Glitch
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.
In Pokémon RPGs, there are many glitches, due to the complexity of Pokémon. Glitches are listed below (bold = most famous).
Major Glitches
There are three Glitches (the first two are only available in the Red, Blue and Yellow versions; the third one is available in the Gold/Silver and Emerald versions) that do not necessarily always create glitched Pokémon, but are themselves glitches that cause events that would not normally happen in the gameplay.
Red/Blue/Yellow:
- Glitch City: a mess of pixels that changes depending on where the player is
- Mew glitch: allowing players to capture any Pokémon (most especially Mew) without modification, and allowing players to catch most of the glitched Pokémon listed below
Gold/Silver:
- Pokémon Cloning: allows players in the Gold/Silver versions to safely clone Pokémon, assuming they have good timing.
Emerald:
- Pokémon Cloning: allows players to clone Pokémon once access to the Battle Frontier has been achieved.
Diamond/Pearl:
- Surf glitch: allows players to warp to places on the map where Sinnoh's secret Legendary Pokémon lie.
Glitch Pokémon
A glitch Pokémon is a Pokémon that exists in a game due to a programming or level design oversight, and as it was not intentionally placed inside the game by Nintendo or Game Freak, it might be hazardous to data in your game. Glitch Pokémon are to be avoided due to the risks they may pose to a player's save file.
In Pokémon Red and Blue and Pokémon Yellow
This is a chart of all 24 known glitch Pokémon that can be found in the wild in the Red, Blue and Yellow versions without using a cheating device:
| No. (Red/Blue) | No. (Yellow) | Mew glitch special required | Red/Blue version's equivalent | Yellow version's equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #000 | #000 | N/A* | Missingno. | Missingno.** |
| #000 | #176 | N/A* | 'M | 3TrainerPoké*** |
| #061 | #080 | 192 | a | 44Hy |
| #250 | #250 | 191 | A | 44 |
| #062 | #079 | 198 | LM4 | 7g |
| #094 | #015 | 195 | h POKé | Z4 |
| #205 | #205 | 193 | Chisai-u | ♀ |
| #205 | #203 | 196 | PokéWTrainer | X - x |
| #205 | #006 | 199 | p T | Glitchy Charizard |
| #234 | #230 | 194 | .4**** | pPkMnp |
| #250 | #055 | 197 | PkMn | 4. . |
| #000 | #121 | N/A | Charizard 'M*** | Q*** |
Sources:
In Pokémon Gold and Silver, and Crystal
In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen
- #000 ??????????
- #000 ???????????
- #390 ?
- #??? Bad egg
In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
- #??? Invisible Shiny Bulbasaur
- #??? DPbox
Glitch attacks
A glitch attack, or glitch move, is much like a regular attack except the results are often undesirable. These attacks are often known to be called TM attacks (TM01-TM55 and HM01 to HM05), and are also known to have glitch types (COOLTRAINER-type or 999-type)[citation needed]
Like a glitch Pokémon, glitch attacks were not programmed into the game on purpose and many have been proven to cause damage to game cartridges.
There are ways to teach glitch attacks to certain Pokémon without usage of a cheat-code device such as Gameshark, however, most of the time only glitch Pokémon will learn glitch attacks.[citation needed]
The only widely known ones are those for Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow. The attacks have the same effect on all three versions. [citation needed]
Also, the move Thunderbolt, when used in some Ruby and Sapphire cartridges, may cause the game to freeze.
Glitch types
There are many different glitch types that are found to be the types of several glitched Pokémon. The most well known are:
- Bird, one of the types of the Red/Blue Missingno.
- 999 (A glitch type), one of the types of 44 and one of the types of the Yellow version Missingno.
- Pokémaniac, the type of the malicious glitch Pokémon ".4"
- [['|) m) ZM Normal (type), the types of the mysterious ? marks glitches of the 2nd generation
Glitch areas
Aside from Glitch City in Generation I, there are several other areas which can only be reached by way of a glitch in the games. Examples of this are areas in the Sevii Islands that are retrievable via their index number pointer, however, do not have any other data.
Glitch items
In the Generation II games, it is possible to get an item called the Teru-sama, the only description of which is a lone question mark. Generation III likewise has a mystery item. Both of these seem to have been placeholders just in case more slots for items were ever needed, something that came true with the Clear Bell in Crystal and the various newer items introduced just in FireRed and LeafGreen and Emerald, which register as the Teru-sama and mystery item if they are somehow moved into Gold and Silver or Ruby and Sapphire.
Notes
*Missingno. and 'M's special stats for the Mew trick vary (see [1])
**The Yellow version Missingno. is different from the Red/Blue Missingno., but share the same name. Missingno will revert to level 100 if leveled up to over level 255 with Rare Candies or if it fights in battle and wins.
***The Pokémon 3TrainerPoké, Charizard 'M and Q are the only known catchable glitch Pokémon that cannot be directly caught using the Mew glitch.
****The glitch known as ".4" can corrupt saved data if it uses a certain glitch move, making it impossible to continue and forcing the player to start a new game.
