Inverted sprites

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Inverted sprites (also known as Scrambled sprites or Reversed sprites) is a side-effect of encountering certain Glitch Pokémon or viewing their stat screen in the Generation I games.

Effects

When the player first enters the battle, the trainer sprite is "glitchy" in appearance. It is also partially reversed from its normal state:

After the battle starts, the player's Pokémon also have the "glitchy" back sprites. Note also that the enemy Rattata also has its sprite reversed:

Once the player's Pokémon uses an attack, the enemy Pokémon's sprite breaks as well.

As the name implies, this glitch causes the sprites to appear backwards or flipped. In normal gameplay, only front sprites are mirrored across the x-axis when viewing Pokémon in the stats screen, the effect displays sprites incorrectly when it is applied to the back sprites. In addition, while the front sprites of the opposing Pokémon flip properly originally, once the sprite is updated (through attacking), it breaks. The broken inversions do not cause permanent damage.

Fix

To fix the effect, the Pokédex entry or stats screen of a non-glitch Pokémon needs to be viewed.

Official Nintendo statement

Nintendo has an official description of MissingNo. listed in their Customer Service troubleshooting section, which includes a nonworking method of fixing the effect:

"MissingNO is a programming quirk, and not a real part of the game. When you get this, your game can perform strangely, and the graphics will often become scrambled. The MissingNO Pokémon is most often found after you perform the Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick.

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."

Nintendo was incorrect on the method for fixing this behavior; releasing MissingNo. does not fix inverted sprites. Instead, looking at the stats of a non-glitch Pokémon should fix the problem.

Cause

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: No reason specified. You can discuss this on the talk page.

In Red, Blue, and Yellow, an address in the RAM determines whether the sprite of the Pokémon in battle is inverted or not. The address in Red/Blue is 0xd0aa, and 0xd0a9 in Yellow. The normal value is 0x00, which results in the sprite presented in its normal orientation. When any value other than 0x00 is entered, it results in the sprite being inverted.

Viewing the Pokédex entry of glitch pokémon with the Pokédex number 00 or a number above 151 results in the value being changed, therefore inverting the sprite. Viewing the Pokédex entry or stats screen of a non-glitch Pokémon resets the value to 0x00 and makes sprites be presented in the normal orientation.

References

Glitches in the Pokémon games Main Multiple generations Transform glitches • Glitch Trainers • Cloning glitches • Error messages • Arbitrary code execution Generation I Battle glitches • Graphical quirks -- • 0 ERROR • Broken hidden items • Cable Club escape glitch • Dual-type damage misinformation Experience underflow glitch • Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick • Glitch City • Item duplication glitch • Item underflow Mew glitch • Old man glitch • Pewter Gym skip glitch • Pokémon merge glitch • Rhydon glitch • Rival twins glitch Select glitches (dokokashira door glitch, second type glitch) • Super Glitch Time Capsule exploit • Walking through walls • ZZAZZ glitch Generation II Battle glitches Bug-Catching Contest glitch • Celebi Egg glitch • Coin Case glitches • Experience underflow glitch Glitch dimension • Glitch Egg • Teru-sama • Time Capsule exploit • Trainer House glitches • GS Ball mail glitch Generation III Berry glitch • Dive glitch • Pomeg glitch • Glitzer Popping Generation IV Acid rain • GTS glitches • Pomeg glitch Surf glitch • Tweaking • Pal Park Retire glitch Generation V Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Frozen Zoroark glitch • Sky Drop glitch Generation VI Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Lumiose City save glitch • Symbiosis Eject Button glitch • Toxic sure-hit glitch Generation VII Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Toxic sure-hit glitch • Rollout storage glitch Generation VIII Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Toxic sure-hit glitch • Rollout storage glitch • Party item offset glitch Glitch effects Game freeze • Glitch battle • Glitch song Gen I only: Glitch screen • TMTRAINER effect • Inverted sprites Gen II only: Glitch dimension Lists Glitches (Gen I • Gen II • Gen III • Gen IV • Gen V • Gen VI • Gen VII • Gen VIII • Gen IX • Mystery Dungeon • GO • TCG GB • Spin-off) Glitch Pokémon (Gen I • Gen II • Gen III • Gen IV • Gen V • Gen VI • Gen VII • Gen VIII) Glitch moves (Gen I) • Glitch types (Gen I • Gen II)

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