Glitch: Difference between revisions

Glitches are anomalies in software programs, including video games. They can cause various problems ranging from the purely graphical to completely wiping entire chunks of saved data.

They are usually caused by problems with a game's code, or from a player doing things the programmers did not anticipate, therefore causing the game to react unexpectedly. Below is a list of glitches in the Pokémon video games.

Major glitches

These are glitches which either affect all Pokémon games, or are considered to have a large affect on gameplay.

All Generations

• Pokémon cloning: Variations of the Pokémon cloning trick exist in each Generation of the Pokémon games, each slightly different from one another. The most reliable version is in Generation III. This Pokémon cloning version allows players in the Emerald version to safely clone Pokémon, without any need for timing.
• Graphical glitches: Glitches that alter the aesthetics of the game, but have no other effects. This includes glitches such as the honey shop glitch.

Generation I

• Glitch City: A glitch location consisting of mess of random map tiles that changes depending on the location where the player enters Glitch City.
• Mew glitch: Allowing players to capture any Pokémon (most especially Mew) without modification, and allowing players to catch most of the glitched Pokémon.
• Old man glitch: Allows encountering of Pokémon above level 100, as well as 'M and Missingno..
• Item duplication glitch: By encountering Missingno. or 'M, gives the player either 128 or 255 of the player's 6th item. Another item duplication glitch involves copying a stack of 255 of an item.
• Leveling past 100: If a Pokémon was caught at a level above 100, it could be leveled up with Rare Candies up to level 255.

Generation II

• Celebi egg trick: Allows players to hatch as many Celebi as one desires using a number of steps.

Generation III

• Berry glitch: Freezes the growth of any berries which have been planted but not harvested, often occurs after the game has been owned for a year or played for over 100 hours, though not always.
• Pomeg glitch: In Emerald Version, using a Pomeg Berry on a Pokémon with low HP may cause its HP to become a negative value. Using this, a player can cause other glitches.

Generation IV

• Surf glitch: In early Japanese versions of Diamond and Pearl Versions, Surf can be used on specific Elite Four members' doors, allowing the player to surf through the void.
• Tweaking: This causes the game to fail to load the map and makes it appear black. Some cases have led the player to places such as Newmoon Island or Flower Paradise if the player walks in the correct direction.
• Acid rain: In Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver, heavy rain, intense sunlight, a hailstorm and a sandstorm all occur on the battlefield when a Pokémon switching is knocked out with Pursuit during Hail or Sandstorm.
• Pomeg glitch: In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Versions, using a Pomeg Berry on a Pokémon with low HP may cause its HP to become a negative value. Using this, a player can cause other glitches. It is unconfirmed as to if this glitch is present in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Minor glitches

Main article: List of minor glitches

Red and Blue Versions and Red and Green Versions

• Hall of Fame glitch: When Missingno. has been seen on the save file, the player's Hall Of Fame is badly corrupted with entirely different Pokémon (players can even see Mew in the Hall Of Fame, whether they've seen Mew or not) and very glitched characters and names.
• Man on roof: If one does not have the key to the Cinnabar Gym, and surfs on the east coast and returns to land directly in front of the gym, a man will appear on the roof of the gym. A similar effect happens if the player walks into the Vermilion City Gym, walks directly left and then up so that they are facing the bottom-left trash can and press A to inspect it, or if the player is in the gatehouse to Cycling Road. One of the trainers in the gym will be misplaced and return to his usual spot once the text box disappears, and when in the gatehouse there may be a man standing on an object somewhere behind the guard.
• Prevented progress: If one evolves their starter Pokémon before they obtain their Pokédex from Professor Oak, the game will assume that, since they have 2 Pokémon registered as caught, that they already have a Pokédex, and will not allow them to proceed. This glitch is only present in the Japanese Red and Green Versions.
• Invisible PC: There is a hotel in Celadon City that resembles a Pokémon Center on the inside. In the top-right space of the area that the player can walk on, there is an invisible, usable PC.
• Fishing in statues: The player can use a Fishing Rod when facing the right or left of a gym statue. It will always say "Looks like there's nothing in here...", except in Misty's gym, where all the Pokémon obtainable in the gym can be caught.
• Q Glitch: A glitch enabled by the Pokémon Q (and Charizard 'M) which allows Pokémon stored in the PC to swap moves and stats.
• ZZAZZ glitch: A side effect of performing the Mew glitch using a Pokémon with a special stat of 251, 252, 254 or 255. When this is done, a Glitch Trainer will appear. In the Red and Blue versions, after battling the Glitch Trainer, numerous abnormalities will occur, including the player's name being turned into "ZZAZZ" and 3 of the player's Pokémon being turned into Bulbasaur, which have learned the move Explosion in the 1st, 2nd and 4th move slots. It has been known to erase saved games.
• Cut glitch: If the player cuts down a tree, stands on the spot, saves, turns the game off, then loads it, the player will be standing on a tree.
• Experience underflow glitch If the player uses a level 1 Pokémon in a Pokémon battle and it levels up it should skip straight to level 100, as long as that Pokémon is one of any fully-evolved Pokémon or Mew, as the algorithm for the experience to the next level for those Pokémon is glitched and takes the experience to level 2 as a large negative number (which displays as a large positive number).
• Stuck in a wall: If the player lures an NPC into the grass above Pallet Town, she will block the player from following Professor Oak correctly, causing the player to become stuck in the wall of Professor Oak's Laboratory.
• 0 ERROR: A glitch similar to the Mew glitch that causes Route 6 to become glitched.
• Error codes: In Pokémon Red and Blue, there are several error codes that appear when the game is not functioning correctly. Problems such as these often crop up when the game's memory access is corrupted or when experimenting with glitches such as the Mew glitch. Usually, when an error code appears, the game does not freeze and the player is allowed to continue playing the game without resetting. Occasionally mixed errors occur.
• Dokokashira door glitch: Involves switching the item data and the Pokémon data mid-battle, and causes the player to warp around in an exploitable manner.
• Ghost Marowak glitch: Using a Poké Doll on the ghost Marowak in Pokémon Tower with or without the Silph Scope will cause it to permanently disappear.
• Cycling Road glitch: If the player does not have a Bicycle (or has it deposited in the PC), it is still possible to reach Cycling Road by holding down the left button while the guard attempts to prevent the player from entering the Cycling Road. Upon entering Cycling Road, the player will be automatically riding a bike, despite not having one.
• Ghost glitch: When encountering a ghost in Pokémon Tower without having a Silph Scope, it is possible to see its true identity by viewing the stats of any Pokémon in the player's party. However, this glitch is only graphical, and it is still impossible to fight or catch it.

Gold, Silver, and Crystal Versions

• Coin Case glitches: A series of glitches that cause visual or text glitches that involve the Coin Case.
• Shiny Ditto glitch: By trading any shiny Pokémon to a Generation I game, having a wild Ditto transform into that Pokémon, then catching and trading the Ditto into a Generation II game, the Ditto will be shiny.
• Cut glitch: If the player cuts down a tree, stands on the where the tree was, saves, turns off the power, and loads the game, the player will be standing on top of a tree.
• Error codes: Error messages display problems encountered in the game, although are uncommon without the use of a cheating device.
• Thick Club glitch: If a Marowak with a maximum Attack stat (maximum IVs and Stat Exp in Attack) uses Swords Dance while holding a Thick Club, its Attack will overflow to 8.

Pokémon Stadium 2

• Infinite continues glitch: A glitch allowing the player to get infinite continues in any Stadium Cup.

Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald Versions

• Ledge glitch: East of Mauville City there is an Aroma Lady that will battle the player. If the player stands right behind the ledge in her line of sight, she will see the player and walk onto the ledge and stay there until the player leaves the area. This does not occur in Emerald Version due to her not walking around.
• Thunder glitch: The moves Thunderbolt and Thunder, when used in some Ruby and Sapphire cartridges, may cause the game to freeze or cause a sound effect to linger until the game is turned off.
• Roaming Pokémon Glitch: A glitch that causes roaming Pokémon to have low IVs.
• Sticky Hold glitch: This glitch occurs when Thief or Covet is used to knock out a Pokémon holding an item that has the Sticky Hold ability. It causes the sprite of the defeated Pokémon to stay in a "ghost-like" form.

FireRed and LeafGreen Versions

• Roaming Pokémon glitch: A glitch that causes roaming Pokémon to have low IVs.
• Roaming roar glitch: If a roaming Pokémon uses Roar to flee from battle, it will permanently disappear from the game.
• Sticky Hold glitch: This glitch occurs when Thief or Covet is used to knock out a Pokémon holding an item that has the Sticky Hold ability. It causes the sprite of the defeated Pokémon to stay in a "ghost-like" form.

Pokémon Colosseum

• Colosseum Master Ball glitch: Also known as the Infinite Ball Glitch; it is a glitch which involves switching the position of any Poké Ball on the same turn that it is selected to be used, so that the quantity does not decrease.

Diamond and Pearl Versions

• Egg nature glitch: A well timed switch between boxes will allow the player to see the nature, ability, or type of the Pokémon inside an egg.
• Dress-up hiker glitch: When talking to the hiker at Jubilife TV who allows Pokémon to be dressed up, if a button on the D-pad is pressed so that the player is facing away from the hiker just before the screen to select which Pokémon will be dressed up opens, the player will not walk on the set path; this can lead to walking through walls or the hiker, or canceling the action altogether.
• GTS Trade evolution glitch: In a Generation IV game, if the player deposits any Pokémon on the GTS that can evolve through trade (holding any necessary items), and then either waits for over 24 hours before taking it back, or trades for another Pokémon before taking the first back, it will evolve after being received.
• GTS Morphing glitch: Causes Pokémon up for trade on the GTS to change species and hold a Seal Bag.
• GTS Vanishing glitch: After uploading a Pokémon to the server and checking its summary without changing the Pokémon, the "summary" button is sometimes replaced with "deposit," suggesting that the Pokémon has been traded. Selecting "Deposit" will cause a communication error, and the player will return to the front desk. Logging on to the server again will cause the Pokémon to reappear, with no noticeable changes.

Platinum Version

• Black Belt gibberish: For unknown reasons, a certain Black Belt in Victory Road may speak glitchy gibberish upon defeat.
• Pal Park glitch: Allows the player to migrate any number of Pokémon via the Pal Park, this is used to overcome the 6 Pokémon per 24 hours limit.
• GTS Level display glitch: In some copies of Platinum, the levels of a Pokémon might not be displayed on the GTS. In order to fix this, the player must contact Nintendo.
• GTS Trade evolution glitch: In a Generation IV game, if the player deposits any Pokémon on the GTS that can evolve through trade (holding any necessary items), and then either waits for over 24 hours before taking it back, or trades for another Pokémon before taking the first back, it will evolve after being received.
• GTS Morphing glitch: Causes Pokémon up for trade on the GTS to change species and hold a Seal Bag.
• GTS Vanishing glitch: After uploading a Pokémon to the server and checking its summary without changing the Pokémon, the "summary" button is sometimes replaced with "deposit," suggesting that the Pokémon has been traded. Selecting "Deposit" will cause a communication error, and the player will return to the front desk. Logging on to the server again will cause the Pokémon to reappear, with no noticeable changes.

HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions

• GTS Trade evolution glitch: In a Generation IV game, if the player deposits any Pokémon on the GTS that can evolve through trade (holding any necessary items), and then either waits for over 24 hours before taking it back, or trades for another Pokémon before taking the first back, it will evolve after being received.
• GTS Morphing glitch: Causes Pokémon up for trade on the GTS to change species and hold a Seal Bag.
• GTS Vanishing glitch: After uploading a Pokémon to the server and checking its summary without changing the Pokémon, the "summary" button is sometimes replaced with "deposit," suggesting that the Pokémon has been traded. Selecting "Deposit" will cause a communication error, and the player will return to the front desk. Logging on to the server again will cause the Pokémon to reappear, with no noticeable changes.
• Boulder glitch: In the Japanese version of HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, a boulder in Slowpoke Well can be pushed over a ledge into the water. The boulder (unlike in FireRed and LeafGreen Versions) will act as if it was on dry land. The boulder was removed in international releases.

Glitch Pokémon

Main article: Glitch Pokémon

A glitch Pokémon is a Pokémon not intended to be part of the game, but can be accessed through the use of glitches. All glitch Pokémon are either filler data, the game attempting to read an empty hexadecimal address or exist from beta testing.

Glitch characteristics

Glitch moves

Main article: List of glitch moves

A glitch move, is a move not intended to be part of the game, but can be accessed through the use of glitches. In Generation I, many glitch moves are named after TMs or HMs; TMs numbered 01 to 55 and HMs numbered 01 to 05 exsist as moves. However, some have no name or a glitched, unreadable name. Some glitch moves are of known glitch types, but others have either no readable type or an unknown type, and are often referred to collectively as "Super Glitch". Usually only glitch Pokémon will learn glitch attacks.

One way of teaching a Pokémon in Generation I a glitch move is trading to a Generation II game a Pokémon that will evolve by trading at a level when it will learn an attack in the next generation game, and then trading it back to the Generation I game. For example, trading a level 50 Haunter from Pokémon Red to Pokémon Gold will make the Haunter evolve into Gengar. Since it is level 50, it will learn Destiny Bond. If it is then traded back to Pokémon Red, it will still have the move, but the game won't recognize it properly since it is a Generation II move, so will become a glitch move.

Glitch types

Main article: List of glitch types

There are many different glitch types that are found to be the types of several glitch Pokémon and moves. The majority of them are used for very few Pokémon or moves.

Glitch locations

There are several locations which can only be reached by way of a glitch in the games. One of the most well known glitch locations is Glitch City. Other examples of this are areas in the Sevii Islands that are retrievable via their index number pointer, however, do not have any other data. Sevii Isles 8 and 9 are the only index number areas which have actual map data. There are also other beta locations such as the Beta Safari Zone.

Glitch items

Place-holder items are often left in the game's code to prevent it from crashing if the data is accessed, such as Teru-sama in Generation II. Other generations likewise have placeholder items. The Clear Bell and GS Ball in Crystal and the various newer items introduced just in FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald, register as the place-holder items Teru-sama and mystery item if they are somehow moved into Gold and Silver or Ruby and Sapphire respectively. There is also the Seal Bag, a removed item obtained in Generation IV from the GTS Morphing glitch.

Glitch Trainers

Main article: Glitch Trainer

Glitch Trainers have been known to occur in Generation I. They are usually found if the player's name contains special characters and performs the Old man glitch. There are also several special stat numbers used in the Mew glitch which cause glitch trainers to appear, such as when the ZZAZZ glitch is triggered. Glitch Trainers may use glitch Pokémon in battle.

This glitch Pokémon article is part of Project GlitchDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on glitches in the Pokémon games.