Glitches are oversights in the making of the game that lead to unexpected results. These can be beneficial, harmful or harmless to you.
Pikmin
Alter Pikmin species
This is a highly useful glitch that allows you to alter the type of Pikmin you have (convert reds to yellows, blues to reds, etc.) without using Candypop Buds. This glitch works in both Challenge mode and story mode. In order to do this glitch, have a Puffstool transform the Pikmin you want to alter into Mushroom Pikmin, and then use the Mushroom Pikmin Helper Glitch so that they can follow you. Now, take them back to the Onions and go to the color Onion you want to alter your Pikmin to. Stand under the light of that Onion, and it will allow you to put their Mushroom Pikmin into it, so do so. The Mushroom Pikmin will crawl up the leg of the onion, and go inside like any other Pikmin. Call them back out, and they be the type Pikmin of that Onion, even if they weren't that type before they became Mushroom Pikmin.
Beady Long Legs escape
There is a rare and dangerous glitch that causes Beady Long Legs to leave its arena. This glitch is most likely to happen when you leave the arena without killing it. Pikmin and/or Olimar have to be left at the gate to the small arena. The creature will then try to attack these, possibly leaving the arena. Once outside of the barriers, it will continue to pursue you. If you now run to the island where the Libra is, the enemy may fall into the abyss bellow, causing the game to crash (the game will also crash if you do not kill it after it leaves the arena after a certain amount of time). This glitch can basically happen with any boss that is fought in an arena.
If one wishes to attempt this glitch, the best place to do it without receiving any consequences is the Final Trial in Challenge Mode. Go to the arena in the back of the level and try this glitch on the Beady Long Legs in the arena.
Cloning Pikmin
Go to an area with a Swooping Snitchbug and lure it to the landing site. Get any type of Pikmin out. Put the Pikmin in the Onion when the Swooping Snitchbug swoops for them. If done correctly all of the amount of Pikmin will go in and the Swooping Snitchbug will have two in its hands.
Counter glitch
- Main article: Counter glitch.
Occasionally, the Pikmin counter may show incorrect numbers (e.g. 34/32). This can happen when a large amount of Pikmin die at once, causing the count to miss some that died, though it can also happen when fighting against the Smoky Progg.
Enemies that fall into the unknown
This is very similar to the way you can strategically kill enemies in Pikmin 2, but is slightly entertaining to some, and there is only one species of enemy this is possible to do with, Shearwigs. Find some Shearwigs in The Forest Navel region, likely near the area where the Automatic Gear is. Lure some or all of them to the area along the edge of the world where you find the Libra and the Analog Computer near the area with fiery geysers. You can lure them into the small lake and they'll lose health, or you can punch them. When they have lost enough health, they begin to fly. Wait for a few seconds while they recover in the air, and if they do, they may fall into to the abyssal depths of the hole. They won't come back out, but they'll still respawn in their original habitat in a few days.
Goolix out-of bounds
If Goolix is near the right of the tree-stump arena and the yellow, brain-like nucleus is hit by a Blue Pikmin, that Pikmin, or the other Blues that are attacking the smaller, blue nucleus may be knocked into the out-of-bounds, forest like terrain. Many things can happen when this occurs, either the Pikmin will slide around (throwing Pikmin onto this ledge reveals that it's slippery, as the Pikmin will slide off) and then fall off the ledge and into the area with the Pearly Clamclamps or where the Main Engine was, or they slide too far for Olimar to call back (some will even continue sliding until they are off-screen and then will die). These Pikmin will be left behind unless you reset the day.
Inaccessible Onions
This glitch, as stated in its title, will not allow Onions to be accessed and only occurs in Pikmin. To trigger the glitch, one must bring a ship part that has not been identified close to the S.S. Dolphin, but not so close that the Dolphin will appraise it. The next day, when Captain Olimar comes out of the Dolphin, it will be identified, but the Onions' rings of light will not appear due to said part having been identified. This causes the inaccessibility of the Onions. To undo the glitch, one must either go to sunset or reset.
Libra glitch
- Main article: Libra#Glitch.
When being brought back, the Libra may occasionally jump off the map, and, if the game is saved after that day, it'll be rendered unobtainable.
Mushroom Pikmin glitch
- Main article: Mushroom Pikmin#Glitch.
Mushroom Pikmin can actually be controlled.
Pellet Posy glitch
In the Forest of Hope, go somewhere near the Nova Blaster on a random day when a Pellet Posy is inside a wall. Try to go between it to fly out of bounds. You can use this glitch to get the Radiation Canopy, Geiger Counter and Sagittarius. When you throw a Pikmin at it, the screen will go black and you will be falling.
Silent Bomb-Rock explosions
If two or three of bomb-rocks go off at once, the area that the explosion covers will be larger and the explosion noise will be louder. If a really large amount of bomb-rocks (about 8 to 10 or more) goes off all at once, 1 of 2 things will happen. Either an extremely loud exploding noise will occur for about a split second and the explosion distance will be bigger than ever, or the explosion noise will not even occur.
Swimming glitch
If a non-Blue Pikmin is planted by a Swooping Snitchbug in water, the Pikmin will continue to swim until Olimar walks onto land.
Weird pellet
Sometimes, when the player's Pikmin are carrying a large pellet down a ledge, the pellet's sides will point up and the Pikmin carrying it will appear to be standing in mid-air while holding it. They'll bring it back to the Onion normally. Simply calling them back and ordering them to pick it up again will fix it. This happens with some parts such as the Libra, Whimsical Radar, and the Automatic Gear.
Yellow Wollywog stuck
In the Final Trial in Challenge Mode, there is a Yellow Wollywog near a pipe. If the Yellow Wollywog jumps on the hole in the pipe, it gets stuck there; it can be coerced into doing so by moving Olimar onto it. While stuck, the Wollywog cannot be harmed; it remains in its jumping animation and cannot be brought out of it.
Pikmin 2
Boulder glitch
If you use the Napsack, the captain will bounce a bit before lying down. If you can get the captain to bounce just as he is about to get crushed by a boulder, the captain should jump quite high. (Video)
Cave death count glitch
When your Pikmin are choking or burning due to water, poison, or fire hazards, their deaths are accounted for exactly when they make their last scream. While they are too far gone to save by the whistle at this point, they aren't exactly dead yet. If you go into a geyser or hole, you can see them jump into it with the bubbles, gas, or flames on them, albeit alive. On the next sublevel, they'll be perfectly normal. However, when you complete the cave, you'll notice that their deaths were accounted for in the number of total deaths. If you do it several times throughout the sublevels, you can even have over 100 deaths in a single cave run. (Video)
In a similar vein, if there is a fire geyser near a hole or exit geyser, the Pikmin might catch on fire during the "jumping in" cutscene. They'll still be fine after that, however, this glitch won't affect the death count.
Cave hole glitch
In any Challenge Mode level, a glitch can be made to occur where a captain ends up inside the model of the cave to the next sublevel, or inside a geyser. This happens when the leader is standing where the model will appear while The Key is collected. Once he moves back out of the structure, however, it is not possible to walk back in. (Treasures and enemies (or their corpses) disappear and fall back down to the sublevel on top of the appearing structure from above, and Pikmin are pushed out of the way.)
Dead Pikmin?
In all of the metallic caves, like Subterranean Complex, it is possible for your Pikmin to fall off the stage. This usually kills the Pikmin, but for unknown reasons, it sometimes does not. It's just best to avoid the dead zone spots.
Double sprays
Whenever a spray pops out of an egg or a frozen enemy, there is a glitch to get two sprays instead of just one. Simply have the second captain run into the spray, then he'll start to drink it. While he is drinking it, take the other captain and touch the spray to start drinking it; this will get you two sprays.
Floating cherry
Go into 2-Player mode. Have a Pikmin grab a cherry near a dead enemy's carcass. The Pikmin will grab the cherry and start to take it right through the carcass. The Pikmin will get stuck in front of the carcass, walking endlessly until the cherry enters the Onion. Meanwhile, the cherry will continue to move without any Pikmin carrying it.
Floating enemies
When you are close to an area where an enemy will fall down, it may fall on a dead enemy or treasure. This will make the enemy float in mid air, but it counts as being on the ground. If this happens with a Cannon Beetle Larva, the boulder it shoots will fall down like if it was a cliff.
Example of the glitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShWBvyyWKpM (Skip to 1:17)
Floating treasure
- Main article: Cutscene glitches#Floating treasure.
Treasures float in mid-air if you exit the Challenge Mode level while the treasure is being raised up by the Research Pod.
Frozen Captain glitch
- Main article: Frozen Captain glitch.
If a Captain falls into the abyss while using the Napsack to sleep, he may be rendered unusable.
Half activated Volatile Dweevil
Start up the Piklopedia. Then go to the Volatile Dweevil archive. First petrify it, then wait. Right before the second you think it will break free, petrify it as quickly as you can. If you do it correctly, which can be pretty hard, only the bomb-rock on the Dweevil's back should be turned into stone. You can throw Pikpik carrots at it, and if they hit it, it will wake up, but the bomb rock won't activate. Before the rock breaks free, petrify the Dweevil, and only the body will be petrified, but the bomb rock will activate; the bomb rock may even explode and kill the petrified Dweevil.
Instant Pikmin extinction
This can be performed in any cave in the game, except two-player caves. It's simply done by pressing X and A together at the right time. Keep in mind that you need to press X instantly before A, next to any random cave you please. The cave chart will say you have all of your Pikmin, but make sure your Pikmin are idle. Press yes and Olimar, Louie, or the President will go in the cave with no Pikmin. During the landing scene, they will fall on the ground and have a ring of smoke around them. After that, the game will announce a Pikmin extinction. In the treasure chart, it will say no Pikmin had died, and saving won't harm you in any way. You will come back to the surface and find all of the Pikmin in your onions/ship.
Invisible captain
If one of your captains dies in any sublevel in a cave, then his body will become invisible, but he is still there. Wollywogs are most preferable for this. The active captain must attack it where the invisible captain is. When it leaps in the air after being hit enough times, the invisible captain will be hit, showing his body suit being damaged. This glitch does strange and harmful things to the game, so try to yield after attacking and do not save after you're done with the sublevel.
Jumping while laying down
If one of your captains is knocked over by an enemy just as you are going in a hole, he will jump while lying down. This will not work if he lies down by himself.
Leave boundaries
If you are in a sublevel that looks like an outside area (such as Sublevel 2 of the Snagret Hole or the Brawl Yard), have an enemy push you close to the boundary. If done right, you will be flung to the outside of the walls and can explore the outside. If you go far enough away from the main part of the level, you will hit a massive wall with blurry images of trees and foliage painted on it, or in other cases an invisible barrier.
Make captains fall into the abyss
In caves like the Snagret Hole, there are solid walls. Behind these walls, you see nothing but black. If a Bumbling Snitchbug grabs one of the captains, there is a chance that they will drop them into the void the walls are blocking out. If you fall in, you will magically reappear at the Research Pod. Also, if you use the Napsack ability to make a captain fall asleep, a dweevil (excluding Titan and Volatile Dweevils) may pick you up as an item. If this happens, there is a chance it could walk off an edge and take you with it. For more info, go here: Frozen Captain glitch.
Pikmin through the Bridge
When Pikmin are thrown onto a bridge being deconstructed by Sheargrubs, they might mysteriously disappear from the screen. The Pikmin will still be counted on the counter and appear on the map screen as their respective colors, but will not appear above or below the bridge. Corpses and pellets, however, will still be on the bridge.
Scale glitch
- Main article: Scale#Glitch.
A glitch involving scales and cutscenes that allows the captain to be placed on a normally inaccessible structure. Used in speedruns.
Sped up animations
After obtaining the Brute Knuckles, if you combo a Dwarf Bulborb, there is a chance that its shaking, biting, and dying animations will be sped up to play twice as fast as normal. This also happens with similar enemies.
Struggling Waterwraith
In the Area Selection screen, press the L or R buttons and view the Piklopedia. Go to the archive of the Waterwraith, if you have it unlocked. Right when you open it, immediately press or repeatedly press the "Z" button to petrify it. The rollers will become petrified, followed by the Waterwraith's body. The rollers will break free first. When they do, immediately re-petrify them. The Waterwraith will then break free, and appear to have a very difficult time trying to lift its petrified boulders. This can easily be repeated indefinitely as long as you keep the rollers and the Waterwraith petrified at the right times.
Treasure in the background
Whenever a treasure is evaluated, sometimes a miniature of the treasure can be seen in the top right in the background. Though this glitch will not always occur, it can be a little interesting.
Visible seeds and magic growth
In 2-Player Mode, if the Onion is on a ledge and if a Swooping Snitchbug throws a Pikmin at the very edge of the ledge, the Pikmin seed underground will be visible (it looks like it does when it pops out, only with a longer stem). If you try to pull it out, the bottom will "magically" form a Pikmin body, and the Pikmin will fall off of the ledge.
Weird Waterwraith
When you are fighting a Waterwraith and have destroyed its rollers, if your captains are far apart and you repeatedly switch between them, the Waterwraith's walking animation will freeze, but it will still be "sliding" around.
Invisible objects
- Main article: Cutscene glitches#Disappearing items.
During certain cutscenes, most objects that can be carried are invisible.
Invincible Wollywog
When you enter the Shower Room, a Wollywog will fall from the ceiling on the first floor. Mob it with Purple Pikmin. If done correctly, the Wollywog should get trapped in the ground and not move at all, thus making it unkillable. A video can be seen here at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBTBpJEo9t4
Zombie Dweevil
If a Dweevil runs out of health just when it picks up a treasure, the Dweevil will still be alive, and will not die unless the treasure falls off. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHYdGQh-0Q
Both games
Tilted ship parts
When Pikmin bring down ship parts located on high ledges, the part may wobble and spin upon impact with the ground. At times, it may remain in a tilted position while the Pikmin continue carrying it. In this situation, Pikmin that were grabbing the raised portion of the part will continue holding onto it, and will remain in the air until the part is dropped or recovered. This glitch can also occur with treasures and pellets.
Embed glitch
At times, pellets, ship parts or treasures may become embedded into walls and the ground. Should this happen, there's a chance that, when you order the Pikmin to grab it up, they may not be able to distribute themselves correctly over the object, and be unable to grab it. Usually, moving against the object or against the wall/ground it's embedded on might help get it out, but it can also help it sink further. This tends to happen with treasures dropped by Dweevils when they're killed in small alcoves.
Crushing glitch
In Pikmin, and more frequently in the New Play Control! version, if an enemy is defeated, it usually falls to the ground. Occasionally, when an enemy falls, a few Pikmin mysteriously vanish without a ghost sprite, or even a sound. There are several enemies that have this happen more frequently than others, and it also happens with more regularity when swarming enemies rather than throwing Pikmin at them. Although rare, this can also happen in Pikmin 2 when a treasure falls on a Pikmin.
Pikmin 3
The only known glitch in Pikmin 3.
Early Shaggy Long Legs
When first landing in the Distant Tundra, the player may encounter a Shaggy Long Legs early in the day with unlimited time.