List of graphical quirks (Generation I)
- For other glitches in this generation, see List of glitches (Generation I)
This is a list of graphical quirks in Generation I Pokémon games. They are minor glitches that usually do not affect gameplay.
Battle graphical quirks
Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow (all languages)
Dual-type damage misinformation
- Main article: Dual-type damage misinformation
Ghost identity unveiling
It is possible to reveal the identity of a ghost in Pokémon Tower without having a Silph Scope. If the player views the stats of any Pokémon in the party and then returns to battle, then the ghost's identity will be revealed. However, this glitch is only graphical, and it is still impossible to fight or catch it.
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Mimic PP glitch
In this generation only, moves copied by Mimic have an incorrect value displayed as their maximum PP in the list of moves. The maximum PP displayed is taken from the copied move, when in fact the maximum PP usable in battle is that of Mimic itself. The Pokémon's summary is unaffected by this glitch, and will display the correct maximum PP for Mimic.
Alternatively, if Mimic was called by Mirror Move or Metronome, then the copied move's maximum PP is that of the move that called Mimic. If Mimic was acquired by Transform, then the move copied by Mimic will use the PP that was given by Transform (instead of using the Pokémon's own PP).
If Mimic (as well as Mirror Move or Metronome) has its PP increased by any PP Ups, this unused maximum PP displayed is affected by the PP Ups.
For instance, if Mimic copies Tackle and currently has 9 PP, this can be displayed as "Tackle 9/35" (where "35" is Tackle's maximum PP with no PP Ups) or possibly "Tackle 9/56" (where "56" is Tackle's maximum PP with three PP Ups, which would be the value displayed if in fact the user's Mimic has three PP Ups). In cases like these, items such as Ether or Elixir can heal up to Mimic's true maximum PP, not up to the incorrect maximum PP displayed in battle.
Conversely, it is also possible to have more PP than the incorrect maximum value displayed. For example, if Mimic copies Horn Drill and currently has 9 PP, this can be displayed as "Horn Drill 9/5" (where "5" is Horn Drill's maximum PP, with no PP Ups)
This glitch was fixed in the Pokémon Stadium series, where the moves copied by Mimic have their maximum PP correctly displayed. In Japanese Pokémon Stadium and its sequel Pokémon Stadium, Mimic's current and maximum PP (alternatively, those of Mirror Move or Metronome if applicable) are displayed for the moves copied by Mimic.
Poison/Burn animation with 0 HP
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Is this present in Japanese Stadium and English Stadium? |
If a poisoned/burned Pokémon with low HP is confused and in the next turn loses its HP, the HP will be 0, but before it faints, the message and the animation of the poison/burn will appear, although the Pokémon doesn't have any HP. This also happen with a move which reduces the user's HP, like Take Down. This was fixed in Pokémon Gold/Silver.
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Substitute sprite vanishing
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Is this present in Japanese Stadium and English Stadium? |
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.
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Substitute and Minimize glitch
If the enemy uses Substitute or Minimize and the player goes to view the stats of any Pokémon and then return to the battle, the sprites will be changed. The enemy will have the sprite of the Pokémon's player but broken, and the Pokémon of the player will have the Substitute or Minimize sprite. The sprite of the rival can change if the player goes to view the stats of any Pokémon in the team.
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Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue (Japanese)
Whirlwind text box overflow
In these games, if the player's Pokémon uses Whirlwind on an enemy Pokémon with 5 characters in its name, the exclamation mark character overlaps with the border of the text box. This was corrected in the Japanese version of Pokémon Yellow with the addition of a line break.
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Overworld graphical quirks
Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow (all languages)
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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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.
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.
Red standing on top of the tree outside Vermilion Gym
Pikachu standing on top of a tree in Celadon Gym
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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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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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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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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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.
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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Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue (all languages)
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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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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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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Pokémon Yellow (all languages)
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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Other graphical quirks
Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow (all languages)
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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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.
If the player sees the data of any Pokémon, the trade menu 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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Pokémon Red and Blue (English)
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.
Pokémon Blue (all languages)
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 Pokémon battles and the summary screen, Jigglypuff uses the pink Pokémon palette while Gengar uses the purple Pokémon palette. However, they both share the purple palette in this game intro cutscene.
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).
References
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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. |