Super Mario 64 is often considered the grandfather of 3D platforming. The Nintendo 64 classic ushered in a new era gaming by gracefully allowing the plushy plumber to bash Bowser into oblivion in the world of 3D. The Super Mario series would not be the same moving forward, and for the better.
Even nearly 25 years later, the game is still played to this day in a myriad of ways, including by the speedrunning community who beat the Super Mario 64 record recently. But as so many enjoy this Super Mario classic, there has apparently been a glitch right under everyone’s nose that no one noticed until now.
Twitter user @BlazeHedgehog has been looking into the code of the two and a half-decade old game and noticed something odd when it comes to the smoke code when Mario touches fire, and he noticed that it has been bugged. So he made an adjustment and voila, visually it makes a huge difference. The glitch wouldn’t rank as the most hilarious glitch of all time, but it certainly is intriguing.
In @BlazeHedgehoge’s post, the images give a clear distinction between the “glitched” smoke and the “fix.” While the glitch shows pixelated black dots, the fixed images show black plumes that more closely resemble smoke. Some fans in the comments, possibly blinded by nostalgia, like the pixilated “glitched” look better. Others mentioned that Super Mario 64 is still an overrated video game.
As Nintendo celebrates the 35-year anniversary of Super Mario, it may be planning a massive push for new games in the Paper Mario franchise and more. The success of games like Mario Odyssey would lead fans and pundits to assume that more Mario should be on the way for the Nintendo Switch soon.
It’s very interesting to see players dive into games and make changes after all these years. Nintendo is lucky to have a fanbase that cares so much, although the quality of games that it has put forth certainly helps. Recent rumors have pointed to Nintendo releasing HD remakes of 3D Mario games sometime soon, and Super Mario 64 is among the list. One can only wonder what the smoke will look like in HD.
