Glitches and bugs (Asterix & Obelix XXL)

Asterix & Obelix XXL contains multiple glitches, although the player most likely will not encounter them in casual gameplay. The glitches are commonly used by speedrunners. Most of the glitches are still present in the remaster.

This article uses glitch names that were given by the game’s fans and speedrunners.

## General Glitches/Bugs

### Passive Lock

When the player triggers a Combat Lock and bypasses the corresponding battle, the Lock remains in that battle and does not move onto the following battles. The objects which are supposed to be locked in the next battles are not locked, so the player can skip those battles and use the objects right away. This includes the boss battles: the player can press the button to free the villager(s) without having done any damage to the war machine. The player loses the Passive Lock if they die or exit the level.

In Normandy, the player can get Passive Locks in many ways. Two of those are quite easy to achieve.

The first way being to jump onto the ceiling of the cave located right after the first Roman lift. For that, the player needs to jump from the stack of 3 wooden crates, located at the left side of the entrance, into a specific spot of the ceiling. [See this example to understand how it works: ceiling glitch] Then moving to the end of the path, jump back onto the ground, staying very close to the snow hills on the right, walk past the save druid and light the torch at the fireplace before blowing up the explosive barrel. Afterwards, the player can go back to the druid and activate the combat bolt.

In Normandy, the player can also get the Passive Lock easily by flybashing into the cave with the 2nd Save Druid (see Flybash section) with both Asterix And Obelix.

Greece features the most elaborate way to get a Passive Lock:

1. After Obelix finishes dragging the block with Asterix on it, the player must not light the fireplace, but only the barrel, then run through the corridor and press the button.
2. Once switched to Obelix, the player must walk close to the column right next to the water (but not too close) so that Asterix walks into Obelix from the left and jumps over him and the water.
3. The player needs to smash the iron crates and blow up the barrel, but must not go further yet. They need to go back, use the last lit fireplace and stand in the switch ray again.
4. Once switched to Obelix, the player must defeat all enemies in the area after the previously blown barrel (the spy cutscene is not triggered). In the next area they can defeat any number of enemies, as long as they can move the logs and the granite block and step in the switch ray.
5. After switching to Asterix the player can progress through Greece with a Passive Lock. If the player has a Passive Lock before reaching the pre-boss battle, they need to hit the wheel, then jump on it, then onto the spinning platform and into the area above.

Helvetia has 2 ways of getting Passive Lock:

* After the player triggers a Combat Lock in the area with several formations, they can run all the way back through the corridor, then to this area again. The button will still have red light, but the player will be able to press it.
* Flybash in the aforementioned area (see Flybash section)

Egypt's Easy Passive Lock requires flybashing (see Flybash section). Obelix can fly over the telescopic bridge and use the catapult to exit the fight this way.

The more complex way to get the EEPL [Early Egypt Passive Lock] is to move Asterix alongside the ocean waters at the beginning of egypt to reach the rocks, then moving towards the wheel without activating the combat lock. Hit the wheel 4-5 times, then jump onto the wheel, double jump in the same movement onto the platform and then double jump onto the upper floor, reaching the torch and igniting it at the fireplace, then going back and activating the combat lock.

(Note: This glitch needs practice, so it's recommended to not try it in actual speedruns since it can demand too much time if not done properly.)

Alternatively, if the combat bolt is lost or planned to activate later on, it's possible to get it inside the volcanic cave [See volcanic cave skip]

Rome has 2 ways of getting Passive Lock:

* Catapult skip (skip all battles). After the player enters the catapult’s range, they can jump on the crate on the left closest to it. Right after the catapult shoots at the player and the rock respawns, the player can double-jump and move a bit forward. The catapult will hit them and throw them up in the air. With proper timing, the player can use this to get thrown to the area above.
* Walking past the Combat Lock trigger zone (skip battles after the first 2). If the player has completed the first 2 battles, they can walk very close to the walls in the area of the 3rd battle towards the next area.

In the remaster, all these ways of achieving Passive Lock still work, except the catapult skip in Rome: it does not shoot anymore.

### Flybash

When the player fills the Combo Bar completely, they can jump on a bouncy surface (tent, Roman formation, trampoline) and mash the Action key to slowly move horizontally in the air. Double-jump after bouncing prevents the glitch. Obelix requires faster button mashing. The player can double-jump after flybashing, which cancels it.

If the player fills the Combo Bar and hits an enemy without defeating them, they will be able to flybash even after the bar drains completely, as long as they do not hit any more enemies when the bar is empty.

If the player uses flybashing to skip necessary battles, it results in a Passive Lock.

Normandy:

* Skip the cable car ride by flybashing towards the lever. Watch out for the archer (or defeat him in advance).
* Skip the battle near the cave with a Save Druid by flybashing into the cave’s «window». The player needs to do this with Asterix and step on the cable car, then repeat with Obelix, open the bridge, use the cable car, light the torch and leave the cave using the bridge.
* Empty Combo Bar flybash: on the stage with Norman ships, the player needs to light the fireplace with a switch ray and a trampoline near it. Then, they need to be quick (to avoid the archers), jump on the trampoline, bounce from it and flybash towards the next fireplace.

Helvetia: the player can bounce from a formation's corner, flybash towards the lever for the potion dispenser, double-jump and hit the lever to get a gourd. Then they need to use the iron crates below to jump onto the protrusion and press the button to open the door.

Egypt: the player can flybash over the fence to skip the battle before the transporter catapult to the boat ride.

In the remaster, flybash works the same as before.

## Location-specific glitches

### Gaul

#### Jumping through the destructible wall

The player can jump though the destructible wall in Gaul if they jump on the nearby stack of crates, then jump above the wall and into it. Alternatively they can bounce from the formation while on potion. The player must step into the switch ray after this, or they will be eventually softlocked if they attempt to progress.

In the remaster this glitch is fixed.

### Fight reset

In a fight following a catapult jump that's guarded by 4 Romans, the player will land into another fight against 60 Romans in which another catapult is located that takes one back to the previous area. However, if the player moves to the catapult's right side, a trigger can accidentally be activated that resets the amount of Romans back to its original amount. This can be especially annoying when the fight is almost over and the trigger unwillingly resets everything.

### Greece

#### Tardis

In the early part of Greece the player finds a stack of two crates next to the stairs, which lead to a pusher guarding a torch. The player can smash one crate, then clip into the stairs by standing on them and getting down, landing on the other crate. The player then smashes the crate while still clipping in the stairs and rotates the camera. They may either get stuck forever or teleport to a stack of crates in a nearby area. Best case scenario is when the player teleports to the area with the Save Druid (the exact process of getting this result should be explained with video footage).

In the remaster this glitch is fixed: the crates are gone.

### Helvetia

#### Jumping into closed bridges

Due to how the draw bridges’ collision works, the player can jump into several closed bridges. One of them is on the broken stone bridge (risky), the others are in the snowy mountains.

#### Boat skip

The player can skip the boat ride if they double-jump from the pier's protrusion on the left, swim towards the rocks on the right from the fence, jump on them and into the water and swim towards the next pier.

In the remaster this glitch still works. Ironically, some new helmets hint at where the player needs to jump to do it.

### Egypt

#### Instantaneous death

At the beginning of sector 5, the player must defeat Romans in order to unlock a fireplace jammed by a combat lock. On the PS2 version of Asterix & Obelix XXL, this fireplace will kill the player instantly any time they jump into it. This bug is not present in the PC version.

The remaster however, since it's based on the PS2 version, introduces this bug again and this time on PC too. The GameCube version however also contains this bug.

#### Deathloop

If the player perfectly times Asterix or Obelix's death with using a cannon there's a chance that a deathloop can be triggered. The player won't be able to pause the game and will be trapped in an endless loop until the player decides to jump from the cannon. Doing so will cancel the glitch and the player will be able to continue the game again. In much rarer cases, such as having the deathloop triggered without being at the cannon, there will not be a way to continue and the game must be restarted. A reason for this glitch to occured could be that the game doesn't know where the player is supposed to respawn while in a different animation, causing a deathloop.

### Rome

#### Infinite laurels

One of the 4 dispensers after the 1st battle on the left spits out a laurel. In the PS2 version, if the player collects the laurel, saves and reloads, they can get a duplicate of this laurel. Rome's laurel counter can overflow this way.

This can still happen in the remaster on all platforms.

#### Cutscene death

For this glitch to be pulled off, a passive lock must first be aquired in order to skip all fights. The player must make his way to the final stage of Rome and enter the final boss fight. From here on, they must take enough damage until at least one shield or less health is left and hit the button to free Vitalstatistix's shield bearers. While the cutscene is playing, the Machines of War will continue firing at Asterix, who takes damage from the explosions despite being in a cutscene. Once enough damage has been taken, the game over screen will start playing and looping until the cutscene ends. Once the save option is reached, the player has the option to either save the game or continue without saving. Both choices result in the game freezing at a white screen. From this point on, the game can't be continued and needs to be closed entirely.

## Glitch-induced softlocks

In Gaul, the player can jump through the destructible wall, but once they get on the the highest floor and speak to the spy, Obelix will teleport close to the player and they can finish Gaul with no issues. After finishing Gaul, if the player jumps through the destructible wall again and crosses the fort, they will be switched to Obelix who is stuck in the previous area, and will be unable to move. Nearby Romans will be also stuck and unable to hurt the player.

In Egypt, if the player flybashes from the lone pyramid formation over the pit with 3 lifts and goes onto the slide, they will be switched to Obelix who is stuck in the previous area, and will be unable to move. The jetpack Romans will still fly around and get close to the player, but will not drop bombs. The other Romans will be stuck in the distance.

## Trivia

* The glitch with the crates in Greece was named after TARDIS – the time machine / spacecraft in the TV series Doctor Who.
* Many of these bug still remain in the remaster even with completely new glitches being added such as being able to jump through ceilings.
* Not every glitch serves a speedrun purpose. Many glitches like the PowerPotion [UDR] glitch, can get Asterix to use the potion in areas where it would normally not be possible. [UDR = UnderTheRadar]
* Obelix can walk around freely in areas if the player moves between the points the game switches characters automatically fast enough and vice versa. This could help in finding new glitches.