List of Paper Mario: The Origami King glitches

This is a list of glitches found in Paper Mario: The Origami King.

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all names are conjectural.

Graphics
Note: These glitches have no secondary affects on gameplay unless stated otherwise.

Bob-omb animation glitch
With correct timing, if the player swings their hammer at Bob-omb and rescues a Toad, Bob-omb's sprite when hit by the hammer remains the same until Mario enters a battle. Cutscenes do not fix this glitch.

Disappearing Sea Captain Toad
If the player reloads a save where Mario approaches the Sea Tower from the dock, either by starting a file there or dying and reloading, Sea Captain Toad will have vanished. Leaving and returning to this room will cause him to reappear.

Disappearing T. Ode
While at The Princess Peach, if Mario enters a room and then returns to the Sea Captain Toad's ship, Captain T. Ode will have vanished.

Invisible Mario glitch
There are some situations where the game purposefully makes Mario invisible for better cinematic shots, including during some boss introductions. By dying to said bosses the player gains the option to skip such introductions, and if these sequences get skipped while Mario is invisible, his state will not be reset. This results in an invisible Mario on the field, with the hammer also being invisible but still affecting the environment.

Invisible Olivia glitch
When Mario goes up the stairs outside the Earth Vellumental Temple after collecting the MAX UP Heart, Olivia comments on the Folded Soldier Goombas and tells Mario that he can defeat them with a First Strike. If Mario buys a fortune and gets the coin outcome before walking up the stairs, Olivia's dialogue appears without her. Enemies on-screen continue to move in place, while Toads move around freely.

Mega Paper Macho Pokey victory glitch
Upon defeating the Mega Paper Macho Pokey in the Battle Lab, it is possible for Mario to be standing sideways, facing upwards, during his victory animation. This has no adverse effects and the game progresses as normal.

Mismatched canoe damage
While riding the canoe down Eddy River, collisions will damage the boat, with holes appearing when reaching two hearts and one heart of health. Normally collecting a heart to restore health will repair a hole (both holes if a large heart is collected). However, if Mario takes damage and collects a heart at the same time, health is restored yet a new hole can be created. This makes it possible to have visible damage to the boat at full health.

Olivia animation freeze
In phase 2 of the fight against King Olly, magic circles surround the arena and Olivia will make various comments when Mario uses them. If Olivia's "It's working!" dialogue is interrupted by the Thwomp spawning, she will be frozen in part of her happy animation for about 20 seconds. This glitch will not occur during the initial cutscene of the Thwomp appearing.

Physics
Note: These glitches affect the way Mario and/or his party members interact with the world.

Colored Pencil ride
The colored pencils that rain down on Mario at the third floor of Overlook Tower actually have collision. Because of this, it is possible to climb down the ladder onto the surface of one and be carried away. Soon after, Mario will no longer be in a climbing state and will fall to the ground.

Floating partner glitch
By whacking Mario's partner and jumping away, and then opening the item menu while the partner attempts to follow him, the partner's gravity will be disabled. If said partner warps back to Mario, this will change the height they float at. This behavior can be cancelled if the partner jumps or walks down certain slopes. It is also possible to perform this glitch on a partner not immediately behind the player, but it requires having the partner in front of them to jump away rather than Mario.

The cause of this glitch was not fully understood until being reverse engineered 10 months after the game's release.

Partner duplication and smuggling
Partners follow Mario throughout his adventure, however they are restricted from various areas and are typically one-of-a-kind. Many glitches however can be exploited to not only bypass these area restrictions, but also duplicate or delete Mario's followers. The following entries catalog these methods of smuggling and cloning partners.

NOTE: For a similar smuggling glitch in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, see Flavio as a Permanent Partner.

Bob-omb
If the player manages to pull off the Autumn Mountain station clip, Bob-omb can be dublicated. They need to continue to the point where Bob-omb is knocked into Chestnut Valley, at which point they need to backtrack to the empty river, which activates the cutscene where Bob-omb interacts with the boulder blocking the path. After this cutscene is over, they will have a glitched clone of him, and they can have both Bob-ombs in the party if they jump down to Chestnut Valley without activating the Paper Macho Goomba cutscene. When using this glitch, it is possible to bring the cloned Bob-omb into the Water Vellumental Shrine, though if the player enters the fight against the Water Vellumental with him, he vanishes from the party afterwards.

Note: After the boulder in Sweetpaper Valley is destroyed, all partners are deleted upon entering Autumn Mountain, so clones from Chestnut Valley cannot be retrieved beyond here.

Professor Toad
With the use of clones it is possible to duplicate Professor Toad inside the entrance of the Fire Vellumental Cave, thanks to a trigger near the doorway to the next room (far trigger) and a trigger close to the entrance (near trigger). First the player must jump onto the rock in the bottom-left corner of the screen, high enough that the partner in front can warp and land on it. Then that partner must be hammered while Professor Toad is attempting to run towards said partner, causing the professor to run in place. From here the player can hit the far trigger and leave the cave, resulting in him being cloned.

Alternatively there is a universal method that works without any other partners in the party, using the Floating Partner Glitch and the same rock. Once Professor Toad is floating, activate the far trigger and wait for him to run to his waiting spot, hit the near trigger so he runs back to Mario, then activate the waiting spot trigger again and leave the cave.

Faceless Toad
These Toads are briefly met and aided in the Temple of Shrooms, and can be brought out of the area using partner clones. Simply bring at least one partner and its clone to the temple, recruit the faceless Toad(s) and leave so that they sit at the exit. Then enter and quickly exit the Temple of Shrooms again. This bypasses a check for the faceless Toads to stay behind.

Feelin' Fungi
These Toads are briefly met and aided on Club Island, and can be brought out of the area using knockback. By luring a Hammer Bro and positioning Mario near the ledge leading to the dock, Mario can be knocked through a trigger, bypassing the restrictions for the Feelin' Fungi.

The process is slightly more involved for smuggling the members that are not Joy because a second trigger is placed where the tall grass ends once another member is rescued. Get knocked through the grassy trigger, then inch back into the grass just enough to lure another Hammer Bro and then bypass the second trigger wall.

Kamek
Kamek, similar to Professor Toad, has a set of triggers that are used to have him leave and rejoin the party during the windy section of the path to the Spring of Rainbows. However, attempting to use the same duplication methods fails, instead deleting Kamek from the party and the area entirely. Attempting to load the Spring of Rainbows after falling from Shy Guys Finish Last results in a crash and bricks the save file. Returning to the main area of Shangri-Spa will respawn Kamek.

Professor Toad in the floor
In front of any tower in Scorching Sandpaper Desert, the player can get Professor Toad stuck in the ground by having him dig in front of the structure, moving back slightly and then speaking to Olivia.

Teeter storage
By opening either the item menu or pause menu  as Mario is about to teeter at a ledge, the game gives him both states. If the player keeps holding toward the ledge until closing the menu, Mario enters an unintended state of interaction. Prompts will not appear, menus and Olivia cannot be used, npcs do not react to being hammered, items are not collected, combat cannot be entered, etc. However events with triggers, loading zones, benches, and Not-Bottomless Holes will end the glitched state.

Out of bounds and clips
NOTE: This list includes glitches that bypass restrictions on where Mario can go before completing a given task.

Autumn Mountain Station clip
At the tram station in Autumn Mountain, the player can clip between a wooden pole and the steps and jump out at a certain angle to land out of bounds on the other side of the fence behind the station. If the player walks around the corner, whilst staying close to the wall to avoid the loading zone for the secret coin area, they can access the long grass field, skipping a small portion of the area.

Hazard respawn
Every room in the game has a default position used as a failsafe for the player if certain position checks are not satisfied. If Mario falls into a Not-Bottomless Hole or other floor hazard without ever setting a valid respawn position (a position the game can only store if Mario lands on ground not on nor near a hazard), this failsafe activates. Similarly, falling to a height of -100 units will cause Mario to "void out" and respawn at this default position.

Note: Certain rooms and hazards have set respawn positions.

Leaving Bowser in Bowser's Castle
After destroying the Green Streamer, Bowser insists that the player "Get me down already!". Instead, head right where the spike shaped like a traffic cone sits, and do running jumps angled downward in midair. If done properly, Mario will be pushed forward by the geometry, bypassing the trigger zones that keep Mario near the throne.

Leaving Luigi in Toad Town
By jumping on a specific portion of the lip of the "outer crust" in Peach's Courtyard, it is possible to jump over the short wall and walk around the flower beds in the background of the courtyard to skip saving Luigi in Toad Town. This does not affect future encounters with Luigi.

Paper Macho Goomba skip in Toad Town
Upon reaching Toad Town, Mario is met with a mandatory fight with the first Paper Macho Goomba. Trigger zones surround the area, however it is possible to be pushed through using collision. By luring the Paper Macho Goomba to the right side and waiting for it to stop glowing, Mario can squeeze between it and the trigger zone. Since the trigger has no collision, the player is pushed through, and can exit out the right side either by jumping over the other side of the trigger, or hitting side of the trigger and opening the item menu.

Paper Macho Gooper Blooper boss skip
After attempting to unlock the yellow lockbox, the Paper Macho Gooper Blooper will be waiting at the front of the ship, while a trigger blocks access to the stairs leading to Sea Captain Toad's ship. By bringing black and exiting out a portside door, Mario will walk out farther than intended to make room for said partners, causing him to fall out of bounds and respawn near Sea Captain Toad. Despite not defeating Gooper Blooper, a flag has already been set that allows Bob-omb to use the contents of the lockbox in Sweetpaper Valley, skipping the boss fight.

There is also a more indepth tutorial with details on setting up Bob-omb clones for the trick.

Princess skip in Shogun Studios
With either a precisely timed/placed jump or a mushroom to avoid using the prompt on top of the food bowl, it is possible to jump over the fence of Princess' enclosure. From there if the player positions Mario correctly, hammering the folded Toad will cause Mario to be pushed along by said toad, bypassing the trigger for Princess to scare him away.

This skips the fetch quest in Shogun Studios normally required to feed Princess the chain chomp and gain access to the Ninja Attraction.

Red house roof clip
By jumping at the right angle between a wall and a crate in Toad Town, the player is able to climb onto the roof of a house in the center of town. From there, they can wander along the tops of the nearby hedges, as well as make their way onto other rooftops in the area.

Sea Tower floor 2 skip
By lining up on the fourth step in the stairs leading up the Ice Vellumental statue, then jumping into the spot where the wall and the stairs meet and drifting back towards the stairs, Mario will be clipped into the ground. From here, Mario can narrowly jump from the edge of the icy terrain up to the area with a Shiny Ice Flower. Jumping forward into the "teeth" will clip Mario through to the other side, bypassing the icicles and completely skipping the puzzles intended on the 2nd floor of the Sea Tower.

Arrow storage
During the Earth Vellumental boss fight, Olivia will reset the rings if the player fails to complete the puzzle on their second turn. The game fails to reset Mario's walking direction, basically storing the last arrow he used. This can be used to hit the tail one turn early.

Fire and ice ball permanence
Fire Bros. and Ice Bros. are able to attack Mario on the field by throwing fireballs and iceballs respectively. If the player initiates a battle with these enemies while their projectiles are still on the field, upon ending the battle these elemental attacks will hover in place and lose collision. Leaving and reentering the area removes the projectiles.

Item not consumed in Tape battle
During the battle with Tape, the 1st phase ends with a unique fake-out animation. If the player uses an item to end the 1st phase, the game is not queued to remove the item, thus whatever item was used is not consumed. This glitch also applies to the durability check for weapons.

King Olly softlock
In the second phase of the final battle with King Olly, it is possible for the Thwomp to get stuck in mid-air just above Mario. This prevents him from using the 1,000-Fold Arms or dying, and hence requires the player to reset the game to escape the softlock.

Missing origami enemy in the museum
If an ally finishes a battle with an enemy that only appears in a scripted battle like a Black Shy Guy, that enemy will not appear in the Musée Champignon in the Origami Character section, thus not counting towards 100% game completion.

Wave battle glitch
If a wave battle is supposed to start, but only one enemy is alive and another is in their death animation, it still initiates a wave battle and consider both enemies alive.

Wrong weapon
During the first wave of a battle if all enemies are setup in squares, the game will automatically switch to the hammer when selecting weapons. If the player pushes up when the weapon menu opens, boots will be selected but the area of attack will still be for the hammer formation. Upon confirming the weapon choice, the picture will reflect the player's selection, but the text and actual attack will match the hammer.

5 and 6 partners
Attempting to recruit a 6th partner into Mario's party will crash the game. Recruiting a 5th partner will work, however any attempt by the game to save will also crash.

Deleted Folded Bowser
With a party size of 5 atop the volcano where Peach's Castle rests, it is possible to trick the game into removing Bowser from the party. The game will crash when attempting to have Bowser speak in the hallway due to failing to find the correct NPC to send the instructions to.

Fishing in Shogun Studios with the wrong partner
It is possible to bring partners out of their restricted areas through various means. If the player have such partners in their party but do not have Bob-omb, attempting to quit the fishing minigame in Shogun Studios will result in a crash.

Party size file corruption
Reaching 5 party members in particular sections of the game is prone to corrupting the save file. Opening the menu, starting Mario's turn in normal battles, and other actions will crash the game, regardless of how the party changes after the glitch is initiated. The effects are only permanent after the game is saved.

Temple of Shrooms
If the player brings 4 partners into the Temple of Shrooms and recruits a faceless Toad, their save file is corrupted. In this state it is impossible to initiate the Hole Punch boss fight, effectively ending game progression.

Peach's Castle (Section 6)
If the player brings 3 partners to Peach's Castle atop the volcano, Luigi and Folded Bowser will be recruited and the save file becomes partially corrupted. After using the Key to Peach's Castle, attempting to enter the castle foyer will crash the game. This can be circumvented by leaving and reentering the front door of the castle. However, after Luigi falls into the trapdoor the file is fully corrupted.

Shogun bridge crash
Attempting to cross the bridge near the front entrance of Shogun Studios 19 times will cause a game crash, assuming the player does not enter buildings or leave the area during the process. It is unknown why this causes a crash.

Patched glitches
Due to patches, these glitches are impossible to perform.

Battle Lab score glitch
In the Battle Lab, the score sometimes was not properly updated if the player completed 33 or more rings in the Speed Rings mini-game.

Ladder softlock
Using a ladder from specific angles, Mario cannot move after jumping off. He can use Olivia to turn himself and escape by climbing down the ladder, but if he instead climbs to the top of the ladder again, the player will enter a softlock.

MAX UP Heart coffin skip
In the Temple of Shrooms, it was possible to collect the MAX UP Heart in the coffin room by hitting it with the hammer while the coffin is closed. If the player did this, the Love Toad would not count the upgrade has having been collected and would continue to get the player to find it.

This glitch has since been fixed in version 1.0.1. The MAX UP Heart cannot be collected without opening the coffin anymore, and any players who have collected it now find that the Love Toad considers it to have been collected.

Missing Black Shy Guy glitch
If the player let Professor Toad defeat the Black Shy Guy enemy in the Temple of Shrooms, the enemy would not be registered to the museum as defeated and they would be unable to face it again to register it. This glitch was fixed in version 1.0.1 by adding another Black Shy Guy to Scorching Sandpaper West after Hole Punch is defeated, which can be battled as many times as the player likes.

Rubber Band freeze
In the battle with Rubber Band, it was possible to freeze the game.

Snif City Royal Hotel glitch
If the player turned off the water in the Snif City Royal Hotel, then does not free the Toad that the nearby Snifit was surfing on, they would be unable to free it when they return later in the story. This made it impossible to get 100% completion for Shroom City and locked the player out of the secret ending.

Stuck pillar
In the Sea Tower, there is a moving pillar in the Earth Vellumental room that the player has to pull Olly Tape off of. However, in some instances, the pillar does not move after they do this, potentially rendering the save file unwinnable.

Sumo Bro softlock
During the second phase of the Boss Sumo Bro rematch in the Battle Lab, defeating the Boss Sumo Bro with a POW Block without defeating the two Sumo Bros beforehand causes the game to soft-lock.

Undefeatable Ninjis
In the Ninja Attraction in Shogun Studios, some Ninjis were impossible to defeat, making the area unwinnable.

VIP pass glitch
In Shangri-Spa, after obtaining the Spring of Rainbows - VIP, if the player left the path to the Spring of Rainbows after entering, the Spring of Rainbows - VIP would disappear from the menu. If the player then spoke to the Toad at the reception, they would not have the stamp card and there was no way to get another one. Saving after this point would brick the save file. This glitch has since been patched and any players affected by the glitch would be able to progress normally.