5 Glitches That Made Games More Fun

Bugs and glitches are the bane of games development. You only have to look at a handful of modern releases to see that many of them come with day one patches to correct some cataclysmic error that could make your console explode in your face.

I'm exaggerating of course, but broken code has lead to some rather terrifying results over the years. It won't take long for you to find examples either - they're everywhere. One that springs to mind is Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas. The post-apocalyptic wasteland sequel was littered with game-breaking bugs on the day of release, making the title practically unplayable for some due to frequent crashes and missing NPC's. Lucky for Obsidian, New Vegas was an example of a game worth being fixed, as the underlying mechanics were spectacular.

Sometimes though, unintentional (but hilarious) gameplay can arise from such nuances, which increase entertainment value tenfold. The following list is one of personal experiences, so if you think you've experienced a titillating glitch not mentioned here, make sure you let everyone know in the comments section. Without further ado, here they are...

Gears of War - Crab Walking

Sadly, this bug doesn't involve you transforming into a crustacean; but it does involve a funny walk. GoW's immense popularity meant a plethora of gamers attempted to gain the upper hand against their foes in the cover based shooter. Aside from the laughable host advantage - meaning everyone wanted to be host - in the early days of multiplayer, the other way people would try to unfairly gain an advantage would be with crab walking.

By manipulating the thumbstick in a certain way whilst moving from cover to cover, players could bestow themselves with the gift of infinite 'roadie run' (the crouched over position you would normally sprint in). Unlike normal sprinting, your COG soldier would instead walk at running speed, enabling you to turn enemies into chunks of red gristle whilst you appeared to have a severe case of osteoporosis to everyone else.

You can only laugh when you see someone bull-rushing towards you with bullets spraying out of their face instead of their gun. What was infuriating at the time now brings warm (but bitter) feeling to my heart. Especially when I think back to all the cries of "cheating dick!" and "f**king glitchers!" being thrown around the post-game lobbies.

Crackdown - Ramp Truck Jump

In a game where you play as an agent with superhuman powers - who is basically a god among men, this glitch would have to be pretty great right? I mean, this is a title that lets you jump over buildings afterall. Fortunately, when you complete your objective of ridding the world of organised crime, you're given access to the 'keys to the city'. This neat little extra gives you access to god mode. Other than being able to inject your agent with even more over the top strength, you're also able to spawn objects and vehicles.

Whilst this jump works best with a friend and the physics defying SUV, neither are required. All you need to do is find a flat, straight road and a fast vehicle. Accelerate as if you're in a high-speed chase and then spawn a ramp truck whilst aiming your camera to the floor and voila, your eyes should now be tearing up from laughter.

I'm not sure how Realtime Worlds managed to instill the ramp truck with such bizarre properties, but I can only thank them when I watch myself get launched a thousand feet into the air by merely touching the tail end of another vehicle. Tip: for extra fun, spawn hundred's of explosive barrels and get a friend to detonate them as you launch into Earth's atmosphere.

Halo 2 - Rocket Lunge

Halo's eternally popular multiplayer arguably reached its peak with Halo 2 on the original Xbox. Whilst its sequels have enjoyed the same success, I've never been able to replicate the endless dumb fun I had with Bungie's follow up to the original.

The rocket lunge is probably the most well known glitch on this list, and rightly so - it was a hilarious exploit. All you needed was an energy sword and a rocket launcher and you were good to go. By rapidly switching between the two weapons and hammering on the right trigger with your reticule focused on an enemy player, you could lunge at them from anywhere. I'm prone to exaggeration, but when I say anywhere, that's literal, and when you saw a tiny speck floating towards you from halfway across a map with a huge ass purple sword in one hand, you simply resigned yourself to death.

I still remember having friends over to play split-screen and laughing myself to death whilst they sat there with faces like thunder, ready to tear me a new one.

Pokemon Red & Blue - MissingNo

GameFreaks original entries in the 'Gotta Catch Em' All' franchise was massively popular, being played by every school child (including myself) on the playground every time the lunch bell rang. It's no surprise then, that the MissingNo glitch has reached almost legendary status in the world of video games.

The method of how to get this glitched pokemon to appear really doesn't need explaining - it's common knowledge - but needless to say, all you had to do was talk to a certain old man in Viridian City to get the ball rolling. Once the required steps were followed, gamers were treated to an encounter with MissingNo who, if I'm honest, resembled what can only be described as a jumbled barcode who always appeared as a level 99 creature.

There was a point to this legendary exploit though. Fighting the pokemon abomination would grant you with an infinite amount of any item you desired - including Masterballs. You never wanted to catch the critter though, as he/she/it was highly likely to scramble the brains of your save game, reducing your inner 10 year old to tears.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Giant SMASH!

Sometimes, the simplest of things can make you laugh, and this glitch is exactly that. In the wonderful world of Tamriel and the province of Skyrim live some rather peaceful mammoth herders, or giants to you and me. However, if you ever get close to these house-sized humanoids, you'll be treated to a club in the face.

Instead of just falling to the floor in a crumpled mess from such a blow, it seems these blunt objects have some rather magical properties. Get hit and you'll get a free trip to Luna courtesy of the BFG's. When quizzed about the unintentional feature, Bethesda stated that the bug was so popular that they decided to leave it in. They were right too, just type 'Skyrim giant glitch' into YouTube to see what I mean.

For best results, have Frank Sinatra's 'Fly Me to the Moon' playing in the background when you attack one - it heightens the experience, trust me.

Well that's it folks, my own top five most entertaining glitches are all there for you to try out for yourselves. Chances are, most of you have seen or experienced these before, but it never hurts to go back and try the ones that still work. Like I said before, if you've found a funny quirk - intentional or not - in a game not covered here, make sure you let everyone know in the comments section below!