Even the most polished titles still have the occasional blemish, and some players may have found one in Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury thanks to the in-game photo feature. Granted, breaking Mario titles for speedruns and to show off what happens behind the scenes is nothing new for a fanbase with a heavy apatite for finding every exploit Nintendo left under the hood.
Interestingly enough, the technical hiccup caught by Reddit user GarchompLord is the type that players often find when they begin digging through the out of bounds areas of a game. However, this one was found just off screen in Super Mario 3D World, showcasing exactly how tight the systems running the game are to make sure that this doesn't appear in normal circumstances.
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To find the glitch, all GarchompLord had to do, was move the in-game camera to the side while utilizing Super Mario 3D World's photo mode. Since the camera roams a bit more freely in this mode than it does in normal gameplay, the player was able to direct the camera to look at an enemy that had loaded in, but the AI hadn't activated yet. The result is a Chargin' Chuck enemy loaded in a T-Pose at the corner of the screen, meaning that the model has loaded in, but it hasn't begun loading animations or AI since it was out of the normal bounds of the screen.
This same effect could be seen in other Mario titles as well, including Super Mario Odyssey, which had included a similar photo mode that could be used to find enemy models that hadn't fully loaded in yet. So, it's only natural that once players got their hands on this latest version Super Mario 3D World on Switch, they would quickly start looking around for all the usual glitches and exploits. Whether this will maintain as a simple Easter Egg for now, or if some skilled players will find a way to use the camera to turn AI off in the future is still yet to be seen.
An interesting note about the glitch itself, is that it shows how Nintendo was able to make sure that Super Mario 3D World runs as smoothly as it does under normal circumstances. Having the animations and AI unloaded until the player is close enough means that the game doesn't need to focus too much on what is coming up until it crosses a specific threshold. To a degree, the type of optimization that makes for a goofy T-Pose is the same thing that makes Super Mario 3D World's best features run the way they do on the Switch.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is available now for Switch.
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