Berry glitch

The berry glitch is the nickname for a glitch in the coding of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire which seems to stop the game's day counter and freezes the growth of any berries which have been planted but not harvested. The glitch typically occurs after about a year of owning either game. It also seems to happen to games that have been played over 100 hours.

Although the glitch prevents berries from growing, it does have one upside. The Pokérus is supposed to disappear after a certain amount of time, but this glitch prevents it from going away.

Other affected areas

As the Berry glitch affects the game's day counter and timer, other areas of the game are affected by the glitch. These can also be signs that the game has contracted the berry glitch.

• Trainers stop wanting to re-battle
• Lilycove Dept. Store never has any sales
• Lilycove Dept. Store stops allowing the player to draw a Lotto Ticket
• The Mauville Game Corner never has any service days
• The Energy Guru never sells vitamins cheap
• The tide in Shoal Cave never changes
• The man who gives out TM27 (Return) and TM21 (Frustration) in Pacifidlog Town stops giving out TMs
• Those that hand out free berries stop handing them out
• Mirage Island's random number is the same

Fixing the glitch

The glitch can be fixed by downloading a patch from Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, Emerald, Colosseum, or Box, or by sending the affected game to Nintendo.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Patch

1. Load FireRed, LeafGreen, or Emerald until the title screen is displayed.
2. Press the Select and B buttons. After the new screen loads, press A.
3. Insert the Link Cable so that the system that has FR/LG/E in it has the Player 1 cable port inserted and the one with R/S has the Player 2 port. Once this is done, press A.
4. Turn on the device with Ruby or Sapphire while holding the Start and Select buttons.
5. Refer to the FR/LG/E display for further instructions. The patch should be transferred at this time.

Pokémon Colosseum Patch

Linking an affected game to Colosseum for trading or battling will automatically download the patch. In addition, the Bonus Disc that came with pre-orders of Colosseum can be used to download Jirachi into a game; when this happens, the patch is downloaded as well.

Pokémon Box Patch

Linking an affected game to Box, accessing the Go To Adventure mode, and then saving the game whilst playing will also automatically fix this glitch, with the message "The Berry Program was updated" appearing with the save confirmation. (Note that this option is not avalible for Japanese versions.)

e-reader Patch

For Japanese versions, a special set of e-Reader cards (ID# 16-A001 & 16-A002) were distributed with Pokémon Scoop's Winter 2004 issue to allow players to fix this glitch by using e-Readers.

Interactive Demo Patch

Specially-marked demo discs were released to selected stores across U.S. and Japan, so players can visit these stores and download the patch from the disc. By downloading the patch from a demo disc, player will also receive a shiny Zigzagoon as a bonus. However, since the program does not block fixed games, players can receive multiple Zigzagoons by downloading to the same cartidge again.

Sending Game in to Nintendo

If the player had no opportunity to download the patch, he or she could always send the game in to Nintendo to have it fixed.