List of cloning glitches

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Pokémon cloning is a glitch that occurs which enables a player to make an exact clone of a Pokémon.

Generation I

The Generation I Cloning (discovered in 1999) is extremely hazardous, due to the risk of corruption of the data if done wrong. Must be done with an "incomplete trade" (this deletes a Pokémon). The steps are the following:

1. Catch a Pokémon to sacrifice (in the game that doesn't have the Pokémon that you want to clone), preferably a weak and common one (a Pidgey will do).
2. Get in the Cable Club. Select the weak Pokémon to be traded with the Pokémon to clone. Begin the transfer like normally. Wait for the animations to finish.
3. When the Message "WAIT..." disappears, and just before "TRANSFER COMPLETE!" appears, turn off the game that originally had the Pokémon you want to clone.
4. The other game will be locked up and the weak Pokémon will be deleted.
5. After turning the games on again, both players will have the same Pokémon in their respective parties.

Generation II

The most common way for it to be done in the Pokémon Gold and Silver versions is as follows:

1. Save the game.
2. Deposit the Pokémon that is going to be cloned.
3. Switch boxes to any box.
4. When it says "Do you want to overwrite saved data?" select yes. However, while the capitalized word "SAVING" is on the screen, shut the game off. If the timing is off, saved data could be erased. However, as long as the game is turned off from around the time "SAVE" is on the screen to when the word "POWER" is shown, the game will be fine.
5. Turn the game back on, and there should be the original Pokémon in the party, and a copy of it in the box. If the Pokémon was holding an item, that item will also be cloned.

Shutting the game off while saving in the Box Change makes the game to save the changes inside the PC, but not outside. So, the player's party and items will be the way they were at the last place the player saved, but the PC will keep the changes the player had just made.

This lets the player do a variety of massive tricks like cloning five Pokémon at the same time; or get the three starter Pokémon (though it's dangerous to do) saving, starting a new game and avoiding saving until the player can deposit your Pokémon in the PC, then do the "save trick", and when turning on again, the player will have the Pokémon stored at PC (It's better to do this with a just started game due to the risk of deleting all the Pokémon in the box you use, or even in all the PC)

Warning: Do not attempt this method in Pokémon Red and Blue or Pokémon Yellow. Attempting this glitch in the Generation I games will sometimes give you a cloned Pokémon, but it is much more likely that the cheat will erase your saved game by corrupting the saved data.

Warning: Do not try taking the game out instead of turning off. this may result in all the boxes before the one the player used to clone (e.g if box 6 was used, box 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be glitched) will be unaccessable, although if the player does succeed, then there will be lots of glitched Pokémon in those boxes, some may have never been seen by the player, and the only way to recover the game is to release all the glitch Pokémon. All the Pokémon that were in the glitched boxes will have been deleted.

Another method to clone in Pokémon Gold and Silver is the method for the first generation.

Generation III

This method is only available for use in Pokémon Emerald. It can only be accessed after the player has beaten the Elite Four, as it requires that they are able to visit the Battle Frontier. Once the player is at the Battle Frontier they must do as follows:

1. Go to the Battle Tower.
2. Deposit the Pokémon that will be cloned into a box, preferably an empty one.
3. Save the game through the normal method.
4. Withdraw the Pokémon from the box. Make sure you don't deposit any Pokémon during this step because you will most definitely lose it!
5. Talk to the nearest receptionist to the PC.
6. Enter any competition, and when the lady asks you to save, select "Yes". There should be a short pause before the real save screen appears. Restart your GBA. If you restart during the pause, it may corrupt your save data. If you allow the game to save, then the cloning will not work.

Once the game is powered on again, you will see yourself in front of the lady. This is because the game has saved data during the short pause, and once game play has started again, the player can check their party and the PC box, and both will have the cloned Pokémon they chose. This method is 100% data corruption-free as long as you follow the steps correctly. Items may be duplicated in this method by having a Pokémon hold the item. Items may also be duplicated by having Pokémon in the PC hold the item before saving, taking the item from them, then performing the glitch. The result is having the item(s) in the inventory, but a copy of them still being on the Pokémon in the PC. This method is probably the most efficient of all the methods.

There is also a way for Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.

1. One game with a weak Pokémon, and one game with a rare Pokémon.
2. Trade, and when they get to the middle, turn the game with the rare Pokémon off.
3. Turn the game back on, and it will still have the Pokémon.

Generation IV

There is a way to clone Pokémon in the English version of Diamond and Pearl, it can however be hazardous to your game, there are accounts of not being able to log on to the GTS after this glitch.

1. Login to Nintendo Wi-Fi connection.
2. Select and deposit the Pokémon you wish to clone.
3. Choose an impossible or unlikely Pokémon as your request, such as level 9 or under Dialga, etc.
4. When you check the GTS status pay close attention to the little clock on the screen, when it has gone around about eight and a half times turn the DS off. The time will vary depending on how far away you are from your wireless router (or USB connector) and how fast the player's internet connection is.
5. Turn the DS back on, a box should come up saying that the save file is corrupted. (This is normal.)
6. Load the game and login to Wi-Fi again. If done correctly the Pokémon will be in the GTS and the game.
7. Take the Pokémon off GTS.

It is sometimes claimed that this glitch no longer works because of its constant failure rate. The timing must be exact, so it's suggested that a timer be used to count down 12 seconds at first before turning off the game, and then add 1 second each time it doesn't work, until it eventually works. It can sometimes be just milliseconds off and still not work, not to mention the timing changes every once in awhile, so it's very difficult to do.