List of glitches (Generation I)
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This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Loads of missing newly discovered glitches |
This is a list of glitches that occur in the Generation I core series Pokémon games. It applies to both the original Game Boy and the 3DS Virtual Console releases unless otherwise noted.
Battle glitches
- Main article: List of battle glitches (Generation I)
All games
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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 Game Boy versions of Pokémon Red and Green (1.0 and 1.1) and of Japanese Pokémon Yellow (1.0 to 1.3) unless noted otherwise.
0 ERROR glitch
- Main article: 0 ERROR
A glitch similar to the Mew glitch that causes Route 6 to become glitched.
Disabling NPCs animation
When the player walks, the screen moves the objects of the stage where player is, including NPCs. That movement alters the animations of the NPCs, disabling their animations.
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Cable Club escape
- Main article: Cable Club escape glitch
Changing NPC sprites
When the walking 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. This is due to the fact that the game fails to load the sprite graphics properly.
Critical hit ratio error
Focus Energy and Dire Hits are intended to quadruple the critical hit rate, but due to a glitch, they will quarter the chance of scoring a critical hit. This was fixed in Pokémon Stadium.
Cut glitch
The Cut glitch can refer to two different glitches in Generation I involving the move Cut.
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.
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Standing on a tree
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. The same can happen with Pikachu in Pokémon Yellow.
In Celadon Gym in Pokémon Yellow, Pikachu can also end up standing on a tree after certain battles.
This glitch occurs because the Generation I engine would not store the data needed to remember that the tree had been cleared.
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.
This is because pressing left on the d-pad actually overrides the "walk back to the right" movement, thus ignoring the return movement.
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Experience PC withdrawing glitch
In Generation I, attempting to withdraw a level 1 Pokémon using the "Medium Slow" growth algorithm will softlock the game. This also applies to Pokémon using the "Medium Fast" growth algorithm for Level 255, "Fast" for Level 255, and "Slow" for Level 237.
Certain glitch Pokémon use invalid growth algorithms and have the game freeze when they are withdrawn at specific levels as well. For example, in Pokémon Red and Blue, 'M (00) uses an invalid experience curve 26 and the game will freeze if the player attempts to withdraw a level 0 'M (00). Level 0 'M can be found with the old man glitch if the player does not pick a preset name.
Additionally, if a Pokémon in the "Medium-Slow" growth algorithm is withdrawn between Levels 245 to 255, it will become a Pokémon with a level between 59 and 125, depending on the exact Level of the Pokémon deposited. A Pokémon in the "Medium-Slow" growth algorithm that is withdrawn between 238 and 255 will become a Pokémon with a level between 39 and 146. A Pokémon withdrawn in this manner will have its stats recalculated, which may lead to it having more HP than its maximum HP.[1][2]
Ghost Bicycle glitch
In Generation I games, if the player saves at the Cycling Road and then creates a new game, it will not be possible to use the Bicycle or Surf anywhere until this glitch is fixed. If the player attempts to use either of them, it will fail and the game will display the same error message that would appear if the player tried to do this in the Cycling Road itself.
Even with this glitch active, the player can still surf by using the surfboard item named "?????", which is not legitimately obtainable.
This glitch exists because the bit 5 of the memory address D732 (D731 in Yellow) is turned on while the player is in the Cycling Road. This normally causes the player to be unable to leave the Bicycle or Surf in the Cycling Road. Conversely, if this bit is turned on while the player is walking (which is not supposed to be possible in normal gameplay), it prevents the player from riding the Bicycle or using Surf anywhere. When the player creates a new game, usually all the data from the previous game (if any) is deleted, but the value of this memory address is not properly reset.
This glitch is fixed (that is, the memory address is properly updated) if the player blacks out (either in battle or the overworld), uses Dig, Teleport, or Fly outside of battle, uses an Escape Rope, or enters and leaves the Cycling Road.
See also: WRAM clear oversight (Generation I) in Glitch City Laboratories.
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.
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Glitch City
- Main article: Glitch City
Hall of Fame corruption
- 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, and is caused by the contents of the sprite decompression buffer that is stored in SRAM overflowing into memory allocated for save data when a glitch Pokémon's sprite is decompressed.
Invisible Prof. Oak
If the player attempts to leave too many times when choosing their first Pokémon 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.
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Item duplication glitch
- Main article: Item duplication glitch
Item underflow glitch
- Main article: Item underflow
Landing on an NPC
If the player lures an NPC below a ledge that can be jumped over (by blocking their movement in certain directions), it is possible to land on top of the NPC when they jump over the ledge.
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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 due to an overflow in a single byte. If a Pokémon above level 100 levels up due to experience, its level will be reset to 100.
In Generation II, if a Pokémon levels "down" to 100 in battle, it will attempt to learn all of its level-up moves between levels 1 and 100 (other than moves it already knows).
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Menu glitch
If the player holds A when the game is saving, the menu won't disappear until player stops holding A.
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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. This is because the door tile was programmed as a non-solid tile.
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Perpetual spinning animation
If the player saves the game having just entered the Safari Zone and leaves, the game assumes that the player is just entering the Safari Zone entrance, as it does not save that the player is currently in a paid Safari Zone session. Thus, upon passing by the desk, the player is prompted to pay for another Safari Zone session, although they are now traveling out towards the town below. Because the player is supposedly in a Safari Zone session, the game counts down steps passively. Upon exiting towards the bottom into Fuchsia City, the player must Fly to Viridian City and enter Giovanni's Gym. Inside, the player must walk along the spinners, proceeding to be spun around. After taking enough steps to deplete the (invisible) counter, the player freezes, the PA "ding-dong" noise will sound, and a message will pop up saying that the player's Safari Zone session is now over. If the player is in the middle of a spin while this happens, the player will be transported to the Safari Zone entrance as if they had just left the Safari Zone, and upon moving will perform the spin animation, and move slower. The player has full control over the movement of the character; the only difference is that instead of the walking animation, the spinning animation is played.
The glitch can be fixed by returning to the location where the player ran out of Safari Zone steps.
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Changing the Player's sprite
A sub glitch involves changing Red's sprite into the sprite of another NPC. While the player is in the perpetual spinning state, they must enter a Pokémon Center then turn on the PC while hold left, then close the PC while still holding left. Red's sprite will now be replaced with the overworld sprite of an NPC based on the location of the Pokémon Center. The following list shows the towns that correspond to which overworld sprite the player will be turned into:
- Pallet Town: Professor Oak
- Viridian City: Professor Oak
- Pewter City: Lass
- Cerulean City: Lass
- Vermilion City: Lass
- Lavender Town: Jr. Trainer ♂
- Celadon City: Police officer
- Fuchsia City: Swimmer
- Saffron City: Jr. Trainer ♂
- Cinnabar Island: Professor Oak
- Indigo Plateau: Police officer
- Routes: Lass
Leaving the building or not moving will return Red's sprite back to normal.
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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 healthy 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.
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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.
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In the Japanese Pokémon Yellow, it is also possible to perform this glitch by exploiting the save corruption glitch.
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Professor Oak's Poké Balls glitch
If Professor Oak attempts to give the player 5 Poké Balls at his Laboratory when there is no space in the player's Bag, the player will be unable to receive them. However, the game text will falsely indicate that they were received normally.
This glitch is normally impossible to affect the game when the player delivers Oak's Parcel and receives 5 Poké Balls, because of the space freed up in the Bag when the Parcel is given (unless the player has a full Bag somehow including at least 2 Oak's Parcels in the same slot).
If the player talks with Professor Oak after defeating Blue at the optional battle on Route 22, Professor Oak will give the player 5 Poké Balls if there is no added caught data in the Pokédex (other than a single caught Pokémon, the starter Pokémon). If the Bag is full, this glitch will permanently prevent the player from receiving those Poké Balls.
Red Bar Glitch
If a Pokémon is in a critical health status, the game will start to play a sound to let the player know their Pokémon is low on health and about to possibly faint. This sound has an unintended side effect of causing other sounds and animations to not play due to the limited number of audio channels in the Game Boy's hardware. This glitch has become very well known and is used often in speedruns for the Generation I games.
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 first 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.
The Pokémon in the 10th slot will change to a different glitch pokemon as the player walks around to different areas, making it theroetically possible to obtain every Glitch Pokémon in the game.
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 position] + ([Cursor position -1])[3]
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.
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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.
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Save data carryover
Using a procedure similar to the save corruption glitch, it's possible to begin a new save file, but having the party Pokémon from the previous save file. With an already existing save file, player must start a new game then save to overwrite the previous save, but turn off the game or reset shortly after the Yes/No box disappears. The exact timing is a difficult two frame window, doing it too early corrupts the previous save file and doing it too late completely overwrites the previous save file.
If successful, the player will begin the new save data while having the party Pokémon from the previous save file in their party. This glitch can be used at the beginning of the game to obtain all three starter Pokémon without trading.
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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.[4]
Another version of this glitch can (but not always) appear when performing the Fossil conversion glitch in the Japanese Red, Green, and Blue.[5] Unlike the "New Game" version, entering and leaving Cycling Road doesn't fix the glitch.
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Save Surf exploit
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.
Since statues are treated as water tiles, this glitch can be performed by using a statue as the water tile. Most notably, this glitch can be used to bypass the sailor in order to re-board the S.S. Anne after it has set sail. It is performed by setting up the glitch on the tile above the sailor, then using Surf causes the player to surf on top of the sailor. Then, after walking down to the harbor, the boat can be entered.
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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.
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Sprite corruption
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 in the overworld. 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 water tile oversight
The player can use Surf or a Fishing rod when facing the right or left of a Gym statue. The Old Rod continues to pull up Magikarp, as it ignores location, but the Super Rod (and the Good Rod in Yellow) will display the message "Looks like there's nothing in here..." everywhere other than the Cerulean Gym, which has wild Pokémon normally.
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Trade cloning
- Main article: Cloning glitches#Trading method
Vending machine glitch
If the player has enough money to buy a Fresh Water (at least $200) but not enough to afford a Soda Pop or Lemonade, the vending machines atop Celadon Department Store still allow these more expensive drinks to be purchased. The player's money will be reduced to $0 rather than becoming a negative number.
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Victory Road Bicycle music quirk
If, while riding the Bicycle in Victory Road, the player falls through a hole, they will, on landing, no longer be riding the Bicycle; nonetheless, the Bicycle theme music will continue to play until the player enters a battle, leaves the dungeon, changes floors, or resets the game.
This glitch occurs neither in the Japanese nor the international versions of Pokémon Yellow; instead, the Bicycle music does not play at all in Victory Road.
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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.
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Walking through walls
- Main article: Walking through walls
Yami shop
The "Yami shop" glitch changes the selection of items that can be bought in any Poké Mart. To perform it the player must have obtained a glitch item with an unterminated name, one recommended item is "PC" in Pokémon Red and Blue which can be obtained with item underflow. The player must first open the Pokémon menu in a certain location, the most recommended location is in front of the cashier, however it can be done in certain other locations as long as at least one tree tile is between the Pokémon menu and player's name, and the player does not open the Start menu again before speaking to the cashier. Next the player should attempt to sell the glitch item and cancel (sometimes the player is unable to sell it). The music will then fade out, then at this point the player should select "Buy".
Doing this corrupts the selection of purchasable items, allowing glitch items or normally non-purchasable items to be bought. The player can now buy items such as Safari Balls or Master Balls, and other items which normally cannot be bought (Oak's Parcel, Gym Badges, etc). Many items that are normally unable to be bought will not have a price. The selection of items vary depending on where the player last opened the Pokémon menu.
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Red and Blue
All releases
Freezing the game in Oak's Laboratory
If the player holds "A" at the moment they interact with the Poké Ball in Oak's Laboratory, the game will be frozen until the player lets go of the button.
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Hooked Dragonite glitch
The Hooked Dragonite glitch is one of several odd effects that can occur after running out of Safari Zone steps while the NPC is guiding Red to the Pewter Museum of Science. The player must first perform the Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick and try to run out of steps as the NPC in Pewter City is guiding the player to the museum. If done correctly, the player will be teleported to the Safari Zone entrance, then upon leaving will instead be exiting from the PokéMart in Pewter City and a textbox pops up. Then they must save and reset.
Afterwards the player will find the NPC infinitely walking downwards and looping each time he goes offscreen. The player must then talk to him while standing to the left of the Pokémon Center entrance, then instead of a usual walking sequence, Red and the NPC will be indefinitely standing in place while the "follow me" music slowly fades out. Eventually this "staring contest" ends with the textbox that would've been displayed once the walking sequence ends. Closing the textbox will put the player in a battle with a "Hooked Dragonite" (hence the name) with the Gym Leader battle music, however all of the player's controls are disabled and they are soft locked.
Talking to the Pewter Museum guide at different locations will cause other effects to occur, one example includes an alternative method to walk through walls.
Causes
The first part of the glitch is caused by interrupting the walking sequence. When the NPC is spoken to, the game disables all of the player's controls and moves Red and the NPC at the same time to give the illusion that Red is following him, then once it ends, the NPC walks down to leave and the controls are returned to the player. If the walking sequence is interrupted, controls are not returned to the player, however thanks to a failsafe mechanic, controls are returned if the player enters another map. After exiting from Pewter City's PokéMart, saving and resetting confuses the game into making the NPC infinitely walk down for 256 steps instead of the usual four. Because the NPC was never intended to walk this far, the game's variables soon overflow forcing him to warp to the top of the visible area.
The effects of this glitch are caused by a buffer overflow that occurs based on the game trying to find a path for the NPC to take in order to reach the destination. The game searches player coordinates from a table to determine the various movements that can be used to bring the player to their destination, as the path is different depending on where he was spoken to. If the coordinates are not present on the table, the game searches beyond the table to find one (as the player was not intended to be able to speak to the NPC in these locations). Most of the time the game cannot find any and the game will soft lock. However if a matching entry happens to be found, the game will use it as movement data and copy it to a buffer until it reaches the first 0xFF terminator byte. The hooked Dragonite is the result of changing the address $D059, wCurOpponent, and the reason controls are disabled is because they were unable to be unlocked when the battle starts with the hooked Dragonite.
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Indoor fishing oversight
In Cerulean Gym, the water tiles have wild Pokémon data programmed in, which allows players to fish Pokémon. In Pokémon Yellow, the Old Rod and Good Rod work, but the Super Rod doesn't. The bug then returned in Pokémon Gold and Silver, but it was fixed once more in Pokémon Crystal.
Lorelei's room in Indigo Plateau also has this issue, which was fixed in Yellow as well.
Invisible PC access
Celadon Hotel is based on the layout design of a Pokémon Center. In this map, if the player stands in front of where the PC would be in a Pokémon Center, the player can access an invisible PC.
There are also invisible PCs in the same position (accessible by facing up with the coordinates x=13, y=4 xblock=1, yblock=0) in Safari Zone rest houses 2, 3 and 4 (maps 223-225), but these positions are not normally accessible, so memory hacking must be done or Arbitrary code execution written using the 8F item can allow these extra PCs to be accessible without cheating.
All known invisible PCs do not exist in Pokémon Yellow.
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Extra invisible PCs:
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Lift Key overworld misplacement
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 Pokémon Yellow, due to the Grunt automatically dropping the Lift Key as soon as he is defeated.
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Lift goes to the same floor
In any lift of Pokémon Red/Blue/Green and Yellow, if the player chooses to go to the floor they're already on, the lift acts like it is moving.
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New-game Nidorino cry oversight
During the new game tutorial, the game shows Nidorino's sprite but plays Nidorina's cry.
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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.
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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.
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Pewter Gym skipping
- Main article: Pewter Gym skip glitch
Red's transparent white pixels
In Pokémon Red and Blue's title screen, Red's white pixels are treated as transparent.
This glitch is visible once a Pokémon quickly moves to the left and passes behind Red. At this point, the Pokémon will be visible through Red's white pixels. This includes the white portions of his hat, sleeves, eyes, face, pants, shoes, and gloves.
Rival twins glitch
- Main article: Rival twins glitch
This is a sequence of glitches that causes two copies of the the rival to appear together in Route 22.
Trade palette glitch
If the player sees the data of any Pokémon, the palette will change its colors depending on the color of the Pokémon and the HP it has at the moment. This bug was fixed in Pokémon Yellow.
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English versions only
Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick
- Main article: Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick
Instant Text trick
If the player goes into the Cerulean City Bike Shop without a bike voucher and cancels out exiting the shopping menu of the bike shop, the game never resets a text based flag. Instead of the game showing all the text character by character, it will instead now show all text on screen instantly. Going back to the shop later and buying the bike will reset the flag.
Old man glitch
- Main article: Old man glitch
Japanese Red and Green
- Main article: Broken hidden items
In Pokémon Red and Green, there are six hidden items that do not function correctly. These hidden items are believed to have been fixed in Japanese Pokémon Blue and later versions (including the localized versions of the Generation I games).
Picking up one of these six specific hidden items causes the other five hidden items to disappear. If the player hands over a Fossil to the scientist in Cinnabar Island's Pokémon Lab (even if they choose not the revive it), all six hidden items reappear.
The broken hidden items cannot be detected by the Itemfinder. Instead, five of these six items have another set of coordinates that the Itemfinder believes them to be located at instead, although there is no item hidden at that position.
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Japanese Red, Green, and Blue
NOTE: The following glitches affect all Game Boy versions of Pokémon Red and Green (1.0 and 1.1) unless noted otherwise.
Articuno binoculars cry glitch
This glitch involves listening to the cry of the Articuno in the binoculars on the second floor of the gate on Route 15. Listening to it in succession many times can corrupt the cry.
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Empty Pokémon List
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 Pokémon List 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！).
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Full Box glitch
If the player has six Pokémon in their party and their current Pokémon Storage System Box is full 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 causing an infinite loop. This forces the player to either reset the game or turn the power off. This is because the game thinks that the player is catching a Pokémon, even though it's actually the old man, the game produces a "temporary" Pokémon to hold, and if the catching demonstration ends, that caught Pokémon is deleted.
This glitch was fixed in the Japanese version of Pokémon Yellow and in the localizations.
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Pokédex glitch
In all Japanese Generation I games, if the player evolves their starter Pokémon before bringing Oak his parcel, Oak will assume the player already has the Pokédex and will offer to rate it instead of accepting the parcel. This prevents progression in the game, as the old man will not move until the player delivers Oak's parcel. The player will also be unable to buy items in the Viridian City Poké Mart (because the player is required to deliver the parcel before buying any items).
Select glitches
- Main article: Select glitches
Dokokashira door glitch
- Main article: Dokokashira door glitch
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.
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Blue
Purple Jigglypuff oversight
Jigglypuff appears purple instead of pink when battling Gengar in the intro of Pokémon Blue (including the Japanese version), when this game is played in color.
In normal gameplay, Jigglypuff uses the pink Pokémon palette while Gengar uses the purple Pokémon palette. However, they both share the purple palette in this battle at the game intro. This is a leftover from the earlier Japanese games Pokémon Red and Green, when two purple Pokémon battled instead: Gengar vs. Nidorino (which is also seen in the international versions of Pokémon Red).
Yellow
NOTE: The following glitches affect all Game Boy versions of Japanese Pokémon Yellow (1.0 to 1.3) unless noted otherwise.
Delayed Pikachu follow
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This glitch is in need of research. Reason: No reason specified. You can discuss this on the talk page. |
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In Pokémon Tower, if the player steps on the purified zone with a fainted Pikachu, and quickly pushes (B) and takes two steps, Pikachu will not match the player's first step until the player takes their second step and will continue to follow at a delay. As a result, Pikachu may end up a space distant from the player or overlapped with them. Walking back onto the purified zone while overlapped will return Pikachu's position to normal, regardless of speed.
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Thanks to the Pikachu off-screen glitch, it can be done everywhere.
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Freezing Pikachu
If the player jumps off a cliff when Pikachu is dancing, the Pikachu's sprite will be frozen for 7–8 seconds.
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NPC over the grass
In the Viridian Forest, there is a Lass whose sprite is clearly over the grass. This trainer won't move because she doesn't have a range at which she will walk up to the player, so she has to be battled by walking up and talking to her.
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Friendship item effect
This causes a no-effect item to still increase Pikachu's friendship value. For example, attempting to use a Potion on a Pikachu that has fainted or has full health, an Antidote when Pikachu is not poisoned, Calcium when Pikachu has already has at least 25600 Special stat experience, or X Special when the Special stat has already been raised 6 stages in battle. This does not consume the item, so the same item can repeatedly increase Pikachu's friendship.
This glitch was fixed in Generation II.
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Pikachu off-screen glitches
With the use of in-game event that causes a walking Pikachu to stay (Pikachu being put to sleep by Jigglypuff in Pewter City's Pokémon Center, Pikachu meeting Bill at Cerulean Cape, Pikachu falling in love with Clefairy at the Pokémon Fan Club) one can bring the walking Pikachu off the screen and cause memory corruption glitches such as a forced Glitch City and causing NPCs to turn when they shouldn't, or even having their save file deleted.
For each step Pikachu is off the screen, a memory address is corrupted from D437 and onward, and the values depend on where the player steps, with south being 01, north being 02, west being 03 and east being 04. Through this, the player can make Pikachu's happiness one of these low values, cause a Glitch City and through specific movement, set the play time to 255:59.
In addition to use an in-game event that causes Pikachu to stay, Pikachu can also be forced off the screen with a certain Glitch City such as Sea Route 20's Safari Zone exit Glitch City, or specific glitch items, including the glitch item “Lg-” (hex:6E) and “Rival's” effect/“Jack” effect glitch items such as “E tE” (in Red/Blue) or “o” (in Yellow); hex:94.
With more advanced applications of the glitch, it is possible to max out Pikachu's happiness or cause it to do one of four special actions (winking, the fishing action, the confused action or the 'disapproval' action) when the player character talks to it. Arbitrary code execution is also possible by creating a specific glitch sign in the Pokémon Fan Club.
All glitch items are available with the item underflow glitch. Lg- is also available through pPkMnp' ' (Ditto glitch Special 194) converting a Super Rod when it is the fifth item.
Through an in-game event that causes a walking Pikachu to stay:
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Through a Glitch City and glitch item:
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Pikachu off-screen text box arbitrary code execution:
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Glitches involving communication with the Generation II games
Time Capsule exploit
- Main article: Time Capsule exploit
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 that move to become a glitch move.
For example, trading a level 31 Kadabra from Pokémon Red to Pokémon Gold will make the Kadabra evolve into Alakazam. Since it is level 31, it will learn Future Sight. 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 it will become TM48.
Glitches involving communication with Poké Transporter and Pokémon Bank
Pokémon Bank hex:FF glitch Pokémon glitch
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This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Test other glitch Pokémon. Check if there are other ways to prepare the box. You can discuss this on the talk page. |
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If a player attempts to transfer a Box 1 that has one Pokémon, an 'M (00) or 3TrainerPoké $ and eighteen Pokémon (in that order) through Poké Transporter and a 3DS Virtual Console versions of Red, Blue and Yellow, the Generation I game will be left with one 'M (FF) or Q ◣ which is an unstable hybrid Pokémon of 'M (00) or 3TrainerPoké $ with a blank OT, ID of 00000 and no moves.
This Pokémon can be used for the Pokémon merge glitch unless stabilized through Day Care back into 'M (00) or 3TrainerPoké $.
References
- ↑ Full Exp Data by Dabomstew - Google Sheets
- ↑ TPM mart buffer overflow glitch - "Catch 'em all" glitch (Generation I) by ChickasaurusGL on Youtube
- ↑ Glitch City Laboratories - Pokémon Yellow "Save Abuse" Glitch thread - post by Torchickens.
- ↑ Glitch City Laboratories forums - "Pokemon Red/Blue Bicycle Glitch, newly discovered?" thread, post by VAAMusicalMike
- ↑ Glitch City Laboratories forums - "An addendum to the Fossil conversion glitch" thread, post by Torchickens
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This glitch Pokémon article is part of Project GlitchDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on glitches in the Pokémon games. |