Normally, after grabbing the Hammer you have to wait for it to disappear on its own, but this glitch will let you drop it early. All you have to do is stop on the very end of a platform while holding the Hammer, and it should vanish. If Mario stops in a swinging pose, his sprite will look a little odd until you move him again. The bad news is, once you're standing there empty-handed, you're too far off the platform to jump—you'll land on the next platform down and lose a life. Furthermore, since the barrel stages have slanted platforms, you'll instantly lose a life even if you try to walk back. In the rivet stages, however, you can safely walk back onto the straight platforms. (As you might have guessed, you're technically off the platform when the Hammer disappears; if you tried to stop in the same spot without the Hammer, you'd fall and lose a life.)

To survive in the barrel stages after performing this glitch, you'll have to use the "wall bounce" technique. Instead of stopping at the end of the platform, keep walking and try to jump towards the screen border at the last possible moment. If you timed it correctly, the Hammer will disappear and Mario will bounce off the invisible wall and land safely back onto the platform. Keep in mind that Mario won't be able to jump until the Hammer disappears, so the timing can be tricky.