Super Bouncing

Overview

Super Bouncing, also known as Super Jumping, is a Halo 2 glitch that allows players to reach previously inaccessible areas of various multiplayer maps. The glitch is a result of the game's Havok physics engine reacting to "holes" in the geometry of several multiplayer maps. When a player encounters a small gap in a map's geometry that the game does not recognize as a legitimate pit-fall, the Havok engine attempts to prevent the player from "falling through" the geometry. The result of this over-compensation by the Havok engine was that the player was "bounced" to enormous heights, allowing them to access ledges and geometry outside the normal boundaries of play.

Use in Matchmaking

Players often used the glitch when playing Ranked Matchmaking games to gain an unfair advantage over the opposing team, since they could escape the natural boundaries of the map to hide or attack the opponent from an unexpected angle. The glitch was especially popular in the Team Snipers playlist, as players who "bounced" outside of the boundaries of the map could easily shoot unsuspecting opponents down on the ground. The most common and widely-known Super Bounces were located on the Halo 2 maps Lockout, Ascension, Headlong, Turf, Sanctuary, Warlock, Zanzibar, and Burial Mounds.

Executing the Glitch

Super Bounces are most commonly completed through a player crouch walking under a short barrier or wall (usually one that, should the player release the crouch button, the in-game model will be forced to remain crouching due to the geometry) and then jumping from a small height onto a specific place on a floor or railing. These "bounce points" are not clearly marked, as super bouncing is not an intentional gameplay element, meaning that all of the well-known existing super bounce locations were discovered by accident, or player trial and error.