Video games are designed to transport us to new realms and challenge our skills, but sometimes, things go hilariously wrong.
Say you open your favorite game and discover that entire levels shouldn’t exist, characters have warped bodies, or actions defy physics.
These bizarre glitches often become legendary, turning frustration into amusement and disbelief into viral stories.
Unexpected glitches can occur with the best games, resulting in anything from small annoyances to fatal problems.
Instead of smoothly scaling walls in Assassin’s Creed or galloping across landscapes in The Witcher, players find themselves face-to-face with invisible fires or floating through the air. These unexpected occurrences are all thanks to programming slips.
These moments can disrupt gameplay and shatter immersion. Here are 15 fabled bugs that have become part of gaming legend by confusing and entertaining players alike.
1. Assassin’s Creed Unity – Faceless Horrors
At its launch, Assassin’s Creed Unity was notorious for a terrifying glitch. Players expected a historical adventure but got a horror show instead.
Faces disappeared, leaving floating eyes and mouths. It was a graphic disaster that players found both horrifying and hilarious. This glitch sticks out because it turned serious scenes into comedy, making it unforgettable.
2. Fallout: New Vegas – Doctor’s Wild Ride
In Fallout: New Vegas, Doc Mitchell sometimes greets players with a spinning head and levitating tricks. These unexpected antics at the game’s start set a tone of unpredictability.
What made this so memorable was how it flipped a standard NPC interaction into something bizarrely entertaining.
3. The Witcher 3 – Roach’s Rooftop Adventures
Roach, Geralt’s trusty steed in The Witcher 3, had a habit of teleporting onto roofs. Instead of annoyance, this bug became a beloved quirk.
It highlighted the often unpredictable AI behavior in large, open-world games and left players both amused and baffled.
4. Heavy Rain – Endless Sean
Heavy Rain aimed for deep narrative impact, but a glitch during the climax turned it into a comedy. Players could endlessly shout “Sean!” overriding other dialogue.
This repetition turned a tense finale into something players laughed at and shared clips of, cementing its place in gaming glitch history.
5. World of Warcraft – Corrupted Blood Incident
The Corrupted Blood incident in World of Warcraft was a virtual pandemic, originating from a debuff that didn’t stop spreading.
It unintentionally simulated real-world epidemic behaviors, affecting countless players. Its impact went beyond the game, being studied by researchers, which shows its significance.
6. Red Dead Redemption 2 – Invisible Fire
An invisible fire glitch in Red Dead Redemption 2 caused horses and NPCs to spontaneously combust.
This bug not only created confusion but also led to humorous and sometimes frustrating gameplay moments. Players recounting tales of unexpected explosions added to its legend.
7. Skyrim – Giant’s Space Program
In Skyrim, being hit by a giant could send you flying sky-high. This inadvertent “feature” made otherwise fatal encounters amusing and inspiring.
Soaring through the game’s skies was a popular sharing among the community because of its utter ridiculousness and visual spectacle.
8. NBA 2K – Noodle Limbs
NBA 2K17 saw players with distorted, noodle-like limbs. Professional basketball players become rubbery cartoons as a result of this visual defect.
A strange, comical image against the serious backdrop of a sports simulation game made this glitch stand out, converting frustrating gameplay into a source of amusement.
9. GoldenEye 007 – Jostled Guards
In GoldenEye 007 for the N64, players discovered that shaking the game cartridge could glitch enemy guards into erratic behaviors, making them miss their shots.
By manipulating physical hardware, this shooter became a memorable, laugh-filled experience.
10. Donkey Kong – The Kill Screen
Reaching the kill screen in Donkey Kong is a mark of high skill but also introduces a game-ending glitch. The screen garbles up, making further progress impossible.
Its legendary status stems from arcade culture, where reaching the kill screen became a badge of honor among the best players.
11. The Sims – Distorted Babies
In The Sims series, a glitch sometimes transforms babies into distorted figures with elongated limbs.
This unsettling sight turns the mundane task of child care into a bizarre experience, sticking in players’ memories for the unnatural and creepy visual impact.
12. Hitman 2 – Homing Briefcase
Hitman 2 featured a comical glitch where a thrown briefcase would relentlessly pursue a target, navigating corners and obstacles.
Adding unexpected comedy to the serious tone of the game, this glitch turned a stealth assassination tool into a slow, floating pursuer.
13. Pac-Man – Level 256 Glitch
Reaching level 256 in Pac-Man triggers a half-corrupted screen, making the level unplayable. An integer overflow in the game’s programming is the source of this fault, referred to as the “Split-Screen Level.”
For fans of retro video games, it’s a milestone recognized for illustrating the limitations of early games.
14. Super Mario Bros. – Minus World
The infamous Minus World in Super Mario Bros. is an endless, underwater level created by a glitch. Players access it through a wall in World 1-2.
Its fame comes from being a mysterious, hidden zone, offering players an unintended adventure in a game known for its polished design.
15. Minecraft – The Far Lands
At extreme distances from the starting point in Minecraft, the game scenario starts to break down into the “Far Lands,” where the terrain generates bizarre, repetitive patterns.
This glitch captures the imagination for its visual strangeness and the challenge of reaching this almost mythical game space.