Surf glitch

The surf glitch is a Generation IV glitch best known for enabling the capture of the promotional legendary Pokémon Darkrai and Shaymin. Arceus cannot be obtained through this method since Arceus is not in a location from which it is possible to get to the Sinnoh underground.

The glitch is activated by using Surf on a door in Aaron's room in the Sinnoh Pokémon League and walking a specific number of steps to reach the legendary Pokémon's area. This is made easier by the Pokétch's step counter. Once the destination is reached and the Pokémon is captured or defeated, Fly or Teleport can be used to exit the area and return to normal gameplay.

Danger and remedy

The glitch, however has a chance of locking a player inside a wall and corrupting game data, especially if a player saves at this point, and if one finds a way to the Hall of Origin and saves, they will be stuck until one starts a new game. Nintendo has acknowledged the glitches and has offered workarounds and methods of recovery. The glitch has been removed from English and international versions of the game.