10 Secret Exploits That Ruined Your Favourite Video Games

1. Infinite Lives (Super Mario Bros.)

Perhaps the most infamous gaming exploit in history, this particular oversight is remarkably advantageous, despite its devastating consequences.

Ttravelling to world 3-1, the player is essentially able to harvest infinite lives by bouncing on a Koopa Trooper located towards the midpoint of the stage, jamming the poor, defenceless turtle between a rock and a hard place.

Performed correctly, this will trigger Mario to begin automatically jumping, which requires zero input from the player. That said, the exploit will eventually cause some pretty surprising glitches to occur, many of which are game-breaking – including Mario’s lives actually decreasing into negative numbers, and the game randomly crashing without warning.

Regardless, the infinite lives exploit from Super Mario Bros. is one of the earliest examples of a game-breaking exploit ever recorded, which makes it historical as well as completely irritating.

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Which other glitches and exploits have you discovered? Let us know in the comments!

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Formerly an assistant editor, Richard's interests include detective fiction and Japanese horror movies.