Super Mario Odyssey’s jump rope challenge is supposed to be a test of timing but a simple glitch has loaded the leaderboards with superhuman scores.


One of Super Mario Odyssey’s most addictive mini-games is the jump rope challenge found in the Metro Kingdom. Completing a certain amount of jumps without hitting the rope is a requirement for unlocking some of the game’s power moons and a leaderboard keeps track of the highest scores. Currently, the top ten shows absurd numbers maxing out at 99,999, with everyone tied for first place. But it’s not a matter of skill. With an easy-to-perform cheat, anyone can make Mario hover in the air and get a high score.



The trick in question is the “talkatoo glitch” and it involves hitting and speaking to one of the hint-giving birds at the same time. This locks the camera in place and can interrupt animations. I was able to reproduce the glitch about in ten minutes.




In the Metro Kingdom, stand in front of the talkatoo bird, jump, and throw Cappy. When Cappy is about to hit the bird, talk to it. After that, you need to take your camera quickly off the talkatoo bird; the next time you look at the bird it will freeze the camera. This means you can walk to the jump rope challenge, do a ground pound and look at the bird. Mario will float in the air. Walk away from your Switch and come back about a few hours later to enjoy an absurdly high jump rope score. I decided to check in on my own game after about fifty minutes and this is what I found:



Some legends say he’s still there ‘til this day.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a silly glitch that is probably more complicated to perform than simply doing the challenge and earning the power moons. Still, the glitch does toss the leaderboards into chaos. We’ve reached out to Nintendo to ask about a potential fix. Hopefully, the glitch can be removed and the leaderboards reset. That way we’ll get to know who really is-a the best and gonna win!

