5 Most Notorious Bugs in Gaming History

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It’s common for new video games to launch with a few errors, or ‘bugs,’ because programming is complex and some issues inevitably get missed during testing. While many of these bugs can be fixed with updates, some are particularly troublesome and memorable. We’ve looked back at gaming history to highlight five of the most famous and impactful bugs and glitches, spanning both console and PC games. These aren’t listed in any specific order.

1) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Giant Space Program

Many consider The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to be a flawless game, but it launched with its share of bugs – including the famously funny “Giant Space Program” glitch. Due to a problem with how the game calculates physics, when a giant kills your character, the body is launched hundreds of feet into the air. It’s a hilarious bug that the developers never fixed, and it’s become a beloved feature. Players now fully expect to be sent flying into the sky whenever a giant appears in any future Elder Scrolls games.

2) Pokémon Red and Blue – MissingNo.

MissingNo. is a strange, unofficial Pokémon that players can find in the original Pokémon Red and Blue games by following a specific series of steps. Encountering MissingNo. causes various visual and gameplay errors, and could even wipe out your saved game. While some players warned others to avoid it, many intentionally sought it out to see what would happen. For years, it was one of the most well-known glitches in video game history, becoming a pop culture phenomenon and inspiring references in other games. Even people who’ve never played Pokémon often recognize the name “MissingNo.”

3) Super Mario Bros. – Minus World

One of the most well-known glitches in the original Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System was a hidden area called the Minus World. Players could reach it by performing a precise sequence of jumps near the warp zone at the end of World 1-2. Once there, they’d find a never-ending underwater level that would simply loop back to the beginning. The Minus World contained a few glitched-out levels, some of which even sent players back to the title screen. It got its name because the game couldn’t properly display the level’s data, showing “-1” instead of the correct world number (36-1).

4) GTA IV – Swing Set Launcher

A famously hilarious bug in Grand Theft Auto IV is the “Swing Glitch.” If you hit certain swing sets just right, the game’s physics go haywire, launching your character incredibly high and far. It usually results in a fatal fall, though landing in water might save you. The glitch was so amusing that players intentionally triggered it, turning it into a competition to see how far they could be launched, and people even compiled lists of the best vehicles to use for maximum distance.

5) World of Warcraft – Corrupted Blood Pandemic

As a long-time gamer, I still think about the Corrupted Blood pandemic in World of Warcraft – it was absolutely wild! Basically, a glitch meant this attack would stick with your character even if you dismissed your pet, letting it spread way beyond where it was supposed to. It just exploded across the game, and the developers couldn’t contain it. Some players tried to help, but others intentionally went around infecting everyone else. Cities were overrun, bodies were everywhere – it was total chaos! Eventually, the developers had to reset the entire game to fix it. What’s really fascinating is that the way people behaved during that in-game pandemic actually gave real-world health officials some insights when COVID-19 hit years later. It’s crazy to think a video game bug could have that kind of impact!

What’s the most hilarious bug you’ve ever found? Share it in the comments below and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-05-05 18:14