List of glitches (Generation I)

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This is a list of glitches that occur in the Generation I core series Pokémon games.

Red, Green, and Blue (Japanese)

NOTE: The following glitches affect all versions of Pokémon Red and Green (1.0 and 1.1) unless noted otherwise.

Dokokashira door glitch

Main article: Dokokashira door glitch

Empty party menu

If the player withdraws the Potion from the PC at the very start of their adventure (meaning before they receive their starter Pokémon) and then attempts using it, an empty party screen will appear and the Potion can be used, albeit to no effect. This was fixed for international releases and Pokémon Yellow, which will state "You don't have anyRB/aY Pokémon!" (Japanese: ポケモンが1ぴきもいない!).

By LunarRay
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Full box glitch

If the player has six Pokémon in their party and a full box before watching the old man's catching demonstration, the game will state that the box is full when the old man tries to capture the Weedle. The game will try to use the Poké Ball again infinitely afterwards, and every attempt results in this message. This forces the player to either reset the game or turn the power off.

This glitch was fixed in the Japanese version of Pokémon Yellow and all English localizations.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Overworld sprite misplacement

If the player does not have the Secret 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 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 gate 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 gate there may be a man standing on an object somewhere behind the guard.

Both of these variations of this glitch were fixed in some European releases of Pokémon Red and Blue, such as the Spanish version, and in all releases of Pokémon Yellow.

By Blaziken257
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Second type glitch

Main article: Second type glitch

Silph Co. elevator entry swapping

It is possible to swap the positions of the elevator destinations in Silph Co. with the Select button as if they were items. Doing this in certain ways can change the list type in at least one way (i.e. to a list of 'boxed Pokémon') and corrupt data.

This glitch works in the Japanese Pokémon Blue but the effects differ from Pokémon Red and Green.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


In all Japanese Generation I games

Prevented progress

If the player has at least two Pokémon registered as caught in the Pokédex before obtaining it from Oak (either multiple non-related species or an evolved form of the starter Pokémon), the game will assume that they already have the Pokédex, and will not allow them to proceed.

This glitch affects all versions of the Japanese Red, Green (1.0 and 1.1), Blue, and Yellow (1.0 to 1.3). The glitch is fixed in the international releases of Pokémon Red and Blue, but remained in the international releases of Pokémon Yellow.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


In the Japanese Pokémon Yellow, it is also possible to perform this glitch by exploiting the save corruption glitch.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Red and Blue (international)

Evolutionary stone bypassing

BoEANSprite.png This glitch is in need of research.
Reason: Glitch Pokémon which evolve by items
You can discuss this on the talk page.

Pokémon can be evolved without the use of an evolutionary stone, provided that the player has sent out a Pokémon with the equivalent identifier of the relevant evolutionary stone item and finishes the battle with that Pokémon in the same battle that a Pokémon that evolves using an evolutionary stone levels up.

Some glitch Pokémon with unusual evolutionary flags may evolve this way according to the game 'after exposure to an item', which is not necessarily an evolutionary stone.

Pokémon Stone
Exeggutor Moon Stone
Missingno.* Fire Stone
Psyduck Leaf Stone
Growlithe Thunderstone
Onix Water Stone


By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Item duplication

Main article: Item duplication glitch

Lift Key overworld misplacement

The Lift Key glitch

In the Rocket Hideout, if the player is standing to the left of the Team Rocket Grunt who has the Lift Key and talks to him, the Lift Key will appear underneath the player when he drops it. The player can still move around and collect it if he moves downward.

This glitch was fixed in Yellow due to the Grunt automatically dropping the Lift Key as soon as he is defeated.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Oak Poké Ball delivery text overlapping

If the player has no new Pokémon registered as caught in the Pokédex (by only having the starter Pokémon) and/or no Poké Balls in his Bag (this includes buying/finding/obtaining any and then selling/tossing/depositing them) after defeating the rival on Route 22, Oak will give five Poké Balls to the player after being talked to. During this event in the English versions, one of the lines of his dialogue appears over the previous line, instead of on a new one.

This glitch occurs in all localizations of Pokémon Red and Blue and in the European localizations of Pokémon Yellow. In the Italian Pokémon Red and Blue, there's also a word in this dialogue that overlaps the right border of the text box. In English Pokémon Yellow, it was fixed but the dialogue contains a typo instead.

By LunarRay
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Old man glitch

Main article: Old man glitch

Overworld sprite misplacement

See above.

Pewter Gym skipping

Main article: Pewter Gym skip glitch

Walking with only fainted Pokémon

If the player has some fainted Pokémon and some that can fight, they can deposit all but the fainted Pokémon. After three steps the player will black out. However, if two steps are taken, then the game is saved and reset, it resets the step count. This means the player can enter a battle with no Pokémon. In Pokémon Yellow only one step is needed for the game to black out so this glitch does not work.

Yellow

Friendship item effect

This causes a no-effect item to still increase Pikachu's friendship value, such as using a healing item at full HP.

This glitch was fixed in Generation II.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Friendship value reset

Entering Glitch City resets Pikachu's friendship value.

Oak Poké Ball delivery text overlapping

See above.

Prevented progress

See above.

Gary looking wrong way

If you stand directly below the table with the pokedexes and talk to professor oak, when your rival speaks he will face the wrong way.

In all Generation I games

050Diglett.png This section is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: cf. English and other localizations with the original Japanese releases

NOTE: The following glitches affect all versions of Pokémon Red and Green (1.0 and 1.1) and of Japanese Pokémon Yellow (1.0 to 1.3) unless noted otherwise.

--

Main article: -- (move)

If a Ditto transforms into another Pokémon and then switches around the copied moves with the Select button, after the battle the Ditto will not have Transform and will instead have --.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


0 ERROR glitch

Main article: 0 ERROR

A glitch similar to the Mew glitch that causes Route 6 to become glitched.

Battle draw theme oversight

Prior to Generation II, having the player character draw in a Pokémon battle causes the victory theme to play even though the player has lost.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Bide errors

The stored damage from Bide can hit (but not always) a Pokémon under the invulnerable stage of Fly or Dig. If Bide deals damage to a Pokémon under Fly or Dig, the game will reveal its sprite early. This also causes a small animation glitch with Dig where it appears that the enemy Pokémon rises from the ground off the top of the screen instead of the enemy rising up from 'underground'. There is no animation glitch with Fly because the game has no animation on the opponent's side of Fly returning from the top of the screen to the ground—the game only reveals the sprite.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Cable Club escape

Main article: Cable Club escape glitch

Changing NPC sprites

When the walk through walls glitch is used and the player flies to Lavender Town, they can activate this glitch. They must walk down to Route 12 and walk through the side of the gate rather than actually going into the gate. Once this has been done, every NPC will have the same sprite as the player. Encountering a wild Pokémon fixes the sprites.

Critical hit ratio error

Focus Energy is intended to quadruple the critical hit rate, but due to a glitch, it will quarter the chance of scoring a critical hit. This was fixed in Pokémon Stadium.

Cut glitch

Main article: Cut glitch

Invisible tree

There is a tree near the bottom of Route 14. If this particular tree is cut down and then the player walks five steps west from where the tree was (so that the spot where the tree used to be is at the edge of the screen) and then walks back their path will be blocked as if a tree was still there. Even though the tree is not visible, it can still be cut down normally using the move Cut.

Standing on a tree

Red standing on top of the tree outside Vermilion Gym
Main article: Cut glitch#Standing on a tree

In Generation I, if the player cuts down a tree, stands on the spot where the object was, saves, turns the game off, then loads it, the player will be standing on the tree. It is no longer possible to stand on a tree in later generations, nor is it possible to stand on a boulder.

This glitch occurs because the Generation I engine would not store the data needed to remember that the tree had been cleared. Generation II does not remember this data either, but is not susceptible to the glitch.

Cycling Road access requirement bypassing

If the player does not have a Bicycle (or it has been 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.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Ditto assumption

In Generation I and II, any Pokémon that uses Transform is regarded as a Ditto in its new form; this means that if the player catches a Mew or a glitch Pokémon which has used the move Transform, or a Pokémon which has used Transform via Mirror Move, instead they will obtain a Ditto. Mew turning into Ditto was not an issue, because wild Mew could not have been be legitimately encountered. This system was later changed in Generation III, where wild Mew could be encountered.

Dual-type damage misinformation

In Generation I, Pokémon with two types that have a weakness and resistance to the same type receive neutral damage from that type, but the incorrect message is displayed.

For example, Grass-type moves do neutral damage to Gyarados, but if Gyarados is hit by a Grass-type move, the game erroneously states that the attack is "not very effective...".

The game prioritizes on which message to display for each 'special' scenario (where normal damage is not dealt) based on each scenario's internal ordering. The higher the ordering determines what message the game will display. Grass against Water as 200% damage for instance is the 4th entry, whilst Grass against Flying as 50% damage is the 27th. Consequently in this example the game chooses the message for scenario #27, returning the wrong message "It's not very effective...".

This glitch does not occur in Pokémon Stadium.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


If an attack is super effective or not very effective against one type and does no damage against another type (for example, Dig against Charizard), the game will erroneously state that the attack missed.

Order of priority of messages

Messages higher on the list take priority to those lower on the list. This list is the reverse order to which they are stored in the game data, which is likely the order they were added to the game.

Attacking type Effectiveness Defending type
Dragon Dragon
Ice Dragon
Grass ½× Dragon
Electric ½× Dragon
Water ½× Dragon
Fire ½× Dragon
Ghost Psychic
Ghost Normal
Rock Ice
Rock Bug
Rock Flying
Rock ½× Ground
Rock ½× Fighting
Rock Fire
Bug Poison
Bug ½× Ghost
Bug Psychic
Bug ½× Flying
Bug ½× Fighting
Bug Grass
Bug ½× Fire
Psychic Poison
Psychic Fighting
Flying ½× Rock
Flying Grass
Flying Bug
Flying Fighting
Flying ½× Electric
Ground Poison
Ground Rock
Ground ½× Bug
Ground ½× Grass
Ground Electric
Ground Fire
Poison ½× Ghost
Poison ½× Rock
Poison Bug
Poison ½× Ground
Poison ½× Poison
Poison Grass
Fighting Ghost
Fighting Ice
Fighting Rock
Fighting ½× Bug
Fighting ½× Psychic
Fighting ½× Flying
Fighting ½× Poison
Fighting Normal
Ice Flying
Ice Ground
Ice Grass
Ice ½× Water
Grass ½× Flying
Grass Rock
Grass ½× Poison
Grass ½× Flying
Grass Ground
Electric Flying
Electric Ground
Water Ground
Fire ½× Rock
Fire Bug
Ghost Ghost
Normal Ghost
Normal ½× Rock
Electric ½× Grass
Water ½× Grass
Grass ½× Fire
Fire ½× Water
Psychic ½× Psychic
Grass ½× Grass
Ice ½× Ice
Electric ½× Electric
Fire ½× Fire
Water ½× Water
Ground Flying
Water Rock
Electric Water
Grass Water
Fire Ice
Fire Grass
Water Fire

Experience underflow

Main article: Experience#Experience underflow glitch

In Generations I and II, level 1 Pokémon using the "medium-slow" growth algorithm will jump from level 1 to level 100 after gaining a low amount of experience points.

By LunarRay
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Fire Spin glitch

By SloshedMail
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Gate access restriction

Certain gates which can be accessed after the player passes Cycling Road will have guards that restrict the player from passing if the Bicycle is deposited in the PC, even though the player does not require a Bicycle.

By iamchazzi
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Ghost identity unveiling

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.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Ghost Marowak bypassing

Using a Poké Doll on the ghost Marowak in Pokémon Tower with or without the Silph Scope will cause it to permanently disappear.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Glitch City

Main article: Glitch City

Hall of Fame corruption

Some corrupted Hall of Fame entries
Main article: Missingno.#Glitches caused

When glitch Pokémon have been seen on the save file, the player's Hall of Fame is badly corrupted with entirely different Pokémon, even glitch Pokémon, and very glitched characters, names and levels. This does not affect the Pokémon themselves, rather the data seen in the Hall of Fame.

Haze opponent crippling

If Haze is used to thaw a frozen Pokémon when it still needs to recharge from Hyper Beam, the Pokémon will thaw out but it will be unable to make a move until it faints even if a Fire type move is used later. This glitch was fixed in Pokémon Stadium. It is similar to the Sky Drop glitch in Generation V, because both glitches permanently make the opponent unable to move until fainting or switching (although switching out the Pokémon is normally not possible).

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


HP recovery move failure

If a Pokémon uses Softboiled, Rest or Recover and the difference between its current HP and maximum HP is 255 or 511, the move will fail. This glitch does not occur in Pokémon Stadium.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Index #000 post-capture

In Generation I, if the player manages to capture an 'M (00), an invisible wild Ditto will still be in battle with the player where 'M (00) was before, and the battle will not end. This Ditto can then be caught.

Invisible PCs

In Generation I, there is an invisible PC in the hotel in Celadon City. This fact is explained by the close resemblance between the hotel and a Pokémon Center. This was less a glitch, and more likely an oversight by the programmers, who may have forgotten to remove the code to activate the PC at that particular point. The sprite of the PC, however, is not there. It is possible to walk on the tile where the PC is. This glitch was fixed in Pokémon Yellow.

By Gligar13Vids
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Invisible Prof. Oak

If the player attempts to leave too many times when choosing their first Pokemon then the player, Prof. Oak and the middle Poké Ball's sprites will vanish. Pressing start will pull up some glitched text on the screen, but exiting the start menu will fix everything.

By BungiePhantom
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Invulnerability

In Generation I, if a Pokémon is fully paralysed while under the invulnerable stage of Fly or Dig, all moves (with the exception of Swift, Transform and possibly the unleashed damage from Bide) from the opponent will miss or fail until the user switches Pokémon, finishes the battle or successfully performs Fly or Dig. The user's Pokémon can attack normally during this glitch.

This glitch was fixed in Pokémon Stadium.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Landing on a NPC

If the player lures an NPC below a ledge that can be jumped over, it is possible to land on top of the NPC.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Leech Seed and Toxic damage stacking

If the target of Leech Seed is also under the effect of Toxic, Leech Seed damage will increase every turn as the N value of Toxic increases because Leech Seed and Toxic both use the same damage algorithm (N * max(1, int(0.0625*MaxHP). This was fixed as of Generation II. If the current HP of the recipient of Leech Seed's HP-restoring effect is greater than its maximum HP, its current HP will be set equal to its maximum HP.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Level-up learnset skipping

Pokémon cannot learn moves they should learn at a level if they earn enough experience at once to skip that level.

For example, if a level 4 Pidgey earned enough experience points for defeating a single Pokémon to reach level 6, it will not learn Sand-Attack, a move it would normally learn at level 5.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Leveling past 100

In Generation I and II, if a Pokémon is obtained at a level above 100, it can be leveled up with Rare Candies up to level 255. If a Rare Candy is fed to a level 255 Pokémon, its level will be reset to 0. If a Pokémon above level 100 levels up due to experience, its level will be reset to 100.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Mew glitch

Main article: Mew glitch

Pallet Town NPC misplacement

If the player stands outside of Professor Oak's Lab in Pallet Town, the person outside it will eventually stand on the Lab's door.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Perpetual spinning animation

By BungiePhantom
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Pokémon merging

Main article: Pokémon merge glitch

Pokémon Storage System cloning

Main article: Cloning glitches#Storage system method

Pokémon Storage System full-party deposit

It is possible for the player to deposit all Pokémon except fainted ones and a black out will occur but only after four steps in the same session. In Red and Blue it is possible to progress further by saving the game before traveling four steps to reset the 'remaining step count' to 4 when the game is reset, though this is no longer the case in Pokémon Yellow because the remaining step count was changed to default to 1 step. The player immediately has a black out if entering a battle with just fainted Pokémon.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Rematching Trainers

To perform this glitch, the player must have some Pokémon which can lose a battle easily, so they may wish to have one Pokémon, a poisoned Pokémon or both. They must be inside a cave, e.g. Mt. Moon or Victory Road. They must, finally, have access to an unbattled Trainer who is in a cave. They must encounter a wild Pokémon while in a Trainer's eyeline. This wild Pokémon must proceed to defeat the player, sending them to a Pokémon Center. They then must re-enter the cave the Trainer is in. The Start menu will pop up. Upon closing it, the Trainer they escaped from will fight the player. However, if the player defeats them, this is not interpreted as beating the Trainer, and the player can challenge them again.

Rhydon glitch

Main article: Rhydon glitch

Save corruption

In Red, Blue, and Yellow, with no save file, when the player saves the game and turns off the power a little time after the Yes/No box disappears the player will have 255 Pokémon in the party the next time the file is loaded.

If the player turns the power off at the wrong time, the save file will either be corrupted or will appear normal. The right time to pull off the glitch is about twenty frames after the A button is pressed, but in Yellow it is about ten frames later.

The first few Pokémon are level 255 'M (FF) (Red/Blue) or Q_◣ (Yellow), with all of their stats as "F35" (65535), four TM55 as their moves with 63/0 PP and with a nickname and OT of many repeating "9"s. Pokémon past number six do not have all of these properties.

The data regarding Pokémon past the sixth position use other parts of the game's memory misinterpreted as Pokémon data, therefore swapping these Pokémon around or healing them can affect the game. If the player switches the second Pokémon with the tenth Pokémon, they will have 255 items. Switching the items past slot 20 will allow for more precise memory editing because there are only two pairs of memory addresses manipulated; displayed as an item and item quantity, while a "post-six" Pokémon uses many more bytes.

After performing the glitch, the poison effect will occur as the player walks around. In English versions, swapping the first-ninth Pokémon with the tenth will cause to player to have seen and owned 152 Pokémon in the Pokédex.

Using the following equation, it is possible to calculate what memory address any item, including invalid items is using, provided that the memory address is odd.

Memory address = [First item position address -1] + [Cursor positon] + ([Cursor position -1])[1]

The item address that follows an item is displayed as a quantity.

Beating the game quickly

As there are no memory protection measures in place in the Generation I and Generation II games, it is possible to use this glitch to do a number of things, such as beating the game in under five minutes. Below is one method of doing this that requires no luck manipulation:

In Pokémon Yellow, the memory address D364 is used for the last map location for walking through certain exits, including the exit for Red's house and the first item position address is D31D. This means that the correct cursor position can be expressed as:

D364 = D31C + [cursor position] + [cursor position -1]

This has no actual answer because D364 (54116) is even, so the address must be a quantity, but if D363 is used, the answer comes to hex: 24 (dec: 36). Therefore, the memory address D363 (current block of the player's X-position) corresponds to item position 36 (hex: 24) and the quantity of item 36 is the aforementioned warp location address. The cursor position in hexadecimal can be checked by highlighting an item in game and checking the memory address CC35.

As the index number of Pallet Town is 0, the player can access 255 locations by tossing the 36th item (as tossing one ×0 item causes an underflow to 255). The index number of the Hall of Fame room is 118, so the player must toss exactly 138 of item 36 to change the warp destination to the Hall of Fame. If the player stands on the right side of the exit mat item 36 should be a Master Ball, while if the player stands on the left side of the exit mat, it should be the hex:00 glitch item which would appear as some glitchy blocks with a multiplication sign in it.

By Scykoh
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


In Japanese versions

The glitch works in Japanese Blue but the game has to be reset some time after the "!" mark appears in "(PLAYERNAME)はレポートに しっかり かきのこした!". In Japanese Yellow it is possible with the same procedure as English Red/Blue and Yellow, but in order to corrupt the number of items the player has to replace the ninth Pokémon instead of the tenth to avoid a freeze after closing the items pack.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Save reset oversight

This is a glitch that causes the player to always receive the "You can't get off here." message when trying to use the Bicycle even when they are not on the Bicycle. It also causes the "Cycling is fun! Forget Surfing!" message to appear when trying to use Surf (using the ????? "Surfboard" item doesn't cause this message to appear).

If the player's current save is on Route 16, Route 17 or Route 18 (Cycling Road), the WRAM address D732 (D731 in Pokémon Yellow) is normally set to 21h (5th bit is on).

Normally when the player brings up the Continue/New Game/Option menu many of the variables from the current save are loaded so that the game works properly when the player selects the "Continue" option. Most of these variables are reset back to their default value if a new game is loaded but not the WRAM address D732 (possibly due to an oversight by the game developers).

This means starting a New Game with the current save on Cycling Road will cause the "You can't get off here." message to appear when trying to use the Bicycle from any location. The effects of this glitch are only visible once the player obtains the Bicycle or the Soul Badge and a Pokémon with Surf.

The glitch can be fixed by performing any one of these actions:

  • Using Dig, Teleport, Fly, or an Escape Rope
  • Entering and leaving Cycling Road
  • Blacking out (both in battle and in the overworld)

It has been reported that this glitch may occur without starting a new save file when the current save is on Cycling Road, but the cause is unknown. [2]

Another version of this glitch can (but not always) appear when performing the Fossil conversion glitch in the Japanese Red, Green, and Blue. [3] Unlike the "New Game" version, entering and leaving Cycling Road doesn't fix the glitch.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Silent Indigo Plateau

In the battle against Blue at Indigo Plateau, if the player evolves a Pokémon in battle and defeats Blue, the music will be muted until Professor Oak comes to congratulate the player.

(Video comparing the battle where a Caterpie evolves, to the same battle where no Pokémon evolves):

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Sprite corruption

The sprite corruption as seen in Generation I games

The sprite corruption glitch is a glitch that alters the appearance of the sprites in Generation I, making the sprites appear to be cut into pieces or even unrecognizable in some instances.

In Generation I, many glitch Pokémon will distort battle sprites upon their encounter; however, this can be fixed by viewing the stats of a non-glitched Pokémon. There are other methods to the glitch, some of which involve using a Pokémon Center to heal the player's Pokémon when in a glitched area, visiting Glitch City, or catching certain glitch Pokémon.

In other generations, it may occur when a cheating device is used.

Statue collision oversight

The glitch is performed by standing next to a water tile that is facing up, left, or right, walk in that direction and pressing start without letting go of the D-Pad. The game then needs to be saved and reset. When loading the saved data, the player will be facing in the direction that was being held down when the start button was pressed. Using Surf will cause the player to surf on the tile immediately south, even if it is not a water tile.

When loading a save file, the player usually starts facing south. This is because of the limited data in the game. This glitch causes the player to face in a different direction, which confuses the game.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Statue fishing

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 the Cerulean Gym, where all the Pokémon obtainable in the Gym can be caught. The player is also able to surf on these statues.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Struggle bypassing

In Generation I, struggling can be avoided by allowing the game to self-select a move to be used, which can happen to any move used immediately after a Pokémon is defrosted, or due to a handful of moves' effects (Bind, Clamp, Fire Spin, Hyper Beam, Metronome, Mimic, and Wrap) because of the auto-selection involved with partial-trapping moves. A move used with 0 PP in this way would underflow to the maximum possible value, 63 PP, and, due to the way the data is structured, a move that 0 PP Ups had been used on would gain full PP Up status, while those on which PP Ups had been used would lose one PP Up boost. This glitch was addressed in Generation II games and later, which prevent a move from being executed if it has 0 PP.

By LunarRay
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Substitute sprite vanishing

Using a sacrificial move like Explosion on a substitute and having the damage break the substitute prevents the user from fainting. The sprite of the user vanishes regardless.

By ChickasaurusGL
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Surfing Pikachu vanishing

If the player uses Pikachu to surf (this was intended to be possible), when the player gets back on land Pikachu will disappear.

S.S. Anne reboarding

The player surfing on top of the sailor

After the S.S. Anne leaves the dock for the first time, it's possible to make it reappear earlier. To perform this glitch, the player must stand one tile above and to the left of the sailor guarding the harbor, take a step right and hit the Start button at the same time, save and reboot. After verifying that the player is facing right and without moving, a Pokémon must be selected to Surf, thus making the player surf on top of the sailor. Then, after walking down to the harbor, the boat can be entered.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Trade cloning

Main article: Cloning glitches#Trading method

Walking through an NPC

If the player lures an NPC onto the path that Professor Oak takes to bring the player to the laboratory, Professor Oak and the player will walk right over and through her.

By Wooggle
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Walking through walls

To walk through walls, the player must first get a poisoned Pokémon and deposit all other Pokémon in the PC. Then, they need to go to Safari Zone and pay $500 to play. They must try to leave the Safari Zone, but when asked if they want to leave early, select no. Next, they must save the game and restart. After that, they have to walk back into the Safari Zone building and walk downward. When asked if they want to play, they should select no and leave the building. Next, they should walk around and make sure they are on top of a ledge when they have walked 499 steps. Every time the screen flashes black, that is 4 steps, so they should count 124 screen flashes and 3 steps. After that, they must jump off the ledge so that the player is in midair when they run out of steps. Run around making sure to not go off screen until the only Pokémon in their party faints. They will be teleported to the last Pokemon Center they have visited and can now walk through walls.

By Wooggle
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


ZZAZZ

Main article: ZZAZZ glitch

Glitches involving communication with the Generation II games

Johto guard bypassing

Main article: Johto guard glitch

Shiny Ditto DV manipulation

The Shiny Ditto glitch requires a game from Generation I and Generation II, but only has an effect on a Generation II game. 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.

By v0id19
This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


Trade evolution learnset oversight

Generation I Pokémon that can evolve by trading can be taught glitch moves through this glitch. This can be achieved by trading a trade evolution Pokémon from a Generation I game to a Generation II, at a level where its evolved form will learn a move not in Generation I. Trading the Pokémon back to the Generation I game will cause the move to become a glitch move.

For example, trading a level 34 Graveler from Pokémon Red to Pokémon Gold will make the Graveler evolve into Golem. Since it is level 34, it will learn Rollout. 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 TM05.

References



Multiple
generations
Transform glitchesGlitch TrainersCloning glitchesError messagesArbitrary code execution
Generation I GlitchesBattle glitchesOverworld glitches
--0 ERRORBroken hidden itemsCable Club escape glitchDual-type damage misinformation
Experience underflow glitchFight Safari Zone Pokémon trickGlitch CityItem duplication glitchItem underflow
Mew glitchOld man glitchPewter Gym skip glitchPokémon merge glitchRhydon glitchRival twins glitch
Select glitches (dokokashira door glitch, second type glitch) • Super Glitch
Time Capsule exploitWalking through wallsZZAZZ glitch
Generation II GlitchesBattle glitches
Bug-Catching Contest glitchCelebi Egg glitchCoin Case glitchesExperience underflow glitch
Glitch dimensionGlitch EggTeru-samaTime Capsule exploitTrainer House glitchesGS Ball mail glitch
Generation III GlitchesBattle glitches
Berry glitchDive glitchPomeg glitchGlitzer Popping
Generation IV GlitchesBattle glitchesOverworld glitches
Acid rainGTS glitchesPomeg glitchRage glitch
Surf glitchTweakingPal Park Retire glitch
Generation V GlitchesBattle glitchesOverworld glitches
Charge Beam additional effect chance glitchCharge move replacement glitchChoice item lock glitch
Frozen Zoroark glitchSky Drop glitch
Generation VI GlitchesBattle glitchesOverworld glitches
Charge Beam additional effect chance glitchCharge move replacement glitchChoice item lock glitch
Lumiose City save glitchSymbiosis Eject Button glitchToxic sure-hit glitch
Generation VII GlitchesBattle glitches
Charge Beam additional effect chance glitchCharge move replacement glitchChoice item lock glitch
Toxic sure-hit glitchRollout storage glitch
Generation VIII Glitches
Charge Beam additional effect chance glitchCharge move replacement glitchChoice item lock glitch
Toxic sure-hit glitchRollout storage glitchParty item offset glitch
Generation IX Glitches
Glitch effects Game freezeGlitch battleGlitch song
Gen I only: Glitch screenTMTRAINER effectInverted sprites
Gen II only: Glitch dimension
Lists Glitches (GOMystery DungeonTCG GBSpin-off)
Glitch Pokémon (Gen IGen IIGen IIIGen IVGen VGen VIGen VIIGen VIII)
Glitch moves (Gen I) • Glitch types (Gen IGen II)


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