Capture linking

Capture linking is a glitch that allows the player to be captured to one or more captures while still having full control of Mario. This glitch can only be performed in Wooded Kingdom, as it is an extension of Capture frame untethering that requires access to a warp painting nearby.

The glitch is performed by capturing a Coin Coffer inside of a damage source to activate CFU, and then falling into a painting. When hovering in front of the painting, Cappy will be returned to Mario despite being captured to the Coin Coffer. This allows the player to capture a nearby capture such as a Fire Bro, resulting in the player's inputs controlling both the Coin Coffer and the additional capture. In this state, pressing the crouch button will only uncapture the Fire Bro and leave the player in full control of the Coin Coffer.

Side effects

When initially performing the glitch, the Coin Coffer can sometimes turn invisible. This glitch is only visual.

Different captures behave differently in capture linking. In most cases, the camera will follow Mario or the capture which Mario is in. However, if Mario is linked to an Uproot, the camera will always follow the Uproot, not Mario, and if Mario is linked to Glydon, the camera will only follow Glydon when it is gliding, otherwise the camera will follow Mario.

Capture linking can be used to achieve many other glitches. Some of these are listed below.

Link swapping

After successfully linking Mario to the Coin Coffer, the linked capture can be swapped out for any other capture. By capturing any other capture as Mario and then killing the linked capture using water or an upwards-facing pipe, Mario will jump out of the main capture as if he had just uncaptured, but now the other capture will be linked to Mario as well.

Chain linking

One property of capture linking is that CFU can be performed by capturing any capture, provided that a linked capture is touching a damage source during the capture sequence. Using this, the same steps to perform capture linking can also be used to link additional captures by replacing the Coin Coffer with any other capture while keeping a linked capture in a damage source.

Binoculars glitches

When capturing the binoculars as Mario, the binoculars camera will always follow and stay above the linked capture. If Mario attempts to capture the binoculars while the linked capture is in a damage source, the binoculars will not launch and Mario will instead stay visible at the position of the binoculars on the ground. In this state, if the linked capture touches water, Mario will pop out of the binoculars. The binoculars are now in a glitched state in which the game considers Mario to be captured and linked to them, so the binoculars cannot be captured, but the binoculars are in an idle state on the ground. This state is called Binoculars storage, in which capturing anything will cause the binoculars to launch and follow whatever Mario captured, and also cause Mario to untether from the capture and fall without collision. In this state, if Mario is bubbled, for example by having the capture fall into the void, the binoculars camera will instead follow Mario from above. Going into first person mode and exiting will result in the binoculars camera following the default camera.

Half capturing

By capturing a Firebro while it is inside the linked capture and bouncing on the Firebro with the linked capture while it is the capture sequence, the capture sequence will be interrupted. Normal Firebros die when they are bounced on, so if Mario half captures a normal Firebro, Mario will be tethered to where the Firebro was when it was captured. In this state, Mario enters the idle animation and cannot be controlled. However if this is performed with an Invincibro, Mario will be visibly tethered to the Invincibro as they do not die in the process. In this state, Mario is considered to be captured and tethered to the Invincibro, but the Invincibro is put back into the idle state by being bounced on so it is never properly captured. This is why this state is referred to as half capturing. While half captured, Mario has no control over the Invincibro, and instead the Invincibro can only be moved by being bounced on and being ground pounded by 2p Cappy. Collecting a moon will turn Mario invisible after the moon animation finishes. Globing in this state will crash the game after the globe cutscene finishes.

If Mario is bubbled in this state, various effects can be achieved. Moving the Invincibro into the void will cause the Invincibro to die and Mario to be bubbled to his last safespot. However his collision will be permamently removed, so he will repeatedly fall into the void until he dies. While Mario is being bubbled back up, collecting a moon with the linked capture will cause Mario to go through the moon dance sequence until his assist bubble would have popped before the moon dance, at which point Mario will exit his bubble and continue to repeatedly fall and be bubbled while the moon get cutscene finishes. If Mario falls into a moon in this falling state, the game will crash.