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[[File:MissingNo staff fan-art TOKIYA.jpg|thumb|The now-deleted fan art by TOKIYA]]
'''MissingNo.''' (Japanese: '''{{j|けつばん}}''' ''Ketsuban''), meaning '''Missing Number''' in both Japanese and English, is a renowned set of [[glitch Pokémon]] in the [[Generation I]] [[core series]] and [[side series]] [[Pokémon game]]s which are placeholders for 36 {{OBP|Pokémon|species}} [[index number]]s.

Three additional index numbers also identified as MissingNo. serve the purpose of providing the {{p|Kabutops}} and {{p|Aerodactyl}} Fossils from the [[Pewter Museum of Science]] as well as the {{OBP|ghost|Pokémon Tower}}s of [[Pokémon Tower]] with their front sprites.

In August 2016, [[Pokémon Trading Card Game]] artist [[TOKIYA]] posted fan art of MissingNo.'s Ghost form, Aerodactyl and Kabutops fossil appearances, and default sprite in {{game|Red and Green|s}} on her Twitter;<ref name="TOKIYAMissingNoArt">[https://twitter.com/TOKIYA/status/760264929307799552 Art by TOKIYA on Twitter] [https://web.archive.org/web/20170403110029/https://twitter.com/TOKIYA/status/760264929307799552 (Archive)]</ref> MissingNo. is therefore the only known glitch Pokémon to have an intentional depiction by a franchise artist.

==Background==
===As deleted Pokémon===
The fact that {{p|Rhydon}}, the Pokémon with index number 1 was the first Pokémon ever made<ref>[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0007/gfreak/page02.html 開発スタッフインタビュー／キャラクターが決まるまで - Nintendo of Japan]</ref><ref>[http://www.glitterberri.com/pokemon-red-blue/game-freak-staff-interview/creating-the-pokemon/ GlitterBerri's Game Translations » Creating the Pokémon]</ref> led to speculation that the [[List of Pokémon by index number in Generation I|index numbers of Pokémon in Generation I]] represent the order that they were programmed into the game, with MissingNo. being deleted entries.

Supporting this theory was the fact that 9 variants of the 36 common MissingNo. have unique cries.<ref>[https://iimarckus.org/i/missing-number/ Missing Number - IIMarck.us]</ref>

These theories were finally confirmed by the {{wp|Nintendo data leak}} in 2020. Among the game material leaked was the {{wp|source code}} for {{game|Red and Blue|s}}, which included data on Pokémon previously occupying the index numbers of MissingNo. Some of these sprites match the design and index numbers of Pokémon previously only shown in [[Satoshi Tajiri: The Man Who Created Pokémon]], while most of the others correspond to Pokémon that had never been seen before.

{{YouTubeEmbed|ZYEeLYSM5P0|ChickasaurusGL|glitch}}

===Official acknowledgement===
[[Nintendo of America]] acknowledged MissingNo. on the May 1999 issue of [[Nintendo Power]] and started including an entry for it in their Customer Service troubleshooting section since at least the year 2000:

<blockquote><p>"MissingNO is a programming quirk, and not a real part of the game. When you get this, your game can perform strangely, and the [[Inverted sprite|graphics will often become scrambled]]. The MissingNO Pokémon is most often found after you perform the [[Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick]].</p>

<p>To fix the scrambled graphics, try releasing the MissingNo Pokémon. If the problem persists, the only solution is to re-start your game. This means erasing your current game and starting a brand new one."<ref name="NintendoTroubleshooting">[https://web.archive.org/web/20221001001612/https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/gameboy/trouble_specificgame.jsp Nintendo - Customer Service]</ref></p></blockquote>

==In the games==
[[File:Missingno Substitute doll screen.png|thumb|MissingNo. as a Substitute Poké Doll in Stadium]]
MissingNo. in all its forms does not have any [[base stats]] data. As result, the common forms will appear and behave differently based on the version and language of the games. The [[cry]] of most common forms of MissingNo. is index 0 with a pitch of 0 and no echo. A few variants of the common forms have different cries as explained in the [[#Background|Background]] section above.

The [[Fossil]] and {{OBP|ghost|Pokémon Tower}} MissingNo., the latter which is identified as '''{{j|ゴースト}}''' ''Ghost'' in the Japanese versions, take data from the player's or opponent's last Pokémon in the [[party]].

MissingNo. has a single [[Pokédex entry]] that will exclusively appear upon capture as long as the player has not encountered {{p|Cubone}}. It identifies MissingNo. with the '''???''' {{pkmn|category|species}} (Japanese: '''{{j|？？？ポケモン}}'''{{sup/1|RBY}} ''??? Pokémon'') and the description {{j|コメント　さくせいちゅう}}{{sup/1|RBY}} ''Comment to be written.'' Its height is 1.0 m and its weight is 10.0 kg. Due to the entry not being updated for the English versions, the description and dimensions are broken and either do not appear or returned nonsensical values.

In the [[Pokémon Stadium series]], MissingNo. will appear as a {{OBP|Substitute|doll|Substitute Poké Doll}}{{sup/ss|Stad}} or a {{p|Ditto}} with {{m|Transform}}{{sup/ss|Stad2}}, becoming the latter permanently if the player [[save]]s the game.

The [[Time Capsule]] in {{game2|Gold|Silver|Crystal}} automatically cancels [[trade]]s of MissingNo., with the game stating that ''Your <Pokémon species> appears abnormal''.

In the [[Nintendo 3DS]] [[Virtual Console]] versions, if the player has MissingNo. in Box 1 of the [[Pokémon Storage System]] when they attempt to transfer it to [[Pokémon Bank]] via [[Poké Transporter]], one of the following error messages will appear:

<blockquote><p>Attention!</p>
<p>There is at least one Pokémon in the Box that cannot be sent.</p></blockquote>

<blockquote>A problem has been detected with one of the Pokémon. Sorry. The problematic Pokémon cannot be sent.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Any Pokémon that could not be transported have been removed from the Transport Box.</blockquote>

==In other media==
MissingNo. was alluded to throughout an April 1, 2024 episode of [[Beyond the Pokédex]] about {{p|Magmar}}.<ref name="BeyondThePokedex">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN8P5lCPRsU Magmar | Beyond the Pokédex - Entry #126] - YouTube</ref>

After Maple captures an unseen Pokémon in [[Cinnabar Island]] at the beginning of the episode, the episode is then continuously interrupted with glitchy visuals, possibly referencing the [[Inverted sprite|scrambled graphics]] that can occur after encountering MissingNo. as well as other glitch Pokémon. Additionally, these interruptions notably occur after either of the hosts mention the phrase "missing number" and the move {{m|Water Gun}}, a move in MissingNo.'s starting learnset.

Spruce asks Maple if she happened to be "{{m|Surf}}ing up the east coast of Cinnabar Island" when she captured the Pokémon, likely referencing the [[old man glitch]], which is the most well-known method of encountering MissingNo.

Maple suggests "turning [the camera] off and on again" and "blowing air into the bottom of the cartridge" to fix the interruptions. After neither method works, both hosts elect to "erase the whole file and start from the beginning", restarting the episode after the file deletion screen from Red and Blue is shown. This aligns with Nintendo's official statement on MissingNo., where erasing the save file is incorrectly presented as the only solution if releasing it does not correct the scrambled graphics.

==Trivia==
* In the [[Generation IV]] games, there is a sprite ([[File:GenIVKetsuban.png]]) that contains text that reads {{ruby|欠番|けつばん}}, MissingNo.'s Japanese name in {{wp|kanji}}. 

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{wp|MissingNo.|Article on Wikipedia}}
* [https://glitchcity.wiki/wiki/MissingNo. Article on the Glitch City Wiki]