List of Paper Mario glitches

This is a list of glitches in the game Paper Mario.

Treasure Room Freeze Glitch
In Bowser's Castle, if the player tries to enter the room with the door to the treasure before the lava has been cleared by jumping into the doorway, they will land in the lava and take damage, but also trigger the loading zone. The treasure room will appear, with Mario nowhere to be found; the game will freeze a second after the player entered the room, crashing into a debug screen with a floating point exception in the Nintendo 64 version. The debug screen does not appear in the Virtual Console release.

Herringway Glitch
By pausing the game right after Mario and Herringway enter the mayor's room, Herringway can be morphed into a normal Bumpty or become invisible. This can also be done right before initiating a conversation with the detective during Chapter 7. If invisible, he will reappear when the room is left. If Herringway becomes a normal Bumpty, the game will freeze when the mayor gives him the present, and a debug screen will follow. In the Virtual Console release, the game will not freeze, and he simply will become temporarily invisible when certain "carrying" sprites are supposed to be used; otherwise, he gains a "happy" expression and sometimes rapidly flaps his flippers.

Koopatrol Princess Peach
In the Chapter 6 event during the Intermission, if the player times the parasol right when the Koopatrol spots Princess Peach, she becomes a Koopatrol, but they still treat her as Peach. This also works on a Hammer Bro in the library; this is the result of a lack of landing sprite for the Koopatrol.

Li'l Non-Sparky
If Watt uses her Electro Shock on an enemy and it fails to do any damage, she will not have any lightning bolts emanating from her, which performs the glitch. This has been tested on fake Magikoopa clones and Bowser under the influence of the Star Rod.

Shiver Region Toad to Normal Toad
In Shiver City or Starborn Valley, the player should go into the Toad House and take a nap. After the nap, the player should pause the game. The Shiver Region Toad should then become a normal Toad. This does not affect anything within the game.

Negative Damage
To perform this glitch, the player must have the Charge and Ice Power badges equipped. Leveling up FP and having FP restoring badges and items is also recommended. The player must continuously charge their jump ability's attack power until it's attack is high enough. Jumping on a fire enemy (such as an Ember) will cause Mario to do -1 and -0 damage, being 101 and 100 damage respectively.

This happens because the Ice Power badge was poorly designed. It does not check for the maximum of 99 damage, meaning the player deals over 99 and invalid placeholders are used to represent the numbers.

Mayor Cutscene Glitch
In Shiver City, standing next to the edge of the mayor's house and mounting Lakilester causes Mario to clip inside the house without using the door, meaning the textures for the walls do not load, even during the cutscene with the mayor.

Swim out of Bounds
To, the player must go to the very end of the snow in Shiver City, then jump and hold or repeatedly tap C Down. If done correctly, Sushie will land under the dock. Mario and Sushie can then swim anywhere, but can not enter pipes. The glitch ends when Mario goes back to the dock.

If Mario tries to go to Shiver Mountain, they will land in ice and cannot hit the switch, this can be remedied by swimming below the back wall and going around the switch. If Mario goes to the Frost Piranha-populated part of Shiver Snowfield, the slopes will not be easy to pass, requiring diving below the "water" in different places to try to get past. Going down the slope in this area makes it difficult to get out. Encountering an enemy, but finishing with Sushie still as the active party member will temporarily cancel the glitch, but it will reactivate after going through a loading zone. However, encountering three enemies in one room without changing screens will softlock the game, as the game underflows the number of cut scenes that Mario is in. This glitch can be used to skip the Scarf and the Bucket by swimming under the wall in which they are needed to get past. While it is not possible to get all the way to Crystal Palace using this glitch, multiple sequences can be skipped on the way. The glitch can then be deactivated by encountering an enemy, and switching Sushie for another partner.

Save Anywhere
Text storage is useful for various glitches. The player should perform the Trampoline Softlock up until hitting the Save Block. Instead of merely jumping into the block, Mario should jump towards the block from nearby, and perform a well-timed spin jump as Mario brushes underneath the block. This will allow Mario to move while the Save Block is still active, allowing the player to save anywhere. Text storage can also be used from this by opening the partner menu, and then selecting "No" on the save menu, for other glitches.

Disappearing Parakarry
At the bridge connecting Goomba Road and Toad Town, there is a glitch in which Parakarry can disappear for a couple of seconds. First, the player must walk down the staircase, then spin towards a corner with a bush. If this is done correctly, Parakarry should disappear for one or two seconds.

Out of Bounds
The glitch makes it possible to move off the screen using small passageways, or a glitching Trampoline.

Mario Bros.' House out of bounds
The easiest place to go out of bounds is the Mario Bros.' House, in the secret basement. The player must set Kooper as their partner, stand behind the Trampoline, and hold the control stick down and press to launch Kooper. After that, Mario will jump to the normal floor of his house, then immediately clip under the secret basement. While Mario is still falling, the player must hold to clip outside. All actions are still functional, such as talking to Luigi. Re-entering the home at this point will cause the back wall and carpet to display incorrectly.

Harry's Shop out of bounds
The player must first progress through the game until they gain access to Harry's Shop's storeroom. Next, they must use Parakarry next to the wheel to clip onto the back wall. The player must carefully navigate the back wall to the other end. Fortunately, falling into the out of bounds will cause Mario to return to the last solid spot he stood on. Once the player is successful and clips outside, it can be seen that only Harry Shop is visible, though the spring to Shy Guy's Toybox will be visible if the player approaches the building containing it. In this state, entering a building other than the shop will keep it invisible and load any objects within. If Mario clips into the building to the left of the shop by navigating out of bounds however, the Toads inside will remain invisible. Exiting at this point will restore Toad Town's visibility but keep the shop in a broken state.

Sliding Mario
Mario can be stuck in his talking pose after the character starts talking. If the player starts talking as Mario is going up onto a ledge, Mario will be moving while the character is talking. If the player goes up onto the ledge, Mario will go back to normal after going back down, but if the player stays down, none of the controls will work and the game will have to be reset. The glitch works best in Kooper's house in Koopa Village.

Stuck Parakarry
If Mario interacts with the fireplace in Boo's Mansion while Parakarry is the active party member, Parakarry will continue to fly in place without following Mario. The glitch will end when he is switched for another partner,  is pressed, or Mario leaves the room.

Loading Zone Storage
To perform this glitch, the player must be in any area with a loading zone. Mario must jump onto the zone for one frame, jump off, land for one frame and repeat. To move while doing this glitch, the player must move with the control stick, and make sure its position is neutral one frame before landing. After being on the ground for two frames or more, the effect of the Loading Zone will occur.

Toad Town Out Of Bounds
To perform this glitch, the player must be in the central area of Toad Town, near the gate leading to where Peach's Castle once was. When the yellow Toad moving from one side to another stops at either side, Mario must spin in between the toad and the ground, and then quickly hammer. Mario will then clip through the wall. The player can navigate through the ground by falling out of bounds, but then Mario will be warped to a valid position. Alternatively, instead of spinning and using the hammer, the player can do a Tornado Jump with the Ultra Boots to clip through the wall.

Looping Sliding Sound
To do this glitch, the player must do the Loading Zone Storage glitch. The player must go to a room in Mt. Rugged with a slide. The player must store the loading zone by jumping up the slide until the sliding animation starts. Mario then enters the room stored, but the sliding sound effect loops. This glitch persists until the game is reset.

Tidal Wave Game Crash
To perform this glitch, the player must obtain Sushie and upgrade her to Ultra Rank. In a battle, the player must get at least 14 correct inputs in a Tidal Wave. The player should notice the game slowing down and eventually crashing. It shall be noted that this glitch only works on the Nintendo 64 version, and has different effects on the Virtual Console versions.

Trampoline Softlock
To perform this glitch, the player must go to the area in Mt. Lavalava with the Fire Shield badge. The player must use the trampolines to reach the area with the Save Block. Then, the player must fall off the left edge of the platform, bounce off the second trampoline only, jump under the Save Block and select the 'No' option. Mario becomes stuck until the game is reset.

This happens because the springs use a cutscene to prevent Mario from falling off while jumping up them. When Mario hits the bottom spring, he enters a cutscene, increasing the cutscene counter by 1. When he hits the top spring, he leaves the cutscene, lowering it by 1. If only the top spring is hit, the count drops to -1 (underflowing to 255) cutscenes. Once the Save Block is hit, the cutscene counter glitches out and becomes confused, assuming the player is in a cutscene that will never end, meaning Mario cannot move and the game is softlocked.

Double Dip Egg Missile Crash
To perform this glitch, the player must have the Double Dip badge and an Egg Missile. During the Lava Piranha boss fight near the end of Chapter 5, the player must use Double Dip and use an Egg Missile on the boss. For unknown reasons, the game will crash. Performing this in any other fight does not crash the game.

Peach Warp Softlock
By performing Peach Warp in Chapter 8, Mario will trigger a Peach cutscene that does not exist. Bowser's Castle will simply float forever like at the beginning of each cutscene.

Final Bowser Glitch
By using Goombario immediately when walking into the Final Bowser cutscene, Mario's momentum is maintained and multiple text boxes will appear at once during the cutscene. By waiting for each set of animations to finish and then proceeding to the next text box, text can be progressed before the characters finish speaking.

Trigger skips
Trigger skips are glitches which advance the game to a certain story position, whether that means skipping part of the game or returning to an earlier chapter. When Mario does certain actions, the game updates the story position. For example, entering the whale's mouth in Toad Town will set the game to the beginning of Chapter 5 when Fuzzipede is fought, even if Chapter 5 was already beaten, or the player has not beaten Chapter 4. This can lead to many other glitches.

Peach Warp
The player must go to Mount Lavalava and make sure Bombette is active.

Once there, the player should perform the Save Anywhere glitch, then open the partner menu. They must make sure the save cursor is over "No", but the partner selected is the one already out, to avoid closing the partner menu. The player must then press, which will allow Mario to move during the partner menu.

Next, Mario must throw Bombette towards the loading zone to the right of the Save Block, then, while hovering the cursor over Sushie in the partner menu, perform a spin jump into the loading zone right before Bombette explodes. This is difficult as Mario goes behind the partner menu and cannot be seen. Immediately upon landing, the player should perform the Loading Zone Storage glitch with frame-perfect jumps to the left until Mario falls off the ledge.

When the game transitions to the next room, Mario will be riding Sushie in the ground. By carefully angling Sushie and bobbing down into the ground at certain points, Mario can progress to the end of the volcano to the eruption sequence. Once the volcano erupts, the game plays the next Princess Peach cutscene, instead of the one at the end of Chapter 5. This can be used to skip entire chapters. If done during Chapter 8, no Peach cutscene exists, and the game will softlock as Bowser's Castle floats endlessly on-screen.