Unwinnable state

An unwinnable state (also called a softlock) is when a level or a whole game is still technically playable but is impossible to complete because a technique or an object needed to progress has become inaccessible to the player, the player character is trapped with no means of escape, or a script fails to trigger. Unwinnable situations are usually the result of a glitch or of players going out of their way to trap themselves; they can also be intentional on the part of the game designers, although there are little to no instances of this in the Super Mario franchise.

This list does not include scripted boss battles that the player cannot win in RPGs, such as the first battle with Bowser in Paper Mario and the Hollijolli Village Shroobs in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, as the game still advances despite the player losing.

Examples of unwinnable situations

This section is under construction. Therefore, please excuse its informal appearance while it is being worked on. We hope to have it completed as soon as possible.

Super Mario series

Super Mario Bros.

In all versions of Super Mario Bros. except the Family Computer Disk System version, it is impossible to progress past the Minus World after entering it, due to the Warp Pipe at the end of the level being glitched and taking Mario or Luigi to the beginning of the level once entered.

In some castle levels, there are some areas where Mario or Luigi can use a platform to jump above a hole in the ceiling and land on top of it. However, if they start running above the ceiling and reach the end of the level, they cannot return under the ceiling (as the screen does not scroll leftwards in this game) to touch the axe and finish the level, forcing the player to wait until the Time Limit runs out and Mario or Luigi loses a life to retry the level.

Attempting to jump over the Goal Pole, although only possible in certain levels such as World 3-3, will only result in the player being trapped in a neverending void should they succeed in doing so, and landing so far that the Goal Pole disappears offscreen that they are unable to touch it from the other side, as the game cannot backtrack, meaning that once this happens they are doomed to die by letting the time run out. Because of this, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels sometimes adds hidden Warp Zones behind certain Goal Poles in some levels in order to prevent this from happening, and in the Super Mario All-Stars version, attempting to jump over the Goal Pole, while still possible, will only result in the player being unable to venture beyond the fortress/castle on the other side and being stopped by an invisible barrier on the right side of the screen, likely to also prevent such from happening again.

If Mario or Luigi was to squeeze themselves into the gap above the exit pipe at the end of any underwater level by jumping and ducking into it at the same time, they will become stuck and unable to escape until they lose a life by running out of time. However, the Super Mario All-Stars version, as well as the European version of the game, adds an extra block above the exit pipe to prevent this from happening.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

In World A-1, the player can get stuck by partial scrolling the structure at the start of the level offscreen until the gap at the bottom is small enough that Mario or Luigi cannot fall out once he jumps into the structure.

Super Mario Bros. 2

Peach is stuck in the pit.

If the player digs up all the soft sand at the left side of the splitting path in World 2-2, they will be unable to jump out. The Super Mario Advance remake fixes this by adding a vase that can be used to reset the sand by entering and leaving it.

Another softlock can happen when playing as Luigi in World 7-2 during the final battle against Wart. Due to how defeating a boss locks the screen in place, if Luigi defeats Wart from the ceiling of his boss fight, the player will be unable to finish the game.

In revision 0 of Super Mario Bros. 2, if a Small Fry Guy is hit with a Mushroom Block while the player is shrinking in World 4-3, then said Small Fry Guy will fall off the screen as opposed to disappearing in a puff of smoke. Because of this, the Small Fry Guy is not technically considered "defeated" by the game, and as a result the door to exit World 4-3 will not appear, rendering the level and, by extension, the game, unbeatable. This glitch was fixed in subsequent rereleases.

Super Mario Bros. 3

The game has a softlock where, should an Enemy Course land on top of an N-Mark Spade Panel, the two combine and move across the overworld map indefinitely, preventing the player from going any further after clearing a course when the panel appears.

Another softlock can occur when players are in the 2 Player Game and find a Warp Pipe on the world map that is blocked off by a locked gate. One player must reach it via the pipe that connects to it elsewhere on the map, then re-enter the blocked-off pipe and lose a life by having the Time Limit in the pipe room reach zero, after which they will be returned to the blocked-off pipe's location on the map. If the other player then reaches their location as well, they will not be able to re-enter the pipe as they will instead enter Battle Mode, thus softlocking the game unless the player has a Magic Whistle.

Super Mario World

The bonus game softlock

By collecting a power-up, the game temporarily freezes during the power-up animation. If this occurs at the same time that Yoshi eats a berry, the game freezes. If the player has already beaten the level, they can escape the freeze by pressing and . However, if the player has not beaten the level, they must reset the console.

There exists a glitch that allows the player to obtain a magic ball in their Item Stock. If the player performs this glitch and then collects the magic ball while in a bonus game, the player is taken to a glitched bonus game that is impossible to complete. The only option at this point is to reset the console.

Super Mario 64

To defeat Bowser in Bowser in the Dark World, Bowser in the Fire Sea, and Bowser in the Sky, Mario must throw him into the bombs around the arena. If Mario long-jumps into all the bombs to detonate them, he is left with no way to defeat Bowser unless he leaves the level. To fix this in the DS remake, one bomb always reappears in the arena if the player tries to detonate all of them, making it still possible to beat Bowser. Additionally, it is possible to trick Bowser into lunging after Mario and jumping directly into the pit. Normally, Mario needs to throw Bowser into the pit for him to land there, but if Bowser does so as part of his own attack, the game does not respawn him to jump back onto the stage.

If one of the Bullies in Lethal Lava Land is pushed into the lava at a specific angle, it is stuck there. Doing this does not count as defeating it; therefore, the Big Bully that must also be defeated to complete the mission does not spawn.

Super Mario Sunshine

If the Pokey Pods in the Red Coin Field fall off the stage, the player will not be able to collect the red coin from defeating them and will have to restart the level. Additionally, since there is no source of water in the level, if FLUDD runs out of water, the player will have to restart the level if any red coins that require water have not been collected.

Super Mario Galaxy

In the Gusty Garden's Gravity Scramble mission in the Gusty Garden Galaxy, it is possible to fall back onto the final Disk Planet with the Launch Star by performing a Long Jump in the right place. However, because the gravity has now changed on the ! and ? Planets, the player will be forced to restart the mission.

The Cataquack freezing

If the Cataquack in the Wall Jumping up Waterfalls mission in the Beach Bowl Galaxy touches Ice Mario on the same frame one of the ice pillars breaks the platform it is standing on, the Cataquack will start glowing and the game will become unresponsive. The player will then have to restart the mission to continue.

On the missions Purple Coins on the Battlerock and Battlestation's Purple Coins, if the player leaves behind any of the Purple Coins, they will be unable to obtain the Power Star as the platforms that the player rides throughout the level do not backtrack. Although Mario will lose a life for doing so, he can end the softlock by talking to the Gearmos who host the event.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

In The Chimp's Coin Challenge in Slimy Spring Galaxy, after winning the challenge the player is transported to the beginning of the galaxy where the Power Star is obtained. However, if the player goes down the waterslide, they will not be able to climb back up the waterslide and collect the Power Star and therefore must restart the mission.

During Silver Stars in the Whomp Fortress, if the player uses the Cloud Flower to reach the Bonus Planet, they will be unable to return to the starting planet. To return, the player must lose a life or restart the mission.

If Mario freezes the Shiverburn Galaxy's Starting Planet with the Ground-Pound Switch in Prince Pikante's Peppery Mood and gets to the Volcano Planet at the centre with the Cloud suit, he will be forced to lose a life to escape unless either he has any clouds in stock or the player quits the level. This softlock no longer occurs after Mario gets 120 Power Stars, as he can just grab the first Green Power Star (which is in the crater of the volcano) to escape without losing a life.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

If a player under the effects of the Super Star lands on a moving block in the middle of a somersault on the frame the Star runs out, they will be stuck in their somersault animation, unable to move.

Super Mario 3D Land

In World 1-Castle, if the player uses the Super Leaf to jump over the gap between the platform and the bridge during the boss fight against Tail Bowser and then presses the button while he jumps to the left, the bridge will collapse with Bowser off-screen, causing the game to freeze.

New Super Mario Bros. U

Getting stuck under an immovable Bramball, in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe.

In the New Super Mario Bros. U level Bramball Woods, it is possible to get stuck underneath the third Bramball in the level. Normally, Brick Blocks move into position when the player is nearby, allowing the Bramballs to move. However, returning to this Bramball after dying and respawning from the Checkpoint Flag without going too far left prevents the blocks from appearing. This allows the player to take a hit and stand on the Big Block, trapping them. Jumping against the Bramball has no effect, and if the player is in small form or mini form, they cannot escape without losing a life.

Super Mario Maker / Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS

The Super Mario Maker series' status as a level creation tool makes it trivial to create softlock states in a multitude of ways. One-Way Walls and Semisolid Platforms can be used to trap the player inside of an enclosed area, and levels which require the player to retain a specific power-up or item can become unwinnable if the player loses it.

Super Mario Odyssey

If the player skips the first Power Moon, activates a checkpoint past it, comes back and collects the Power Moon, and warps to the checkpoint, the game shows Mario walking towards the Odyssey and stopping in front of it before softlocking. The softlock can be fixed by closing and then reopening the game. This glitch was fixed in the version 1.3.0 update.

Super Mario Maker 2

Super Mario Maker 2 introduces Clear Conditions that must be fulfilled before the level they are applied to can be completed. Some Clear Conditions intentionally cause unwinnable states if their challenge is failed, causing the level's goal to become permanently intangible unless the level is restarted from the beginning.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder has a few softlocks where Mario can fall into a hole in Here Come the Hoppos and a Hoppo plugs the hole, preventing him from leaving unless there is another escape route. Additionally, in Secrets of Shova Mansion, he can move a block so that it covers a depression leaving a small gap, then transform into an elephant while in the depression. If that happens, Mario will be trapped due to his elephant form being too big for him to squeeze through the gap.

Super Mario Bros. Special

Due to oversights or glitches, there are two examples of unwinnable situations, both in World 4. In World 4-2, a certain pipe lacks an assigned destination, meaning that if it is entered, Mario will never exit, and thus be trapped until the timer runs out. Similarly, in World 4-3, a Coin Heaven area's pipe cannot be entered, trapping Mario in that area until the timer runs out.

Mario is Missing! (DOS and CD-ROM Deluxe versions)

If the player has only one taxi token in their possession and uses it to travel to Alcatraz, Luigi will be stuck on Alcatraz since the only way to get to and from the area is by taxi.

Yoshi franchise

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Yoshi gets trapped in GO! GO! MARIO!!

GO! GO! MARIO!! has a Super Star that Yoshi can reach by jumping off a Shy-Guy. However, unless he has any Yoshi Eggs or watermelons, he will be unable to get out of the area and must quit out of the level. This is fixed in Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3.

Paper Mario series

Paper Mario: Color Splash

The Kamek curse battles may result in situations that make the battle impossible to win (for example, forcing the player to only use Hammer cards against a flying enemy). The only solution is to exit the game (as the Kamek curse battles disable the Flee command) or waste one's entire supply of cards (which will re-enable the Flee command).

Paper Mario: The Origami King

Before version 1.0.1., in Shangri-Spa, after obtaining the VIP pass to access the Spring of Rainbows, if the player left the path to it after entering, the VIP pass would be gone from the menu. If the player then spoke to the Toad at the reception, they would not have the stamp card and there would be no way to get another one. Saving after this point would have bricked the save file.

Luigi's Mansion series

Luigi's Mansion

When battling Chauncey, a glitch can occur that makes the ball needed to defeat him stuck in mid-air.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

In Treacherous Mansion, it is possible to open a door leading to the pirate ship on the side of the mansion by holding a nearby switch down with an object. If the player enters this area while a ghost knocks away the object, the door will become blocked again after they enter the room, leaving them stuck on a tiny platform and forced to restart the level.

If the player quits in the King Boo battle after the first Tough Possessor is defeated, it is possible that the game will count the earlier mission as complete without opening up the final mission, and will not send the player to the final boss upon replaying the level, making the game incompletable.

It is also possible to be unable to win a multiplayer ScareScraper round from a common glitch that stops a necessary key from appearing in the level. If this happens, the players are forced to lose the game.

Mario & Luigi series

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

At a certain point in the game, the Warp Pipe that leads to the Peach's Castle Dungeon becomes accessible by going to a question marked spot in Peach's Castle. Later in the game, the player will have to go back to Peach's Castle via Peach's Castle Dungeon from the Time holes in the Star Shrine or Toad Town. If the player did not activate the Warp Pipe at Peach's Castle beforehand, the player will be stuck at the dungeon as the pipe that connects to Peach's Castle and the dungeon does not appear. This only happens in the American version; the Japanese and European versions managed to fix this glitch.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

There are a certain series of glitches in Mushrise Park that makes it possible to fall into the Mini Mario area as both Mario and Luigi, or get stuck in the collision for a nearby bridge. If this happens, the game is unwinnable and the file has to be started over.

Since this game allows players to retry a battle after losing, it is possible for Mario to essentially get stuck in a "loop of death" should he trip at the start of a Dream World battle with minimal HP and less Speed than the enemy. As Mario has no way of defending the enemy's attack, he is doomed to get KO'd over and over until the player restarts the battle on Easy Mode, in which the Bros. will always start with full HP and BP when activated. This does not work if Mario is currently wearing the Guard Shell or Guard Shell DX accessories, and cannot be performed at all in the Hard Mode.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

If the player performs a glitch to make Paper Mario the only party member and goes to certain areas such as the island in Sunbeam Plains that requires the trio to dash into catapults to progress, he will get stuck due to the lack of available abilities. Saving while in this state renders the file useless.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

Inside the Trash Pit, if Mario hits an enemy with his hammer on the same frame an enemy hits him, Mario will be frozen with his hammer and the game will softlock.

Additionally, it used to be possible to make the game unwinnable by backtracking as solo Luigi after Mario got captured, since a glitch would result in him getting stuck in a certain area of Dimble Wood and being unable to leave. However, after the first update for the game, this was patched, and any affected save files were also fixed to allow progress.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

It is possible to use a glitch to re-enter the main area of Bowser's Castle on Wayaway Island after the door closes, letting the player explore that part of the castle again. However, exiting the castle after doing this glitch softlocks the game. As a result, if the player uses a save block inside the castle, then they are unable to leave the area or finish the game, since the Return Pipe does not work on Wayaway Island.

WarioWare series

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

At the level 3 difficulty of the microgame Right in the Eye, the eye of the needle may sometimes be positioned outside the playing area, making the game impossible to win. This issue was fixed in the microgame's WarioWare Gold remake.

WarioWare: Touched!

Three microgames in Kat & Ana's set are impossible to complete on early Japanese copies. The lines in Bright Idea and The Proud, the Fuse cannot be drawn while the flashlight in Midnight Weirdo blinks on and off. This glitch was fixed in later Japanese copies.

WarioWare: Get It Together!

In Super Mario World, 18-Volt can get stuck in Level 2 since he cannot move, despite being a neutral fit, which makes it impossible for him to win.

In Pop Goes the Party, it is possible to destroy too many of the pins in Level 3, making it impossible to win.

In Balance the Scales, it is possible to destroy too many of the cracked blocks, making it impossible to win.

In Archer Assist, 9-Volt, who is a bad fit for the microgame, can overshoot the target in Levels 1 and 3, and he cannot move the archer in these levels, making it impossible to win with him.

In Duelius Maximus' speed-based Lightning Round, winning a microgame causes anyone who did not complete it to get softlocked until the timer expires, unless the microgame is a survival microgame like Boxed Up.

Mario Kart series

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

In Ninja Hideaway, if the player lands on top of the sign after the final moving spike platform, they will be unable to move. When this happens, they will be forced to either lose the current race or quit the game.

Impossible 100% completion

See also: Missable content

A less severe variation is when a game can still be finished, but denies the player 100% completion of their save file in some way. Unlike true unwinnable scenarios, examples of intentional impossible 100% completion are more common in the Super Mario franchise.

Donkey Kong 64

The five Banana Medals that appear in Hideout Helm do not respawn if the player leaves the area without collecting them, making 101% completion impossible.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

If the player loses eight lives in a course from one of the first eight worlds before completing it, a Super Guide Block appears when the player re-enters that course. If the player saves the game thereafter, it permanently prevents them from ever having shiny stars on their save file (even if they did not use the Super Guide Block).

Super Mario 3D Land

Similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if the player loses five lives when attempting a course from one of the first eight worlds, an Assist Block will appear on re-entry, permanently preventing the player from ever having shiny stars on their save file (even if they did not use the Invincibility Leaf nor the P-Wing).

In all subsequent Super Mario platformers, making the Super Guide Block or Assist Block appear will not void the player's chance to get shiny stars on their save file; any player who uses the Super Guide or Invincibility Leaf can get shiny stars by completing the same level without using it.

Paper Mario: The Origami King

Before version 1.0.1, if the player turned off the water in the Shroom City Hotel but did not save the Toad that the Snifit was surfing on in the hotel pool before progressing the story, they would be unable to hit it with Mario's hammer. This made it impossible to get all the Toads needed to 100% complete the area, and locked them out of the perfect ending.

If the player defeated the Black Shy Guy with Professor Toad, it was impossible to achieve 100% completion in the Musée Champignon. This was fixed in version 1.0.1 by having a Black Shy Guy appear in Scorching Sandpaper West which can be fought as many times as the player wants.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

Prior to version 1.2.2076427, in Barrendale Mesa, if the player left the Barren Key for the secret zone as the last item to buy with Planet Coins at the shop, it would no longer be possible to buy it as the secret zone contains a Spark, and all 30 Sparks were required to face the Giant Magnafowl which gives a Planet Coin after being defeated. This in turn made it impossible to obtain said Planet Coin and reach 100% for Barrendale Mesa. Following the version 1.2.2076427 update, the required Sparks were lowered to 29, which now makes it possible to leave the Barren Key for last and be able to fight the Giant Magnafowl.