David Wonn's Unique Video Game Glitches!
Year: 2006
Date of Archival: April 30, 2021
Run by: David Wonn
Originally hosted at: davidwonn.kontek.net
Status: Complete
Archive Link: Click here
When I think about websites I used to spend some serious time on just absorbing info from, the first name that comes to mind is always David Wonn. There was something about David Wonn's good-natured bravado and desire to dive deep into games I loved (and some I knew nothing about) that got my brain gears turning. There's a palpable joy that radiates from this site, an honest humor that I've always loved. I was only allowed half an hour of computer time a day when this site was updating, and some nights I'd sneak onto the computer at midnight just to scroll through. I have a strangely-clear memory of reading through, of all things, the Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind glitches while eating leftover Halloween candy, and I got into major trouble for doing so when my parents found the wrappers the day after.
This website was simple, but it was clear. It was a meeting of people who loved to find weird little oddities, codes, glitches, and secrets in their Nintendo (and sometimes other) games. In many ways, David Wonn was one of the original speedrunners. He found tricks and glitches for Mario Kart 64 and Donkey Kong Country 2 that would later become foundational to those scenes. And sometimes he would just find incredibly weird tricks as well! The extensive testing of the Link's Awakening screen warp trick inspired me to pick up a grey-cart version of the game, and the only reason I own two copies of Ocarina of Time is because I really, really wanted to do the Swordless Link trick. I bought a used copy of Version 1.0 while evacuating from a hurricane just so I could try all the oddities that were exclusive to the gold cartridge. I don't think I would have enjoyed Donkey Kong 64 as much as I did if it wasn't for this website discovering how to swim through walls and explore the void in Fungi Forest.
Fun fact, I actually have some glitches on this site myself! I used my dad's email at the time, because I was a tiny child and it was all I knew how to do. If you know where to look, you'll be able to find them! I also managed to find the secret page, though this was after David had stopped updating the site so I never got onto the list of people who did. Such a shame. Funnily, I only found it because back in the day I would print out pages of glitches to read offline for fun - the Wario Land "Minus Worlds" document was my favorite.
As it stands, this website migrated from Geocities to Classicgaming.net to Kontek, and it still is available at the final URL listed above - but I wanted to ensure it was enshrined here as well. Even looking at David's little articles about balancing eggs during the equinox or playing N64 on four TVs sparks immense joy, and it all serves as a reminder of how information used to be shared via vetted, collaborative methods, and how even if we didn't know what exactly was going on, we have always been curious about the inner-workings of our favorite videogames.
To close, I want to extend a shoutout to his Links page and the sites that he himself once tried to archive. I will be attempting to archive the N64HQ pages he managed to cache, just for completion's sake, and I may archive some of his outbound links, but generally speaking there may be a few broken outbound links here and there. All of the text files and maps, etc, should all be working, so I think we can mark this one complete. You have to love that even back then, he wanted to archive meaningful places on the web just like so many of us. Godspeed, David Wonn. Hope you're out there finding even wackier glitches in games today.