List of Mario & Luigi: Brothership glitches

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This is a list of glitches in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. All names are conjectural unless otherwise specified.

Freezes/softlocks

Many of these are inconsistent and seem to happen at random.

Bob-omb softlock

Sometimes, if Mario or Luigi gets hit by a Bob-omb, they will launched out of the arena and never return. If this happens, the only way to fix the glitch is to reset the game.

Present softlock

If too many enemies drop items when defeated, some of the presents may not open to reveal those items. This softlocks the game, forcing the player to reset.

Shy Guy softlock

Occasionally, Shy Guys will become stuck in their hammer animation in battle, rapidly switching direction in the process. If this happens, the game is softlocked and must be reset.

Visual UI freeze

Occasionally, the game's visuals will completely freeze, resulting in Mario, enemies, and UI objects having no animations. The battle can continue for a short while after this happens, but eventually the game will softlock once the enemies are defeated.

Graphics

Broken score

Occasionally, a glitch can occur with the score display for the coin-collecting minigame, showing formatting code next to Mario or Luigi's name in the HUD. This is purely a visual bug, and does not affect the minigame in any way.

Default battle background

After using Max-Mix Vortex against a large group of enemies, the game will occasionally show a default gray background for a few frames before returning to normal.

Fire Mario only

Occasionally, only Luigi's clothing will return to normal after using the Bro Bomb move, leading to Fire Mario and regular Luigi being present at the same time.

Floodlit lighthouse

Sometimes, the lighting for certain areas will fail to load, resulting in the area seemingly having its brightness set to the maximum value. This has been seen in the Lushgreen Sea, Great Lighthouse.

Flying NPC

Occasionally, a glitch can occur with the explorer from Allsand Island during a cutscene on Shroonken Islet, where he flies around the screen.

Ice Luigi only

By activating the Fire & Ice ability in the illusionary Mushroom Kingdom section in the Soli-Tree, then getting too far from Princess Peach, the game will sometimes snap the bros back to the right location without changing Luigi's clothing back to normal. This lets the player use normal Mario and Ice Luigi at the same time.

Luigi's long legs

Occasionally, a glitch can occur with Luigi's animations, leaving him facing forward with long legs in battle. This might be due to a combination of a mistimed jump, the Attack Boost Battle Plug, the Master Boots and the Back-Atacha Attack Battle Plug, though it is unconfirmed.

Overlapping textboxes

If the player waits too long to advance certain conversations, the next textbox can appear on top of the existing one. This can occur during Issa Rock's intro cutscene on Rumbla Island, as well as the Bob-omb cutscene on Skorcheen Island.

Physics

Broken Invizilizard

Sometimes, Invizilizards will become stuck vibrating in place on Raynforst Island.

Cannon storage

By repeatedly pressing the hammer button while having an ability active, one can get Luigi stuck on a Bouncy Bloom on Shipshape Island. By entering the cannon, leaving again and re-entering, they can have Luigi call for Mario while the latter is inside the cannon. This lets the Bros. walk around while the cannon is active, with various effects on the game.

Constant Luigi ledge bounce

In some places, Luigi's pathfinding AI may break and leave him stuck bouncing at the edge of a ledge with no way to climb up.

Offandon jail skip

By hitting the Return Pipe button when the Bros. are about to be offered a drink on their second Offandon Island visit, it is possible to use the menu to skip the trigger. By doing this, the Bros. can leave the island as normal without being unmasked and thrown in jail, skipping part of the area.

Disguise almost anywhere

By using the Return Pipe to block the prompt to remove the Disguise Kit at the exit of the Offandon Island plaza, it is possible to reach Shipshape Island with them still in disguise. If this happens, they can wear the disguise anywhere in the game by going to an island or area, then going through a Warp Pipe. This in turn disables Bros. Moves, and blocks the player from using the return pipe. The glitch can be fixed by returning to the plaza on Offandon Island and choosing to remove the disguise.

Hover over loading zone

By jumping on the pipe at the end of the cave with the boulder escape sequence on Skorcheen Island, it is possible to use the UFO Spin ability to hover over the exit loading zone for the area. This lets the Bros. get out of bounds.

Invisible Bomb Bud

Occasionally, one of the Bros. will be stuck carrying an invisible Bomb Bud after using it in a puzzle in Skorcheen Island. This is a purely visual glitch, with all abilities being usable as expected.

No EXP from Mega Snaptor

Occasionally, the bros will not receive any EXP for defeating Mega Snaptor. It is unknown why this happens, but it may be due to the boss being defeated by a Battle Plug effect rather than direct damage.

Useless Jump Helmet

Occasionally, Jump Helmet will only do 1 damage.

Stuck Luigi

On Raynforst Island, there is a row of three blocks near some Connectar Flowers. If Luigi jumps while between these, he can sometimes become stuck between them.

Undead plumber

Occasionally, Mario or Luigi will end up at 0 health without being KO'd. This will softlock the game when an enemy tries to attack.

Wall climb

If Mario and Luigi get close to certain corners, then change to either the UFO Spin, Bro Ball, or Fire & Ice ability, they can become stuck in the wall. By jumping, they can then climb the wall and get out of bounds, or skip various parts of the game.

However, one needs to either choose a grayed out ability or reselect their current ability after starting to jump up, since the game otherwise has a failsafe that puts them back in bounds if it detects the Bros. are on top of an invisible wall.

Sequence breaks

Bulbfish Island skip

Because the game uses the same flag for activating the mystery on Bulbfish Island as it does for opening the door before Gobblick, skipping the latter also skips the former entirely, letting the Bros. simply walk up to the lighthouse.

Glohm Bowser skip

In the first visit to Fortress Zokket, the player can use a wall climb near the side of the first set of stairs leading to the path to the Glohm Bowser battle. By doing this, they can jump up the invisible wall and bypass the trigger for the battle, letting them finish it immediately by heading to the arena. Doing this does activate some dialogue for the battle during the later escape sequence, but the Glohm laser will push the Bros. back enough to activate the jump off the fortress anyway.

Gobblick skip

By placing the two plugs in the right way next to the stairs on the lowest level of the lighthouse on Lushgreen Sea, Great Lighthouse Island, it is possible to separate Mario and Luigi by having Luigi on the stairs and Mario on the lower level. By then going to the gate that would otherwise lead to Gobblick, Luigi will call for Mario, and the two will be placed behind the loading zone at the top of the stairs. From here, they can do some difficult offscreen movements to clip through the wall above the stairs and enter the area leading to Gobblick, skipping the triggers for the boss battle in the process.

Postgame island revisit

By using a wall climb by the rocks before the cannon on Shipshape Island, it is possible to get on top of the invisible walls around the island and reach the blue pipe to the other islands before Snoutlet can stop the player. By doing this, they can visit the other linked islands in the postgame, with a few interesting side effects:

• All enemies are still infected with Glohm, despite Reclusa being defeated.
• Reclusa's flowers are still present and NPC's are still trapped in them.
• The background and music for all islands has reset to its pre-Reclusa World state.

However, there are very few things to do here, since most Side Quests are unavailable once Reclusa is defeated, and it is impossible to visit any islets, Wayaway Island, or the Soli-Tree due to the cannon being off-limits.

Power Taps early

After Merrygo Island, the player can activate a Battle Plug tutorial on Shipshape Island. By losing this battle, retrying, and quitting, the game will give them all 5 Power Taps the minute they open the relevant menu, since it thinks they had them already. Defeating a Great Lighthouse Island boss will not give them another Power Tap or break anything, so they can just use 5 Battle Plugs at once for the rest of the game.

Raynforest panel skip

In the area with the locked gate, it is possible to position Mario behind the switch in the top right of the area while Luigi falls off the floating panel in front of him. By doing this, the Bros. will activate the switch when they reunite, with the game thinking they hit the switch at the end of the panel section instead due to the camera position.

Re-enter Bowser's Castle

Once Bowser saves the Bros. from Reclusa at the Soli-Tree, the door to Bowser's Castle on Wayaway Island is locked for the rest of the game. However, by going to the corner of the door and switching to the Fire & Ice ability, the Bros. will clip inside the castle, letting them revisit area in the endgame.

However, leaving will softlock the game on a black screen, so it is advised not to save inside the castle to avoid an unwinnable state.

Skorcheen skip

If the Bros. go to the left corner near Dr. Vulko on Skorcheen Island, then switch to the Fire & Ice ability, they climb the wall to the upper level. From there, they can use the UFO Spin ability to reach the ledge Vulko is standing on, and enter the cave behind him. Exiting this cave leads to another area where a well-placed Fire & Ice wall climb can be used to scale an invisible wall, and then eventually find a path to the lighthouse.

Skorcheen boulder skip

By using the latter wall climb from the first Skorcheen skip setup, the player can activate the scene with Burnadette and Chilliam from a lower part of the map, skipping the cave with the boulder chase sequence altogether.