Notable glitches in the Pokémon video games

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Like many video games, the Pokémon series has a number of glitches resulting from unforeseen actions taken by the player (such as using the "Fly" command from odd places in-game). While many of the glitches are minor, some of them have produced effects comparable to cheat codes and gained particular notoriety.

1 Missingno. and 'M
2 Mew glitch
3 Glitch City
4 See also
5 References
6 External Links

[edit] Missingno. and 'M

Image:Missingno f.gif

Missingno. (けつばん, Ketsuban^?) (alternately 'M or a sequence of garbage characters), is a glitch found in the Pokémon Red and Blue Game Boy games. Missingno. is an abbreviation of “missing number”; its Japanese name, Ketsuban, also means "missing number". Missingno. can appear when exploiting a glitch in Pokémon Red or Blue; as such, the glitch is often referred to as the Missingno glitch. <ref> http://www.trsrockin.com/missingno4.html Missingno Mystery Solved? </ref> They can also be forced to appear with the Mew glitch.

After speaking to the man who teaches players how to catch Pokémon in Viridian City, trading a Pokémon with another player via a link cable, or trading a Pokémon with one of the in-game computer-controlled Pokémon trainers, a glitch is activated along a strip of space along the coast of Cinnabar Island. Once that glitch is activated, the player can encounter glitched Pokémon in that strip, including Pokémon with a level higher than the usual maximum of 100, glitched characters such as the unfightable ghost from Lavender Town's Pokémon tower or other non-Pokémon sprites, or "Missingno." and "’M".<ref name="trs4" />

Encountering or capturing Missingno. or 'M can cause strange behavior<ref name="NintendoTroubleshooting">Nintendo Customer Service: Specific Game Boy Pak Troubleshooting.</ref>, ranging from strange glitches in a player's Hall of Fame listing to the deletion of all a player's stored Pokémon. One consistent result is that the quantity of the sixth item in the player's inventory is increased to 128. Trying to transfer Missingno. or ’M to another game, such as Pokémon Yellow or Pokémon Stadium often also produces similar inconsistent errors.<ref name="trs4" />

[edit] Mew glitch

Image:Gottacatchamew.PNG

In Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, the Mew glitch is a programming oversight that allows the player to capture any Pokémon, including rarely-seen glitched Pokémon. The glitch gained notoriety for enabling the capture of Mew, a Pokémon that - at the time - was only attainable through official Nintendo promotions or cheat devices.

By carefully timing the use of the "Teleport" or "Fly" Pokémon abilities, players could "trick" the game into beginning a trainer battle even though the player was not present at the time. Since the games only had a single memory region for battle data (because it was assumed that only one battle could occur at any given time), the player could overwrite the original trainer battle data by battling other trainers or wild Pokémon. By choosing opponents with a specific "Special" stat, the player could fill the battle data memory region with the data of his or her choice. Returning to the area where the player first flew or teleported away would cause the game to interpret the crafted battle data as genuine, triggering an encounter with a wild Pokémon at level 7.

[edit] Glitch City

Screenshot of the Glitch City accessed through the Cinnabar Coast (the moment that the player comes out of the Safari Building)

Glitch City is a term used by Pokémon gamers to refer to a bug that occurs in the Pokémon video game Red, Blue and Yellow versions.

It occurs when players begin to leave the Safari Zone, but answer "NO" to leaving in the entrance building, and then repeat. They then save, and are able to leave without being asked the third time. The players then use up the remaining steps as if they were still inside the Safari Zone. When the steps run out, they may be transported to Glitch City instead of outside of the Safari Zone like they would have been had they not left. Different areas of the game transport the players to different Glitch Cities depending on where they were when the steps ran out; some don't transport the players there at all.

The cause for the glitch is most likely the fact that, upon talking to the attendant to exit, the game starts loading the Fuschia City map because, why talk to the attendant if you weren't going to exit? When you click "No," it stores the Fuschia City map data somewhere else to make room for the Safari Zone map and later retrieve the one of Fuschia City. Saving the game permanently keeps the Fuschia City map stored in the memory, and, upon going to Cinnibar, the game is storing Fuschia City's map and, since you flew out and did not trigger the exit sequence, still considers you in the Safari Zone. This contradiction causes many gaps in the game coding, which could result in the Glitch City.

It is not an actual city, so Glitch City may take on various shapes and appearances depending on the steps taken to access the glitch; the player may be able to move around inside of the area, walk on water, surf on buildings, or may appear trapped by impassable terrain. In some cases, the player may encounter wild pokémon or the Missingno. glitch; or the entire game may freeze, forcing the player to reset the game. However, the player may use field commands (such as "Fly" or "Teleport") to return to an actual city and the game itself.

Glitch City is unique to the Red, Blue, and Yellow versions and the glitch does not occur in later games of the series. When attempted in the GameBoy Tower of Stadium, Glitch City does not appear, but the area's theme music will disappear, leaving only sound effects until the player walks into an area with new music (such as a different route, a Pokémon Center, or a Gym).