List of Mario Kart 8 glitches

This is a list of glitches in Mario Kart 8. All names are conjectural unless otherwise stated.

Characters

Mii texture glitch

The Mii texture glitch.

It is unknown how it happens, but sometimes when a Mii is selected, the skin appears to be white with randomly colored lines. However, if a different Mii is selected, the Mii is reselected or the race begins, the texture returns to normal. This glitch does not appear to occur in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Twisting through Kart glitch

Sometimes, when players are hit with a Spiny Shell, and when they are upside-down in the air, touch a Green or Red Shell, they will turn the kart over quickly and in the process, twist themselves. They will cross their hands over in an impossible position, and their head will twist to pass through the center of the kart. It is unknown if any shell combination would make this possible.

Courses

Bowser's Castle floor glitch

Rosalina falling off Bowser's Castle.

In Bowser's Castle, if the player gets caught in some way under the molten Bowser's hand, they will be pushed under the floor. This glitch appears to have been fixed in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Breaking the lap counter

In N64 Rainbow Road, on the ramp where the player glides to the finish (before the Start line), with the use of a mushroom and a perfectly timed hop, the player can fall off the track next to the ramp and trick Lakitu into dropping them before the ramp, allowing exploration of N64 Rainbow Road backwards on the 1st lap. On the way back to the start line from anywhere in that area, the game counts the 2nd checkpoint as the 2nd lap, then the 3rd checkpoint (Start line) as the 3rd lap, essentially ending the course on the 2nd checkpoint.

Cloudtop Cruise music glitch

If the player gets hit by a Red Shell, Spiny Shell or Lightning while gliding to the thundercloud area, the music will temporarily stop, until the player reaches the platform.

Cloudtop Cruise trick glitch

Rosalina performing the Cloudtop Cruise Dash Panel trick glitch.

Rarely, a trick can be done on one of the Dash Panels in the stormy area, but only when the Panel is struck by lightning.

Edge clipping

On a bike, the player will need to drive to a 90° edge that they can fall off of. They must then slowly reverse off of it until only half of the front wheel is hanging on the edge. The player must then drive forward. One of two things will happen. If the player did it from an edge with a low altitude, about a fourth of the character will end up inside the wall. If the player uses a mushroom and hops from this position, they can fly through the wall, which results in Lakitu picking the player up. If it is done from a high altitude, the player will immediately fall through the floor and wall. This can be used to access secret areas or other parts of a course. It is easiest to do with Yoshi on the Jet Bike with Monster wheels.

Fall through the ground

On the pink corner of Baby Park, the player can clip the barrier and fall under the track. This also happens on Twisted Mansion.

False 1st place glitch

Randomly, in online matches, a player will start much earlier than the others on their perspective and run the entire race way ahead of the other players, whereas the other's perspectives will display them at a reasonable position. At the end of the race, it will display a different position for that player.

Glide Ramp trick glitch

Metal Mario performing the Glide Ramp trick glitch at Electrodrome.

Very rarely, when performing a trick on a Glide Ramp, the character does a Dash Panel or ramp trick instead of the Glide Ramp one. This could happen on every course with Glide Ramps, but it has been confirmed in Wii Moo Moo Meadows , N64 Toad's Turnpike, DS Tick Tock Clock , N64 Royal Raceway, GBA Ribbon Road , Bowser's Castle and Electrodrome, though in Electrodrome, it is more common.

Invisible ramp glitch

In Sunshine Airport, the player can miss the glider ramp before the floating metal platform slightly to the left or right and still have their glider activated.

Position ambiguity for close finish

In a very close finish, the place that a player gets in a race may differ from the place the player gets in a Mario Kart TV replay.

Section track timing

If a player does a Time Trial in either Mount Wario or Big Blue (the two tracks in which the finish line is not at the same position as the start line), the player may find that the last 3 digits of the time the player has is always either x00, x16, x33, x50, x66, or x83. The glitch in these tracks is that a player's final time in these tracks is based on frame count instead of milliseconds, unlike the other 46 tracks in the game. Because of this, a player doing either of these tracks cannot improve a time by less than 0.016 seconds.

This glitch happens primarily in Time Trial mode as there is a displayed timer, but it can also happen to the Grand Prix and Versus modes, though it is not as noticeable as in Time Trial as there is no displayed timer. In addition, it causes ties to happen about 16.7 times more often than the other 46 tracks in the game, and in all Mario Kart games, ties must be broken in all modes except Battle Mode if one occurs. The player loses the race in a tie in Time Trial mode; the lowest player number is declared the winner in Grand Prix and Versus.

This glitch was also present in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass. In Tour Paris Promenade, Tour Sydney Sprint, Tour Berlin Byways, and DS Peach Gardens, the last 3 digits of a player's time would be either x01, x17, x34, x51, x67, x84. In all of these courses, the finish line is crossed backwards on the third lap. This glitch was patched in the 2.3.0 Update of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, along with the timer oddities on Mount Wario and Big Blue.

Stuck Lakitu glitch

In Sunshine Airport, on the metal ramp just after the first airplane if the player backs up slowly and falls into an out of bounds area, Lakitu picks them up, but gets stuck under the track. This glitch can happen on other courses, such as Rainbow Road.

Subterranean bird

A bird stuck in the ground.

Rarely, birds that appear on the course may appear submerged in the terrain. This does not stop them from flying away when approached. The glitch persists in replays.

Thwomp collision glitch

In Thwomp Ruins, sometimes, when the player takes the middle pathway at the three-way part of the course, if they bump into the Thwomp while gliding, when they land on the platform below it, they may fall through it and end up in the underwater section.

Tick Tock Clock clock hand glitch

On the final clock the player can drive onto the lower of the two hands. The player should wait until the upper hand comes around. If their timing is perfect, they can drive on the upper hand while the car is still being displayed on the lower of the two hands. This can be done with any character.

Items

Hit without hitting

Baby Rosalina is affected by the glitch.

Occasionally, if a player drives close enough to a shell but does not hit it, they may still get hit, and the player will crash on thin air.

Shell shard glitch

A Red Shell after hitting Baby Luigi. Then the replay is in reverse.

In Mario Kart TV mode, if a character getting hit by a shell is played in reverse after the hit, the shards of the broken shell will still be there when it normally would not be.

Spiny Shell attacks incorrect racer

This glitch is most common in N64 Yoshi Valley where there are numerous multiple paths, but it can happen under specific circumstances in other courses such as Bone-Dry Dunes, Dolphin Shoals, etc. Occasionally, when a Spiny Shell is deployed and the racers in at least first and second place are in a section where there road forks into two, the Spiny Shell may initially follow the racer in first place and then change its target to the one in second place or the highest place out of those in the other path. This is caused by some courses, especially Yoshi Valley, having the checkpoint markers that determine the place of the racers being inadequately calibrated with the other routes, as players can see by going down the old bridge path in while in first place, drop a few places while in the turn and then suddenly be back in first place once the paths join up again.

The mobile Banana

To perform this glitch, the player should acquire a Banana and drive to the part in Dolphin Shoals where there are many Warp Pipes that generate wind. The player then needs to throw the banana at the correct angle to have it blown away to a tilted part of the course. If the glitch is performed correctly, the Banana will move on its own.

Music

Early course music

If the player enters VS Mode and selects Random for courses, then selects Go but not Start, then the Music will change to the Course Select Music as it does. However, if the player then goes back off the screen, back to the rules page, then the music is still the Course Select Music instead of the Character Select Music that normally plays on the rule page.

Wrong post-race fanfare

This glitch is only noticeable in split-screen mode. In Grand Prix or Versus, if two or more players finish at the same frame, there is a chance that the game will sometimes select a player that does not have the highest position, which can sometimes change the after-race fanfare music. For example, if two players finish at the same frame while battling for 1st, it may cause the 2nd-6th place or 7th-12th place music to play instead of the 1st place music. Turning off the CPU when playing in offline multiplayer does not prevent the glitch from occurring.