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[[folder:Adventure Games]]
* In some releases of ''Sweevo's World'' it was possible to lose two lives when you only had one left - for example, by being at minimum energy on your last life, and walking under a weight to touch an enemy. The enemy would kill you, then the dropping weight would kill you again; this would cause the lives counter to wrap round to 255.
[[/folder]]
* In some releases of ''Sweevo's World'' it was possible to lose two lives when you only had one left - for example, by being at minimum energy on your last life, and walking under a weight to touch an enemy. The enemy would kill you, then the dropping weight would kill you again; this would cause the lives counter to wrap round to 255.
[[/folder]]
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* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': An overflow error in some versions allows leaders to become immortal. Each leader has a maximum lifespan, at which point their chance of dying from old age is 100%. Playing with policies to extend and then reduce the lifespan can create a leader whose chance of dying is greater than 100%. A leader who is about 24 years older than their maximum lifespan causes an overflow where their chance of dying resets from 100% to 0%.
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[[folder:Fighting Games]]
* InUniverse in ''VideoGame/SlapCity'' story mode: A cop attempts to write up Business Casual Man, only for his offenses to roll over to zero in database.
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* InUniverse in ''VideoGame/SlapCity'' story mode: A cop attempts to write up Business Casual Man, only for his offenses to roll over to zero in database.
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[[folder:Simulation]]
* ''VideoGame/SimCity'' for the SNES had an integer underflow bug that could be triggered by tricking the budget screen into accepting to pay more money than you have for road/police/fire maintenance; money would then roll over to its capped value of $999,999.
[[/folder]]
* ''VideoGame/SimCity'' for the SNES had an integer underflow bug that could be triggered by tricking the budget screen into accepting to pay more money than you have for road/police/fire maintenance; money would then roll over to its capped value of $999,999.
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* A GameBreakingBug in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' causes the final boss to be unbeatable if you hit Dr. Eggman while his HP's 0. His programming doesn't check to see if his HP's already at 0 when you're hitting him, thus giving him 255 HP, which can't be depleted within the time limit the game imposes on each level.
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* A GameBreakingBug in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' causes the final boss to be unbeatable [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable unbeatable]] if you hit Dr. Eggman while his HP's 0. His programming doesn't check to see if his HP's already at 0 when you're hitting him, thus giving him 255 HP, which can't be depleted within the time limit the game imposes on each level.
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[[caption-width-right:350:If [[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep androids someday DO dream of electric sheep]], [[AltText don't forget]] to [[UsefulNotes/ProgrammingLanguage declare SheepCount as a long int]].]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:If [[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep androids someday DO dream of electric sheep]], [[AltText don't forget]] to [[UsefulNotes/ProgrammingLanguage declare SheepCount sheepCount as a long int]].]]
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* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll on this very wiki, irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny). In any case, India ''does'' have nukes in real life. The developers, for their part, found the misconception amusing enough they turned it into an AscendedMeme by giving Gandhi a penchant for nuke stockpiling, turning him into a nuclear-powered MartialPacifist.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll on this very wiki, irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny). In any case, India ''does'' have nukes [[UsefulNotes/TheThirdEyeOfBharat in real life.life]]. The developers, for their part, found the misconception amusing enough they turned it into an AscendedMeme by giving Gandhi a penchant for nuke stockpiling, turning him into a nuclear-powered MartialPacifist.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'' also has a integer limit of 2,147,483,647. The easiest way to reach it are cards like Divine Spirit and Linecracker, which have effects that multiple an attribute, and some way to infinitely recycle them. It's not something you can just casually do, but there have been challenge combo decks that hit that absurd number.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'' also has a integer limit of 2,147,483,647. The easiest way to reach it are cards like Divine Spirit and Linecracker, which have effects that multiple multiply an attribute, and some way to infinitely recycle them. It's not something you can just casually do, but there have been challenge combo decks that hit that absurd number.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'':
** While most games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leading to this error. Famously, a fan by the name of [=RSmit=] spent three and a half years doing this in the second game, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (saying that it was "[[SelfImposedChallenge too easy]]" to do it in the third and fourth games), in what he called the Quest for the Max. He eventually succeeded in 2007, and as a result flipped the number to approximately -2 billion Bolts... meaning he couldn't afford the Tractor Beam gadget to progress past the second level in his next [[NewGamePlus Challenge Mode]] run.[[labelnote:Why it happened]]Since the game used 32 data bits, and one of the symbols has to be the positive/negative symbol, the maximum amount of Bolts is 2 to the power of 31, or 2,147,183,648. When he exceeded that number the only thing the game could do was change the positive/negative sign bit, hence the flip.[[/labelnote]]
** It's been observed in at least ''Going Commando'' that it's possible to complete Challenge Mode 255 times. If you do so the next Challenge Mode is in a state dubbed "New Game +0", where Ratchet retains all his weapons and gadgets as normal, but the enemies return to the stats they'd have on an initial playthrough.
** While most games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leading to this error. Famously, a fan by the name of [=RSmit=] spent three and a half years doing this in the second game, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (saying that it was "[[SelfImposedChallenge too easy]]" to do it in the third and fourth games), in what he called the Quest for the Max. He eventually succeeded in 2007, and as a result flipped the number to approximately -2 billion Bolts... meaning he couldn't afford the Tractor Beam gadget to progress past the second level in his next [[NewGamePlus Challenge Mode]] run.[[labelnote:Why it happened]]Since the game used 32 data bits, and one of the symbols has to be the positive/negative symbol, the maximum amount of Bolts is 2 to the power of 31, or 2,147,183,648. When he exceeded that number the only thing the game could do was change the positive/negative sign bit, hence the flip.[[/labelnote]]
** It's been observed in at least ''Going Commando'' that it's possible to complete Challenge Mode 255 times. If you do so the next Challenge Mode is in a state dubbed "New Game +0", where Ratchet retains all his weapons and gadgets as normal, but the enemies return to the stats they'd have on an initial playthrough.
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* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that and then dies, it's an instant game over. It actually functions as an unintentional NoFairCheating, since having that many lives is pretty much impossible without abusing the InfiniteOneUps trick.
* While most ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leading to this error. Famously, a fan by the name of [=RSmit=] spent three and a half years doing this in the second game, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (saying that it was "[[SelfImposedChallenge too easy]]" to do it in the third and fourth games), in what he called the Quest for the Max. He eventually succeeded in 2007, and as a result flipped the number to approximately -2 billion Bolts... meaning he couldn't afford the Tractor Beam gadget to progress past the second level in his next NewGamePlus run.[[labelnote:Why it happened]]Since the game used 32 data bits, and one of the symbols has to be the positive/negative symbol, the maximum amount of Bolts is 2 to the power of 31, or 2,147,183,648. When he exceeded that number the only thing the game could do was change the positive/negative sign bit, hence the flip.[[/labelnote]]
* While most ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leading to this error. Famously, a fan by the name of [=RSmit=] spent three and a half years doing this in the second game, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (saying that it was "[[SelfImposedChallenge too easy]]" to do it in the third and fourth games), in what he called the Quest for the Max. He eventually succeeded in 2007, and as a result flipped the number to approximately -2 billion Bolts... meaning he couldn't afford the Tractor Beam gadget to progress past the second level in his next NewGamePlus run.[[labelnote:Why it happened]]Since the game used 32 data bits, and one of the symbols has to be the positive/negative symbol, the maximum amount of Bolts is 2 to the power of 31, or 2,147,183,648. When he exceeded that number the only thing the game could do was change the positive/negative sign bit, hence the flip.[[/labelnote]]
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* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that and then dies, it's an instant game over. It actually This inadvertently functions as an unintentional NoFairCheating, [[NoFairCheating a punishment]] for stockpiling lives with the InfiniteOneUps trick, since having that many lives is pretty much impossible without abusing the InfiniteOneUps trick.
* While most ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leadingisn't likely to this error. Famously, a fan by the name of [=RSmit=] spent three and a half years doing this occur in the second game, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (saying that it was "[[SelfImposedChallenge too easy]]" to do it in the third and fourth games), in what he called the Quest for the Max. He eventually succeeded in 2007, and as a result flipped the number to approximately -2 billion Bolts... meaning he couldn't afford the Tractor Beam gadget to progress past the second level in his next NewGamePlus run.[[labelnote:Why it happened]]Since the game used 32 data bits, and one of the symbols has to be the positive/negative symbol, the maximum amount of Bolts is 2 to the power of 31, or 2,147,183,648. When he exceeded that number the only thing the game could do was change the positive/negative sign bit, hence the flip.[[/labelnote]]average playthrough.
* While most ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leading
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* In the WideOpenSandbox spaceship game ''[[{{VideoGame/Elite}} Frontier: Elite II]]'', distances between stars were calculated using 16-bit values. This meant that a star about 655.36 lightyears away was treated as being close to zero lightyears away for fuel purposes. [[GoodBadBugs With a bit of trigonometry, this meant it was possible for players to plot a course between any two stars using only two hyperspace jumps.]] The "feature" was removed in later versions.
* One of the most well-known glitches in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', the Farlands, was caused by a stack overflow. In beta-versions of the game, traveling to a coordinate larger than the 32-bit integer limit would break the code for world generation, resulting in the normal Minecraft terrain ending in a massive, vertical wall, with holes dotted around like Swiss cheese.
** Java Edition also counts days up to the 64-bit integer limit. Once it overflows, the day/night cycle actually breaks and visually runs in reverse, resulting in mobs spawning in broad daylight, zombies and skeletons burning as well as spiders becoming passive during the night, etc. Of course, the amount of time it would take to overflow that day counter is a TimeAbyss.
* One of the most well-known glitches in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', the Farlands, was caused by a stack overflow. In beta-versions of the game, traveling to a coordinate larger than the 32-bit integer limit would break the code for world generation, resulting in the normal Minecraft terrain ending in a massive, vertical wall, with holes dotted around like Swiss cheese.
** Java Edition also counts days up to the 64-bit integer limit. Once it overflows, the day/night cycle actually breaks and visually runs in reverse, resulting in mobs spawning in broad daylight, zombies and skeletons burning as well as spiders becoming passive during the night, etc. Of course, the amount of time it would take to overflow that day counter is a TimeAbyss.
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* In the WideOpenSandbox spaceship game ''[[{{VideoGame/Elite}} ''[[VideoGame/{{Elite}} Frontier: Elite II]]'', distances between stars were calculated using 16-bit values. This meant that a star about 655.36 lightyears away was treated as being close to zero lightyears away for fuel purposes. [[GoodBadBugs With a bit of trigonometry, this meant it was possible for players to plot a course between any two stars using only two hyperspace jumps.]] The "feature" was removed in later versions.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''
** One of the game's most well-knownglitches in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', glitches, the Farlands, was caused by a stack overflow. In beta-versions beta versions of the game, traveling to a coordinate larger than the 32-bit integer limit would break the code for world generation, resulting in the normal Minecraft terrain ending in a massive, vertical wall, with holes dotted around like Swiss cheese.
** Java Editionalso counts days up to the 64-bit integer limit. Once it overflows, the day/night cycle actually breaks and visually runs in reverse, resulting in mobs spawning in broad daylight, zombies and skeletons burning as well as spiders becoming passive during the night, etc. Of course, the amount of time it would take to overflow that day counter is a TimeAbyss.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''
** One of the game's most well-known
** Java Edition
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fixing wikiword
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* In ''VideoGame/WildARMs1'', there's an infinite item glitch where if the first two characters each use up one expendable item, then an item with quantity 1 is swapped into the inventory slot of that expendable item by the third character, when the turn finishes the game will subtract 2 from the quantity of the swapped item, leaving you with -1 of that item, or in the game's mind, 255.
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* In ''VideoGame/WildARMs1'', ''VideoGame/WildArms1'', there's an infinite item glitch where if the first two characters each use up one expendable item, then an item with quantity 1 is swapped into the inventory slot of that expendable item by the third character, when the turn finishes the game will subtract 2 from the quantity of the swapped item, leaving you with -1 of that item, or in the game's mind, 255.
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[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
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* Referenced in ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE161FourBranches 4 branches]]" when Strong Bad talks about Homestar's occasional GeniusDitz moments:
-->'''Strong Bad:''' You know how in video games, if you get the super-duper high score, it eventually flips back to zero? Well, sometimes Homestar does something so stupid, he flips back to smart.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Comics]]
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** [[https://xkcd.com/485/ Depth]] features 32,767 angels dancing on the head of a pin- one more and they'd become 32,768 devils.
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** [[https://xkcd.com/485/ Depth]] "Depth"]] features 32,767 angels dancing on the head of a pin- pin -- one more and they'd become 32,768 devils.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* Referenced in ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE161FourBranches 4 branches]]" when Strong Bad talks about Homestar's occasional GeniusDitz moments:
-->'''Strong Bad:''' You know how in video games, if you get the super-duper high score, it eventually flips back to zero? Well, sometimes Homestar does something so stupid, he flips back to smart.
[[/folder]]
* Referenced in ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE161FourBranches 4 branches]]" when Strong Bad talks about Homestar's occasional GeniusDitz moments:
-->'''Strong Bad:''' You know how in video games, if you get the super-duper high score, it eventually flips back to zero? Well, sometimes Homestar does something so stupid, he flips back to smart.
[[/folder]]
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* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25 Therac-25]], a machine built for radiation therapy, had one that ''killed people''. In short, the machine recorded whether or not its hardware was in the correct rotation by incrementing an 8-bit variable, which flowed over on every 256th increment and bypassed the safety checks.
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* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends'': Although players won't reach a fraction of the maximum health or creature power in normal gameplay, intrepid players sought to experiment with the maximum amount. They [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ58DpT3pHU confirmed]] that it was the integer limit of 2147483647, and that going over this causes the number to go negative.
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* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends'': Although players won't reach a fraction of the maximum health or creature power in normal gameplay, intrepid players sought to experiment with the maximum amount. They [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ58DpT3pHU confirmed]] that it was the integer limit of 2147483647, 2,147,483,647, and that going over this causes the number to go negative. negative.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'' also has a integer limit of 2,147,483,647. The easiest way to reach it are cards like Divine Spirit and Linecracker, which have effects that multiple an attribute, and some way to infinitely recycle them. It's not something you can just casually do, but there have been challenge combo decks that hit that absurd number.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'' also has a integer limit of 2,147,483,647. The easiest way to reach it are cards like Divine Spirit and Linecracker, which have effects that multiple an attribute, and some way to infinitely recycle them. It's not something you can just casually do, but there have been challenge combo decks that hit that absurd number.
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[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends'': Although players won't reach a fraction of the maximum health or creature power in normal gameplay, intrepid players sought to experiment with the maximum amount. They [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ58DpT3pHU confirmed]] that it was the integer limit of 2147483647, and that going over this causes the number to go negative.
[[/folder]]
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends'': Although players won't reach a fraction of the maximum health or creature power in normal gameplay, intrepid players sought to experiment with the maximum amount. They [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ58DpT3pHU confirmed]] that it was the integer limit of 2147483647, and that going over this causes the number to go negative.
[[/folder]]
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* In ''Webcomic/KidRadd'', the title character's "Mega Radd" ChargedAttack only charges up to a max value of 255 in his own game because it was 8-bit. [[spoiler:But the game's programmer was lazy and didn't set an actual limit in his coding. This becomes a [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt potentially major problem]] much later in the comic, long after Radd set foot outside his game]].
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* While most ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games cap how many Bolts you can hold, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 ones didn't, leading to this error. Famously, a fan by the name of [=RSmit=] spent three and a half years doing this in the second game, ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (saying that it was "[[SelfImposedChallenge too easy]]" to do it in the third and fourth games), in what he called the Quest for the Max. He eventually succeeded in 2007, and as a result flipped the number to approximately -2 billion Bolts... meaning he couldn't afford the Tractor Beam gadget to progress past the second level in his next NewGamePlus run.[[labelnote:Why it happened]]Since the game used 32 data bits, and one of the symbols has to be the positive/negative symbol, the maximum amount of Bolts is 2 to the power of 31, or 2,147,183,648. When he exceeded that number the only thing the game could do was change the positive/negative sign bit, hence the flip.[[/labelnote]]
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* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll on this very wiki, irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny). In any case, India ''does'' have nukes in real life...
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* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll on this very wiki, irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny). In any case, India ''does'' have nukes in real life...life. The developers, for their part, found the misconception amusing enough they turned it into an AscendedMeme by giving Gandhi a penchant for nuke stockpiling, turning him into a nuclear-powered MartialPacifist.
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** A character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a signed 16-bit integer) is anyone's guess.
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** A character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep.CountingSheep, causing their mental image of the whole herd to stampede in the opposite direction. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a signed 16-bit integer) is anyone's guess.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' has a few.
** Exceeding the 32-bit integer limit for the amount of times a monster has been killed in a given world will cause it to overflow to the negative limit, the only consequence is that the banner every 50 kills will no longer be rewarded until the counter hits 50 again.
** Through a rather complicated setup involving the jousting lance (a weapon which increases in damage the faster you're moving), it's possible to overflow the display on the DPS Meter, resulting in a negative DPS reading, this number can even wrap around to the positives again, which displays as an unusually low number. [[https://youtu.be/hypXil9dFKs?t=749 MappyGaming elaborates more on this]].
** Exceeding the 32-bit integer limit for the amount of times a monster has been killed in a given world will cause it to overflow to the negative limit, the only consequence is that the banner every 50 kills will no longer be rewarded until the counter hits 50 again.
** Through a rather complicated setup involving the jousting lance (a weapon which increases in damage the faster you're moving), it's possible to overflow the display on the DPS Meter, resulting in a negative DPS reading, this number can even wrap around to the positives again, which displays as an unusually low number. [[https://youtu.be/hypXil9dFKs?t=749 MappyGaming elaborates more on this]].
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* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a signed 16-bit integer) is anyone's guess.
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* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'':
** A character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a signed 16-bit integer) is anyone'sguess.guess.
** [[https://xkcd.com/485/ Depth]] features 32,767 angels dancing on the head of a pin- one more and they'd become 32,768 devils.
** A character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a signed 16-bit integer) is anyone's
** [[https://xkcd.com/485/ Depth]] features 32,767 angels dancing on the head of a pin- one more and they'd become 32,768 devils.
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** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has the "64 Door Hierarchy Glitch" which works on this principal. In a nutshell, the world map is "Room 0" and doors are listed as "Go" doors (increment it by 1) and "Return" doors (decrement it by one). In certain places it's possible to keep going through "Go" doors and keep increasing this number, and if you get it to 64 the number will roll over and whatever room you are in will become the new world map (Room 0). When this happens, if you then go through a "Return" door (or use Warp), all hell breaks loose. This ''can'' [[GameBreakingBug brick the game]], but it can also be used to {{Speed Run}} the game [[GoodBadBugs in under 2 hours]].
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** Java Edition also counts days up to the 64-bit integer limit. Once it overflows, the day/night cycle actually breaks and visually runs in reverse, resulting in mobs spawning in broad daylight, zombies and skeletons burning as well as spiders becoming passive during the night, etc. Of course, the amount of time it would take to overflow that day counter is a TimeAbyss.
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** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno Missingno.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - namely, the characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]], which will always have a hexadecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}. Attempting to level up your level 255 [=Missingno.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokémon, only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
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** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno [[GlitchEntity Missingno.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - namely, the characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]], which will always have a hexadecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}. Attempting to level up your level 255 [=Missingno.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokémon, only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
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** Overflow errors are common enough in older ''Final Fantasy'' titles that the Final Fantasy Wiki has a [[https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Overflow_glitch page]] listing them.
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* A GameBreakingBug in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' causes the boss to be unbeatable if you hit him while his HP's 0. His programming doesn't check to see if his HP's already at 0 when you're hitting him, thus, giving him 255 HP which can't be depleted within the time limit the game imposes on each level.
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* A GameBreakingBug in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' causes the final boss to be unbeatable if you hit him Dr. Eggman while his HP's 0. His programming doesn't check to see if his HP's already at 0 when you're hitting him, thus, thus giving him 255 HP HP, which can't be depleted within the time limit the game imposes on each level.
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** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] always having a hexidecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). Attempting to level up your Level 255 [=MissingNo.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
to:
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.Missingno.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - namely, the characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] name]], which will always having have a hexidecimal hexadecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). {{Cap}}. Attempting to level up your Level level 255 [=MissingNo.[=Missingno.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], Pokémon, only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
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* Many electronic scoreboards only have room for two digits, meaning in the event of a team reaching 100 or more points, the scoreboard will display "00" again, and it'll be up to the coach and audience to keep track of what the true score is.
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There are other underflow glitches in Pokémon I'd like to add at some point, including the infamous "level 100 Nidoking" trick.
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This can also work the other way around -- if a value attempts to ''decrease'' past 00000000, it will go "down" to 11111111, which can lead to some [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale pretty strange variables]].
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This can also work the other way around around, which is called underflow -- if a value attempts to ''decrease'' past 00000000, it will go "down" to 11111111, which can lead to some [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale pretty strange variables]].
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* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed,]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny).
to:
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed,]] existed]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll on this very wiki, irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny).funny). In any case, India ''does'' have nukes in real life...
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* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] always having a hexidecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). Attempting to level up your Level 255 [=MissingNo.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
to:
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] always having a hexidecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). Attempting to level up your Level 255 [=MissingNo.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMonsbugs]].bugs]].
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', the Thick Club held item can increase Marowak's Attack past 1023 (2^10-1), causing it to roll over to 0 and deal minimal damage.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', attempting to sell 256 of an item gives you no money, because the game thinks you're selling 0 of that item. The only items stackable this high are Berries.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' introduced the move Trick Room, which is supposed to invert Speed order. However, from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' onwards, if a Pokémon has 1809 or more effective Speed, it overflows and still moves first.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' has [[spoiler:Eternamax Eternatus]], an unplayable Pokémon with base Defense (and Special Defense) of 255, and thus a maximum of 658 in those stats if hacked into the party. Because the game multiplies the stat by 100 during certain calculations, and 65,800 > 65,535, it overflows into a ridiculously small Defense stat making it an unintentional GlassCannon -- or, if the stat is 656, it rolls over exactly to 0 when truncated, causing a DivideByZero error which the game parses as "opposing attacks have zero power"!
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] always having a hexidecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). Attempting to level up your Level 255 [=MissingNo.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', the Thick Club held item can increase Marowak's Attack past 1023 (2^10-1), causing it to roll over to 0 and deal minimal damage.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', attempting to sell 256 of an item gives you no money, because the game thinks you're selling 0 of that item. The only items stackable this high are Berries.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' introduced the move Trick Room, which is supposed to invert Speed order. However, from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' onwards, if a Pokémon has 1809 or more effective Speed, it overflows and still moves first.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' has [[spoiler:Eternamax Eternatus]], an unplayable Pokémon with base Defense (and Special Defense) of 255, and thus a maximum of 658 in those stats if hacked into the party. Because the game multiplies the stat by 100 during certain calculations, and 65,800 > 65,535, it overflows into a ridiculously small Defense stat making it an unintentional GlassCannon -- or, if the stat is 656, it rolls over exactly to 0 when truncated, causing a DivideByZero error which the game parses as "opposing attacks have zero power"!
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* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a 16-bit integer) is anyone's guess.
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* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a signed 16-bit integer) is anyone's guess.
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* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that (which is a distinct possibility if the player has abused the InfiniteOneUps trick) and then dies, it's an instant game over.
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* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that (which is a distinct possibility if the player has abused the InfiniteOneUps trick) and then dies, it's an instant game over. It actually functions as an unintentional NoFairCheating, since having that many lives is pretty much impossible without abusing the InfiniteOneUps trick.
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* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that and then dies, it's an instant game over.
to:
* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that (which is a distinct possibility if the player has abused the InfiniteOneUps trick) and then dies, it's an instant game over.over.
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* One of the most well-known glitches in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', the Farlands, was caused by a stack overflow. In beta-versions of the game, traveling to a coordinate larger than the 32-bit integer limit would break the code for world generation, resulting in the normal Minecraft terrain ending in a massive, vertical wall, with holes dotted around like Swiss cheese.
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This is a programming-specific relative of ReadingsBlewUpTheScale. In older video games, a KillScreen or MinusWorld is often a result of this, when trying to read data for level "257" causes a RealityBreakingParadox.
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This is a programming-specific relative of ReadingsBlewUpTheScale. In older video games, a KillScreen or MinusWorld is often a result of this, when trying to read data for level "257" causes a RealityBreakingParadox. Compare CrossesTheLineTwice when a situation is so horrible that, whether intentionally or not, it becomes hilarious.
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** This error was one of the reasons why ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' had a stat squish in ''Endwalker''. Due to how drawing aggro works, the team cited that sometimes the tanks would generate so much aggro, it would roll over back to 0, causing the enemies to disengage the tank and target whomever was the second-highest. In an MMORPG, this is a ''huge'' no-no that would most certainly lead to a wipe.
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TLP cleanup
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HowDidWeMissThisOne RollingUpdates
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* A GameMod for ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' raises the game's AbsurdlyLowLevelCap to 29 from 20. Reaching level 29 requires over 2 billion XP,[[note]]There isn't enough available XP in the game to do this: the time limits on the main storyline quests [[AntiGrinding discourage excessive level-grinding]], capping the de facto maximum level around 24.[[/note]] and [[https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/121 the notes for the mod state]] that a level cap of 30 would have an XP requirement higher than the 2.15 billion limit of a 32-bit variable.
to:
* A GameMod for ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' raises the game's AbsurdlyLowLevelCap to 29 from 20. Reaching level 29 requires over 2 billion XP,[[note]]There isn't enough available XP in the game to do this: the time limits on the main storyline quests [[AntiGrinding discourage excessive level-grinding]], capping the de facto maximum level around 24.[[/note]] and [[https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/121 the notes for the mod state]] that a level cap of 30 would have an XP requirement higher than the 2.15 billion limit of a 32-bit variable.integer.
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* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ get thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow area or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32 767 sheep]] is anyone's guess.
to:
* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ get gets thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow area error or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32 767 32,767 sheep]] (the limit of a 16-bit integer) is anyone's guess.
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Created from YKTTW
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HowDidWeMissThisOne RollingUpdates
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[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cant_sleep.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:If [[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep androids someday DO dream of electric sheep]], [[AltText don't forget]] to [[UsefulNotes/ProgrammingLanguage declare SheepCount as a long int]].]]
In older electronics, 8 bits was the standard -- strings of 0 and 1 were divided into sections of eight each, and it was seen as sufficient to get every letter and number across. It was an effective, compact way to store data, which is why it was largely used until the mid-1990s. The problem is, it also got the short end of the stick in UsefulNotes/PowersOfTwoMinusOne: since binary works by an "on and off" system, there was a maximum value -- 11111111, equal to FF in hexadecimal or 255 in base 10. Any commands to increase the value past this trigger the "next place value" protocol, which changes all 1s to 0s and turns the nearest 0 on the left into a 1. The problem is, there ''is'' no nearest 0 on the left, so the value rolls back to 00000000.
This can also work the other way around -- if a value attempts to ''decrease'' past 00000000, it will go "down" to 11111111, which can lead to some [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale pretty strange variables]].
Note that the limit does not strictly apply to 8-Bit systems and thus can be higher than 256, but occurrences of that sort are the most famous and most common due to the comparatively low cap. While mostly obsolete because of [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology improvements]], these types of errors still remain famous because they were known to cause some [[GoodBadBugs pretty hilarious crashes]] or {{Ascended Glitch}}es.
This is a programming-specific relative of ReadingsBlewUpTheScale. In older video games, a KillScreen or MinusWorld is often a result of this, when trying to read data for level "257" causes a RealityBreakingParadox.
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!!Video Game Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:[=4X=] Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed,]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Arcade Games]]
* Atari's ''VideoGame/Battlezone1980'' started the player out with slower, boxy tanks to shoot, until the player had blasted five of them, then the game threw quicker, sleeker tanks at the player. That is, up until the player had 255 tanks killed; thereafter, the register overflowed to -1, an error code. The game however simply interpreted this as "player has not yet killed enough slow tanks" and thereafter fielded the older, slower boxy tanks. This typically happens around the 80000 to 90000 point mark.
* The famous KillScreen in ''VideoGame/PacMan'' was caused by attempting to proceed to Stage 256 -- the game keeps track of the stage number by the fruit icons in the corner, and there's always supposed to be at least one.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}'', if you get hit by a projectile and touch an enemy simultaneously while on your extra life, the game will subtract two lives, rolling backwards over 0 and reading it as 255 lives remaining.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Idle Games]]
* In ''{{VideoGame/Trimps}}'', the developer was forced to cap the level number at 810 and add a parallel advancement (Universe 2) because making the game work with the numbers generated would have required rewriting the code in a different system.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Platform Games]]
* A GameBreakingBug in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' causes the boss to be unbeatable if you hit him while his HP's 0. His programming doesn't check to see if his HP's already at 0 when you're hitting him, thus, giving him 255 HP which can't be depleted within the time limit the game imposes on each level.
* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that and then dies, it's an instant game over.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Chantelise}}'': When the game time reaches, 99:99:99, it then overflows back to 0:00:00. Also, hacking for lots of money could lead to prices, since the price of things increase every buy, to overflow into negative numbers, and buying those objects may send your Pix count to overflow as well. Although, under normal play, pix are capped at some all 9s number, before it starts overflowing, to prevent overflow.
* ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZTheLegacyOfGoku Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury]]'' has an objective early in the game where you have to get a Senzu Bean to give to Gohan so he can deliver it to an injured Videl. The thing is that Senzu Beans are also normal items that you can eat [[EmergencyEnergyTank to heal back to full health and Ki]], and this one is no different. If you eat the bean and then talk to Gohan to complete the objective, he takes one Senzu Bean from your zero Senzu Beans, resulting in an underflow [[GoodBadBugs that gives you 255 of them]] when the item normally has a {{cap}} of three.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', through the Sketch Glitch it is possible to obtain 256 copies of items. Attempting to sell them all at once rolls over from 255 to 0, and the shopkeeper will pay you nothing for them because the game thinks you're selling nothing.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has an overflow glitch that causes the game to think that enemies have so much HP that it had better fix the problem and instantly kills them.
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', a conversation option with your Wookiee teammate Hanharr allows you to break his will, reducing his Intelligence stat in exchange for a Strength increase. A GoodBadBug left over from the game's TroubledProduction lets you do this repeatedly, eventually sending him ''past'' zero and [[GeniusBruiser raising his Intelligence to the maximum possible value]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLogomancer'': In the [=RPGMaker.net=] version, defeating a Watcher of the Abyss underflows the Regret stat. This is changed to just being set to 0, in the Steam version.
* A GameMod for ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' raises the game's AbsurdlyLowLevelCap to 29 from 20. Reaching level 29 requires over 2 billion XP,[[note]]There isn't enough available XP in the game to do this: the time limits on the main storyline quests [[AntiGrinding discourage excessive level-grinding]], capping the de facto maximum level around 24.[[/note]] and [[https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/121 the notes for the mod state]] that a level cap of 30 would have an XP requirement higher than the 2.15 billion limit of a 32-bit variable.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] always having a hexidecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). Attempting to level up your Level 255 [=MissingNo.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
* In ''VideoGame/WildARMs1'', there's an infinite item glitch where if the first two characters each use up one expendable item, then an item with quantity 1 is swapped into the inventory slot of that expendable item by the third character, when the turn finishes the game will subtract 2 from the quantity of the swapped item, leaving you with -1 of that item, or in the game's mind, 255.
* An early port of "Wizard's Castle" for Microsoft [=BASIC=] or [=QBASIC=] had the player's bankroll of gold pieces stored as an integer variable. Most players that survive long enough to find the Runestaff, and thence the Orb of Zot, usually do so with less than 65,536 gold pieces on hand. However, for hearty souls bent on a KillEmAll dungeon clearing, the game crashed on the 65,536th coin. Later updates changed this to a single-precision variable.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' has an infinite Job Point glitch that can be invoked by selecting a skill to learn, pressing Page Down, then confirming. If the skill under the cursor after the Page Down cost more Job Points than were available, the number was subtracted from the current number of Job Points, rolling it over negative and giving the player thousands of free job points instead.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Wide-Open Sandbox]]
* In the WideOpenSandbox spaceship game ''[[{{VideoGame/Elite}} Frontier: Elite II]]'', distances between stars were calculated using 16-bit values. This meant that a star about 655.36 lightyears away was treated as being close to zero lightyears away for fuel purposes. [[GoodBadBugs With a bit of trigonometry, this meant it was possible for players to plot a course between any two stars using only two hyperspace jumps.]] The "feature" was removed in later versions.
[[/folder]]
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!!Examples in other media:
[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheAndromedaStrain'': The pathologists analysing the disease run a computer simulation of the casualties that would result if the contagion ever EscapedFromTheLab. After blossoming from population hubs in the United States and Canada, the screen blanked to a single number: 808. The technician informs them that 808 means the computer can't calculate contamination levels that huge.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ get thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow area or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32 767 sheep]] is anyone's guess.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* Referenced in ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE161FourBranches 4 branches]]" when Strong Bad talks about Homestar's occasional GeniusDitz moments:
-->'''Strong Bad:''' You know how in video games, if you get the super-duper high score, it eventually flips back to zero? Well, sometimes Homestar does something so stupid, he flips back to smart.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* The MillenniumBug was a {{defied}} example of this trope. Due to resource constraints, early programmers stored the "year" variable as a two-digit number; however, this meant that when the year 1999, stored as "99", became the year 2000, it would roll over as 1900 instead, potentially causing unintended operation. Fortunately, the attention called to the impending problem prompted tech companies to spend the money needed to upgrade any remaining affected systems before the year 2000 hit.
* It was a long-standing [[AvertedTrope myth]] that images in the GIF format could only hold up to 256 colors because of the limits of most earlier [=PCs'=] video cards. They ''can'' hold more, but it's generally considered bad practice to do so except in large-filesize environments.
* Overflow errors aren't limited to numbers. Lots of software bugs and exploits use them, by sending a much larger chunk of data than is expected by the receiving software. [[http://heartbleed.com/ Heartbleed]] is an overflow in reverse. One sends a very small piece of data to the server, and [[http://xkcd.com/1354/ asks for a very large piece in return]].
[[/folder]]
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[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cant_sleep.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:If [[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep androids someday DO dream of electric sheep]], [[AltText don't forget]] to [[UsefulNotes/ProgrammingLanguage declare SheepCount as a long int]].]]
In older electronics, 8 bits was the standard -- strings of 0 and 1 were divided into sections of eight each, and it was seen as sufficient to get every letter and number across. It was an effective, compact way to store data, which is why it was largely used until the mid-1990s. The problem is, it also got the short end of the stick in UsefulNotes/PowersOfTwoMinusOne: since binary works by an "on and off" system, there was a maximum value -- 11111111, equal to FF in hexadecimal or 255 in base 10. Any commands to increase the value past this trigger the "next place value" protocol, which changes all 1s to 0s and turns the nearest 0 on the left into a 1. The problem is, there ''is'' no nearest 0 on the left, so the value rolls back to 00000000.
This can also work the other way around -- if a value attempts to ''decrease'' past 00000000, it will go "down" to 11111111, which can lead to some [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale pretty strange variables]].
Note that the limit does not strictly apply to 8-Bit systems and thus can be higher than 256, but occurrences of that sort are the most famous and most common due to the comparatively low cap. While mostly obsolete because of [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology improvements]], these types of errors still remain famous because they were known to cause some [[GoodBadBugs pretty hilarious crashes]] or {{Ascended Glitch}}es.
This is a programming-specific relative of ReadingsBlewUpTheScale. In older video games, a KillScreen or MinusWorld is often a result of this, when trying to read data for level "257" causes a RealityBreakingParadox.
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!!Video Game Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:[=4X=] Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': A longstanding UrbanLegendOfZelda argued that UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi, the in-game leader of the India civilization, had an AI aggression level of 1, but when a civ adopted democracy and thereby reduced its aggression two steps, it would cause the 8-bit variable to wrap back around to 255 and make him insanely aggressive. [[https://www.thegamer.com/nuclear-gandhi-meme-civilization/ The bug never actually existed,]] according to series creator Creator/SidMeier: his studio in fact [[DevelopersForesight anticipated the problem]] and coded aggression to never go below 1. The memetic error was made up by an InternetTroll irritated that AI Gandhi had nuked him (which is still pretty funny).
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[[folder:Arcade Games]]
* Atari's ''VideoGame/Battlezone1980'' started the player out with slower, boxy tanks to shoot, until the player had blasted five of them, then the game threw quicker, sleeker tanks at the player. That is, up until the player had 255 tanks killed; thereafter, the register overflowed to -1, an error code. The game however simply interpreted this as "player has not yet killed enough slow tanks" and thereafter fielded the older, slower boxy tanks. This typically happens around the 80000 to 90000 point mark.
* The famous KillScreen in ''VideoGame/PacMan'' was caused by attempting to proceed to Stage 256 -- the game keeps track of the stage number by the fruit icons in the corner, and there's always supposed to be at least one.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}'', if you get hit by a projectile and touch an enemy simultaneously while on your extra life, the game will subtract two lives, rolling backwards over 0 and reading it as 255 lives remaining.
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[[folder:Idle Games]]
* In ''{{VideoGame/Trimps}}'', the developer was forced to cap the level number at 810 and add a parallel advancement (Universe 2) because making the game work with the numbers generated would have required rewriting the code in a different system.
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[[folder:Platform Games]]
* A GameBreakingBug in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' causes the boss to be unbeatable if you hit him while his HP's 0. His programming doesn't check to see if his HP's already at 0 when you're hitting him, thus, giving him 255 HP which can't be depleted within the time limit the game imposes on each level.
* ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' stored the number of lives as a signed byte (ranging from -128 to 127). So Mario can safely have 127 lives, but if he has more than that and then dies, it's an instant game over.
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[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Chantelise}}'': When the game time reaches, 99:99:99, it then overflows back to 0:00:00. Also, hacking for lots of money could lead to prices, since the price of things increase every buy, to overflow into negative numbers, and buying those objects may send your Pix count to overflow as well. Although, under normal play, pix are capped at some all 9s number, before it starts overflowing, to prevent overflow.
* ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZTheLegacyOfGoku Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury]]'' has an objective early in the game where you have to get a Senzu Bean to give to Gohan so he can deliver it to an injured Videl. The thing is that Senzu Beans are also normal items that you can eat [[EmergencyEnergyTank to heal back to full health and Ki]], and this one is no different. If you eat the bean and then talk to Gohan to complete the objective, he takes one Senzu Bean from your zero Senzu Beans, resulting in an underflow [[GoodBadBugs that gives you 255 of them]] when the item normally has a {{cap}} of three.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', through the Sketch Glitch it is possible to obtain 256 copies of items. Attempting to sell them all at once rolls over from 255 to 0, and the shopkeeper will pay you nothing for them because the game thinks you're selling nothing.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has an overflow glitch that causes the game to think that enemies have so much HP that it had better fix the problem and instantly kills them.
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', a conversation option with your Wookiee teammate Hanharr allows you to break his will, reducing his Intelligence stat in exchange for a Strength increase. A GoodBadBug left over from the game's TroubledProduction lets you do this repeatedly, eventually sending him ''past'' zero and [[GeniusBruiser raising his Intelligence to the maximum possible value]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLogomancer'': In the [=RPGMaker.net=] version, defeating a Watcher of the Abyss underflows the Regret stat. This is changed to just being set to 0, in the Steam version.
* A GameMod for ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' raises the game's AbsurdlyLowLevelCap to 29 from 20. Reaching level 29 requires over 2 billion XP,[[note]]There isn't enough available XP in the game to do this: the time limits on the main storyline quests [[AntiGrinding discourage excessive level-grinding]], capping the de facto maximum level around 24.[[/note]] and [[https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/121 the notes for the mod state]] that a level cap of 30 would have an XP requirement higher than the 2.15 billion limit of a 32-bit variable.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', [[TheMissingno MissingNo.]] will always be at an absurdly high level due to the nature of the variables being read - characters in the player's [[HelloInsertNameHere name]] always having a hexidecimal value above 100, the normal {{Cap}}). Attempting to level up your Level 255 [=MissingNo.=] with a Rare Candy, however, will reset its level to a pathetic 0, and attempting to train it at "legal" levels past this will prove difficult because without the advanced level multipliers, it's quickly found out the hard way that [[JokeCharacter it has the 6th lowest base stat total of all Generation 1 Pokemon]], only being beaten out by Magikarp and the not-fully-evolved [[ComMons bugs]].
* In ''VideoGame/WildARMs1'', there's an infinite item glitch where if the first two characters each use up one expendable item, then an item with quantity 1 is swapped into the inventory slot of that expendable item by the third character, when the turn finishes the game will subtract 2 from the quantity of the swapped item, leaving you with -1 of that item, or in the game's mind, 255.
* An early port of "Wizard's Castle" for Microsoft [=BASIC=] or [=QBASIC=] had the player's bankroll of gold pieces stored as an integer variable. Most players that survive long enough to find the Runestaff, and thence the Orb of Zot, usually do so with less than 65,536 gold pieces on hand. However, for hearty souls bent on a KillEmAll dungeon clearing, the game crashed on the 65,536th coin. Later updates changed this to a single-precision variable.
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[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' has an infinite Job Point glitch that can be invoked by selecting a skill to learn, pressing Page Down, then confirming. If the skill under the cursor after the Page Down cost more Job Points than were available, the number was subtracted from the current number of Job Points, rolling it over negative and giving the player thousands of free job points instead.
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[[folder:Wide-Open Sandbox]]
* In the WideOpenSandbox spaceship game ''[[{{VideoGame/Elite}} Frontier: Elite II]]'', distances between stars were calculated using 16-bit values. This meant that a star about 655.36 lightyears away was treated as being close to zero lightyears away for fuel purposes. [[GoodBadBugs With a bit of trigonometry, this meant it was possible for players to plot a course between any two stars using only two hyperspace jumps.]] The "feature" was removed in later versions.
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!!Examples in other media:
[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheAndromedaStrain'': The pathologists analysing the disease run a computer simulation of the casualties that would result if the contagion ever EscapedFromTheLab. After blossoming from population hubs in the United States and Canada, the screen blanked to a single number: 808. The technician informs them that 808 means the computer can't calculate contamination levels that huge.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', a character [[https://xkcd.com/571/ get thrown off by this]] while CountingSheep. Whether it's a bigger problem to have one's brain throw an overflow area or to be awake [[TheInsomniac even after 32 767 sheep]] is anyone's guess.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* Referenced in ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE161FourBranches 4 branches]]" when Strong Bad talks about Homestar's occasional GeniusDitz moments:
-->'''Strong Bad:''' You know how in video games, if you get the super-duper high score, it eventually flips back to zero? Well, sometimes Homestar does something so stupid, he flips back to smart.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* The MillenniumBug was a {{defied}} example of this trope. Due to resource constraints, early programmers stored the "year" variable as a two-digit number; however, this meant that when the year 1999, stored as "99", became the year 2000, it would roll over as 1900 instead, potentially causing unintended operation. Fortunately, the attention called to the impending problem prompted tech companies to spend the money needed to upgrade any remaining affected systems before the year 2000 hit.
* It was a long-standing [[AvertedTrope myth]] that images in the GIF format could only hold up to 256 colors because of the limits of most earlier [=PCs'=] video cards. They ''can'' hold more, but it's generally considered bad practice to do so except in large-filesize environments.
* Overflow errors aren't limited to numbers. Lots of software bugs and exploits use them, by sending a much larger chunk of data than is expected by the receiving software. [[http://heartbleed.com/ Heartbleed]] is an overflow in reverse. One sends a very small piece of data to the server, and [[http://xkcd.com/1354/ asks for a very large piece in return]].
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