List of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time glitches

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

Glitches

? Block teleport

In Thwomp Caverns, the player should use the Baby Spin in the cyclone. If Baby Mario lands on the ? Block on the left platform, Baby Luigi stays there, and Baby Mario warps to the platform above. The player cannot enter piggyback mode now or change to the adults. This glitch can be fixed by moving Baby Mario into the spikes, which will take both babies to the platform above.

Babies in wall

In the Vim factory, go to the room with the red and blue stairs and switches and go to the top-right corner and hop up the steps and go on the left wall path and walk close to the end and stop, half of Baby Mario and Baby Luigi's body will be in the ground. (This glitch only works if none of the switches have been hit.)

Baby Mario freeze

In the Koopa Cruiser, walk at the left edge. When the Koopa Troopa calls the babies, Baby Luigi walks to him, but Baby Mario stays, making a motion like he walks. This glitch does not work when playing the game on the Nintendo 3DS or Wii U Virtual Console.

Baby Mario hammer softlock

While the Hammer Bros. are teaching Baby Mario and Baby Luigi how to counterattack with the hammer, if Baby Mario lets go of before the Hammer Bros. tell them to, the game will glitch but not freeze. During this glitch, the music will keep playing, the Spiny Shroopas and the babies will keep doing their battle poses, but the hammer symbols will remain on the screen and the Hammer Bros. will not continue their explanation. In this case, the only way to continue is to restart from the last save point.

Early Shroob Castle

If the player lines up Mario and Luigi correctly and use the Bros. Ball, they will be slightly dispositioned and can go through the gate, allowing access to the whole castle and, if the player is skillful enough to make it far enough, they can fight Princess Shroob, Elder Princess Shroob, and Shrowser, the final bosses of the game. The player can clip back out of the castle using a similar method on the other side of the gate.

Enemy freeze

If the game is paused while on-screen enemies are performing certain motions (usually spinning), they will be unable to move when the game is unpaused. Everything else will work normally.

Frozen characters

When training on how to jump with Mario and Baby Mario or Luigi and Baby Luigi and everyone gets high POW, if one of them jumps on them, the adult character and the baby character might jump back and freeze in place. This glitch can be fixed by turning off the system or restarting.

Gritzy Desert character quirks

In the caves under Gritzy Desert, in the room where the Big Bros. must roll in ball form and hit an ! Block to move on, the player should go to the area where the ! Block was. Go right and hit or to make Luigi or Baby Luigi jump on the area where the ! Block was and make Mario or Baby Mario move over a little. Then stop moving. Luigi or Baby Luigi will be walking up and down the hill on the platform while Mario or Baby Mario warps around in a small area. Sometimes, Mario will become stuck in the hill. If he jumps, he will stand in midair. Other times, Luigi or Baby Luigi will make it off the platform and stand there, leaving a big space between Luigi or Baby Luigi and Mario or Baby Mario. If this happens while piggybacked, hitting or to throw the babies off will make Baby Mario land the normal way while Baby Luigi will fly through the air very fast and land right behind Baby Mario. If they head back to Mario, Baby Mario will climb on right away while Baby Luigi will travel to Luigi really fast without moving and climb on. If Mario goes left, Luigi will walk right and they will be face to face, and if Mario does not pass Luigi, he will not move behind Mario like he is supposed to. Then, if the babies are thrown off, they will go past each other and land back to back, with Baby Mario facing Luigi and Baby Luigi facing Mario.

Luigi standing on liquid

Anytime after opening the Time Hole to Toadwood Forest, the player must throw the babies into the Time Hole first and let the adult Bros. The player follows automatically, as usual, but, if the player looks at the top left corner of the screen, before the big Bros. fly out after the babies, they can see Luigi facing away from the screen standing on the purple liquid just barely on-screen.

Portal glitch

Mario and Luigi must use the Bros. Ball on the babies while they are standing next to the portal so that Baby Luigi is a little in the air. Once crushed, the player must wait for the babies to return to their original state. The babies will approach the portal automatically, but if Mario and Luigi remain in ball form, they will be able to change areas while the teleportation occurs. This is mainly because the game allows Mario and Luigi to move in a tiny period of time before the animation occurs.

Any attempt to go to an area that has a portal will freeze the game on a black screen. If the change of area occurs at the moment when the babies are being absorbed by the portal (and not when they automatically go to the center), the animation will occur even in the area where Mario and Luigi are. Changing zones will freeze the game on a blank screen with the Bros. Ball sound repeating indefinitely.

Princess Shroob's statue map glitch

At the top of Princess Shroob's statue is a control room that detaches for a minigame where the player battles the Shroob Mothership. After the minigame, the control room returns to its place to let the player off. At the Save Album nearby, save and quit, and the control room will not be on the map when reloading the game. It will reappear on the map after defeating Princess Shroob or if using the Warpulator. This glitch is harmless because the player can still enter the control room even if it is missing from the map.

Through the trees

This glitch only works when the player is controlling the adult Mario brothers, regardless of whether they are carrying the babies or not. At the beginning of the fields near Hollijolli Village, the player should head over to the trees in the top left corner and walk behind them. They should continue moving up and down as well as forward after heading back as far as possible. If done correctly, the player should head back farther, as well as seeing Mario (with Baby Mario if the babies are on the brothers' backs) standing on top of the trees. If the player moves away from the trees, the glitch ends; vertical movement does not affect it.

Warpulator glitch

If the babies are tossed into one of the two Save Albums where Stuffwell allows Mario and Luigi to use his Warpulator, the action icons become frantic for a moment before disappearing, rather than smoothly moving upward and off-screen when these Save Albums are hit. This glitch is only present in the US version.