The Best Glitches That Made Games Even More Fun

25 August 2025

Gaming has always been about power, pixels, and possibilities. But sometimes, amidst the epic battles, endless quests, and high-stakes races, the most unforgettable memories don’t come from perfectly coded sequences—but from the beautiful chaos of glitches. Yeah, those bugs that shouldn’t be there… but somehow, make everything better.

You know the kind. The ones that make your character soar into the sky with no wings, let you walk through walls like some ghostly hacker, or clone a rare item like a magician pulling rabbits from hats. They’re unintentional, unpredictable, and often hilarious. But more than anything—they’re pure fun.

So grab your virtual gear, and let's dive into the world of game glitches that didn't break our favorite titles but made them legendary.

What Are Glitches Anyway?

Before we go full speed into nostalgia, let’s hit pause and talk basics.

Glitches are essentially programming mistakes—bugs hiding in the code that somehow slipped through the cracks. Most devs try to squash them like pesky mosquitoes. But sometimes, the players find them first… and then, all rules go out the window.

Now, not all glitches are created equal. Some are frustrating (looking at you, game-crashing errors), but others are just plain delightful. These are the ones that players memorize, share with friends, and sometimes even prefer over the “correct” version of the game. Like a secret level only the chosen few know how to unlock.

The Glitch That Gave Us Infinite Money – Pokémon Red/Blue (1996)

Ah, Pokémon Red and Blue. If you’ve ever wanted infinite Poké Balls, Full Restores, or Rare Candies, there was one name you needed to know: MissingNo.

This infamous glitch Pokémon was a jumble of pixels and broken code, but boy, was it useful. Triggered by a series of steps involving talking to the old man in Viridian and flying to Cinnabar Island, encountering MissingNo. would clone the 6th item in your inventory—up to 128 times.

Sure, it could mess up your Hall of Fame or make your game act weird, but let’s be real—who didn’t do it, at least once? It was like opening a cheat code treasure chest. A gift from the glitch gods.

Wall Climbing With Style – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

Oh Skyrim, land of dragons and glorious glitches. Bethesda games are legendary, not just for deep lore and open-world beauty, but for their... let’s call it “creative” physics.

One of the absolute best? Horse climbing. Or more accurately, cliff-scaling mountain goat horses.

By jumping repeatedly while riding your noble steed, you could defy gravity and scale impossibly steep slopes. Instead of trudging around a mountain like a peasant, you could just yeet your way straight to the top.

It wasn’t supposed to work, but it did. And it felt amazing—like breaking the universe with your best four-legged friend.

Become A God With A Simple Swing – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

If there’s one game that's been broken in every beautiful way imaginable, it’s Ocarina of Time. Speedrunners especially love this one.

One standout glitch? The Infinite Sword Glitch.

By canceling a crouch stab with a quick-use item, Link's sword would stay in a constant state of attack. You’d become a spinning, stabbing whirling dervish of death—without ever needing to swing again. Enemies? Toast. Bosses? Laughable. It was like upgrading from a sword to a living blender.

And hey, isn’t that what every young adventurer dreams of?

Clone Wars in Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012)

Animal Crossing isn’t usually a game you’d associate with flashy glitches. It’s calm, it's cozy, it’s about fishing and chatting with adorable animals.

But even here, the dark underworld of item duplication thrived.

In New Leaf, you could glitch the game using a second player and a well-timed save/load trick during a drop trade. Suddenly, you had two of everything. Yes, even that absurdly expensive throne or crown.

In a game where bells (money, not sounds) rule everything—being able to clone items was basically becoming the Tom Nook of your dreams.

Grand Theft… Physics? – Grand Theft Auto V (2013)

The Grand Theft Auto series has always invited chaos, but GTA V took it to a new level with physics-defying glitches that felt like you were playing inside a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Take the Swing Set Glitch, originally from GTA IV but alive and kicking in V. Find the right swing set, drive a car into it, and boom—you’re launched into the sky like Team Rocket.

Literally. Player-controlled rocket science.

People spent hours just launching motorcycles into orbit or seeing how far they could fly across the map. It was stupidly fun and wildly addictive. Who needs missions when you’ve got a gravity-breaking playground?

Sonic's Slow Motion – Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Sonic is all about speed, right? Zooming across levels, loop-de-loops, and those iconic chimes. But every once in a while, the game decides to hit the brakes—hard.

Players discovered a glitch that slows Sonic down to a crawl, usually triggered by performing weird jumps or hitting objects at specific angles. It shouldn’t be fun, but it is. Watching the blue blur move in slo-mo turns him into a graceful dancer in a world that was meant to be a racetrack.

It’s almost poetic. Like watching a cheetah take a nap in slow motion.

Super Smash Bros. Melee’s Wavedashing (2001)

This one’s for the pros.

Wavedashing isn’t really a glitch in the traditional sense—but it is an unintended mechanic that exploded into the competitive scene.

By air-dodging diagonally into the ground, characters could slide with momentum, allowing for advanced movement and mind-games. It looked weird. It felt like your character was moonwalking mid-fight.

Nintendo didn't exactly plan it, but players mastered it. It became part of the game’s identity, proving sometimes glitches don’t just make games more fun—they make them legendary.

The Sims’ Glitchy Goldmine

The Sims is like a real-life simulator—but with more fires, more pool drownings, and more head-scratching bugs.

Who could forget the ”baby stretch” glitch, where a newborn would suddenly grow six feet tall and float like an exorcist scene gone wrong?

Or the classic “missing texture” bug where characters ran around in full-on horror movie body horror mode—all black eyes and jagged limbs?

Sure, it was creepy. But it was comedy gold. It gave the polished life sim a chaotic, hilarious twist. And let’s be honest—who doesn’t want a little haunted house energy in their digital family drama?

Halo: Combat Evolved – The Banshee Hijack Trick

Halo players used glitches like tools in their arsenal. One of the coolest? Hijacking a Banshee in a level where you weren't supposed to.

In “Assault on the Control Room,” players discovered you could trick a Banshee down to the ground using a series of grenade jumps, physics manipulations, and perfect timing, then hijack it to skip entire levels.

It wasn’t just a game breaker—it was a game shifter. Suddenly, the battlefield was yours to command from above. Master Chief meets Maverick. And trust me, it made replaying the campaign a whole new ride.

Minecraft – The X-Ray Glitch

Minecraft is all about digging, building, and exploring. But what if you could see through walls?

Enter the X-Ray Glitch. With certain block placements (like pistons, leaves, or composter tricks), players could glitch the camera into textures and see underground caves, lava pools, and mines.

Basically, Minecraft gave you X-ray vision. A superpower. No more digging blindly; now you were the Google Maps of diamond hunting.

And since the game’s world is basically infinite, it felt like having a treasure map in your pocket—drawn by mistake, but priceless nonetheless.

Why We Love These Glitches

Let’s be honest—video games are meant to be fun. And sometimes, breaking the rules makes that fun even bigger.

Glitches, especially the harmless (and hilarious) ones, are like urban legends passed down through generations of players. They make games feel alive, unpredictable, and a little rebellious. You’re not just playing the game—you’re bending it, shaping it, dancing with it.

They bring community joy too. Who hasn’t shared a wonky bug screenshot or sent a friend a how-to video on duplicating Master Balls or phasing through walls?

Games are art, but they’re also sandbox playgrounds. And glitches? They're the magic dust that occasionally slips through the cracks and turns the sandbox into a wild amusement park.

Final Thoughts – Embracing the Glitch

So the next time you stumble on a glitch that makes your character spin uncontrollably or causes a dragon to fly backward, don’t curse it.

Laugh.

Celebrate it.

Remember that in a world where everything’s getting more polished and perfect, sometimes it’s those little hiccups—the digital stutters and accidental hacks—that bring us the most unexpected joy.

Because in gaming, just like in life, perfection is overrated. Give us a little chaos, a little creativity, and a whole lot of fun.

Glitches... they’re not bugs. They’re features in disguise.