Good Bad Bugs/Video Games/Mecha Game


 * The NES version of the original Metal Gear had a glitch when you entered the computer room, if you went immediately right you would glitch into the final boss room without having to blow up the computer. This was helpful if you didn't rescue the professor (even though you KNEW you needed plastic explosives to destroy the computer, the game won't let you unless the professor told you).
 * In Metal Gear Solid 4, Snake reloads the long barrel / scope Desert Eagle with a magazine. However, a glitch means the magazine is inside another long barrel / scope Desert Eagle, which he duly inserts into the space occupied by the first. It helps if you exclaim "my deagle needs more deagle!" while doing this.
 * "Deagle...Deagle Deagle"
 * "Yo dawg, I herd you like deagles, so I put a deagle in yo deagle so you can reload while you reload!"
 * Normally in Super Robot Wars, if an enemy boss has a unique battle theme, it will override your characters' theme songs. In Super Robot Wars Original Generation on the GBA, a bug causes Elzam Branstein's theme song (Trombe) to override the boss's theme instead, which makes Elzam seem that much more awesome when he's the only pilot to play his own theme versus the final boss. Fans found this bug so amusing that in other Super Robot Wars games where Elzam appears (usually calling himself Ratsel), that the developers kept the bug in intentionally. It's become such an integral character trait that he has no other options in later games which allow you to change a character's theme song.
 * The exact bug works like this. At the start of the game, he is considered an enemy boss, and thus his theme was correctly given the boss theme property of overriding all other musics when he goes, like all the other bosses. However, later he joins your side as a playable character. But they forgot to remove the boss priority flag, and added the normal player priority flag, which overrides normal music, but not bosses. Player priority plus boss priority equals higher than boss priority, so he gets to override the final boss--TROMBE! It helps that this theme is a piece of Crowning Music of Awesome.
 * The only thing that can override Trombe! is blasting "Blue Danube" from your ship's speakers, or the music of the band Fire Bomber. This is because those songs are actually playing in-universe, and are thus given ultimate priority.
 * In Mechwarrior 2, missions had a weight limit for the player's mech. This was to insure a stable difficulty - using an 80-ton assault mech in the first missions would make gameplay way too easy. However, the lightest mech in the game--the 20-ton Firemoth--had an interesting glitch: by enabling double heat sinks, removing all extra sinks, and disabling them again, their number went to -1. It was then possible to keep removing heatsinks indefinitely, sending their number way into negative digits. Since each one removed dropped the weight by one ton, it was then possible to load up the mech with the most powerful engines, weapons and insane amounts of armor, ignoring weight requisites completely. Playing with such a modified Firemoth (after disabling heat tracking from the options--otherwise the negative number of heatsinks would explode the mech from heat buildup almost instantly after mission start) resulted in you piloting a diminutive little mech capable of zipping around the battlefield at 500 kmh, blasting away 100-ton behemoths in a single volley, and effortlessly shrugging off any plausible amount of enemy firepower.
 * Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries had a glitch in the "Mercenary Commander" campaign mode, where occasionally a mech owned by the player would duplicate weapons after being repaired from heavy damage. Obviously this was a boon during missions, but the mech could not be customized because the weight of the duplicate weapons was recognized by the Mech-Lab while ignoring the critical slots. The duplicated weapons thus could not be removed and the afflicted mech would remain overweight for its chassis.
 * Another interesting glitch in Mercenaries concerned Jump Jets and locational damage. If you shot out an Enemy Mech's legs, if it had jump-jets, it would try to keep itself upright using jets. Sometimes, the AI can't keep it upright, and they end up in a facedown mech, but with a living pilot and working jump jets, which they will use to try and get upright again. Which, in some mechs with exposed heads, can result in the AI commiting suicide by jetting headfirst into a building while facedown on the ground.
 * The Gundam vs. Series has Green Homing . To explain: when an enemy machine is near you, the targeting recticle turns red and certain attacks (beam rifles/cannons, missiles, etc) get improved homing; when they're far away, the recticle turns green and they're harder to hit. Green Homing occurs when you fire while switching targets from a close to a distant enemy, giving the improved homing to a long-range attack and letting you pull off some insane tricks.
 * Starsiege had a number of exploits... some of which became standard practice because they were just that good. Where do I even start?
 * First, there's the Shield Modulator, which focuses the shields and allows them to track a target. The shields are strengthened all around (exactly as not intended) except for a very small arc in the rear... which remains exposed even when the shields are unfocused and "closed." This creates fantastic backstab opportunities.
 * Second, there's the ramming physics. If you ram a shielded vehicle from head on or from behind, you get a fairly normal collision. If you ram from the side from a good enough running start, you can punt some vehicles clear across the map. A Is are even more susceptible.
 * Third, some vehicles have faulty or tiny collision boxes that make them less vulnerable to enemy fire... and are consequently some of the most favored rides in the game.
 * Fourth, splash damage has some... interesting effects against shields. The weapon's full damage rating is applied to every location the blast "hits" (rather than being weaker farther out from the center as it is against armor), making splash weapons exceptionally good shieldkillers. The EMP cannon, which deals minor splash damage, has consequently become standard equipment for every vehicle with more than three hardpoints.
 * Fifth, the Predator. Oh God, the Predator. By mounting a certain armor, it becomes utterly invisible to even the most sensitive radar. Combined with the aforementioned Shield Modulator hole, the Pred becomes an assassination machine.
 * Sixth, Landsharking. The curious physics allow players to drive their vehicles into the underside of a ramp and force them through the ground. In a HERC (mech), this can protect your legs from damage. In a tank, you can hide your entire vehicle underground except for the weapon mounts. This is called landsharking because several of the tanks have a vertical "fin" on top of their turrets. Understandably, later-build fanmaps feature barriers beneath any ramps to prevent this.
 * I could go on, but you get the idea. Suffice it to say we 'Siegers should have gotten another patch or five.