8 Video Games That Reward You For Breaking Them

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong with video games. From freezes to crashes to unintended glitches, programmers have to try and account for every possible scenario then patch these up so things run smoothly. But sometimes it just doesn't work.

In The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, it's possible to force the game to detect an error in Link's Y coordinate – essentially, the game is unsure where exactly Link should be on-screen. In this case, Link is teleported to a failsafe room, which allows Link to exit and return to the world without any major crashes. What's interesting about this room, however, is that it actually benefits the player to go there.

In 1990, Nintendo Power held a contest the winner of which would have their name programmed into an upcoming video game. The winner was someone named Chris Houlihan, and the game was A Link To The Past. The failsafe room in the game should Link's position be doubted contains a plaque with a message referencing Chris. The room also contains forty-five blue rupees, a huge amount regardless of where you are in the game.

There are several ways to force the game to lose track of Link's Y coordinate, the simplest of which is using a bomb to knock Link into the lowest few pixels of the screen.