List of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team glitches

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This is a list of glitches in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. Unless otherwise noted, all names are conjectural.

Freezes

Freezing occurs in the game on certain occasions, but mainly toward the end of the game in Neo-Bowser Castle, where the Mario and Luigi find themselves at idle animations and not being able to do anything. This appears in all original versions of the game, but a patch was released on September 5, 2013 fixing many of these issues.

Antasma X glitch

When battling Antasma X, it is possible that the game will freeze when Dreamy Luigi is freed from an Antasmunchie X.

Pi'illo Blimport freeze

Using the Out of Bounds in Pi'illo Blimport it is possible to move Mario to the right. Shortly after the Mario icon disappears from the map, the game will freeze.

Graphics

Luigi's missing half

If the player tries to Ball Hop directly under the first Attack Piece Block encountered chronologically in Somnom Woods, Luigi will collect the Attack Piece, but will be missing his lower half until the player moves again.

No demo sign

The player needs to go to the Menu and then press Guide, then press Attacks. The demo sign appears in a little while after they scrolled down then scrolled back up quickly. If done correctly, they will have no demo signs while selecting the attack. When they press the button, it can start the demo even though the sign is not here.

Miscellaneous

Broken motion controls

In some points in the game involving gyroscope controls, sometimes the game can stop registering any gyro movement altogether. This can cause battles where this happens to become impossible to win because it is impossible to avoid sustaining damage. This is most likely to occur in the Zeekeeper battle with Giant Luigi in Somnom Woods, and in the "Repel the Shell" portion of the Giant Bowser battle. During the Zeekeeper battle, the game is slow or inaccurate at registering all motion controls, which makes it extremely hard if not impossible to dodge attacks, and in the Giant Bowser Battle, the game will only register minor motions from the 3DS, while larger motions will magnetically pull Luigi towards the lava. However, there are still cases where the 3DS can literally be held upside-down, and Luigi will not budge an inch. In both battles, the game will occasionally default Luigi to the bottom left corner of the screen, which, in the Giant Bowser battle, will cause him to continuously fall into the lava until he runs out of health. It is believed that this is because these gyroscope portions are preceded by a portion of character dialogue, and the game may forget to re-activate the gyroscope afterwards. This was partially fixed in version 1.1, though it can still occasionally happen.

Corrupted save file

It is possible that the game will display a black screen with a message saying that the save data has been corrupted when the player loads it up. This will force them to start the game over from the beginning. Something similar also happens when selecting a new save file, after selecting a file, the screen goes black and freezes, taking the player to the Home Menu. These instances of save file corruption seem to only happen on the digital version.

Physics

These glitches result from how Mario and/or other characters interact with the world.

Flying Luigi

The player should be in Neo Bowser Castle and in any area with the bombs. They must do the same thing as the "Non-bomb panic" glitch explained below, though they should time it differently. This should result in Mario bouncing first, followed by Luigi (bouncing in the air); however, there is a 1% chance of this outcome occurring.

Luigi standing on lava

Luigi standing on lava

The player needs to go to Neo Bowser Castle in the sections with the moving, fire breathing Bowser statues. If the player uses the Side Drill move in the area where the Bros. Ball is needed and cross the moving statues, Mario will land on the platform, but Luigi will land in the lava and stand there without jumping out. Also, the player can hit a Kamek Block and immediately fall into the lava. This results in both Mario and Luigi standing on the lava until the cutscene where the path is shown on the map ends, then Mario and Luigi will bounce out of the lava.

Luigi underground

In Somnom Woods or Neo Bowser Castle, there are 10 Attack Blocks. If Mario and Luigi use the Ball Hop under an Attack Piece Block, Luigi will be under the ground.

Mushrise Park out-of-bounds

In Mushrise Park, there is a bridge near a Brock and some Mushroom-style platforms in an area to the east. If Mario and Luigi go under this bridge and jump towards a tree at the north end of the area at the right angle, they can then end up getting inside said object and eventually walking past the invisible wall at the edge of the park to the vast empty void beyond.

This can lead the duo falling into the Mini Mario only area and getting permanently stuck there with no way to leave (saving here will render the save file unusable); the Bros. can get separated with Mario on top of the bridge and Luigi under it, also potentially destroying the save file; the Bros. wandering off the edge of the park, causing the screen to stay locked in one area while the map below shows them wandering all over the outskirts of the park and it can also cause Luigi to fall off the wall while Mario stays on top of it, leading to both characters getting pulled inside solid ground.

Non-bomb panic

The player should be in Neo Bowser Castle, in any area with the bombs. When a bomb comes to Mario and Luigi, the player must hammer Mario by pressing (press first until it shows the hammer icon). It should freeze the bomb, or explode, but Mario and Luigi will not panic for the explosion and warp.

Pi'illo Blimport out-of-bounds

It takes some luck to execute this glitch. In the area south of the quiz show, there is a statue and a yellow Toad walking around. Said Toad has distinct path patterns. Wait for the Toad to get very close to the statue and quickly move Mario and jump between the Toad and the statue's fence. This can be difficult, as the Toad tends to move quickly. Now Mario will have crossed the fence. If Mario does move towards the sea, he will get stuck, but alternating between moving him up, down and left will get Mario out of the jam and allow him to move freely. With this, the player can move Mario to the right and go through the loading zone to skip a short scene, although for speedruns, it is of no use.

Solo Mini Mario

To do this glitch, the player must use the Mini Mario technique, then perform the Out of Bounds in Mushrise Park glitch. By dropping into the area that only Mini Mario can access, and having Mario exit the area, he can freely adventure alone through Pi'illo Island. This glitch leads to gameplay changes and side effects: for example, Mario can enter any area on the island (that is reachable without special moves like Ball Hop), and Luigi will be stuck in the middle of nowhere on the map. He can also do things like buy items from shops, hit switches and solve certain puzzles, talk to NPCs and various other things. However, there are some side effects: if the player attempts to battle an enemy, the game will freeze with no music unless they jump on the enemy or get out of the Mini Mario state (see below), entering cutscenes that would involve Luigi will softlock the game, Pipes and the Drill Digger do not work, using elevators, lifts and certain other elements softlocks the game, and talking to Kylie Koopa softlocks the game. The player can return Mario to normal size by walking to a Dreampoint or the Battle Arena but declining to enter, or by jumping on an enemy. If the player attempts to battle an enemy without Luigi after returning to normal size, the battle goes just fine, except the player cannot use Bros. Moves for obvious reasons. To get Luigi back, the player should do the Mushrise Park glitch again, but go south. Mario and Luigi will fly in as if flung from a Slingshroom. Mario can also jump off of Mount Pajamaja to enter a new area, and Luigi should reappear.

Standing on water

Mini Mario is required. The player needs to go to Driftwood Shore and then go to the cave after they talked to Broque Madame at Rose Broquet. They will earn an old lithograph. After they went to the door, they will enter the cave. On a spot, they have to hold to the left on the for 1 minute. After that, they have to hold the right button on the . If done correctly, Mario will stand out of bounds, and if the player holds to the right on the some more, Mario and Luigi will walk on the water.

Sequence breaks

These glitches allow the player to access areas through unintended methods.

Early Hammers

Normally, in Mushrise Park, to get the hammers, Mario and Luigi must wake up a Pi'illo by completing their challenge, allowing the Pi'illo to fling the Bros. onto a hill. However, if both brothers position themselves in between the bridge just south of the Pi'illo and the bushes just below, and constantly jump with and while alternating between and , Mario will gradually move out of bounds. The player must repeat the process until both brothers are out of bounds, then move them around the area, to the back of the aforementioned hill. The Bros. will be pushed upwards onto invisible terrain, from which they can move to the area where the hammers are located.

Giant Bowser and Antasma skip

Falling into the lava and changing areas immediately will allow Mario and Luigi to enter a glitch state where they can walk in the air.

If this state is maintained, it is possible to completely skip everything related to Giant Bowser. Saving in the scene where Mario enters Bowser's dream will allow the state to continue to be maintained, allowing Mario and Luigi to skip the Antasma fight entirely by simply walking to the side.

Grobot skip

To do this glitch, Mario and Luigi have to be in the area of Mushrise Park that contains the gate blocking entry to Dozing Sands. The Bros. must stand to the left of the small orange mountain and alternate between , and . If done correctly, both brothers will be out of bounds, and can move to the other side of the gate from there, skipping the fights with Grobot and Bowser.

Neo Bowser Castle skip

In the lobby of Neo Bowser Castle, Mario and Luigi must go to the middle candle in the set of candles on the right side, and stand to the right of it. The player must alternate between , and until Mario and Luigi clip through the barrier. They can then move to the area with the pipe just south, then use the hammer to hit the button, creating a permanent entry to the later part of the castle.

Somnom Woods tracks Skip

In the large area containing the tracks in Somnom Woods, Mario and Luigi must get into the Spin Jump formation, then move below the Save Block. By alternating between , and , the Bros. will clip out of bounds. They can then end the Spin Jump formation, before moving upward, clipping past an invisible barrier by alternating between , and , then moving over the large pit towards the area on the other side. Mario and Luigi can get back across the pit by entering the Spin Jump formation and moving downward in between the Attack Piece block and the wall, clipping out of bounds, before moving back across the pit.

Torkscrew skip

When visiting Dozing Sands for the first time, the player can skip all of the activity involved in retrieving the Dozites needed to access the area where Torkscrew is fought. In the area where the badge shop is, Mario and Luigi need to lure a Sandoon to the dark gray high ledge in the east, and while touching the wall, both brothers must jump on it to initiate a battle. The player must then flee from the battle, hold and repeatedly press the Buttons. If done correctly, Mario and Luigi will do another jump in the air and over the high ledge. This is a frame perfect trick, so it might take a while.

Ultibed Skip

In order to progress through the game after this skip, Mario and Luigi must first learn the Ball Hop technique in Mount Pajamaja. In the westmost area of Wakeport, there is a Shelltop standing on a bridge in the south of the area. If Mario and Luigi face the Shelltop from above, then use the Side Drill so that the move finishes just above it, the Bros. will be standing inside of the Shelltop. Next, Mario must face left, talk to the Shelltop and mash , resulting in the Bros. preparing for the Spin Jump move. Next, the Bros. must move left into a small out of bounds area, then Spin Jump over an invisible wall. Then, they must stand behind the fence and face south, perpendicular to another invisible wall, and perform Side Drill again. Mario and Luigi should now be fully out of bounds; from here, they can move towards the upper entrance to Pi'illoper's house. They can enter it from here, and the game will assume that all five Ultibed pieces have been collected, thus skipping a large portion of the game.