Super Mario 64/Glitches

There are several glitches in Super Mario 64, which can be useful or just weird.

Bridge? What bridge?
A really simple glitch. In Course 1 (Bom-omb Battlefield) go to the first wooden bridge. Go under it, where the coins are, then press and hold A. you should be holding on to the bridge. Still holding on, make your way to the lowest point possible. Release A. Mario should pull himself up through the bridge. (Note: This is fixed in Super Mario 64 DS.)

"Dark World"/Inverted Rooms
Once you have all the stars, a cannon near the pond in front of the castle will open and launch you to a roof, where Yoshi will be waiting. Also on the roof is a Wing Cap. There is a glitch that can be done with this:
 * Get the Wing Cap, then fly off the roof and into the cannon on the ground.
 * Launch towards the tower as high as it will go.
 * Keep flying towards it until you reach it. The upper part of the castle has 8 sides, so when you land on an outcrop face away from the wall that is 2nd to the left of the one that is in front (the "front" wall is the wall that was directly in front of you when you blasted from the cannon.)
 * Face away from the wall and then quickly turn around and run into it. You should fall down into a strange chamber. Remember that you'll lose half of your power.
 * You'll be in a chamber that is inverted—in other words, the door that looks like it's going outside goes into the castle and vice versa. The only way out is to leave through a hidden wall in the chamber that's inside the castle.
 * When you fly to the castle outcrop, you can also walk straight up to the top of the castle instead of falling through (by walking up the 3rd left from the front wall)

Flying Mario Corpse I

 * Go to Course 8 (Shifting Sand Land).
 * With the Pink Bob-Omb, open up the cannon in the corner of the level.
 * Go in the cannon, move the cannon as far left and as far up as it will go. Firing directly above the sun will kill you automatically as you will land in the quick sand.
 * Fire the cannon, do it many times.
 * Eventually Mario's power will run out but he'll still be in the cannon.
 * If you fire straight out into the level Mario will technically be dead but still flying. If Mario lands though he'll die and if he gets coins they won't do anything (and if Mario lands in water he'll drown automatically).

Flying Mario Corpse II

 * Go to Course 11 (Wet-Dry World)
 * Go in the cannon, and aim it just above the sun.
 * Fire the cannon and do it 4 times.
 * After the 4th time Mario's power will run out but he'll still be in the cannon.
 * If you fire straight out into the level Mario will technically be dead but still flying. If Mario lands he'll die and if he gets coins they won't do anything (and if Mario lands in water he drowns automatically.)

Lose a life without a cause

 * Get all 120 stars.
 * Go into the cannon outside the castle.
 * Aim for the roof of the castle and fire the cannon.
 * Land on the roof, and go to the RIGHT side of the roof in the very back (where the game ends)
 * Standing next to the invisible boundary, slowly walk off the edge of the castle so that Mario will be hanging onto the edge of the castle.
 * Climb back onto the castle's roof, but as you do, hold the "A" button and push the joystick up and to the right.
 * Mario's cap will disappear, and even though Mario never lost any power, a bowser face will come out of nowhere and Mario will lose a life.
 * Some guess that this happens because when this trick is done, Mario steps outside the game's boundaries into a part of the game that doesn't exist, and the only way for the game to continue without corruption is to automatically make Mario lose a life.

Lose your cap permanently
Sometimes if the giant snowman blows your cap off at a certain angle, the cap will land in the ice structure containing the Star (from In the Deep Freeze). If you try to get your cap back, you will instead grab the Star (since the cap is slightly below the Star). If this happens, reset your Nintendo 64 system. If you save your game, you will never be able to get your cap back. In Super Mario 64 DS, this glitch was fixed. (If your cap gets blown off, it will land on a snowman's head.)

Bouncing Mushroom

 * Get all 120 stars, and make sure the moat in front of the castle has no water in it.
 * Go outside of the castle, and go to the tree on the far left that contains a secret 1-UP mushroom.
 * Climbing to the top of the tree and pressing the joystick up will make the 1-UP mushroom appear. Do this, but as soon as the mushroom appears, jump off the tree and make a long jump into the moat, while avoiding the invisible cap hole. The goal of this trick is to run away from the 1-UP mushroom as fast as possible, and not let it get to you.
 * Without slowing down, keep making long jumps across the moat until you get to the pond. When you get to the pond make a sharp RIGHT leap into the pond as fast as possible.
 * Swim out of the pond and get into the cannon.
 * Aim the cannon for the castle roof and fire it.
 * Once you land on the roof, get the winged Mario cap and fly above Yoshi.
 * Fly straight, and fly in a circle around the perimeter of the game. This should be done to make it difficult for the mushroom to catch up.
 * Once you've made a complete circle, you'll get back to the cannon. Go into the cannon and do the Inverted Rooms trick (see the first section of this article for more information.)
 * When you are in the inverted room, the mushroom will try to get to you, but the wall will be blocking it. As a result, the mushroom will be constantly bouncing back and forth against the wall in a "C" shape, unable to get to Mario. If Mario moves left or right, the mushroom will follow Mario along the wall. If the mushroom gets stuck in the wall and Mario walks through the door, the mushroom will vanish, but if the mushroom doesn't get stuck, Mario will get it when he walks through the door.

Other Way to Enter Light

 * After you have 10 stars, go behind the carpet in the lobby.
 * Look up at the light.
 * Quickly go on the carpet and zoom in.
 * You'll enter Tower of the Wing Cap before you look up.

The UFO of Jolly Roger Bay

 * Go to Course 3 (Jolly Roger Bay) and choose star #1
 * Go under water, to the very back at the very bottom, and open all the chests.
 * Swim over to the sunken ship. By this time, the eel should be out of the ship's hole.
 * Once the eel is gone, swim into the hole on the top of the ship.
 * Open all the treasure boxes.
 * Wait for the water to drain.
 * Run over to the steps, but before you get to them, slow down to a crawl, or tip-toe.
 * You should see a small UFO-like object floating in front of you. However, when you try to get to it, it will zip off erratically in a different direction, much like what a UFO would do.

Shortcut on the Second Floor Steps
If you've opened the door to the castle's upper floors...on the spiral staircase leading to them, there's an unintended shortcut. Jump along the edge of the wall just before the left turn. Mario will grab onto an edge that shouldn't be there. You can pull him up through the wall, and he'll be right there at the door that faces the painting for Wet-Dry World.

The Rabbit Trick
If you grab the rabbit in the basement at the right angle, you will warp slightly so you are in front of the rabbit in the right position to grab it without changing which way you face. This can be exploited to warp through the star door without 30 stars by placing the rabbit in the right position and grabbing so you are on the other side of the door.

Some Other Methods
This trick is used for "16 Star Speedruns" and there are seemingly multiple ways in doing it, the easiest would be to angle Mario facing the door you wish to pass through so that the rabbit looks as though it's inside the wall, on the corner of the door, dropping with Z and sliding in front of the rabbit. Just as you drop it you'll then be pushed through the wall, door and all, appearing half-way through it, grab (NOTE: This can be easier said than done at times if you happen to face the wrong direction) your lucky rabbit and continue to your next destination. As for the Star Door, this one can be done more quickly by dropping the rabbit in front of the door (yes, at the same angle) and doing a long jump into the center of the door, so that you would normally land where the rabbit is, but instead, be pushed forward through the door.

BOTH methods DO require multiple attempts. You're extremely lucky to have this happen on your first attempt.

This third method also works, and has been confirmed. Place your rabbit in front of the door, now, walk through the door normally, and walk through again, just as you walk through, run back and crouch, timed right you'll easily slide right into the door. You'll be halfway through. IF the rabbit is in the right place, you can safely grab him. However, proceed with caution, as you're "treading on ice" and any sudden movements will shove you through either side of the door.

Overall the 1st one may be the safest if you plan on attempting this over, and over, and over. The 2nd attempt is used in speed runs and can be performed (after practice) very quickly. The third one is simply another method that may work for you if you have trouble getting the 1st one right.

Bypass The Last Star Door And The Endless Stairs
If you long jump backwards on the stairs at the right angle rapidly, you will go through the star door or climb the endless stairs, depending on which stairs you are doing it on. In order to long jump backwards, do a regular long jump, then move the control stick backwards. Keep holding down the Z button and press the A button as fast as possible while on the stairs to fly through the star door or the endless stairs. The guys doing these videos use the rabbit glitch and the stair trick:

Starting a Course With No Power
Start on the bridge outside the castle and jump down off the bridge towards the door into the basement. You will lose 8 power. Now go into the door and into the halls with fire and burn yourself once to lose three more power bar things. Now go near the Lethal Lava Land picture and jump up on a fire next to it - Time yourself right - on the last power bar, jump into the picture, by the time the screen fades, all your power should be gone. As soon as the level starts, you'll fall dead.

Walk on quicksand
Go to Shifting Sand Land and go inside quicksand and press Z while getting sucked in. You will be walking on quicksand. Press A on the control pad to get out.

Hold a Wing Cap in Your Hand
Go to Shifting Sand land and lose your hat. Get it out of the bird's talons, but don't grab it. Now, go through a teleporter any number of times and get a wing cap. Now run up to the cap as if you are doing the "Hold Your Cap in Your Hand" glitch. But since you have a wing cap, you will be holding a wing cap in your hand. And you can still triple jump or shoot out of a cannon and start flying!

Immediately start flying one direction
Okay, this one is really, really simple. While flying, all you have to do is land while very sharply turning one direction. Then start flying again, and BOOM! You'll be flying in that direction. If that was a little complicated to read, here's an example. Okay, I just started flying. I start VERY SHARPLY turning left, and I land while still turning. Now I start flying again, and WHOA! I start by immediately turning left and the only thing I did was triple jump!