Loading error

A loading error is a phenomenon in which the game fails to load part of a stage correctly. This can include entities failing to load or loading with textures missing, the backdrop of a stage not loading or loading incorrectly, or even the famous case of the airswim glitch. Currently, loading errors have no known causes but are theoretically useful in some circumstances. All known loading errors are extremely rare.

Examples

There are a few different variants of loading errors that have currently been documented. These include:

• The water level in the Lake Kingdom or Seaside Kingdom loading at the wrong height, allowing the player to swim higher than normal. This phenomenon is known as airswim.
• The fog effect surrounding a kingdom failing to render. This has been documented in the Cap Kingdom (video) and Cloud Kingdom (video).
• The cubic rock used for Dino Skip Skip failing to load properly during Koopa Freerunning in the Cascade Kingdom. It is unclear whether the rock is gone entirely or if only the texture is missing. Video
• A torch failing to load near the Meat Plateau in the Luncheon Kingdom. Video

Although the entity loading errors listed above such as the missing torch in the Luncheon Kingdom were detrimental to the player, it is speculated that it may be possible for loading errors to occur with other entities in a way that could be beneficial to the player, such as to save time in a speedrun.