10 Hilarious But Utterly Game Breaking Glitches

One of the most common types of glitches in early gaming was the kill-screen. A kill-screen is when a software bug causes a game to freeze or become unplayable. This sort of malfunction usually occurs when the player does something the game wasn't programmed for. In classic games like Dig Dug, Pac-Man, and Galaga, a kill-screen will trigger if the player reaches Level 256. due to the way values are stored in 8-bit code. The developers never expected the players to reach such a level so they never considered accounting for the overflow error.

One of the funniest kill-screens occurs in the NES light gun shooter, Duck Hunt. In this game, you have to, unsurprisingly, hunt ducks. If you successfully blast one of the flapping birds with your light gun, your dog will hold it up in triumph. If you miss, the mutt will laugh in your face, which will also scar you for life.

If you manage to reach Level 100, the game will fall apart. Not only will the ducks teleport around the screen at breakneck speed but your canine companion will laugh on loop (which quickly becomes genuinely unsettling). There's no way to progress beyond this point so you'll have to reset it if you want to continue playing.