List of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels glitches
This article needs additional citations for verification. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Specific(s): Citations for every glitch.
Please help improve this article by adding citations from reliable sources.
This is a list of glitches in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. Note that most glitches found in Super Mario Bros. also appear in this game, with a few exceptions that only work on specific levels, such as the Minus World. Unless otherwise noted, all names are conjectural.
Glitches
999 timer glitch
This works in all versions, as well as the SNES and arcade version of Super Mario Bros. In any castle level, if an axe is touched while the timer is at 0, it will loop to 999 and award the player 50,000 points. However in the non-castle levels, if a flagpole is touched while the timer is at 0, no points are awarded at all.
Corruption glitch
It is unknown how this is caused; most likely due to programming errors or sprite limitation. For example too many sprites on screen can cause graphical errors to the character or environment, but does not massively affect gameplay.
Disappearing Power-Up glitch
In the middle of World B-3, there are two adjacent Brick Blocks, each with a coin above it. Normally, the right Brick Block contains a Power-Up. However, if the player does not collect the coin above the block first, then the power-up will not appear and the Brick Block will simply turn into an unbreakable block.
Disappearing Springboards glitch
In some levels, sprite overload can cause springboards that are necessary to pass a level to not appear. This appears in a few notable locations, including World C-3 and World D-2:
In World C-3, there is one springboard in the middle of the level (which is necessary to beat the level) which will not appear if Lakitu is on the screen. To work around this glitch, Lakitu must be defeated before reaching this spot.
In World D-2, sometimes the springboard at the very end of the level will not appear. This typically happens if the last red Koopa Paratroopa (to the right of the high row of brick blocks) is jumped on (which causes it to move to the right, towards the springboard).
These glitches were fixed in the Super Mario All-Stars version.
Fireball through compact space
This only works in the classic version. In World 4-2 near the second Hammer Brother, there is a corner. The player must shoot a fireball there and it will, with a one in ten chance, go through the corner.
Hammer immunity
This glitch works in all versions. When encountering aggressive Hammer Brothers (i.e. the ones that run left towards Mario or Luigi), it is possible to be immune to their hammers. All the player has to do is stand on the left edge of the screen, and the hammers will not hurt Mario or Luigi. This greatly facilitates defeating them.
Hammer through pipe
In World A-1, if Mario goes down the high pipe near the end as a Hammer Brother is throwing a hammer at it, the hammer can sometimes hit him through the pipe, causing him to take damage and slide out of the pipe sideways.
Infinite 1-Up trick
Similar to the World 3-1 shell trick in Super Mario Bros., there is one Mario and Luigi can pull off in the first level. The first Red Koopa Troopa the player will encounter is trapped in a box. The player must hit the second brick on the bottom to sprout a Super Mushroom, then bump it from below to pop it over the right wall and down to the ground. The player must run over and get it, making sure not to scroll the left side of the screen past the left wall of the box. Now that Mario is "super", the player must wait until the Red Koopa Troopa is next to the right wall, and break the third brick to trap him next to the wall. Then, the player need to go back and break the first brick, then jump up to the block that gave Mario a Mushroom. Smash the brick above Mario, and then the one next to it on the right, hopping onto the Red Koopa Troopa in the process. Mario will keep bouncing on its shell, racking up extra lives.
There is another way to do an infinite 1-Up trick in World 1-1. It requires Small Mario or Luigi to do this. In World 1-1, there is a staircase next to a row of bricks along with a green Koopa Troopa. When Mario jumps on the Koopa, he should hit a Brick Block, kick the shell and as he stomps on the moving shell to make it stop, he will rapidly hit the same brick and it will give him enough time to keep hitting the shell, racking up points and extra lives.
Stuck in coral
This glitch can be performed at any underwater level that contains corals above a pit (such as World 6-2). The player must swim to the right side of the coral, stop swimming for a moment and Mario will be stuck in the coral for a few seconds.
Trapped Paratroopa
If a Koopa Paratroopa bounces into a Warp Pipe or similar wall, it will be stuck there as it rapidly moves left and right. This was not fixed in the SNES version.
Walk through walls
In levels where wind is blowing to the right, it is possible to walk through walls. One must touch the left side of any wall and repeatedly tap Left. Eventually Mario or Luigi will get sucked into the wall and slide to the right. Doing this on a pipe with a red Piranha Plant will sometimes kill Mario though, if the Piranha Plant is inside its pipe, which can be observed in World D-4. This glitch also works in the remake Super Mario All-Stars, and may also work in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, but the player has to duck after being stuck and jump to get into the wall, due to the fact that there is no wind in the game.
Mario can also walk though walls by running forward right before Bowser's Brother appears in World 8-4 as Super or Fire Mario. Doing so makes Mario immune to hammers and makes Bowser's Brother not attack on his right side. He can still attack him on his left, however.
