History GameBreakingBug / PlatformGame

* The Game Boy version of ''Film/HomeAlone1'' has a game-breaking glitch where, if Kevin climbs up the ladder to the right side of the attic in the fourth level, the game freezes due to an error with a warp.

** The famous Attic Bug on the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum version. An arrow that appears on this screen travels out of the screen memory area and into the game code, overwriting it and rendering the game {{Unwinnable}}. The first people to beat the game did so by hacking the code. Perhaps for that reason, it became famous as the most hacked game then in existence. A couple of hundred separate hacks were published in various magazines, including one that removed Maria, the housekeeper. (Since the entire purpose of the game is to get past Maria by [[GottaCollectThemAll collecting]] all the PlotCoupons, this hack makes the game pointless.) Even better, there's one that triggers the ending sequence when the player collects the first, very easy PlotCoupon.
** The programmer of the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 version fixed the infamous Attic Bug, but didn't finish implementing the final cutscene, and so the game is ''still'' impossible to complete. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel: in 2010 a bunch of chaps from the forums of Lemon 64, a C64 fan site, transplanted some of the code from other versions of the game, thus making the game finally winnable. The 27-year-gap between initial release and final patch must be some kind of record.
** The original Dragon 32/64, UsefulNotes/BBCMicro and [[UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers Atari 8-bit]] ports ''all'' have one or more (different) game breaking bugs -- despite the latter two having been converted and published by a different company -- making this into something approaching a tradition for the game!

* The English UsefulNotes/Commodore64 version of ''[[VideoGame/LivingstoneIPresume Livingstone, I Presume?]]'' had a bug introduced in localization which, in addition to breaking the CheatCode for infinite lives, causes the game to unavoidably crash at a certain point in level 3. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4OQPojiEOo 8-Bit Show And Tell discusses it in complete detail]]. Notably, neither the original Spanish version nor any of the localizations for other systems have this problem.

*** It's also possible to trip the game's CopyProtection feature if your disk is scratched or the lens of your UsefulNotes/PlayStation is dirty. Your only warning is that Zoe the fairy will warn you that you may have have purchased an illegal copy. However, if you disregard the warning (which odds are you will if you're an innocent gamer who bought the game fair and square) and face the end boss, BAM! ''All your data'' on that file is lost. Every single thing from gems to eggs goes back down to zero, and you go ''all the way back to the beginning of the game'' as if you deleted the file and started a new one.

*** In the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] version, if you die on the World 5 airship, there is a rare chance that the ship will fly off the map completely, making it [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable impossible to advance]], unless you have a warp whistle. This means the [[PowerUpLetdown Anchor]] is actually useful for this world.

* The Game Boy version of ''Film/HomeAlone'' has a game-breaking glitch where, if Kevin climbs up the ladder to the right side of the attic in the fourth level, the game freezes due to an error with a warp.
* ''Film/HomeAlone2'' for the NES has a fatal bug where, if you manage to get through the game with the Bell item intact without getting hit and spin jump into Marv ''or'' Harry in certain parts of the third level, the game freezes.

** Downplayed in a glitch in Terrydactyland in ''Tooie'' (it doesn't break the game, but it forces you to reset it). As a big ''T. rex'', two of the things you can do are scare away a guy blocking the entrance to a cave, and press a switch to temporarily open a cage containing a Jinjo. Get unlucky enough to scare the guy away just as the timer for the cage runs off, and when the short cutscene indicating you the cage has closed again is over, you won't be able to move and will have to reset the game.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 has a couple major glitches, which are design oversights as a result of the game [[ChristmasRushed being rushed out for release]]:

** An extremely serious glitch can occur in ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest Donkey Kong Country 2]]'' on the vertically-scrolling Castle Crush stage. There is a barrel near the beginning which can be grabbed and broken without being thrown. A demonstration of the glitch can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D95R9h7Jqw here]]. The glitch can cause the game to crash in some cases, but this could end up being worse than a simple restart or even losing save files (which is another potential result of the glitch). In some cases, the glitch's effects are so severe that they can corrupt the ''entire'' game even upon a reboot, due to it corrupting the game's save data beyond all repair. This isn't ''completely'' unfixable, but will require some sort of external method for clearing the cartridge's SRAM, such as opening the cartridge, then removing and re-inserting the save battery. An example of the broken game can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS623XTmr04 here.]] This glitch was reportedly fixed for the Wii and 3Ds Virtual Console versions, but showed up again with the Wii U and Nintendo Switch Online versions.

** An extremely serious glitch can occur in ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest Donkey Kong Country 2]]'' on the vertically-scrolling Castle Crush stage. There is a barrel near the beginning which can be grabbed and broken without being thrown. A demonstration of the glitch can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D95R9h7Jqw here]]. The glitch can cause the game to crash in some cases, but this could end up being worse than a simple restart or even losing save files (which is another potential result of the glitch). In some cases, the glitch's effects are so severe that they can corrupt the ''entire'' game even upon a reboot, due to it corrupting the game's save data beyond all repair. This isn't ''completely'' unfixable, but will require some sort of external method for clearing the cartridge's SRAM, such as opening the cartridge, then removing and re-inserting the save battery. An example of the broken game can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS623XTmr04 here.]] This glitch was reportedly fixed for the Wii Virtual Console version, but showed up again with the Wii U and Nintendo Switch Online versions.

** ''LEGO Jurassic World'' just ''loves'' to crash at inopportune times, often when an EventFlag is supposed to trigger but doesn't. It is also easy to crash the game by enabling too many Studs X cheats (which compound), which will make the game freeze during the end level tally. At best, this will cause oddities like having officially beaten the level but ''not'' earned the gold brick or any unlocked characters, minikits, or amber, and at worst (since it auto-saves during the tally), it can [[IncrediblyLamePun brick]] your game.

* The English UsefulNotes/Commodore64 version of ''[[VideoGame/LivingstoneIPresume Livingstone, I Presume?]]'' had a bug introduced in localization which, in addition to breaking the CheatCode for infinite lives, causes the game to unavoidably crash at a certain point in level 3. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4OQPojiEOo 8-Bit Show And Tell discusses it in complete detail]]. Notably, neither the original Spanish version nor any of the localizations for other consoles have this problem.

* ''Rastan'' on the Commodore 64 is fatally bugged on the second level. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make a jump over the flaming pit with two ropes. Try it on an emulator with save states and you'll see.

** An extremely serious glitch can occur in ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest Donkey Kong Country 2]]'' on the vertically-scrolling Castle Crush stage. There is a barrel near the beginning which can be grabbed and broken without being thrown. A demonstration of the glitch can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D95R9h7Jqw here]]. The glitch can cause the game to crash in some cases, but this could end up being worse than a simple restart or even losing save files (which is another potential result of the glitch). In some cases, the glitch's effects are so severe that they damage ''the cartridge itself'' beyond repair, usually by corrupting its ROM. An example of the broken ROM can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS623XTmr04 here.]] The same issues do not appear to occur in the Virtual Console version. Somebody risked the life of his ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' cartridge and performed the glitch on a real SNES multiple times, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo-16pMF1Mg here.]]

* Not a Game Breaking Bug in the true sense of the term, but one that applies to OneHundredPercentCompletion. In the original N64 version of ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', all items collected in a level except for Jiggies, Mumbo tokens and extra honeycomb pieces will reset upon the player dying or leaving the level. The team that ported the game to Xbox Live Arcade changed this so that both notes and Jinjos will be saved by the game's autosave feature. The problem with this is that there's a mini-game in which you have to do a jigsaw based on a moving image of Banjo exploring an area of a level, and the moving image is made using the in-game engine. What this means is that if the jigsaw-Banjo picks up a note in the N64 version, it resets afterward, but if he does it on the XBLA version, it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost forever]] and isn't added to your total. Infuriatingly, there's achievements for completing all the moving image puzzles ''and'' for getting all 900 notes, meaning that if you didn't complete the whole game before doing the jigsaws you'll have to start again right from the beginning if you want the last achievement. The real kicker in this whole scenario? A month after the glitch was first reported, a patch was made to fix it...''and it didn't work for existing saves''. You had to restart the whole game to get 100%.

** Donkey Kong runs into these nasty glitches more than once. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk2BCDaw5Dk&feature=related This video]] shows a number of glitches from the first ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' game, most of them harmless, but the one starting at 8:47 is decidedly nasty. Rambi gets glitched as the cave is opened, and the game freezes when he tries to exit. On restarting, the environment is a mass of flashing error, rendering the game utterly unplayable. An ominous annotation near the start of the segment says the glitch was tested on an actual Super Nintendo and altered the system - whether he's just talking about the emulator or if it was tested on an actual system is unknown. Fortunately, unlike the Castle Crush glitch from the next game, this one requires enough set-up as to almost never happen by accident.
** An extremely serious glitch can occur in ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest Donkey Kong Country 2]]'' on the vertically-scrolling Castle Crush stage. There is a barrel near the beginning which can be grabbed and broken without being thrown. A demonstration of the glitch can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D95R9h7Jqw here]]. The glitch can cause the game to crash in some cases, but this could end up being worse than a simple restart or even losing save files (which is another potential result of the glitch). In some cases, the glitch's effects are so severe that they damage ''the cartridge itself'' beyond repair, usually by corrupting its ROM. An example of the broken ROM can be seen ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS623XTmr04 here]]). Some accounts suggest that this damage can even extend to '''the console or emulator itself.''' The same issues do not appear to occur in the Virtual Console version. Somebody risked the life of his ''Donkey Kong Country 2'' cartridge and performed the glitch on a real SNES multiple times, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo-16pMF1Mg here.]]

** The programmer of the Commodore 64 version fixed the infamous Attic Bug, but didn't finish implementing the final cutscene, and so the game is ''still'' impossible to complete. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel: in 2010 a bunch of chaps from the forums of Lemon 64, a C64 fan site, transplanted some of the code from other versions of the game, thus making the game finally winnable. The 27-year-gap between initial release and final patch must be some kind of record.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' modding community, the Brokemia Helper (a resource required for many mods including the ''VideoGame/StrawberryJamCollab'') tried to do an AprilFoolsDay intended to add fake "Crab Sides" to the game. Unfortunately, it turned out that pressing the "Crab" button made the fake sides appear over your C-sides, and if you tried to actually play them, it was liable to overwrite your C-side data or delete it entirely. In the worst case, it could make even the vanilla game become unplayable due to messed up save data. This led to the whole crab gag being patched out.

*** According to former Rare developer Shawn Pile, a bug which would cause the game to randomly crash was the primary reason that the game required the Expansion Pak, as the developers couldn't find a way to remove the bug otherwise. Even with the Pak enabled, the game can still occasionally lock up. It seems to occur if you play the game for too long without shutting off the power (somewhere in the ballpark of 10 hours), which wasn't likely on the original console but is more noticeable with the use of savestates in UsefulNotes/{{emulation}} or UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole releases.

** ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' has two such bugs in the MS-DOS version:

* In the PC version of the 1994 platformer ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'', the second level requires you to roar at some monkeys so that you can get them to turn around, allowing you to solve a puzzle. Unfortunately, 90% of the time you enter this level, a bug manifests where your "roar meter" never fills up, thus making it impossible to affect anything with your roar.

** The 2022 rerelease of ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' on Nintendo Switch Online Service has a game-breaking bug where certain damage sources in Underwater stages can permanently put Kirby into his "stunned" state which requires the player to quit and retry the current level.

* The NTSC Atari 7800 port of ''VideoGame/ImpossibleMission'' has a bug that the final puzzle [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable literally impossible]] to complete. You're supposed to collect "cards" hidden in random objects throughout the game and solve the final puzzle by combining all of them. Unfortunately, the 7800 NTSC version (and only that one) will sometimes hide a card in a computer terminal. It can then never be found, because interacting with a terminal uses the computer instead of searching it as with every other object. This was fixed in the PAL version, and there is a chance if you are [[LuckBasedMission extraordinarily lucky]] that none of the 36 cards will be hidden in terminals.

*** Hitting Metal Sonic for the final time at the wrong frame will soft-lock the game, as seen [[https://youtu.be/Zo1e7N75RXU?t=638 here]].

*** The American manual for ''Sonic 3'' actually acknowledges that it's possible to get stuck in scenery during MercyInvincibility (and be forced to either wait for a Time Over or reset the game), but [[HandWave Hand Waves]] this as a "diabolical trap" left by Dr. Robotnik.
*** In Marble Garden, while playing as Sonic with Tails, you can actually scroll Tails off the screen permanently. While this would be good (since Tails is an AnnoyingVideoGameHelper in this mode), it also prevents him from showing up during the end-Zone boss, a boss that ''requires'' you to have Tails fly you up to meet. This means you're permanently stuck off-screen and unable to complete the game.

* The ''Wizard of OZ'' platformer on the SNES. As stated by WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, one glitch that defies all gaming sensibility is the fact that you fall off any platforms that you try to jump on unless you land perfectly dead-center.

** The Game Boy version of ''Film/HomeAlone'' has a game-breaking glitch where, if Kevin climbs up the ladder to the right side of the attic in the fourth level, the game freezes due to an error with a warp.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'':

** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', there is an obscure bug with the "Sneeze Alert" mechanical fish in Gloomy Galleon. If you get the Sniper Scope late in the game, then later go to the fish, the spinning fan lags, but not the timer. This makes the Golden Banana here ''impossible'' to get at this point without a workaround. The workaround is to [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/191702-donkey-kong-64/53989112 disable the Sniper Scope while you are waiting for the fan to finish spinning]], but due to the sheer obscurity of this bug, most people won't know to do this at all.

* The NTSC Atari 7800 port of ''VideoGame/ImpossibleMission'' has a bug that the final puzzle [[UnwinnableByMistake literally impossible]] to complete. You're supposed to collect "cards" hidden in random objects throughout the game and solve the final puzzle by combining all of them. Unfortunately, the 7800 NTSC version (and only that one) will sometimes hide a card in a computer terminal. It can then never be found, because interacting with a terminal uses the computer instead of searching it as with every other object. This was fixed in the PAL version, and there is a chance if you are [[LuckBasedMission extraordinarily lucky]] that none of the 36 cards will be hidden in terminals.

** Although it takes some effort, it can happen in the "Leading Rajan" mission. If you set a bomb under Rajan right before getting the last blueprint, you will fail the mission but you will technically have gotten the blueprints. This results in the mission being [[UnwinnableByMistake unwinnable]], forcing a reset.

*** In the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] version, if you die on the World 5 airship, there is a rare chance that the ship will fly off the map completely, making it [[UnwinnableByMistake impossible to advance]], unless you have a warp whistle. This means the [[PowerUpLetdown Anchor]] is actually useful for this world.