Talk:List of Super Paper Mario glitches

(First topic)

Almost all of the glitches listed here are fixed in the PAL version. I'm going to start marking glitches that are fixed in the PAL version with an asterix. But since a lot of them can only be performed at a certain point in the storyline, I'm going to need some help with it.
SKmaric (talk)

That's a great idea. I don't think you'll need a proposal for that but I suggest to just swing it by the staff, maybe Edo, and see what they think. Zero777 (talk)

0 HP

I've seen other ways of getting the 0 HP glitch, as here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0HdXWWRHkY. I think there are others (it just happened to me for no apparent reason, but that might have just been a random error in the 1s and 0s of my Wii).
— The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mpeng (talk).

NOT shrinking bowser glitch

if bowser stands on top of a treasure chest and his nose is touching a wall and he tries to shrink, he won't shrink. Valehd (talk) 21:32, 22 March 2015 (EDT)

I can't do it.

I have the NTSC version of SPM, but the Yold Town Shop Void glitch doesn't work. I can't get Mario in his falling animation.
— The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wikikiw (talk).

Boomer and Carrie

Would it be possible to get Carrie before Boomer?

Remembered Old Buddy

This is not possible due to how the game is coded. A specific list of Pixls will still join Mario at the end of the level regardless of if the player initiated the cutscene that unlocks them or not. Boomer is one of these pixls, in fact in speedruns Boomer is skipped and at the end of the level special dialogue plays indicating that he joined the party. The only pixls that do not have this behavior are Thudley, Fleep, Cudge, and all of the optional pixls. --Zaku (talk) 16:53, March 7, 2022 (EST)

Disappearing Mimi

Perhaps this isn't a glitch but a reward for the player hiding. I mean, since Mimi lost track of Mario's position, she can't find him afterwards anymore. I think someone should check the game's code to see. It's probably not easy, but I feel like this shouldn't be considered a "glitch". ☆Scarlet Pairo☆ talk 11:16, October 17, 2021 (EDT)

I was thinking that too, I recall someone checking what the game is doing to cause this, they posted their findings in the SPM Speedrunning Discord but I'm having trouble finding it. Those would either confirm or deny this as a glitch though so I'll keep searching. --Zaku (talk) 22:24, March 16, 2022 (EDT)

Rewritting Disappearing Boomer Entry

While cleaning up the writing of some entries on this list to make sure they are more concise, I skipped past "Disappearing Boomer." I'm not really sure what exactly is meant by the description, and there is no citation attached, so I worry if I edit it I will no longer be describing the glitch correctly. Does anyone know the source or understand what it says? --Zaku (talk) 22:35, March 16, 2022 (EDT)

so yeah... umm... bestovius softlock?

so... um... if your'e on dolphin and in super paper mario... and you go to bestovius house... the game softlocks. thats all i have. idk if this works on wiis too 24.76.248.68 16:13, September 14, 2024 (EDT)

I think you need to try and use whatever you have set up for a Wii remote analogue, make sure you're not just at the part where there's a hidden door. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 16:16, September 14, 2024 (EDT)

Invisible Pigarithm

This is a glitch I'd found years before creating an account. If you manage to defeat a Pigarithm (or a variant of the enemy) and catch it with Thoreau before it finishes it's death animation, Mario will be left holding an invisible version of the enemy. It can still be scanned by Tippi, and will be destroyed if the player drops it. I believe the reason this happens is because the Pigarithm switches models every time it takes damage, but there is no model in the game for anything smaller than phase 3. A recommendation if you plan to test this out is in Chapter 4-4: The Whoa Zone, where the ability for Pigarithms to collide on the reverse gravity sections makes testing a tad easier. Wandering Poplin (talk) 12:54, December 25, 2025 (EST)

I also recently discovered a few other oddities related to the glitch which may be worthy of note:

• Despite the name, the Pigarithm isn't technically invisible. Because the model shrinks and switches every time it takes damage, it seems that it actually just assumes its smallest possible size.
• The hitbox of the enemy in this state appears to be somewhat disproportionate. In Chapter 4-4, it can destroy other Pigarithms on the ceiling, without taking any further damage itself. It actually managed to instantly defeat one of the ceiling based Pigarithms while it had full HP.
  • By standing stationary in the ground, it also managed to deal damage on full-sized and medium-sized ones based on the ground before they made contact with the player*, although the smallest sized one was short enough to evade the hitbox and hit the player themselves. (*Specifically Mario. It's possible the larger hitboxes of Princess Peach, Bowser, or Luigi would alter the results of this a bit.)
• Taking damage while carrying it allows the player to drop the Invisible Pigarithm without destroying it. Other enemies can still make contact with it as normal, but the dropped Pigarithm itself will remain motionless and "invisible." The player can pick it back up again afterwards, but I've yet to see what happens if you attempt to use an item/Jump attack on it in this state.

Hope this information is useful to someone. Wandering Poplin (talk) 16:30, March 17, 2026 (UTC)

Wow wish I noticed this earlier, we actually ended up independently noticing this on recently and I can confirm what you’ve seen of the glitch thus far. I’d like to add that you actually can’t use items on it… at least for normal Pigarithms/Hogarithms. Dark Pigarithms actually behave differently (for some reason) but before I list the differences, the particular reason the pig looks like that is due to the opening animation a pigarithm goes through when defeated. That’s basically the last pose of the animation, which happens to invert the parts of the pig somewhat. Also of note is that dropping the pig like you mentioned and then picking it back up and throwing will make Thoreau lose the ability to grab it anymore, which is peculiar, and in this state it actually keeps incrementing the “Enemies Defeated” sign in Flopside at a rate I haven’t measured.

Now, Lilyuωu found that Dark Pigarithms actually don’t die when thrown, and you can still use an item on them, so an alternate method is to simply use a stopwatch on one as it dies. I think this is because unlike regular Pigarithms and many other enemies, the Dark variant doesn’t get flagged as non-targettable in this state. This leads to extra behavior where once dropped it actually becomes visible again as its smallest form, but without making noise and moving at a speed too fast for edge detection, which also makes it collide weirdly (or not at all) with enemies and the player. It can however be defeated during this like normal. Also, they can be Fleeped in this state but it doesn’t really accomplish anything. I’d add these to the page but it isn’t really a good time, perhaps I’ll get to it later this week. Regardless thanks for bringing this bug up! _//ZAKU// (talk · edits) 20:53, March 17, 2026 (UTC)

Incorrect dizzy animation glitches.

This is a slightly less interesting "glitch" than the Invisible Pigarithm one, it's more akin to the Spiny walking glitch and other graphical bugs.

A few enemies in the game do not have properly implemented dizzy states. I have specifically found this phenomenon with Clubbas, Tileoids, as well as Dark Mario and Dark Peach*. For these characters, they will simply freeze in their "idle" stance and remain motionless until they are released. This can be seen by throwing the characters with Thoreau, and picking them back up before they recover.

I've yet to see how many characters have this issue, but it may prove to be some interesting info for this page, as well as the Dizzy article itself. I hope someone finds this discovery useful. (*Just for clarity, Dark Bowser cannot safely be grabbed, and Dark Luigi uses the same animations as Mr. L. And Mr. L actually does have a dizzy animation.) Wandering Poplin (talk) 07:16, March 25, 2026 (UTC)

I can confirm there are a wide variety of enemies with this issue, Off the top of my head I believe the variants of Boomboxers also stay frozen in a frame of their idle pose (ironic given their unique dizzying interaction with explosions). I don’t know if a full list has been documented yet but the issue has been seen sporadically across the years. I’m working on a bunch of projects but should have free time to check them all soon. _//ZAKU// (talk · edits) 20:49, March 25, 2026 (UTC)

Stunned Mimi Oddity

This is a detail I found earlier in the month. I'm not quite sure if it really counts as a "glitch", persay, but it's clearly not intentionally behavior.

Normally, while battling Mimi during the end of Chapter 2-4, She must be struck with two separate attacks in order to remove one of her legs. However, I discovered that stunning her and then using a Stop Watch (or any item which inflicts the Stopped status) on her, causes the stunned state to be abnormally prolonged. Any subsequent damage dealt to her while she's in this state will immediately detach one of her legs, without the need for her to be struck twice in order to do so. This oddity allows her to be defeated more quickly than normal.

I also attempted to see if this glitch also applies to her rematch in Chapter 8-2, but it didn't seem to function quite the same, largely due to the Rubee Saw attack she automatically uses when at certain levels of HP. (There's also a chance I may have ruined that attempt via using a Ice Storm on her immediately after using the Stop Watch. Frozen doesn't seem to have the same effects or duration as Stopped.) Wandering Poplin (talk) 22:53, March 31, 2026 (UTC)