing Cap, and then quickly warp using the alcove near the summit, achieving the same effect.[1]
To end the glitch, the player can collect another Wing Cap and let it expire.
Japanese music cut-out*
In both Bowser in the Sky[2] and Shifting Sand Land's pyramid,[3] it is possible for the music to cut out due to multiple glitches exclusive to the Japanese version of the game. While this glitch is in effect, any attempt to leave the course freezes the game. For Bowser in the Sky, just entering the stage the wrong way can cut-out the music. For the pyramid, collecting the fifth secret point in an unusual way sometimes cuts out the music.
Koopa Shell music glitch
If the player holds 
to crouch right as Mario touches a Koopa Shell, the music in the level will replay from the beginning as Mario dismounts immediately. Despite this, the shell remains and the glitch can be repeated.[4]
Koopa the Quick warp music glitch*
In Bob-omb Battlefield, if Mario travels through a warp after starting a race with Koopa the Quick, the "Slider" music is replaced with the "Super Mario 64 Main Theme". This glitch was fixed after the original Japanese release.
Loud Ukkiki glitch
In Tall, Tall Mountain, even if Mario is very far away from Ukkiki, the monkey can be heard as if they were right next to him.
Yahoo paused sound pitch glitch
If the game is paused just after Mario performs a Long Jump or Triple Jump, his voice can shift lower or higher in pitch than normal.
Camera
Below Mario in Bob-omb Battlefield
While using the Lakitu camera mode, If the player performs Wall Kicks to jump from the foot of the white slope over the seesaw platform, the camera focuses Mario from below the floor.
In the walls of Dire, Dire Docks
In the beginning area of Dire, Dire Docks, if the player swims into the wall above the tunnel leading to Bowser's Submarine, the camera moves out of bounds. Moving away from the wall returns the camera to a normal position.[5]
Invisible cannon
After entering a cannon, if the player attempts to launch Mario as early as possible, the game gets confused. The viewfinder does not show up and the camera pans out of the cannon as if Mario was standing in that spot, revealing that both the cannon and Mario are invisible. The camera can be controlled and rotated around normally. This glitch ends when the cannon is fired.[6]
Star/death camera glitch
When Mario collects a Star or dies and the platform he stands on moves away, he will warp to the next surface below him, which is often the death barrier. This extreme change in height is too much for the camera to track, resulting in Mario being far below the camera. The spinning platform around the volcano in Lethal Lava Land, Donut Blocks, and being pushed off a Magic Carpet in Rainbow Ride are common places to accomplish this glitch.
Stuck behind door
When Mario enters a door in the castle and then goes back through it quickly, the camera may briefly get stuck behind the door. This does not work on the doors in the main lobby.
Wing Cap camera glitch
If Mario lands on a slope on the same frame that he starts flying with the Wing Cap, the camera continues using the mode intended for flight. This can be achieved by Triple Jumping onto the fence past the first bridge in Bob-omb Battlefield, with precise timing. The camera follows Mario closely, and tries to stay behind him at a low angle. The 
buttons only move the camera temporarily.[7]
The camera returns to intended behavior if:
- Mario receives knockback, is thrown, gets squished, or gets set on fire
- Mario initiates flight normally, rides a Koopa Shell, or leaves the course
- Mario enters water, a cannon, or a tornado
Freezes
Attacking an uninitialized Monty Mole
Before popping out of holes to attack Mario, Monty Moles start out invisible and in predetermined locations. Only when Mario is within 1500 units of a hole will the Monty Moles be repositioned and behave as normally seen. Reaching a Monty Mole in this uninitialized position and attacking it freezes the game, as the game tries to place the Monty Mole at a null hole.
- In Tall, Tall Mountain, the player can use a 100-Coin Star to reach the uninitialized Monty Mole at the bottom of a pit, and attack it before Mario is ejected from the course.[8]
- In Hazy Maze Cave, the player must take a route that involves Backwards Long Jumping through the mesh wall in front of the Navigating the Toxic Maze Star. After clipping through the wall, the player must go down the elevator, enter the maze, and take the first right turn to get to the plateau with a Blue Coin Block. The uninitialized Monty Mole sits in the poison gas in front of said plateau.[9]
Big Boo's Haunt freeze
There is a corner of Big Boo's Haunt that crashes the game when Mario touches it. This corner can be accessed by entering the rightmost door on the first floor.
After positioning Mario on the thin ledge located to the left of a bright window, the player should jump and move Mario 
slightly away from the ledge until he begins to fall. Now moving 
towards the wall and pressing 
to kick for some extra momentum, Mario should touch the wall and the game will freeze.[10]
Dead Mario softlock
In Bob-omb Battlefield, the player should use the Wing Cap to fly Mario above the floating island such that falling would result in Mario's death. If Mario Ground Pounds the yellow block, upon landing he will die as the Star is released. At this point Mario cannot move, exit the course, or complete his death animation. Similarly, if Mario dies and collects a coin to summon the 100-Coin Star at the same time, the game will softlock.[11]
NOTE: Using the "Zombie Mario" glitch removes the need for precise positioning and timing.
Double Star softlock
If Mario collects a 100-Coin Star as he opens a Star block, this second Star may be released as Mario lands. Similar to the Dead Mario softlock, the overlapping animations of a Star dance and a Star being released confuse the game, resulting in a softlock.[12]
Empty file deletion crash
On the File Select screen, the player should in quick succession, select "Copy", choose an empty save file, select "Check Score", then select an empty save file. If this is done properly, the score screen's header text "Check File" will change to "No Saved Data Exists". If the player then selects "Erase", they will be prompted to delete the data in the null save file. Selecting "Yes" will crash the game due to an address error.[13] If the player selects "No" instead, the save file model for file A will shrink, but the game will still continue.
Performing this glitch on Super Mario 3D All-Stars results in the application crashing back to the Switch's home screen.[14] This glitch does not work on Virtual Console versions, nor on Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics on the original Nintendo Switch, which results in the game deleting a nonexistent file 9.
Freeze while entering Vanish Cap Under the Moat
When entering Vanish Cap Under the Moat, if the player tries to move the camera left in Lakitu Mode while the screen is black, the game may crash. This is due to the camera shifting to an elevator spawner object, which normally unloads, but has an invalid model assigned in the level if it is rendered. As a result, the game tries to spawn a castle flag model and runs arbitrary code, which crashes the game.[15]
NOTE: This glitch only applies to the North American version.
Hanging Mario freeze
If Mario is pushed backwards off a hangable ceiling before completing the grabbing animation, the game freezes. This can be accomplished using a bloated Bob-omb to push Mario backwards, or a crate placed in a way that can push Mario off.[16]
Long-distance Monty Mole defeat freeze
When a Monty Mole is defeated from too far away, the game cannot choose the next hole for the Monty Mole to appear from, as every hole is too far from Mario. This unexpected result causes the game to freeze. The player can defeat a Monty Mole from a sufficiently long distance by throwing a Bob-omb.[17]
According to Tyler Kehne,[18]
When a mole is KO'd, the game runs a function to determine which hole the mole should go to next. The function cycles through all the holes to see which ones are eligible candidates, and then selects one of those at random. But if none of the holes are eligible, the function returns null. Throwing the Bob-omb at the mole allows the mole to be KO'd at a distance, something the programmers hadn't accounted for. Thus, Mario is too far away from all the holes for any of them to be eligible, and so null is returned, causing the game crash. TL;DR Long range mole KO's crash the game.
Monty Mole rocks filling memory
Due to a developer oversight, the rocks thrown by Monty Moles do not disappear if thrown off the cliff of Tall, Tall Mountain. Once approximately 200 rocks accumulate, there is no more space available to load new objects, freezing the game. This is similar to how the game handles the teleportation clones of Mario's cap.
As stated by Scott B. (alias pannenkoek2012) on YouTube,[19]
... the game will eventually crash due to a continuously accumulating supply of pebbles. Pebbles deactivate when they are more than 4000 units away from Mario. Hence, a deactivated pebble won't hit the ground and unload, but instead just remain invisible and unmoving in midair. So by having Monty Moles continually throw pebbles off the edge, the pebbles will keep loading into object slots but never unload. Since the game only has 240 object slots, eventually all the slots become occupied and the game crashes.
NOTE: This glitch may not work on the Virtual Console release.
Graphics
Boo glitch
After collecting at least 12 Power Stars a large Boo appears in the hallway leading to the courtyard. The player should enter the Whomp's Fortress painting room and move to the far left side, then leave and head to the hallway. The Boo should be facing backwards, and the player must chase it out of the room.
Now the player must enter the basement and immediately return to the Boo, who is now facing forward. Performing the previous actions again will cause the Boo to seemingly disappear. However, the player either enters the door to the courtyard or manipulates the camera to see beyond the wall, the Boo can be seen floating behind the door.
Bubba death glitch
If Mario is using a Koopa Shell to surf on the water and gets eaten by a Bubba, the shell stays suspended in the air.[citation needed]
Doors and a cloud in empty space
Certain doors in Peach's Castle are visible from other rooms when the camera shows the space beyond the walls. This can be achieved by standing near a wall and using the first-person camera mode 
to look through it. The doors appear to be in empty space because the rest of a room is not rendered while Mario is in another area.
- If Mario looks around in first-person view while standing on the left edge of the platform with the 70 Star Door, a door from the lower level is visible.
- When using first-person view from the outside wall of the spiral staircase to the second floor, the 50 and 70 Star Doors are visible.
- Another door can be seen when standing in the left edge next to the Whomp's Fortress painting.
Likewise, the reflection of Lakitu's cloud in the second-floor mirror room is always rendered. In several places, like the corners next to the room's door and the stairway to the second floor, Mario can enter first-person view to look through a wall and see the cloud.
Fly Guy size manipulation
If Mario runs back and forth underneath the Fly Guy in Tall, Tall Mountain, it begins to shrink. This is a side effect of the Fly Guy changing size to signal that it is preparing to shoot a fireball. The Fly Guy's size affects the starting height of a Spin Jump off of it.
If the glitch is repeated, the value for the Fly Guy's size eventually becomes negative, causing it to render upside-down and inside-out. Mario cannot interact with the Fly Guy while it has a negative size.[20] Repeating the glitch for long enough will cause one of the base positions of the Fly Guy's model to exceed float values that properly convert into a 32-bit signed integer, resulting in a game crash.[21]
Frozen head*
After defeating Bowser in the Dark World or Fire Sea, he drops a key. In the Japanese version, if the player runs to where the key will land, presses and looks somewhere, Mario keeps looking that way during the key collection cutscene.[22]
Ground Pound turn-around
When Mario ground pounds out of a Side Somersault, he turns around instantly in midair.
Instant Tower of the Wing Cap transition
When the Tower of the Wing Cap is unlocked, Mario has to stand right next to the sun carpet in the castle's main hall and look at the sun on the ceiling. Then, he has to leave the first-person view mode, quickly step onto the carpet, and press again. Mario enters the Tower of the Wing Cap instantly while the camera is still zooming in, instead of framing the ceiling as intended.
Invisible Bowser
Bowser can teleport when battled in the Fire Sea, during which he becomes invisible. If Mario grabs Bowser while he teleports, Bowser stays invisible until he teleports again or is thrown off of the platform. The invisible Bowser cannot hurt Mario on contact, but is still able to attack as usual.[23]
Mr. I hovering around Mario glitch
This glitch occurs in Lethal Lava Land only. The player has to get the Koopa Shell from the yellow block and set the camera to fixed mode, so that a Mr. I can be seen until Mario moves. Then, he has to defeat the Mr. I by circling around it, but due to it being offscreen now, its death animation cannot play. The defeated Mr. I's eyeball then hovers around Mario for a short amount of time and move in various ways.[24]
Pitch conservation
When Mario is in a diving animation (normal diving, swimming, or flying), his angle is preserved in memory. This value is supposed to be reset between animations, but due to an oversight, sometimes it does not. For instance, if Mario exits the water while he was facing upwards and then performs a dive, the dive will start with the previous extreme angle as opposed to a normal dive. Despite this dramatic difference, the physics of the move are unchanged.[25]
If an extreme angle is preserved and Mario starts flying, he will immediately face the preserved angle which will influence his trajectory. Several actions reset the conserved angle, including grabbing a ledge, shooting from a cannon, changing areas, and jumping while facing a slope.
Power Meter glitch
When Mario dies in a course, the Power Meter is typically set to one wedge for the cutscene where he is ejected from the course and the meter refills. However, when Mario is ejected from Hazy Maze Cave, Rainbow Ride, Bowser in the Dark World, or Bowser in the Sky, there is a delay before the meter is set to one wedge, so when Mario returns to the castle the amount of wedges in the Power Meter briefly carries over from death.[citation needed]
Physics
NOTE: These glitches result from how Mario and/or other characters and objects interact with the world.
1-Up Mushroom circling Mario glitch
Mario can avoid a homing 1-Up Mushroom indefinitely by crouching. Despite its ability to move vertically, the mushroom instead attempts to reach Mario laterally, flying in circles above his head. This oversight was not fixed in the Nintendo DS remake.
Baby Penguin stuck in chimney
In Cool, Cool Mountain, the player should pick up a Baby Penguin and bring it to the cabin at the summit. By letting go of the Penguin above the chimney, any attempt to reclaim the baby will result in Mario entering the slide area with the Big Penguin. Reloading the main area by either talking a bridge warp or exiting the cabin at the base of the slide will reset the baby Penguin's position.
Black room of death
A black room of death (BRoD for short) refers to the spaces behind doors in the Peach's Castle, which are only meant for Mario to walk into during the animation where he opens the door. Nonetheless, certain exploits allow Mario to reach these spaces. Once inside these spaces, attempting to open the door will put Mario in the corresponding BRoD at the other side. Depending on the collision around the "rooms" in each loaded area, he may or may not be able to escape.
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Castle entrance | One BRoD pair is accessible by falling through the castle roof. Mario can escape by jumping through the wall above the front doors inside the castle. |
| Lobby | Another BRoD can be accessed by performing the second ledge clip. This room can be exited with backwards long jumps. |
| Basement | The third BRoD pair is accessible with a MIPS clip through the basement door. This room can be exited by performing backwards long jumps. |
| Basement | Similarly, clipping through the moat door with MIPS grants access to the fourth BRoD pair. |
| Courtyard | The fifth BRoD pair can be accessed if the player performs backwards long jumps to clip inside. |
Mario outside the castle
(BRoD #1)
The other side
Mario under the stairs
(BRoD #2)
Mario over the basement door (BRoD #3)
The other side
Near the moat
(BRoD #4)¹
The other side
Mario over the Courtyard door
(BRoD #5)¹
The other side (It is escapable from this side through the corners next to the door)
¹This BRoD is inescapable.
Climb slippery slopes
While facing a slippery slope, the player must rhythmically switch between moving towards the slope and holding the control stick 
neutral. This process allows Mario to climb the slope. Similarly, this can be accomplished in the remake by moving 
in the given direction without pressing 
down.
NOTE: This trick does not work on all slippery slopes. Additionally, the slope shown was changed to a wall in Super Mario 64 DS.
Alternatively, if the player runs up a slippery slope and kicks whenever Mario begins to slow down, he will scale the slope. This works in many areas, including the slope next to the basement door, the slope of the Toxic Maze in Hazy Maze Cave, Bowser's steep stair slopes, and the white slope in Bob-omb Battlefield.
Clip through walls
There are various tricks the player can perform to clip Mario through walls depending on the situation:
| Ground Pound clipping : |
When initiating a ground pound, the game keeps Mario in place for a moment before sending him downwards. This moment can be exploited to clip through moving platforms including: |
|---|---|
|
| Ledge clipping : | There are certain walls in the game that Mario can clip into by grabbing onto specific parts of a ledge. These include: |
|---|---|
|
| Miscellaneous wall clipping : |
Some walls can be clipped through without much resistance. As such, the following examples do not require Backwards Long Jumps or similar techniques: |
|---|---|
With one exception, the game splits up each frame of movement into four "quarter frames"; for each quarter frame, the game checks for collisions by determining Mario's next position based on his velocity and seeing if it overlaps with anything. Notably the game does adjust for how fast Mario is going, so an exceptionally large speed will have large gaps between each position that is checked. These walls are typically not very wide, so with high enough speed Mario's position will never be inside the wall on a given quarter frame, effectively bypassing the wall.[32] |
Clip with objects
The following glitches involve Mario being pushed through solid geometry using either the push from an object or the backward force from throwing objects.
Bob-omb clip
Mario can be pushed through walls by jumping between the wall and a Bob-omb as it chases him.[33] Alternatively if Mario holds a bloated Bob-omb with his back to a wall or steep floor, throwing the Bob-omb can push Mario through. This can be used to clip Behind Chain Chomp's Gate and collect the Star without freeing the Chain Chomp.
Chuckya clip
When Mario is held by a Chuckya, the Chuckya will ignore any collision it may swing Mario into. By luring a Chuckya to a wall and then having it grab Mario, it can throw Mario through walls or even out of bounds. Alternatively, if Mario has his back against a wall and throws the Chuckya, the action will push Mario through the wall.
Crate clip
After placing a crate next to a wall, the player should ground pound between the box and the wall. This will cause Mario to clip through the wall. Alternatively, if Mario has his back against a wall and throws the crate, they will briefly interact which will push Mario through the wall.[34]
Penguin clips
In Cool, Cool Mountain, both the Mother Penguin and the Baby Penguins can be used to clip through walls:
By grabbing Tuxie after reuniting with her mother, she can be lured to stand next to the cabin at the foot of the mountain. Mario can then clip into the cabin by jumping in between the wall and the Mother Penguin.[35] Alternatively, Tuxie can be used to clip through the floor by guiding the Penguin to the peak of the mountain and jumping just past her. This glitch can be used to avoid collecting the coins above the chimney of the cabin.[36]
Coin through platform
Beneath the gray platform in Shifting Sand Land, Mario should run toward a Goomba and defeat it with either a dive, break dance, or slide kick. This should launch the Goomba away, and its coins may fly upwards and through the ceiling.
Death out-of-bounds
The boundaries that surround each course and the castle are designed to never let Mario through, and are more effective than typical walls; anywhere that no floor exists below a space is out of bounds. However, certain interactions do not account for this restriction, allowing Mario to breach the boundary. As a failsafe, the game will always unceremoniously deplete Mario's Power Meter the instant his position is out of bounds.
NOTE: The death barrier is defined using a floor, so the large pits below certain levels are not out of bounds.
One method involves Mario lifting himself from a ledge. If Mario reaches the rightside corner of the castle roof, he can hang from the ledge right against an invisible boundary. The player can pull Mario back up onto the roof, where Mario will climb up past the intended boundaries and lose a life. Due to the placement of the out-of-bounds check in the middle of a process that cycles his cap state before rendering the image,[37] he also loses his cap.[11]
Alternatively the player can be pushed or placed out of bounds by Bob-ombs and Chuckyas respectively, or clip through using a crate. For example, if a player grabs a crate in Bob-omb Battlefield, Mario can crouch to place the box partially inside a slope at an edge of the level. Then by then performing a ground pound between the crate and the hill, Mario will temporarily clip under the slope despite the space being out of bounds. This is caused by the game using a stale reference for the ground that Mario was last in contact with, mistakenly assuming that the space Mario clips into is valid. However after being moved, the game updates this floor reference and Mario is killed from being out of bounds.
Death transferring
When Mario loses all his health and leaves the area through certain means, his dying animation can occur in the new area by exploiting instances where his health is preserved between are