History UrbanLegendOfZelda / Pokemon

* In 2010, a legend surfaced on the internet to fill in the fact why Lavender Town's music was altered on the North American Red/Blue games. Apparently, its extremely high frequencies made various children die as they couldn't complete the game due to it, most likely originating from [[https://pastebin.com/f71e6728f a detective story]].

** That the previous player protagonist appears in the titles. Some rumors said Hilda is canonically the hero, while others said that Hilbert appears if you play as Rosa and Hilda appears if you play as Nate. Nevertheless, the character is nowhere to be seen. The speculation might have come from DummiedOut data that has Hilbert and Hilda in the [=PWT=].

** [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokerus Pok%C3%A9rus]] is effectively a subversion, since it sounds exactly like a made-up fan myth; a secret status effect that increases EV stat gains, which ''themselves'' are a hidden mechanic never fully explained to the player? It's real, for all main-series games starting in Gen II, but it's incredibly rare (a 0.00458% chance of being generated per battle, about three times as unlikely as the lowest possible shiny rate), so you almost certainly won't see it in a casual playthrough (or several).

** [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9rus]] is effectively a subversion, since it sounds exactly like a made-up fan myth; a secret status effect that increases EV stat gains, which ''themselves'' are a hidden mechanic never fully explained to the player? It's real, for all main-series games starting in Gen II, but it's incredibly rare (a 0.00458% chance of being generated per battle, about three times as unlikely as the lowest possible shiny rate), so you almost certainly won't see it in a casual playthrough (or several).

** The biggest proliferation happened with [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation]], which was released before sites like Website/GameFAQs hit it big and enough fans were talented enough to dissect the game code. They had probably 73 different ways you could get a Mew. Fans finally discovered one that worked -- in 2003, five years after the game's North American release, by which time most people had lost interest (and the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire contemporary games]] wouldn't even accept a first-gen Mew due to compatibility limitations[[note]]In fact, there's still no way for the transfer to work, at least not through normal means. The closest you can do is get a Mew on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole version, which can be sent to the Gen II virtual console games, but can't be transferred to Gen VII games using the Poké-Transporter unless you by some highly unlikely miracle end up with the same name and trainer ID as Game Freak, or use a ''very'' complicated glitch involving arbitrary code execution to manually change the Mew's OT and ID data so that it appears legit.[[/note]]).

*** ''Red'' and ''Blue'' have different Eevee evolutions for nearly all the elemental stones (Fire, Water, and Thunder), but none for the Leaf or Moon Stones. Rumors abounded of how you can get a new evolution through one of the new stones. One of the rumors of a "Moon" type evolution bore itself out through the Dark-type Umbreon, introduced in Generation II -- but it evolves via Happiness at night and not via Moon Stone. The Grass-type Leafeon wouldn't show up until Gen IV (and it evolves by leveling up an Eevee in a particular area, rather than with a Leaf Stone -- this keeps everything consistent in-universe).

*** A grassy path can be seen continuing north from Bill's house, but you can't access it. It became commonly known as "Bill's Secret Garden", and it was said to contain extremely rare Pokémon, usually Mew, [[EarlyBirdCameo Togepi]], or [[FandomBerserkButton Pikablu]]. Others claimed it contains the starters Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur -- they can't be caught anywhere else in the game (and as breeding didn't exist back then, most people wouldn't want to trade their starters just to complete the Pokédex). If you use a VideoGame/GameShark to walk through walls, you can access it, but it's a patch the height of your character and as wide as Bill's house with nothing in it. In another fit of AscendedFanon, there ''is'' a "secret garden" area in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', accessible only after completing the entire Pokédex (bar Legendaries) and containing many rare and unique Pokémon, including a shiny Haxorus.

** The biggest proliferation happened with [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation]], which was released before sites like Website/GameFAQs hit it big and enough fans were talented enough to dissect the game code. They had probably 73 different ways you could get a Mew. Fans finally discovered one that worked -- in 2003, five years after the game's North American release, by which time most people had lost interest (and the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire contemporary games]] wouldn't even accept a first-gen Mew due to compatibility limitations[[note]]In fact, there's still no way for the transfer to work, at least not through normal means. The closest you can do is get a Mew on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole version, which can be sent to the Gen II virtual console games, but can't be transferred to Gen VII games using the Poké-Transporter unless you by some highly unlikely miracle end up with the same name and trainer ID as Game Freak.[[/note]]).

** That Zekrom, Reshiram, and Victini can be shiny. Sadly, it's not true, but this hasn't stopped rumors that you can get a shiny one from Dragonspiral Tower. This probably arises out of the fact that they have shiny sprite data ([[DevelopersForesight so that the game doesn't crash if someone hacks them in]]). All three were available at Wi-Fi giveaways, which leads fans to believe their shiny versions may be available in such giveaways in the future; this is unlikely, though, as Zekrom and Reshiram are plot-critical legendaries in their respective versions. They can appear as shiny in ''Omega Ruby'' and ''Alpha Sapphire''.

** [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9rus Pokérus]] is effectively a subversion, since it sounds exactly like a made-up fan myth; a secret status effect that increases EV stat gains, which ''themselves'' are a hidden mechanic never fully explained to the player? It's real, for all main-series games starting in Gen II, but it's incredibly rare (a 0.00458% chance of being generated per battle, about three times as unlikely as the lowest possible shiny rate), so you almost certainly won't see it in a casual playthrough (or several).

** The remakes of ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' have an extremely-persistent-even-after-debunked rumor that [[MemeticMutation Youngster Joey's "top-percentage" Rattata]] is in fact coded to have perfect Internal Values.

** That the previous player protagonist appears in the titles. Some rumors said Hilda is canonically the hero while others said that Hilbert appears if you play as Rosa and Hilda appears if you play as Nate. Nevertheless, the character is nowhere to be seen. The speculation might have come from DummiedOut data that has Hilbert and Hilda in the [=PWT=].

* ''VideoGame/HeyYouPikachu'':
** The game has a persistent rumor that saying "UsefulNotes/PlayStation" or "Creator/{{Sega}}" would make Pikachu angry. Neither word is in the game's voice recognition library.
** A 2005 April Fool's prank started a rumor of a remake for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS that introduced a new Pokémon called "Korechu".

* ''Pokémon'' is a frequent subject of {{creepypasta}}, particularly original Red and Green versions.
** [[http://www.rickey.org/?p=43703 Lavender Town]] from Gen I is frequently the subject of these stories, particularly as it involves ghosts and creepy music and the like. One rumor suggested that the music made players [[BrownNote depressed and suicidal]], especially the Japanese version, which used notes so high they really did cause (minor) discomfort and were removed for international releases. Another particularly absurd rumor was that the Pokémon Tower's original boss in the Japanese version was a zombie Trainer called "Buried Alive", who would [[NonStandardGameOver delete the player's save file]], [[MortonsFork win or lose]]. (Nobody addressed how [[FridgeLogic anybody could have seen the game's ending]] had this been the case.) [[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Creepypasta_Wiki:Creepy_Cliches It's become such a cliché]], the Creepypasta Wiki won't even accept them anymore.
** [[http://tinycartridge.com/post/866743831/super-creepy-pokemon-hack Pokémon Black]] (not to be confused with an installment of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'') was a rumored bootleg cartridge or romhack. It gives you a "ghost" Pokémon that you can never switch out of your party, which no opponents can attack, and whose only move, "Curse", is almost always a OneHitKO. If you fight a trainer, each curse causes the ball containing your opponent's mon to disappear from his roster. When he has no Pokémon left, you can now curse him directly; doing so causes him to disappear forever (or turn into an InstantGravestone). When you beat the Elite Four, you get a FlashForward to yourself as an old man, where you see a vision of every mon and trainer you cursed, and your ghost [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turns on you]] and subjects you to a HopelessBossFight. When your HP hits zero, it curses you; the screen turns black and will not change. If you reset the game, your save file will be erased.

** The biggest proliferation happened with [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation]], which was released before sites like Website/GameFAQs hit it big and enough fans were talented enough to dissect the game code. They had probably 73 different ways you could get a Mew. Fans finally discovered one that worked -- in 2003, five years after the game's North American release, by which time most people had lost interest (and the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire contemporary games]] wouldn't even accept a first-gen Mew due to compatibility limitations[[note]]In fact, there's still no way for the transfer to work. The closest you can do is get a Mew on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole version, which can be sent to the Gen II virtual console games, but can't be transferred to Gen VII games using the Poké-Transporter unless you by some highly unlikely miracle end up with the same name and trainer ID as Game Freak.[[/note]]).

** The biggest proliferation happened with [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation]], which was released before sites like Website/GameFAQs hit it big and enough fans were talented enough to dissect the game code. They had probably 73 different ways you could get a Mew. Fans finally discovered one that worked -- in 2003, five years after the game's North American release, by which time most people had lost interest (and the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire contemporary games]] wouldn't even accept a first-gen Mew due to compatibility limitations[[note]]In fact, there's still no way for the transfer to work. The closest you can do is get a Mew on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole version, which can be sent to the Gen II virtual console games, but can't be transferred to Gen VII games using the Poké-Transporter.[[/note]]).

** A popular rumor revolves around a truck in a secret harbor in Vermilion City. You can only access it by surfing around the S.S. Anne, which usually leaves never to return long before you get the Surf HM. Clever players avoided this, either by simply trading for the Cut HM from another game (avoiding the need to board the ship entirely), or by deliberately losing in battle (which automatically takes you to the last-visited Pokémon Center and tricks the boat into remaining in harbor). While the truck contains no secrets, it became incredible fodder for rumors. Neither Nintendo nor Game Freak have ever officially explained its presence. That's not to say that the developers were above referencing it once the rumors took off; they hid a Lava Cookie there for the GBA [[VideoGameRemake remakes]], and an NPC references it in a song lyric in ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'':

* There's always at least one Pokémon in each set of games that can't be captured during regular gameplay (requiring a limited-edition promotional item or VideoGame/GameShark to get). The rumors revolve around a hidden point and/or series of actions to take that allows you to get it.
** The biggest proliferation happened with the first generation, which was released before sites like Website/GameFAQs hit it big and enough fans were talented enough to dissect the game code. There are probably 73 different ways claimed to get a Mew. There actually ''is'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhR3heOmZuA a working glitch to get Mew]], but it was discovered in 2003, ''five years'' after the game's North American release, after most of the rumors had died down. In any event, the contemporary [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire third generation]] ''Pokémon'' games can't even use a first-gen Mew due to compatibility limitations, while Poké Transporter won't allow Mew obtained this way to be transferred from the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole versions of the games to Generation VII, though Mew obtained this way on the Virtual Console can still be traded to the Virtual Console versions of the Generation II games.
** The Generation III (''Ruby'', ''Sapphire'', and ''Emerald'') games are not exempt either. There is a persistent rumor that when the shuttle launch count in the Mossdeep City reaches a certain number (50 and 99 are two of the fairly popular numbers), you will be able to hitch a ride on one of the rockets. This will take you into space, where you can catch Deoxys or Jirachi.[[note]]In a fit of AscendedFanon, you ''can'' fly into space like this in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'' and catch Deoxys, but on Rayquaza rather than the rocket.[[/note]] There's also an obscure urban legend about Celebi having a one in about two hundred million chance of appearing on a certain route in pre-order copies of the game, though due to the sheer improbability this one didn't circulate much.
* While this has been the case since the first sequels were announced, these days ''Pokémon'' rumors focus more on the next generation of games rather than the current one -- even before they're released. You've got [[http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=195801 fake magazine scans]] showing Pokémon that are supposed to (but obviously don't) exist in the next game, a [[http://nintendo3dsdaily.com/nintendo3dsnews/japanese-twitter-users-fooled-by-fake-pikachu-evolution-pokemon-x-and-y-related/ fake Pikachu evolution]] that spread like wildfire across various Japanese Website/{{Twitter}} feeds and tons and tons of lists of rumoured things supposedly in the next ''Pokémon'' game and told to the author by their friend/relative/someone who works on the development team.
* The original games, ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', have so many legitimate secrets and glitches that it was inevitable that this trope would come into play. Many of them have some grain of truth that are only becoming obvious now.
** The most famous of them is [[TheMissingno the legitimate Missingno. glitch]], which seems [[RealityIsUnrealistic as insane and arbitrary as any of the rumors]] -- unless you're versed in programming, because it's ''real''. If you talk to a seemingly irrelevant tutorial NPC in Viridian City and then Surf along a specific beach in Cinnabar Island, you can make weird Pokémon show up, like Golbat and Snorlax over the level cap of 100, and glitched "Pokémon" called Missingno. and 'M.[[note]]There are at least twelve such glitched Pokémon, some of which are only available through [=GameShark=], as chronicled by [[http://www.glitchcity.info/ Glitch City Laboratories]]. The best is [=LM4=], which is a blur of dots that will, at level 18, evolve three times back-to-back: First into Clefairy, then into Clefairy ''again'', and then into Nidoking.[[/note]] They're actually placeholder values in the game, and so catching them makes even weirder stuff happen - in-battle graphics are screwy, the Hall of Fame will be permanently glitched, and if you put it in a PC box you might not be able to ever retrieve it (depending on your name). Missingno. got so popular for another reason, however. The sixth item in your inventory will be cloned to 128 after encountering it or 255 after capturing it. This means with a little planning, you can create infinite numbers of rare and powerful items like Master Balls and Rare Candies, which makes the game [[GameBreaker laughably easy]].\\
But this isn't about what's true; it's about what's ''not'' true, and Missingno. spurred the creation of many myths of its own, including that it is meant to be in the game, acting as the proverbial joker in the deck. Some claimed that if it should be caught, it will erase your other Pokémon or even your saved games if certain conditions are met. It's supposedly named "Missingno." because your files are missing now.[[note]]It actually stands for "missing number"; it's a placeholder value and a reference to the Japanese superstition that certain numbers are unlucky due to their [[FourIsDeath association with death]].[[/note]]
*** Missingno. is also a ''complete'' Urban Legend of Zelda in most European countries, where when the versions were finally released, they patched some of the glitches, including the ones that lead to Missingno. Unfortunately for those European gamers, gaming publications (largely borrowing and translating from North America) didn't get the memo and left in the steps to get there, which now did nothing. The glitches that remain didn't help matters there.
*** An urban legend that cropped up many years after the original games' release involving Missingno. is that the 39 Missingno.s in data were supposed to be a specific set of second-gen Pokémon; largely because one internet user posted his personal theory of just that based on circumstantial evidence. That one developer outright said that Ho-Oh (part of the alleged set) was ''not'' created for the first generation goes largely ignored by proponents of this theory. In reality, though it appears to be true that Missingno. was the placeholder for scrapped first-gen Pokémon, there is no real evidence regarding what those Pokémon actually were, or even if any of them were ''ever'' used.
** That you can break the level 100 {{Cap}} and buff a Pokémon all the way up to level 999 by trading it through all released translations of the game and then back to its original trainer. This arose out of the manuals for the European versions suggesting that [[ForbiddenFruit players avoid]] trading Pokémon between versions of the game in different languages in order to preserve the data integrity of the save file.
** That you can increase the chance of catching a Pokémon by [[http://www.vgcats.com/super/?strip_id=8 mashing buttons]] in a specific way. This is another claim from the official Nintendo website. It's a common rumor throughout the generations, and although it certainly ''[[PlaceboEffect feels]]'' effective, it usually doesn't work. The random number generator ''can'' be [[http://tasvideos.org/PokemonTricks.html#LuckManipulation manipulated slightly through button inputs]], but this requires, among other things, that you somehow know the RNG's exact state at all times, making it strictly a TAS-only trick.
** That there's something hidden in or underneath a truck in a secret harbor in Vermilion City. You can only access it by surfing around the S.S. Anne, which usually leaves never to return long before you get the Surf HM. Clever players avoided this, either by simply trading for the Cut HM from another game (avoiding the need to board the ship entirely), or by deliberately losing in battle (which automatically takes you to the last-visited Pokémon Center), which tricks the boat into remaining in harbor. While the truck contains no secrets, it became incredible fodder for rumors. Neither Nintendo nor Game Freak have ever officially explained its presence. That's not to say that the developers were above referencing it once the rumors took off; they hid a Lava Cookie there for the GBA [[VideoGameRemake remakes]], and an NPC references it in a song lyric in ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'':
-->''There's no Pokémon under a truck, maybe you'll just find a Muk.''
** That you can get the S.S. Anne to come back after it left. An NPC does claim that the ship would return in a year, but the original games have no way of telling the time beyond hours played.
** That you can get Shellder to close into its shell and evolve into Gastly. This mostly followed from naïveté when people were just getting into ''Pokémon''; the instruction manuals have a single empty spot between Shellder and Gastly in the Pokédex, which turned out just to be Cloyster.
** Of secret evolutions, of which there are several.
*** One of the most famous is another April Fool's joke gone wrong, courtesy of ''Magazine/ElectronicGamingMonthly'', claiming that Dragonite can evolve into [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]] with a certain trick.
*** A more insane April Fool's joke (courtesy of the official website of Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America itself) is that Lickitung can evolve into Luigi if you feed it a Rare Candy while holding your UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''upside down''. It's particularly nonsensical because it requires Lickitung to be caught in ''Blue'' in a specific type of Poké Ball; the games didn't keep track of this until ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', and you can only obtain Lickitung in ''Blue'' through trade anyway. The sprite they showed for Luigi is also clearly just grayscaled artwork from the original ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', much higher-quality than the game's real sprites. Game Freak may have referenced this rumor as well when in [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY the sixth generation]], we were introduced to Inkay, a Pokémon that indeed ''does'' evolve when you hold your console upside-down.
*** Other rumors involve evolving Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise again into Sapusaur, Charcolt, and Rainer respectively. The methods of doing this vary from using the mythical "Mist Stone" on them to delaying their pre-evolved forms' evolutions enough times. One Pokémon FAQ site, asked "how do i get a charcolot?", responded with "[[SchmuckBait Smash your game into exactly 1000 pieces and toss it in the trash. When you go to the city dump to retrieve it, it will be repaired and you will have charcolot.]]" Ironically, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise would be able to [[SuperMode Mega Evolve]] starting in Generation VI.
*** "Mewthree" is so common that it's now a FandomBerserkButton.[[note]]Of course, all the examples on this page are, since it has been so long that most players know better.[[/note]] It originally derives from screencaps of an armored Mewtwo in [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the anime]], people thinking it to be a different Pokémon altogether. Mewtwo got ''two'' Mega Evolution forms in Gen VI, but people saw some screenshots before the concept of Mega Evolution was made public, reviving the rumor for a bit.
*** "Flareth" was said to be a fire-type who evolves from, depending on whom you ask, Flareon, Arcanine, Charizard, Rapidash, or the equally apocryphal "Dimonix" (or "Diminox", or "Dimondix" -- itself supposedly evolved from Onix.)
** Rumors abounded of secret areas where you can get rare Pokémon:
*** A grassy path can be seen continuing north from Bill's house, but you can't access it. It became commonly known as "Bill's Secret Garden", and it was said to contain extremely rare Pokémon, usually Mew, [[EarlyBirdCameo Togepi]], or [[FandomBerserkButton Pikablu]]. Others claimed it contains the starters Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur -- they can't be caught anywhere else in the game (and as breeding didn't exist back then, most people wouldn't want to trade their starters just to complete the Pokédex). If you use a VideoGame/GameShark to walk through walls, you can access it, but it's a patch the height of your character and as wide as Bill's house with nothing in it. In another fit of AscendedFanon, there ''is'' a "secret garden" area in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', accessible only after completing the entire Pokédex (bar Legendaries) and containing many rare and unique Pokémon, including a shiny Haxorus.
*** A large patch of grass east of Pallet Town was rumored to be a direct path to Celadon City which contained the three starters and other rare Pokémon. You can't access it without a walk-through-walls exploit, and the grass contains no Pokémon; but it does have a bunch of {{Game Break|er}}ing glitches. And at least [[http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/16/16/ab57e0b571b4f08e8b2214b42707a151.jpg one strategy guide]] claims it's a legitimate "Route 26".
*** The Hall of Fame room, where Professor Oak records your victory over the Elite Four at the end of the game, is wide enough to seem to stretch past the screen borders, but you can't explore it. Legend has it that if you beat the Elite Four a ridiculous number of times, complete the Pokèdex, and fulfill various other equally insane conditions, Professor Oak will snap during the cutscene, yell "I'm sick of this!", and leave you there to explore the room, which was alleged to contain [[FandomBerserkButton Mewthree]]. Like with Bill's Secret Garden, Gameshark has shown there's nothing there.
** That there are other hidden Pokémon beyond the 151 actually in the game. They were often referred to as "Pokégods", and many of the rumors surrounding them involve talking to various [=NPCs=] a certain number of times to get them to say something different. [[note]]The only time this does ''anything'' in the original games is where the Safari Zone gatekeeper will let you in for free if you talk to him enough. The ability to do this probably sparked rumors that it can be done elswhere.[[/note]] It was also sometimes said that some of those Pokégods can be KilledOffForReal instead of [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist fainting]] if they're [=KOed=] in battle, and at least one such rumor claimed that the Pokégods could do this ''to the player's [[OhCrap save file]]''. The developers did admit that 39 extra Pokémon were planned for Gen I but were removed; these placeholders became Missingno.
*** "Pikablu" is actually Marill, from ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' -- it was a real Pokémon, but from the ''next'' generation of games under development in Japan (and thus far from anybody's minds during the North American Pokécraze). The association with Pikachu is just a visual resemblance, but that one glimpse set the rumor mill in motion. The fact that the NPC who trades your Raichu for his Electrode says that "The Raichu you traded me went and evolved!" may have also added to the Pikablu rumor, as it seems to imply that Pikachu and Raichu have a secret third evolution. It's actually an error in translation -- the original Japanese has you trade a Kadabra, which ''can'' evolve.
*** "Pikaflare" is a similar rumor; it's a supposed fire-type Pikachu, but it turned out to be derived from early concepts for what would eventually become Gen II's Cyndaquil.
*** Ho-Oh first appeared in Gen II, but it sparked a lot of rumors from its EarlyBirdCameo at the very beginning of [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the anime]]. This led many players to think it was available somewhere in the Gen I games. The developers claim Ho-Oh was ''not'' one of the 39 placeholder Pokémon.

*** "Tricket" is a supposed secret Bug Pokémon; the story goes that if you go through the game exclusively with various Bug Pokémon, Professor Oak will acknowledge your love for bugs and give you Tricket as a reward. The sequence as described is impossible; the required Pokémon cannot learn Surf or Strength, necessary to get into and through Victory Road. ''Diamond & Pearl'' did introduce the cricket Pokémon Kricketot and Kricketune many years later, though.
*** Many, many supposed "Pokégods" exist that seem to have been conjured up out of thin air. Two of the most famous are the supposedly very powerful Ghost-type Pokémon known as "Doomsay" and its evolution "Doomsday". Today, many assume those were somehow based on Houndour and Houndoom, but rumors about Doomsay and Doomsday seem to have been in circulation before the hellhounds were even created.
* Moving on to Generation II and ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', many of the rumors from there revolve around the differences between the two generations, including areas accessible in Gen I but not Gen II (such as the closed tunnel between Celadon City and Saffron City). In reality, there isn't quite enough room on the cartridge to squeeze in the entire Kanto region, so a handful of areas had to be cut or shrunk to fit.
** The remakes of ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' have the extremely-persistent-even-after-debunked rumor that [[MemeticMutation Youngster Joey's "top-percentage" Rattata]] is in fact coded to have perfect Internal Values.

** That there is a "swimming goggles" held item which increases accuracy and Special Attack and puts non-Water Pokémon using it to sleep. It was a popular rumor in early release stages, with the main reaction that [[GameBreaker Starmie would be overpowered now.]] Said item does not exist, nor does anything even similar to it.

** That Zekrom, Reshiram, and Victini can be shiny. Sadly, it's not true, but this hasn't stopped rumours that you can get a shiny one from Dragonspiral Tower. This probably arises out of the fact that they have shiny sprite data ([[DevelopersForesight so that the game doesn't crash if someone hacks them in]]). All three were available at Wi-Fi giveaways, which leads fans to believe their shiny versions may be available in such giveaways in the future; this is unlikely, though, as Zekrom and Reshiram are plot-critical legendaries in their respective versions. They can appear as shiny in ''Omega Ruby'' and ''Alpha Sapphire''.

** The game has a persistent rumor that saying "UsefulNotes/PlayStation" or "SEGA" would make Pikachu angry. Neither word is in the game's voice recognition library.

** There were rumors of a second new Eeveelution - typically considered a Dragon-type - given that new Eeveelutions had previously only come in pairs and that Nintendo hadn't promoted Glaceon or Leafeon two generations prior. (Presumably, Sylveon was promoted due to it being of a then-new type, a trait that so far is only shared with Umbreon.) Within a few weeks of the games' release, no one was able to find anything, and the speculation died down.
** A weird rumor spreaded around when ''X and Y'' were released was that you could find colorless Pokémon. Some versions mentioned them as just [[GoodBadBugs a glitch in the textures]] that can disappear after closing and reopening the game, other had them as a second PaletteSwap even rarer than the usual shiny Pokémon. Both versions were fake.

** [[http://www.rickey.org/?p=43703 Lavender Town]] is frequently the subject of these stories, particularly as it involves ghosts and creepy music and the like. One particularly absurd example that somehow got so common that it had to specifically be debunked was that, in the original ''Pokémon Green'', the boss of the Pokémon Tower was a zombie Trainer called "Buried Alive", who would [[NonStandardGameOver delete the player's save file]], [[MortonsFork win or lose]]. ([[FridgeLogic Never mind how nobody could ever get the actual ending if this had even been remotely true.]]) [[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Creepypasta_Wiki:Creepy_Cliches It's become such a cliché,]] the Creepypasta Wiki won't even accept them anymore.
** [[http://tinycartridge.com/post/866743831/super-creepy-pokemon-hack Pokémon Black]] (not to be confused with one-half of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'') was a rumored bootleg cartridge or romhack. It gives you a "ghost" Poké that you can never switch out of your party, which no opponents can attack, and whose only move, "Curse", is almost always a OneHitKO. If you fight a trainer, each curse causes the ball containing your opponent's mon to disappear from his roster. When he has no Pokémon left, you can now curse him directly; doing so causes him to disappear forever (or turn into an InstantGravestone). When you beat the Elite Four, you get a FlashForward to yourself as an old man, you see a vision of every mon and trainer you cursed, and your ghost [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turns on you]] and subjects you to a HopelessBossFight. When your HP hits zero, it curses you; the screen turns black and will not change. If you reset the game, your save file will be erased.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' comes with very little in the way of explanation beyond "throw balls at Pokémon to catch them", meaning that rumour is absolutely rife.
** The game doesn't have evolution stones, so Eevee simply chooses an "eeveelution" randomly when evolved. It was eventually determined that naming them [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Rainer, Sparky, Pyro, Sakura, or Tamao]] (for Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, and Umbreon respectively) allows you to control its evolution, but only once for each name. In the meantime, rumors proliferated over how to control and/or predict its evolution (based on the Eevee's moveset, color of the nearest gym, etc.). Rumors persist about ''other'' ways to control its evolution--since the name trick only works once--but none have been proven to work.
** There was also a rumour for a while that the local-area Mon detector flashes green when you are facing towards the one you've highlighted; that turned out to actually be its reset animation.
** Another myth involves sending Nintendo proof you're disabled so they'll tweak the settings so Pokémon came to you rather than the other way around; even if that were a thing, Niantic Labs--who made the game--would be the entity to contact, not Nintendo.
** A few Pokémon are exclusive to specific continents, so naturally there are rumors about how to get one from some other continent (without trading, which wasn't available at release). Most revolve around doing something tricky with 5km eggs, since they can hatch region-exclusives, so there might be some bizarre way to make them hatch an exclusive mon from some other part of the world. No such trick has been proven to work, other than hacking your GPS (a good way to get banned). The rumors were eventually {{jossed}} by [[https://i.redd.it/nzpz0rz2m5nx.png Niantic's CEO.]]
** One might expect rumors about how to catch legendaries, especially Mew; but such claims were quickly disproven, as it became clear that they cannot spawn normally and have to be event-based. Instead, the rumor-mill went wild over Ditto, a non-legendary who was mysteriously absent from the game at release. The most sane theory is that it was region-exclusive to South America (where the game's release was delayed for some time), but this turned out to be wrong. Other ideas range from somewhat believable--a glitch where a Pokémon appears to change species when caught supposedly means it's actually a Ditto--to the strange and convoluted: one theory claims that because a rainbow appearing in the first anime episode with Ditto seems to lack a few colors, and most of the colors it ''does'' have appear as a decorative feature in [=PoGo=]'s menu, that somehow this is part of an elaborate puzzle to make Ditto appear. Eventually, Ditto was simply added in an update with the gimmick of appearing to be a different Pokémon until after being caught.
** When the Buddy update came out, some people claimed they occasionally got extra candies, in addition to the normal one every 1, 3, or 5 kilometers. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/52c5d5/can_confirm_buddy_will_sometimes_find_2_candies/ This one appears to be real,]] though it probably happens completely at random (despite rumors that it's triggered by an egg hatching, or some other unrelated thing), and it's unknown whether the bonus candies are intentional or [[GoodBadBugs a bug]].
** Raids, a notorious [[LuckBasedMission gambling-style]] minigame introduced mainly to distribute legendaries, spawned quite a few of these. Most consisted of bizarre tricks that supposedly increased your chances of catching the target. One of the more persistent myths claimed that you shouldn't press "OK" ''after'' catching it because this would reduce the catch rate for other players in the same raid; data-measuring apps showed that the game doesn't even communicate with the server when you press "OK," but this rumor (which conveniently blames the people around you for your own bad RNG) hung around long enough to cause a lot of arguments. Some myths went the opposite direction, with one claiming the legendary could run away before you used up your Premier Balls; if this really happened to someone, it was likely due to a temporary "soft-ban," which makes all mons run away immediately. The numerous real glitches with raids didn't help matters--the claim that you had no chance of catching it on the last ball turned out to be true (mostly; the last ball could only succeed on a rare [[CriticalHit "critical catch"]]), and this bug was eventually patched.
* From ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'': During the game's development, several leaks (primarily those from [=CoroCoro=]) stated that Rockruff shares something in common with the starters. Many took this to mean that the starters would have branching evolutions similar to Rockruff/Lycanroc, which would have been a first for the series. This turned out to be a mistranslation and it simply said that they both have secrets, though it is unknown what "secret" the leaks were referring to in the case of the starters.[[labelnote:note]]The most likely explanation is that the starters' secrets is their unique Z-Moves, only revealed within a month of the games' release. So they ''do'' [[ExactWords have secrets]]... it's just a ''different kind'' of secret from Rockruff/Lycanroc.[[/labelnote]]

** That you can increase the chance of catching a Pokémon by [[http://www.vgcats.com/super/?strip_id=8 mashing buttons]] in a specific way. This is another claim from the official Nintendo website. It's a common rumor throughout the generations, and although it certainly ''[[PlaceboEffect feels]]'' effective, it usually doesn't work. The random number generator ''can'' be [[http://tasvideos.org/PokemonTricks.html#LuckManipulation manipulated slightly through button inputs]], but this requires frame-perfect timing, so it's largely left to the speedrunners.

*** A more insane April Fool's joke (courtesy of the official website of Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America itself) is that Lickitung can evolve into Luigi if you feed it a Rare Candy while holding your UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''upside down''. It's particularly nonsensical because it requires Lickitung to be caught in ''Blue'' in a specific type of Poké Ball; the games didn't keep track of this until ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', and you can only obtain Lickitung in ''Blue'' through trade anyway. The sprite they showed for Luigi is also clearly just grayscaled artwork from the original ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', much higher-quality than the game's real sprites. GameFreak may have referenced this rumor as well when in [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY the sixth generation]], we were introduced to Inkay, a Pokémon that indeed ''does'' evolve when you hold your console upside-down.

** That [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Bianca]] is the Champion. This was easily {{Jossed}} just by finishing the game, and [[http://www.gamefreak.co.jp/blog/staff/?p=202 an interview on GameFreak's website]] indicates that the ending as-is was intended from the start. But some fans still insist that it's true, claiming it was DummiedOut (unlikely) or a misinterpretation of her post-League team data as a Champion team. They also expected this to happen in the rumored third installment, in which she's still not the champion.

* Nidoqueen and Nidorina cannot breed and have never been able to from the very start, for some unexplained reason. This sparked rumors that you can use a Nidoqueen to breed an incredibly powerful Pokémon if some conditions are met. (Almost every version of this rumor claims that you need a Nidoking as the breeding partner, but can't agree on what the other conditions are.) Gamefreak itself has confirmed that this is false; Nidoqueen cannot breed, period. (At least not in the games; the anime is a different story, and they [[NewRulesAsThePlotDemands break the rules of the games anyway]]).

** "Lavender Town Syndrome" refers to the town's music, which was rumored to cause such discomfort that it can lead to self-harm or [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]. Less morbid rumors tend to claim that the background music for the area contains high-pitched tones which unnerved younger players to such a degree that they were removed for the international releases. In actuality, although the music does contain some rather uncomfortably high-pitched notes, it remains the same between Japanese and international versions of the game.

* ,The Inlay line is one big lampshade on this.You literally half to turn your game upside down to evolve it.

* From ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'': During the game's development, several leaks (primarily those from [=CoroCoro=]) stated that Rockruff shares something in common with the starters. Many took this to mean that the starters would have branching evolutions similar to Rockruff/Lycanroc, which would have been a first for the series. This turned out to be a mistranslation and it simply said that they both have secrets, though it is unknown what "secret" the leaks were referring to in the case of the starters.[[labelnote:note]]The most likely explanation is that the starters' secrets is their unique Z-Moves, only revealed within a month of the games' release.[[/labelnote]]

* From ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'': During the game's development, several leaks (primarily those from [=CoroCoro=]) stated that Rockruff shares something in common with the starters. Many took this to mean that the starters would have branching evolutions similar to Rockruff/Lycanroc, which would have been a first for the series. This turned out to be a mistranslation and it simply said that they both have secrets, though it is unknown what "secret" the leaks were referring to in the case of the starters.

* There's always at least one Pokémon in each set of games that can't be captured during regular gameplay (requiring a limited-edition promotional item or {{GameShark}} to get). The rumors revolve around a hidden point and/or series of actions to take that allows you to get it.

*** A grassy path can be seen continuing north from Bill's house, but you can't access it. It became commonly known as "Bill's Secret Garden", and it was said to contain extremely rare Pokémon, usually Mew, [[EarlyBirdCameo Togepi]], or [[FandomBerserkButton Pikablu]]. Others claimed it contains the starters Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur -- they can't be caught anywhere else in the game (and as breeding didn't exist back then, most people wouldn't want to trade their starters just to complete the Pokédex). If you use a GameShark to walk through walls, you can access it, but it's a patch the height of your character and as wide as Bill's house with nothing in it. In another fit of AscendedFanon, there ''is'' a "secret garden" area in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', accessible only after completing the entire Pokédex (bar Legendaries) and containing many rare and unique Pokémon, including a shiny Haxorus.

* Nidoqueen and Nidorina cannot breed and have never been able to from the very start, for some unexplained reason. This sparked rumors that you can use a Nidoqueen to breed an incredibly powerful Pokémon if some conditions are met. (Almost every version of this rumor claims that you need a Nidoking as the breeding partner, but can't agree on what the other conditions are.) Gamefreak itself has confirmed that this is false; Nidoqueen cannot breed, period. (At least not in the games; the anime is a different story, and they [[ScrewTheRulesIHavePlot break the rules of the games anyway]]).

** The biggest proliferation happened with the first generation, which was released before sites like Website/GameFAQs hit it big and enough fans were [[ViewersAreGeniuses talented enough to dissect the game code]]. There are probably 73 different ways claimed to get a Mew. There actually ''is'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhR3heOmZuA a working glitch to get Mew]], but it was discovered in 2003, ''five years'' after the game's North American release, after most of the rumors had died down. In any event, the contemporary [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire third generation]] ''Pokémon'' games can't even use a first-gen Mew due to compatibility limitations.