List of Super Mario 64 glitches

The following are glitches that can be found in the game Super Mario 64. Some of these glitches were fixed in the DS remake but some were not fixed.

In several levels that have endless holes, including Tiny-Huge Island, Tick Tock Clock, Whomp's Fortress, Rainbow Ride, Cool, Cool Mountain, Tall, Tall Mountain and Hazy Maze Cave, if Mario collects his 100th coin directly above a bottomless pit, a Star will magically appear as usual, but Mario will be unable to collect it because if he touches the Star, he immediately falls straight down and he does his victory dance while suspended in the air and then he falls in the endless pit and loses a life. However, the star still counts toward the total. This is also possible at Dire, Dire Docks, except that it is water instead of a bottomless pit. In this case, Mario does his victory dance at the bottom and does not lose a life.

To beat Koopa the Quick in zero seconds, the player must get the Wing Cap and triple jump right in front of Koopa the Quick, but not too close, then Ground Pound into the first cannon and blast to the floating island. They must then Ground Pound again into another cannon and blast to the goal flag on the top of the mountain. Koopa the Quick will talk to Mario from the race's starting point once he lands, though he is very far away. Then, the timer begins as usual and ends at zero seconds, as Mario has already reached the flag. However, Koopa the Quick never gets up there, so the Power Star can't be obtained in this way. If Mario goes back to the start, Koopa the Quick is gone.

This glitched area is actually nothing more than the small space behind the front doors of Princess Peach's Castle, though the player is normally not supposed to be able to enter it. Mario can discover it by accidentally becoming trapped within the walls of the large tower atop the castle.

To do so, the player must first have all 120 Power Stars collected, and be outside the castle. The player will have to use the cannon near the castle's moat to shoot Mario up on top of the castle's roof, where he must locate the Wing Cap. Mario must use it to fly back to the cannon and then shoot himself back out of it again, this time aiming towards the flagpole at the top of the castle's tower. If done correctly, the targeting reticule of the cannon should be able to go no higher when aimed upwards. Once launched, the player will have to steer Mario towards the second rooftop area on the side of the tower with the window. Mario must run into the middle part of the wall here, and then jump when he hits the wall (while simultaneously holding the control stick forward). This may take a while, but Mario should eventually go through the wall of the tower and end up behind the castle's front doors. If Mario runs into the door, he will pass through it and find himself in another glitched area behind the doors inside the castle. The "Black Room of Death" can, however, be exited by jumping through the wall above the front doors inside the castle. This glitch wasn't fixed in the Virtual Console release and it is possible to do this glitch in the DS remake.

There are many Black Rooms in Peach's castle, many of which can be accessed via the "Through the Roof", "Reverse Long Jump" and "MIPS" glitches.

In Bob-omb Battlefield, the player must be near the Bob-Omb that is near the bars, then, dive and catch it, going in the bars' direction. When Mario hits the wall, the Bob-Omb will slide to the other side of the bars.

In order to see this, the player must have around 12 stars so the Boo, who leads to the back courtyard, appears in the hallway. The player must go into the hall, and then go to the room where the painting to Whomp's Fortress is. Then, the player must walk slowly to the left side of the room and exit and head to where the Boo is. It should be facing backwards, and the player must chase it out of the room and to the back garden. The player must then go to the castle basement and then back to the Boo's hallway. He will be facing the normal way. The player need to go to the Whomp's Fortress room again and move slowly to the left. Partway there, the Boo will laugh. The player has to slowly walk out of the room and into the courtyard hallway. The Boo should have disappeared. Then, the player must go to the door that leads to the courtyard and position Mario so he looks to the right in camera center mode. Behind the door, a Boo facing forward, backward, left or right should be floating in the middle of nowhere.

To trigger the glitch, the player must be fighting Bowser. If he or she grabs his tail while it is positioned off the edge of the battlefield, Mario is immediately teleported to the bottom of the screen while still holding Bowser by the tail, resulting in the player losing a life (if it is the Bowser in the Fire Sea fight, however, the player lands in the lava, losing a life after three hits).

If the player goes to Bowser in the Fire Sea, he or she must go to the area with the two moving platforms. Next the player must jump into the Lava when the platform is moving towards Mario. If timed correctly, the platform will crush Mario while he is still on Lava. This will cause an instant kill.

The player should go to Lethal Lava Land and jump into the volcano, then go to the platform with the Bully. The player must make the Bully run after them and make Mario run into the corner of the platform with two walls around it. The Bully will ram into the player, but Mario will be unable to move, because the two walls are blocking him and the Bully is keeping Mario stuck in the corner. The Bully will keep ramming into Mario, making the player unable to escape. The glitch will only end if the player resets their N64 system. This glitch was changed in the DS remake, where, if a Bully rams into the player, it will stand still for a few seconds before charging again, giving them a chance to escape.

While in front of a wall (not so far of it), the Player must Long Jump in its direction and, when Mario bumps on it, press. Mario will perform a Wall Jump.

Mario must go through any castle door that isn't on the first floor, and then go through that door again, but then go straight back through the door. The camera will then be stuck on the opposite side of the door.

This glitch can be exploited in any level in which Mario can lose his cap and there is a teleport, or there is an Exclamation Mark Block holding a cap.

As an example of the Mario's cap variant, the player must go to Shifting Sand Land and let Klepto steal Mario's cap. In response, the player must attack Klepto and make him drop the cap, but not retrieve it. Instead, they must go through the teleport underneath the Tree, and immediately teleport back. They must then go to the place where he knocked out Klepto, where there will now be two caps instead of one. When Mario picks up the second, the cap on his head will disappear, and the animation will glitch, causing him to keep the cap in his hand rather than placing it on his head. After exiting a level, the cap will appear on Mario's head, but if the player goes to Shifting Sand Land, Klepto will have Mario's cap. If the player saves and resets the game, Mario will be without his cap. Occasionally, Mario will have two hats: one in hand and one on his head.

For the Exclamation Mark Block cap variant, the player must hit the block to release a cap, but not pick it up until the block has reappeared and they have released a second cap. They must then quickly pick up the first cap (which will be blinking and about to disappear), and immediately collect the second, requiring precise timing.

While Mario is holding his cap instead of wearing it on his head, he'll still take more damage than usual if hit by any enemy, as if he had lost his cap.

Talking to a Bob-omb Buddy will cause Mario to recover his hat. However, collecting a Power Star will cause Mario to be hatless.

When the player activates a homing 1-Up, if the player presses, the mushroom will fly in circles above Mario's head. This glitch wasn't fixed in the Nintendo DS remake.

The player must go to the basement and deplete Mario's lives with the fire torchs. When Mario is down to his last two lives, the player must go near the fire torch near the Lethal Lava Land painting and then jump at the fire torch and then run into the painting before the lives are depleted. As soon as Mario lands at Lethal Lava Land, he dies. It is possible to perform this glitch in the DS remake.

Once in front of a slippery slope (Mario should be facing it), the player must tap continuously. If carried out correctly, Mario will climb the slope. The player can also tap and, making Mario climb in the commanded directions. This can also be accomplished in the remake simply by holding in the given direction without holding down. This will not work on all slippery slopes.

To do this glitch, Mario must go to the Shifting Sand Land course. He must go onto the area where there is a grey platform suspended by four pillars. Mario must run toward a Goomba that is under the platform and do one of two attacks: diving (pressing B while running) or slide kicking (run, quickly crouch and immediately press B). The Goomba should be stomped, but the coin will continue to fly up and appear on top of the upper grey platform, which Mario cannot normally jump through. This does not affect the game, other than requiring Mario to Triple Jump onto the upper platform to get the coin.

To perform this glitch, the player must select a new game and enter the castle. The player must do the Reverse Long Jump and steer Mario close to the locked door above and Mario will get shot behind the door and he must go the second floor. The player then does the same with the Star Door, shooting Mario to the third floor. The player then has to do the Reverse Long Jump again, and Mario will be shot behind the Star Door and up the Endless Stairs. The player can now play the Bowser in the Sky level with no stars.

In Course 1 of Bob-omb Battlefield, if the player climbs the mountain and finds the Bob-omb that is manning the water cannon, picks him up, makes Mario jump, and presses, the Bob-omb will be suspended in mid-air.

This glitch works in Shifting Sand Land. The player needs to go into the pyramid, at the place with Spindel. If Mario gets close enough, the Spindel will start to flatten Mario. Mario will be crushed, but he will not lose any health. Mario can't move again until the Spindel gets off of Mario. This also works in Whomp's Fortress: if the player stands under the very edge of the Thwomp, it will land and squish Mario and he will not lose any health.

Mario must go to Lethal Lava Land, grab a Green Shell and ride it to the log near the caged area. The player has to jump on the log and make it move. The player must charge at the log while it is still moving towards Mario. When Mario touches the log, he will lose the Green Shell like he usually does, but the log will still be moving and crush Mario like a bug. He will be dead, but he will still be sitting on lava.

To execute this glitch, the player should do the "Zombie Mario" method by using a cannon while under the effects of a Wing Cap. Then, the player should fly to the floating island, and Ground Pound the ! Block star. When done correctly, Mario will die, but he will also freeze and won't be able to move or lose a life. To end this glitch, the player can reset or turn off the N64 system.

If Mario grabs a 100 coin star and is in the air while at the same time he opens a ! Block star block, and if the animations of the two stars play while Mario grabs one of them, the game freezes because it doesn't know which star Mario is supposed to get.

To do this, Mario must lose his cap from Klepto in Shifting Sand Land, and then get it back, but not touch it. Then use the teleport multiple times. Then pick up a single cap from the pile that spawned. Get Klepto to steal it, and pick up another cap. Mario will be wearing a cap, however the conditions are still the same as if he did not have a cap. Klepto will not attack Mario, as he already has a cap. If Mario exits the level wearing the fake cap, he will lose it, and Klepto will still have the real cap.

If the player tilts the N64 cartridge itself just a tad bit from the left, Mario's limbs dissappear and reappear but he can still be controlled. The game will also make a crackling noise. Entering any doors like that will freeze the game. This is a common occurrence in Nintendo 64 games and is often manipulated in sequence breaks. It can disable Mario's clipping with certain characters and objects, allowing him to pass through them, as well. However, Mario still can't pass through walls or doors. This isn't possible in the Virtual Console release.

If the player go to Hazy Maze Cave, they must go to the area with Dorrie, grab a Metal Cap, go under water, and tilt the cartridge. Mario's limbs won't be disfigured, he won't sink, and Mario still won't go through objects, but the entire level will turn into a bottomless pit filled with water. Because Mario has a Metal Cap, he will only head straight down. Going too deep will make Mario fall through another pit, but he won't die. Mario will keep on falling until the player resets or turns off the N64 system. If the player presses any other button, the game will freeze. This is not possible in the Virtual Console release.

Mario must go to a Battlefield and grab a wing cap. Tilt the cartridge and Mario will be the same as Flip'd-up Mario 1, only he will have wing cap. Normally tilting the cartridge then grabbing the wing cap would freeze the game. But do that in the opposite order so the game doesn't freeze.

Now go inside a cannon and shoot Mario into the air. His limbs will disappear, but he's not sinking. Now Put the cartridge in the correct position.

The game already had a hard time playing the music, so when putting the cartridge in position, a sound can be hear. Once the wing cap vanishes, the game will play the Battlefield music correctly. Battling a boss will cause the game to freeze. This is not possible in the Virtual Console release

The player must go to Whomp's Fortress and go in the cannon. The player must then tilt the cartridge and fire Mario. He will disappear and will appear when he hits the ground only he will be the same like Flip'd-up Mario 1 and the player must grab a tree. Mario will dissappear and the player must hit an enemy. The overworld music and the ground will become glitched. The game will eventually crash, playing an ear-splitting screech. This is not possible in the Virtual Console release. It is discouraged to do this glitch because it might override the N64's memory or damage the cartridge.

After the player defeats Bowser the second time in Bowser in the Fire Sea, the player should go to the door that leads to the second floor and run to the pole on the left wall, and then jump twice. Mario will go through the room and onto the stairs.

Also before the basement door, there's a Black Room of Death, which is accessible via this glitch.

In Whomp's Fortress, if Mario puts a certain block in the area with Thwomps, it may either trap the block in there, or Mario will go through it, falling into water. If Mario swims too deep, however, he will fall and lose a life.

This glitch can only be done in Bob-omb Battlefield. Over in the area where there are many Bob-ombs, a cannon, and a Wing Cap block, there will be bubbles falling from above. When a bubble lands on a Bob-omb, the Bob-omb will grow larger, and explode. To perform this glitch successfully, the player must press B to pick up the Bob-omb exactly as the bubble comes in contact with it. If done correctly, Mario should be holding the Bob-omb in its "larger" form. Occasionally, Mario will start walking backwards uncontrollably until the Bob-omb explodes, in which case Mario will lose two sections of his Health Meter.

Another way to perform this glitch is a little different, and thus, much easier to do. This variant also works in any course. The player must grab a Bob-omb and simply toss it. Although, the tricky part is to catch the Bob-omb before it hits the ground, Mario will once again, slide backwards, and sometimes at incredible speeds.

In order to activate this glitch, the player must select the second mission in Bob-omb Battlefield and talk to Koopa the Quick while wearing the Wing Cap. While racing him up the mountain, the player must use a small alcove to teleport higher up the mountain, after which they must quickly reach the flag at the top of the mountain and wait for Koopa the Quick to appear. When the Wing Cap power-up eventually runs out, the Wing Cap background music will be still playing. To end the glitch, the player must collect another Wing Cap; when this one runs out, the background music will end normally.

In addition, if the player grabs any type of cap and goes though a teleport zone, Mario will teleport out without the cap, but the music will still be playing.

This glitch can only be achieved in Bowser in the Fire Sea. To activate this glitch, with precise timing you must grab Bowser's tail just as he's teleporting. This will cause him to be invisible through the entire battle. But note that he will continue to attack normally even while he's in this condition. Also, Mario will not be hurt if he makes any form of contact with him. The glitch can be undone if Bowser teleports again or if he is thrown off the edge.

To occur this glitch, Mario must go to any course with a sleeping Piranha Plant. Then Mario must hurt himself and stay at the middle of the Piranha Plant. In that case, Mario will be invisible as long as he stays in the Piranha Plant.

This glitch is tricky and gives out mixed results. The player must first perform the Hold Larger Bob-omb glitch with the bottom method. To do this glitch, the Bob-omb should be stable and not pushing Mario backwards. Next, the player must walk up a ramp that will make Mario slide back down. If done correctly (It doesn't always work) the player will slide down the ramp, get up and instead be holding nothing or a small ring of slightly opaque haze. If the player walks around the course in different areas, the nothingness Mario is holding will transform into items not normally holdable. Some of the items seen are a Goomba, a Coin, a Chain Chomp chain part, a flat bubble, a water bomb, or a Big Steely. This glitch is related to the Loading Area Glitch.

When entering Jolly Roger Bay, the player must start swiming toward the hole in the pirate ship in mission 1, otherwise the ship will not be underwater. Once Mario is almost there, he will be teleported under the ship.

After collecting all 120 Power Stars, the player must take Mario to the roof of Princess Peach's Castle. For this to work, Mario has to walk to the far right side of the castle roof. When Mario reaches a corner, he will fall down slightly and grab onto a ledge. The player must pull themselves back up onto the roof, at which point Mario will lose a life. This can be done if the player does the glitch which Mario will get on the castle without 120 stars, Mario might accidentally grab the corner and if the player pulls Mario up, he will then lose the life. For unknown reasons, he also loses his hat.

If a player grabs the only crate in Bob-omb Battlefield, carries it up the bridge to the little hill below the hill with the red coin, faces towards the grass, standing on the edge of the hill (with the crate 3/4 above the grass and 1/4 on the hill) and presses the Crouch button, the crate will be slightly in the hill. If the player then does a ground pound between the crate and the Hill, Mario will die instantly, somehow losing his hat.

The player can go to any course with a Koopa or an ! Block with a Koopa Shell. If the player times it so that Mario runs towards the shell and ducks right when he touches it but doesn't start riding it, the music in the level should replay from the beginning as if the player rid the shell and ducked, but the shell doesn't break.

At the beginning of the game, the player can make a Long Jump on the exact edge of the bridge. If they succeed, the player won't need to talk to Lakitu. Lakitu will still come down, but his graphics will be screwed up. The game then shows Lakitu, only without the cloud.

A loading area is a part of courses which splits one area into two without it being obvious to the player. However, if the player manages to get through this area with an item, it may change to everything the game data has. Only few items can be really placed in the level, most of them just disappear. This glitch can be done in Wet-Dry World and Dire, Dire Docks. The Tall, Tall Mountain slide has a loading area too, but there are no grabbable items on it.

Occasionally, in Snowman's Land, if Mario gets blown off the icy bridge by the snowman at just the right angle, his cap will fall into the ice box with a star in it (from In the Deep Freeze). If Mario tries to grab his cap, he will instead grab the star. If the player saves the game at this point, then Mario will be permanently capless.

To do this glitch, Mario must go to Bob-omb Battlefield. In the elevator area, he can grab the elevated edge. The elevator will crush Mario, just making him go inside the wall and get up to land. The game will run normally.

For this glitch to work, Mario must go to Bob-omb's Battlefield and grab a Bob-omb and go near the gate near the Chain Chomp containing the Power Star. The Bob-omb will explode and will throw Mario through the gate and he will be able to get the Star instead of pounding Chain Chomp's stake although he can't if he had two wedges of health. This can happen on the gate near the marble-like slide.

When Mario lets go of MIPS, he goes forward a bit. For some odd reason, MIPS stays around after the player grabs him and gets his star. Mario can then grab him like a normal object. If Mario walks toward the right side of the a door (one of the two spots where the door and the wall touch) while holding MIPS (angled so that MIPS goes a little bit into the wall), and lets go, then Mario will be stuck in the middle of the door (this glitch only works sometimes). If Mario turns around (by crawling) and faces towards MIPS, grabs MIPS, still in the door, then turns towards the other side of the door and lets go of MIPS, then MIPS will be on the other side of the door. If Mario does this to the main door in the water filled room that leads to the star door room, and repeats it with the star door (with less than 30 stars), Mario will be able to get to Dire Dire Docks or Bowser in the Fire Sea with less than 30 stars. Mario can also do this glitch to get to two different Black Rooms of Death.

This glitch can be achieved during any Bowser battle. To do this glitch, the player must first grab Bowser's tail and throw him off the edge. When Bowser jumps back, grab his tail while he's still in the air and throw him onto a bomb. The result will be that instead of dying, Bowser will be sent flying off the edge of the stage but will still be alive. He will eventually jump back to the center of the stage and the battle will progress normally.

This glitch only works in the Japanese version.

While fighting Bowser in Bowser in the Dark World, the player should avoid his fire breath and keep picking up the coins that come from the flames. When Mario reaches a total of 1,000 coins in the level, his extra life total will change to "M25". That is, the total will go down when Mario normally gains a life, and it will go up when he normally loses a life. In other versions of the game the player can't collect more than 999 coins.

First, the player must have at least ten stars. Mario must go in the lobby. He should stand directly behind the carpet in the lobby and look up. Next, he should go on the carpet and quickly zoom in. If the player did it correctly, Mario will enter Tower of the Wing Cap before he looks up.

If Mario stands at the front of Peach's left portrait, near the Star Door in the Third Room and the player uses the first person view, they can flip the angle to left until they see a lone door at the black background.

On the stairs leading to the second floor of the castle, if the player goes to the left and uses first person view to look left and up, they can see two lone star doors in the black background.

This glitch is done by going to the stairs leading to the second floor of Princess Peach's Castle. On the staircase just after a few steps if the player moves Mario against the wall, change to the zoomed camera, tilt the camera so it goes to the left of Mario and through the wall, the player can see the cloud as it looks similar to a Fwoosh or the cloud a Lakitu is riding.

This can also be made when Mario stands at the left part of the stairs in the Third Floor (that leads to a door to the Endless Staircase).

The player must go to any set of long stairs, then face the stairs and turn around, so Mario is facing away from the stairs. Now, the player performs a long jump. As soon as Mario jumps, they must hold backwards on the control stick. After they land, the player should rapidly tap the button and after a while, Mario should start zooming backwards at very high speeds, usually going through walls and doors. This is most famously used to get to the top of the Endless Stairs in Princess Peach's Castle. The reason this works when traveling the Endless Stairs is because, the game can register how fast Mario can normally move however, when the Reverse Long Jump is performed this breaks how fast Mario is able to move. So the game then, has nothing to do but let Mario to the top. This is also the way Mario can go through walls. This glitch can do a lot of things. It can make the player complete the game with no stars, make Mario go through walls, and it can beat Koopa the Quick in under 4 seconds.

This glitch also works with elevators and similar platforms. The player executes the glitch in the same way, but if they stop tapping while the wall is still behind Mario, he starts to run backwards very fast as soon as the player holds the control stick backwards. If the player doesn't stop tapping and has reached the top, Mario will teleport somewhere behind him (depending on what speed he gained while jumping onto the platform). This was fixed in its DS remake as if when Mario attempts a backwards long jump, he will somehow bang into a wall.

While in a Painting with a steep hill, Mario Must do the reverse long jump glitch on the hill. While reverse long jumping, quickly pause and un-pause the game. Now do a FOWARD long jump. The player will get sent flying away from the stage and lose a life. While the screen is black, the game will freeze. The best thing to do is turn off the N64. Otherwise the cartridge will stay frozen.

Bowser can technically be swung around even without rotating the Analog Stick; by holding and hitting  (or /) to move the camera, Bowser will be slowly rotated.

On the Cool, Cool Mountain level, if the player heads to the area near the wooden lift, where the red coin is found, and does a Long Jump towards the island with a Bob-omb Buddy on it, landing at the edge of the island (as if to grab onto the edge), Mario will appear to be stuck in snow, but he will be floating in air. Once Mario frees himself, he will fall and lose a life, as if he had fallen off the edge.

Mario must go to Lethal Lava Land for this glitch to work. Once here, the player must dive underneath one of the many floating platforms near the volcano. This may take a few tries to do correctly. If done right, Mario will touch the lava, but will be stuck to it instead of jumping up after being burned. This will instantly deplete his Health Meter and cause him to lose a life. When stuck to the lava, the sounds Mario makes are slightly distorted.

In any Bowser battle, more easily on Bowser in the Dark World, Mario needs to explode a bomb, so it won't interfere with the glitch. Later, he must throw Bowser near the edge of the platform but make sure Bowser doesn't fall off it. Then, Mario must stand near the edge too but staying far away from Bowser. If done correctly, Bowser will jump but will eventually fall from the platform. As Bowser's fall wasn't caused by Mario, Bowser won't jump back to the platform, and Mario will be doomed to stay there until he quits the level or jumps off of the platform.

This is a very difficult glitch to pull off. Mario must be in either Jolly Roger Bay or Dire Dire Docks. He must dive to where a jet stream is. Next, the player must press, and just as Mario stops his pose the player must do it again. He or she must repeatedly do so, and, although it's hard to do, if done correctly Mario will be inside the jet stream. This can be used to collect the "Through the Jet Stream" stars without the Metal Cap.

In Wet-Dry World's small town, Mario needs go to the white structure and hit the Crystal Tap to adjust the water level. Then, he needs to go over where the arrow lifts are. An Amp is floating above the platforms. To do this glitch, Mario needs to jump near the enemy (trying to not have platforms under him) and do a Ground Pound. If the enemy comes and hits Mario while doing this, he will fall to the very bottom of the ocean and suddenly pop right back up to the top without hitting the button to swim up.

To perform this glitch, the player must go to the first and third Toads who gives the player a power star. Then, talk to them to the fence's side then gain the star by somersaulting. Mario will do his Victory Dance on the fences.

This glitch can be done in any level that has a Cannon or Bob-ombs, but is easiest to do in the Bob-omb Battlefield level. First, the player must forcibly reduce Mario's Health Meter to one or two sections by running into enemies. After this has been accomplished, the player must quickly grab a Bob-omb and then run in front of a cannon, so that Mario's back is facing the cannon. If done correctly, the Bob-omb will explode, and Mario will fall backwards into the cannon, losing the remaining two sections of his Health Meter in the process. Mario will not die, however, and the player will then be able to aim the cannon and shoot him out of it. In addition, if the player collects a Wing Cap before doing this, they will be able to control Wing Mario regularly after firing him out of the cannon, despite having no health remaining. Flying into any coins will not refill Mario's Health Meter. It is not until the player touches back down on the ground again (or the Wing Cap runs out) that Mario will lose a life.

This phenomenon will also occur if Mario falls in front of a door in Princess Peach's Castle with only two sections of health left. When this happens, the remaining two sections will be lost, causing Mario to enter the door, but then lose a life when he is at the end. This glitch was fixed in the DS remake as if the player depletes Mario's lives and goes into the cannon after depleting the last one, he will just die in the cannon.

Youtube user radisnooker5 has discovered another method that is more difficult than the previously mentioned methods in both preparation and execution. In order to perform this, the player must have all 120 Stars collected (to unlock the cannon in front of the castle). Then, the player has to deplete Mario's health by at least half. Then, he or she must use the cannon (or any other method) to access the castle roof. The player then must acquire the Wing Cap there and fly down to the cannon again. Here, the player has to aim the cannon as high as possible at the castle tower. If done correctly, Mario will be standing on the sloped roofing under the tip of the tower (a platform that is not normally accessible in the game). Upon reaching this section of the tower, there are eight walls placed in octagonal fashion. The player should go for the wall that is facing in the direction of the waterfall to the left of the castle. This certain wall shares the same properties of the brick pillars in Shifting Sand Land, allowing Mario to climb the wall by simply running over it. This will lead Mario to the very tip of the castle tower.

This is obviously the most difficult part of the glitch. The player has to aim Mario towards the cannon you shot out of earlier, and run towards that direction. If executed properly, Mario will strangely slide down the wall, and the sloped roofing below him will ricochet him airborne at a very low trajectory, covering a large amount of distance in the way.

This is where the actual glitch is performed. The player should steer Mario so that he lands right in front of the cannon. Mario will hit the ground, lose all health, and the momentum should cause him to tumble into the cannon(if the player steers Mario directly into the cannon without touching the ground beforehand, then he will take no damage and would not become a "zombie"). After successfully performing this, Mario will be in the cannon, despite being technically "dead"(hence the term "zombie Mario"). Like mentioned before, if Mario still has the Wing Cap, then he will be able to fly in midair regularly until the Wing Cap times out or makes any contact with the ground. Video link to this method.

It should be noted, that if the player aims Mario at a tree or pole, then Mario will instantly let go and die.