History GoodBadBugs / SportsGame

** In Franchise Mode in ''Madden '06'' (and possibly others from around that time), for unknown reasons the game logic largely devalued bad teams' draft picks during the season. If you were doing well, the game considered your first-rounder right before the trade deadline to be equivalent in value to the worst team's first-, second-, and fourth-round picks. The NFL has a fixed reverse draft order, with the worst team getting the first pick, the second-worst the second, etc. While you couldn't guarantee the team you swindled would be the worst overall, as the trade deadline was only a third of the way through the season, they would almost always be one of the five worst by season's end. Having an almost guaranteed top-3 pick every year made it substantially easier to stay good.

** In ''Madden '06'' (and possibly others from around that time), for unknown reasons the game logic largely devalued bad teams' draft picks during the season. If you were doing well, the game considered your first-rounder right before the trade deadline to be equivalent in value to the worst team's first-, second-, and fourth-round picks. While that team wouldn't always end up as the worst by the end of the season, since the trade deadline then was only after week 6 of a 17-week season, they would almost always finish in the bottom 3, leaving you with great picks every year.

** In Madden '06 (and possibly others from around that time), for unknown reasons the game logic largely devalued bad teams' draft picks during the season. If you were doing well, the game considered your first-rounder right before the trade deadline to be equivalent in value to the worst team's first-, second-, and fourth-round picks. While that team wouldn't always end up as the worst by the end of the season, since the trade deadline then was only after week 6 of a 17-week season, they would almost always finish in the bottom 3, leaving you with great picks every year.

** In ''Madden 25'', a glitch caused a quarterback's throw power, ordinarily one of the most expensive stats to improve, to get ''cheaper'' with each rank. Whil it's still expensive, if a user is good at accomplishing goals a QB can be raised to 99 THP in only a few seasons.

** Another bug allowed players in the Online Team Play mode to glitch themselves to 99 Overall stats (rather than the 75-85 most had). Some actually preferred this because it sped the game up quite a bit.
* The UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} rugby game ''International Rugby Challenge'' would keep running the match timer while the game was paused. Stuart Campbell's [[http://amr.abime.net/review_932 review]] in ''Magazine/AmigaPower'' magazine--which awarded a score of 2%, for numerous other bugs--pointed out that it was possible to win any game by scoring an initial try, and then pausing for the remainder of the match.
* Along similar lines, the [[http://amr.abime.net/review_1774 infamously poor]] Amiga football game ''Kick Off 96'' featured a bug whereby the player could line up for free kicks, penalties etc indefinitely, whilst the match timer continued to count down. The player could exploit the exact same match-winning bug as in ''International Rugby Challenge'', by scoring a goal early in the game, getting a goal kick, and waiting for the clock to run out.
** Some of the glitches of other ''Kick Off'' games are more fondly-remembered. For one, sometimes when the ball struck a goalpost it would ricochet off with far more velocity than it previously had. This could result in a goal at the ''other end'' of the pitch!
** For two, a player who falls over as part of a legal tackle, would sometimes stay on the ground but be able to move around like a normal player. Well, almost like a normal player: they would also have super speed!

* In ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater 2'', doing many tricks rapidly in succession would cause the player to pick up speed. This gave alternative methods to get to certain areas (it is possible for instance to launch off a concrete bank in School 2 to find an alternative route to the area containing the Carlsbad gap that is usually used as the exit from that spot in the game) and it's pretty much the only simple way to do the Love gap. It can also be used in the Marseilles level to do 1080s and 1260s, or a "360 the 900".

* Any of the various bugs that exists in ''VideoGame/FootballManager'' that aren't outright cheats but still give the human player an advantage if they choose to use them. The most well known are the "Corner Bug", which are when given a specific set of instructions at corner kicks, they will result in more goals than usual. Over the years they have included firing the ball out to the edge of the penalty box for a long shot, moving all but your best player away from the near post then having the corner taken there, the same but the back post.
** Another well known bug is setting a player to be sold to another team with international appearance clauses. Whilst you are manager of the international team. Every so often a version of the game will come out where the AI doesn't recognise this situation, and will happily include a "play 10 games and pay 50 million pounds" clause because they see that the player they are buying isn't likely to play internationally, but doesn't realise that the human player can easily bring them into the team and play them and get the money.
** Then there are the overall GameBreaker tactics. The most well known was the Diablo tactic for Championship Manager 03/04. To this day the top tactics are compared to it.
* ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08'' had a bug made famous by a Website/YouTube video, where a ball landing in a water hazard could actually float on the surface and the game would count it as a playable lie. The end result would be Tiger Woods walking on water to hit the ball. EA Sports actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY recreated the glitch in live action with Tiger Woods himself]] for a ''Tiger Woods 09'' promo and jokingly claimed, "It's not a glitch. He's just that good."
* ''NFL Street 2'' had a exploit in one of the NFL Challenge mode challenges, in which you earned a certain number of development points for your player character. Said exploit involved doing the challenge over and over again without exiting from the challenge, meaning not only does the game not progress the days for the final tournament, [[GameBreaker but that also means you can have all the development points you want to turn your players into superstars.]]
* An odd bug in the NES version of ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' made [[LightningBruiser Soda Popinski]] pathetically easy. If Mac ducks when Popinski crouches to throw an uppercut, Popinski will freeze for a couple seconds. Mac can throw a body blow and usually get a star. Even stranger, this glitch will cause Soda to be knocked down after any star punch.
* The UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} game ''International Soccer'' featured the glitch that you could run the length of the pitch, and score, with the ball bouncing on your head.
* Skate 3 is absolutely FULL of these. There's a glitch to get your board stuck in a piece of plywood which will then lift off like a magic carpet (with you on it) and fly around the map. There's a glitch where you can get your board stuck under a manny pad while doing a set up and take off into the sky. There's a glitch that allows you to launch yourself off any ramp at high speeds and get all sorts of places the developers didn't intend for you to be. There are several pipes with the geometry reversed that your skater can get stuck inside and become a scrambled squirming mess. There's a glitch that makes you shoot off into the sky in a superdude position. There's a glitch that makes your skater explode into a rapidly flailing ball of twisted limbs. There's a glitch that makes you fall through the ground and into an endless void of darkness (or inside a building). There's a glitch where half your board gets stuck underground and pushing off causes your legs to bend and rotate in hilarious ways. There are trash cans that spawn inside of benches and go flying. And there's more. So much more. It's actually possible to identify Skate 3 just from the sound of its physics engine freaking out.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr9sy37GIRc This video]] shows how in ''[=Major League Baseball 2K6=]'' a Fenway Park outfielder can prevent a home run by jumping the height of the Green Monster InASingleBound.

* The {{C64}} game ''International Soccer'' featured the glitch that you could run the length of the pitch, and score, with the ball bouncing on your head.

* In the ''Triple Play'' series, it's possible to have two fielders catch a fly ball at the same time (though only one fielder will have the ball in his hands). Both fielders in the center of the bullseye marking the ball's destination will be shown doing the "clap, clap, catch" animation no matter who gets it.

* The {{Amiga}} rugby game ''International Rugby Challenge'' would keep running the match timer while the game was paused. Stuart Campbell's [[http://amr.abime.net/review_932 review]] in ''Magazine/AmigaPower'' magazine--which awarded a score of 2%, for numerous other bugs--pointed out that it was possible to win any game by scoring an initial try, and then pausing for the remainder of the match.

* A spreadsheet typo caused one of the players in ''[[VideoGame/MaddenNFL Madden 06]]'' to be ''[[http://news.cnet.com/Madden-bug-makes-NFL-player-tiny/2100-1043_3-5883301.html mere inches in height!]]'' Gamers enjoyed ''Madden'' for the first time in years, but the bug was quickly fixed, killing off the amusement.

* In the ''Triple Play'' series, it's possible to have two players catch a fly ball at the same time (though only one player will have the ball in his hands). Both players in the center of the bullseye marking the ball's destination will be shown doing the "clap, clap, catch" animation no matter who gets it.

* Skate 3 is absolutely FULL of these. There's a glitch to get your board stuck in a piece of plywood which will then lift off like a magic carpet (with you on it) and fly around the map. There's a glitch where you can get your board stuck under a manny pad while doing a set up and take off into the sky. There's a glitch that allows you to launch yourself off any ramp at high speeds and get all sorts of places the developers didn't intend for you to be. There are several pipes with the geometry reversed that your skater can get stuck inside and become a scrambled squirming mess. There's a glitch that makes you shoot off into the sky in a superdude position. There's a glitch that makes your skater explode into a rapidly flailing ball of twisted limbs. There's a glitch that makes you fall through the ground and into an endless void of darkness (or inside a building). There's a glitch where half your board gets stuck underground and pushing off causes your legs to bend and rotate in hilarious ways. There are trash cans that spawn inside of benches and go flying. And there's more. So much more. It's actually possible to identify Skate 3 just from the sound of its physics engine freaking out.

* Skate 3 is absolutely FULL of these. There's a glitch to get your board stuck in a piece of plywood which will then lift off like a magic carpet (with you on it) and fly around the map. There's a glitch where you can get your board stuck under a manny pad while doing a set up and take off into the sky. There's a glitch that allows you to launch yourself off any ramp at high speeds and get all sorts of places the developers didn't intend for you to be. There are several pipes with the geometry reversed that your skater can get stuck inside and become a scrambled squirming mess. There's a glitch that makes you shoot off into the sky in a superdude position. There's a glitch that makes your skater explode into a rapidly flailing ball of twisted limbs. There's a glitch that makes you fall through the ground and into an endless void of darkness (or inside a building). There's a glitch where half your board gets stuck underground and pushing off causes your legs to bend and rotate in hilarious ways. There are trash cans that spawn inside of benches and go flying. And there's more. So much more.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2UXDn_bB20 This video]] shows a combination of examples of this trope and just plain unlikely situations that all lead to hilarity.

* The {{C64}} game ''International Soccer'' featured the glitch that you could run the length of the pitch, and score, with the ball bouncing on your head.

* The Commodore Amiga rugby game ''International Rugby Challenge'' featured a bug whereby if the player paused the game, the match timer continued to count down. In [[http://amr.abime.net/review_932 his review]] in Amiga Power magazine, Stuart Campbell - who awarded the game a score of 2%, for numerous other bugs - pointed out that it was possible to win any game by scoring an initial try, and then pausing for the remainder of the match.
* Along similar lines, the [[http://amr.abime.net/review_1774 infamously poor]] Commodore Amiga football game ''Kick Off 96'' featured a bug whereby the player could line up for free kicks, penalties etc indefinitely, whilst the match timer continued to count down. The player could exploit the exact same match-winning bug as in ''International Rugby Challenge'', by scoring a goal early in the game, getting a goal kick, and waiting for the clock to run out.

* ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08'' had bug made famous by a Website/YouTube video, where a ball landing in a water hazard could actually float on the surface and the game would count it as a playable lie. The end result would be Tiger Woods walking on water to hit the ball. EA Sports actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY recreated the glitch in live action with Tiger Woods himself]] for a ''Tiger Woods 09'' promo and jokingly claimed, "It's not a glitch. He's just that good."
* NFL Street 2 had a exploit in one of the NFL Challenge mode challenges, in which you earned a certain number of development points for your player character. Said exploit involved doing the challenge over and over again without exiting from the challenge, meaning not only does the game not progress the days for the final tournament, [[GameBreaker but that also means you can have all the development points you want to turn your players into superstars.]]
* An odd bug in the NES version of PunchOut made [[LightningBruiser Soda Popinski]] pathetically easy. If Mac ducks when Popinski crouches to throw an uppercut, Popinski will freeze for a couple seconds. Mac can throw a body blow and usually get a star. Even stranger, this glitch will cause Soda to be knocked down after any star punch.
* The C64 game ''International Soccer'' featured the glitch that you could run the length of the pitch, and score, with the ball bouncing on your head.

* The C64 game ''International Soccer'' featured the glitch that you could run the length of the pitch, and score, with the ball bouncing on your head (who needs limbs).

** Some of the glitches of other ''Kick Off'' games are more fondly-remembered. For one, sometimes when the ball struck a goalpost it would ricochet off with far more velocity than it previously had. This could result in a goal at the [i]other end[/i] of the pitch!
For two, a player who falls over as part of a legal tackle, would sometimes stay on the ground but be able to move around like a normal player. Well, almost like a normal player: they would also have super speed!

* An odd bug in the NES version of PunchOut made [[LightningBruiser Soda Popinski]] pathetically easy. If Mac ducks when Popinski crouches to throw an uppercut, Popinski will freeze for a couple seconds. Mac can throw a body blow and usually get a star. Even stranger, this glitch will cause Soda to be knocked down after any star punch.

** It's also possible to rack up massive rotations if you do donuts in front of non-standard gaps such as the loop in The Bullring or the Enma Chen ramp on Skate Heaven then rolling through the gap.

* In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, doing many tricks rapidly in succession would cause the player to pick up speed. This gave alternative methods to get to certain areas (it is possible for instance to launch off a concrete bank in School 2 to find an alternative route to the area containing the Carlsbad gap that is usually used as the exit from that spot in the game) and it's pretty much the only simple way to do the Love gap. It can also be used in the Marseilles level to do 1080s and 1260s, or a "360 the 900".

* An odd bug in the NES version of PunchOut made Soda Popinski pathetically easy. If Mac ducks when Popinski crouches to throw an uppercut, Popinski will freeze for a couple seconds. Mac can throw a body blow and usually get a star. Even stranger, this glitch will cause Soda to be knocked down after any star punch.

* NFL Street 2 had a exploit in one of the NFL Challenge mode challenges, in which you earned a certain number of development points for your player character. Said exploit involved doing the challenge over and over again without exiting from the challenge, meaning not only does the game not progress the days for the final tournament, [[GameBreaker but that also means you can have all the development points you want to turn your players into superstars.]]

** Another bug allowed players in the Online Team Play mode to glitch themselves to 99 Overall stats (rather than the 75-85 most had). Some actually preferred this because it sped the game up quite a bit.

* In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, doing many tricks rapidly in succession would cause the player to pick up speed. This gave alternative methods to get to certain areas (it is possible for instance to launch off a concrete bank in School 2 to find an alternative route to the area containing the Carlsbad gap that is usually used as the exit from that spot in the game) and it's pretty much the only simple way to do the Love gap. It can also be used in the Marseilles level to do 1080s and 1260s, or a "360 the 900".

* ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08'' had bug made famous by a {{YouTube}} video, where a ball landing in a water hazard could actually float on the surface and the game would count it as a playable lie. The end result would be Tiger Woods walking on water to hit the ball. EA Sports actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY recreated the glitch in live action with Tiger Woods himself]] for a ''Tiger Woods 09'' promo and jokingly claimed, "It's not a glitch. He's just that good."

* A spreadsheet typo caused one of the players in ''[[JohnMaddenFootball Madden 06]]'' to be ''[[http://news.cnet.com/Madden-bug-makes-NFL-player-tiny/2100-1043_3-5883301.html mere inches in height!]]'' Gamers enjoyed ''Madden'' for the first time in years, but the bug was quickly fixed, killing off the amusement.

* A spreadsheet typo caused one of the players in ''Madden 06'' to be ''[[http://news.cnet.com/Madden-bug-makes-NFL-player-tiny/2100-1043_3-5883301.html mere inches in height!]]'' Gamers enjoyed ''{{Madden}}'' for the first time in years, but the bug was quickly fixed, killing off the amusement.

* ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08'' had bug made famous by a {{YouTube}} video, where a ball landing in a water hazard could actually float on the surface and the game would count it as a playable lie. The end result would be Tiger Woods walking on water to hit the ball. EA Sports actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY recreated the glitch in live action with Tiger Woods himself]] for a ''Tiger Woods 09'' promo and jokingly claimed, "It's not a glitch. He's just that good."