Paper Mario 64 Text Glitch FAQ

Text Glitch FAQ:

Q: Did you find this glitch?
A: Nope, Imglower found it.  ( http://www.twitch.tv/imglower/ ) I'm just experimenting with it more because we learned there's a lot to it.

Q: How do you perform the glitch?
A: By performing item duplication while touching a tornado, Mario will spawn in the next room with the "too many items" text still open.  Also, in Chapter 3, you can get lucky and have an item spawn from a battle with one of the Clubbas.  Then, this glitch can be executed by performing item duplication while being carried away by one of the castle guards.  Because of the RNG involved in this setup, I will be using the tornado in the desert for my console testing.

Q: Why are you playing the Japanese version of the game?
A: This requires us to perform the item duplication glitch, which was patched in the English release of the game.

Q: Why continue to research a glitch with minimal effects?
A: Well, while it might not appear like much at first, this glitch is pretty interesting.  Because a loading zone was taken with the text box up, the text box remains frozen on screen with no item text.  The game is attempting to display item text, but cannot find what to display because of the change in rooms.  This has some astounding results, such as arbitrary text spawning in the box, and crashes that seem "random."

Q: What's causing the text to spawn?
A: We don't know exactly; however, we appear to be in control of the text, to an extent.  The text appearances seem to result from a number of factors, mostly due to very specific controller input combinations and what room is currently active.

Q: Why do you think the game is crashing?
A: There are two main reasons I suspect the game is crashing.  The first, and most probable theory, is that the game is attempting to display text that is far too much information to display on a single frame, and the game overloads (resulting in a crash).  The second theory, while unlikely, is that this glitch is manipulating certain memory addresses that impact the game's stability.  If these memory addresses are tampered with, the game will fail to continue running.

Q: What are you hoping to find on stream?
A: Anything that suggests this glitch is impacting more than just strings (text) would be of use. ( like this: https://twitter.com/Stryder7x/status/534883232563867648 )  Additionally, I'd like to see new text and have it translated.

Q: It's boring seeing you run around with blank text.  Why is nothing happening?
A: This glitch appears to be dependent on almost everything in the game.  From what badges I equip, to how many coins I have, to what level I am, to what room I'm in, to what Chapter I have activated, to what file name I have -- basically, everything that can be "customized," the game will react differently, even with the same combination of inputs.  Additionally, the frame certain inputs are executed on can play a role in whether or not text will display.  This means there could be a large gap of time where nothing happens, or a bunch of things could happen at once.  There is no accurate way to predict when things will happen, yet.

Q: Do you do glitch hunting offstream, ever?  Where can I stay up to date?
A: Yeah, I occasionally do.  Twitter is where I post Paper Mario updates, and I've been posting a lot about this glitch on there recently.  https://twitter.com/Stryder7x