Softlock

A softlock is a situation that a video game can be put into, most commonly by means of a glitch, in which it becomes impossible to continue to play the game normally or access most areas without reloading the game or area. Softlocks in Super Mario Odyssey vary in severity, with some still allowing Mario to move about the area and others locking the game up completely.

The word "softlock" is also sometimes used to describe situations in which the player is temporarily unable to progress, such as a glitch where Mario can become temporarily stuck in midair during a Bowser boss fight. However, these scenarios are not true softlocks, as it is possible to simply wait in order to resolve the situation.

Types

There are three main types of softlocks in Super Mario Odyssey:

• Instance softlocks require the area to be reloaded, such as by dying or warping to a Checkpoint Flag
• File softlocks require the save file to be reloaded via the pause menu
• Game softlocks require the entire game to be restarted

Examples

The following is a list of some known softlock methods:

Kingdoms	Type	Method	Video
Cap Kingdom	File	Getting stuck somewhere during the first visit with no checkpoints activated (used for Softlock%)
Cap Kingdom	Game	Talking to the Bonneter guarding a moon just after pulling up onto the ledge above	Link
Cascade Kingdom	Game	Triggering the Odyssey cutscene by warping to the Top of the Big Stump checkpoint	Link
Sand Kingdom	Game	Activating Globe storage while in the Tracewalking minigame.	Link
Sand Kingdom	File	Bubble clipping out of the Hariet arena and missing the ground below	Link
Wooded Kingdom		Capturing a Fire Bro just as it falls into water	Link
Wooded Kingdom	Game	Killing the Invincibro in an area with a locked camera	Link
Wooded Kingdom Luncheon Kingdom	Instance	Killing a Poison or Fire Piranha Plant with Cappy in two-player mode while Mario is capturing it	Link
Cloud Kingdom	Game	Entering the camera-locking zone just above the death plane while collecting the last music note	Link
Metro Kingdom	Game	Unknown	Link
Snow Kingdom		Dying out of bounds after completing the Bound Bowl, causing the Multi Moon to disappear	Link
Moon Kingdom	Game	False capturing Bowser (i.e. capturing him while dying)
Mushroom Kingdom	Game	Unknown	Link
Various	Game	Capturing a Goomba stack while it is inside a Life-Up Heart (known as Goomba time freeze)	Link
Various	Game	Collecting a key from a Timer Challenge just before it disappears	Link
Various	Game	Collecting a fifth Moon Shard just as the HUD reappears from collecting another moon	Link
Various	Game	Talking to the Koopa Freerunning racer while stunning it with an object	Link
Various	Game	Collecting the final Story Moon in an early kingdom
Various	Instance	Becoming stuck in any inescapable area
Various	File	Achieving an infinite fall