History NightmareFuel / PokemonGlitches

* There is a glitchy creature in ''Pokémon Red and Blue'' that looks like Charizard, but behaves like a horrifying glitch. Because of this, it has earned the nickname "Charizard 'M", often referred to as "The Final Boss of Pokémon". It occupies the hex slot FF, which is the domain of the "cancel" button. This means it cancels everything it comes into contact with. If you store it in the PC, all your Pokémon will disappear. If you talk to Nurse Joy, the conversation will immediately end so you can't heal your Pokémon. It's nothing short of the embodiment of nothingness. If that weren't enough, battling it results in the TMTRAINER effect, and it has [[{{Cap}} 65,535]] hit points, so there is no way that the player could actually beat it. To ''really'' drive the point home, the FF index slot is also occupied by ZZAZZ. The game can't start a Trainer battle within a Trainer battle, so it corrupts data that is ''[[BeyondTheImpossible already corrupt]]''. Worse still, if you manage to get one of these abominations[[note]]this can be done by trading another glitch Pokémon from ''Yellow'', Q (easy to get, but also qualifies as NightmareFuel due to being ''Yellow''[='s=] version of the glitchy cancel button and ZZAZZ)[[/note]], and if it's sent out in battle or stored in the PC, the Charizard 'M can turn your Pokémon into ''even more [[TheVirus Charizard 'Ms.]]''

* Third Gen (''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald]]'') has the Bad EGG ''(sic)'', which may be [[NoFairCheating the game punishing the player for cheating.]] To elaborate, it's a glitched Pokémon egg that shows up when one misuses a Gameshark or otherwise screws with the game data. It can simply appear in an encounter as a "Not recorded yet" Pokédex question mark with the name ??? and caught as a bad egg, or have more malicious effects like turning one of your Pokémon in your current party into one that can not be removed, or worse, replacing the first Pokémon in your active box with a Bad EGG (as well as any others you try to replace it with). When hatching, it turns into another Bad EGG, then the game freezes, possibly corrupting the save file as it does.

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* Another ''Yellow'' glitch with a similar effect to the ''Yellow'' [=MissingNo=]. is "Female Symbol", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin whose name is]] [[ShapedLikeItself just the symbol for "female"]] [[TheUnpronounceable and some glitched characters]]. Its encounter is just like the above scenario, except this time the EldritchAbomination screams at the player, freezes the game and kick-starts a creepy remix of what appear to be multiple different musical tracks from Lavender Town, the Team Rocket hideout, and other places in RBY with creepy/scary music. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGlTbYMbjHY Have a listen.]] It can replace the battle music with never-ending glitchy sounds that don't allow its cry (which is identical to Raticate's) to play, effectively locking up the game.

** All Pokémon in the party (Bar the third and sixth) become level 153 Bulbasaurs, and all six get three of their moves replaced by Explosion.
** It also changes the player's name to [=ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ=] Z [=ZIZZ9ZZ[box]ZZ=][[note]]This, along with the Level 153 Exploding Bulbasaurs, happens because the game starts writing hexadecimal number 99 in every character except multiples of three over a very large portion of RAM. 0x99 equates to the number 153, the character "Z", Bulbasaur's index number and Explosion's index number[[/note]]. This means all your Pokémon are treated as outsiders, and all your level 153 Bulbasaur will disobey you. Your party also becomes corrupted, and seeing it freezes the game, but this can be solved by depositing your first Pokémon.

** Female Symbol's sprite may be one of the creepiest things in the series, as [[http://lparchive.org/Pokemon-Blue/Update%2011/25-capture_10052010_204011.png it really does look something like a dimly-lit Lovecraftian horror]] or ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}''[='s=] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Giygas.png final boss.]]

[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/missingno_7.png]]
[[caption-width-right:160:Imagine surfing up and down the shore of an island and then running into ''[[GlitchEntity this thing]]''.]]

** Missingno's stats imply it's almost as tall as Wailord (the biggest Pokémon until [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordShield Eternatus]]), and heavier than Celesteela (the heaviest one). However, this is in the American version; in the Japanese version of ''Pokémon Blue'', where Missingno. has a filler Pokédex entry, its height and weight are a much more reasonable 1 meter and 10 kilograms (3.2 feet and 22 pounds).

** Missingno's stats imply he's almost as tall as Wailord (the biggest one), and heavier than Celesteela (the heaviest one). However, this is in the American version; in the Japanese version of ''Pokémon Blue'', where Missingno. has a filler Pokédex entry, its height and weight are a much more reasonable 1 meter and 10 kilograms (3.2 feet and 22 pounds).

** Female Symbol's sprite may be one of the creepiest things in the series, as [[http://lparchive.org/Pokemon-Blue/Update%2011/25-capture_10052010_204011.png it really does look something like a dimly-lit Lovecraftian horror]] or ''VideoGame/EarthBound''[='s=] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Giygas.png final boss.]]

** A similar, but different, glitch from Generation II is the Glitch Egg. Acquired from doing the Celebi egg glitch improperly, the Glitch Egg appears to be nothing more than a normal egg; however, it hatches into another egg. And will continue an indefinite cycle of hatching into another egg forever. While Glitch Egg itself is harmless (other than hatching into itself and having a badly garbled Pokédex entry), it can be quite horrific for a player attempting the Celebi egg glitch, as the only way to truly know if the glitch was successful is for the egg to hatch. In ''Crystal''[[note]]not ''Gold'' or ''Silver'', since glitches are different there, like in case of ''Red/Blue'' and ''Yellow''[[/note]], the Glitch Egg at 6146.5lbs[[note]]~2788kg, about 300% of Groudon's weight[[/note]]. But it's remarkably small for its mass, at only 22 inches[[note]]55.88cm; technically should be a foot and 10 inches, but game wrote it as 22 inches[[/note]].

* Many players don't ever want to surf up and down the eastern shores of Cinnabar Island or Seafoam Island in any version of Pokémon, due to the glitch "[[http://spookydoom.deviantart.com/art/Some-Things-Just-Should-Not-Be-157497842# MissingNo.]]" and its "twin" [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/%27M 'M]] from ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', who look like garbled towers of pixels and have the potential to corrupt game data (even if thankfully in practice they only ever effect the sprite data, which can easily be fixed, and the Hall of Fame, their effects on which can be [[NightmareRetardant hilarious]]). Their appearance causes the battle music to slow down or drop tracks, and the text also becomes screwed up because these Pokémon have moves whose names seem to go on forever (or really weird names like "[=TM20=]"). However, these two glitch Pokémon do ''not'' corrupt save files (again apart from the useless Hall of Fame data), unlike some others.

** Missingno's stats imply he's almost as tall as Wailord (the biggest one), and heavier than Celesteela (the heaviest one). However, this is in the American version; in the Japanese version of Pokémon Blue, where Missingno. has a filler Pokédex entry, its height and weight are a much more reasonable 1 meter and 10 kilograms (3.2 feet and 22 pounds).
** It's also worth noting that, while Missingno is typically [[NightmareRetardant harmless aside from]] [[PokeThePoodle glitching the Hall of Fame]], 'M is a rather trickier beast. ''Usually'' it's fine, but under certain conditions it can become something truly horrifying:

* Another Yellow glitch with a similar effect to the Yellow [=MissingNo=]. is "Female Symbol", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin whose name is]] [[ShapedLikeItself just the symbol for "female"]] [[TheUnpronounceable and some glitched characters]]. Its encounter is just like the above scenario, except this time the EldritchAbomination screams at the player, freezes the game and kick-starts a creepy remix of what appear to be multiple different musical tracks from Lavender Town, the Team Rocket hideout, and other places in RBY with creepy/scary music. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGlTbYMbjHY Have a listen.]] It can replace the battle music with never-ending glitchy sounds that don't allow its cry (which is identical to Raticate's) to play, effectively locking up the game.
** Female Symbol's sprite may be one of the creepiest things in the series, as [[http://lparchive.org/Pokemon-Blue/Update%2011/25-capture_10052010_204011.png it really does look something like a dimly-lit Lovecraftian horror]] or VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'s [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Giygas.png final boss.]]
** Also, if you somehow manage to ''catch'' Female Symbol, you'll see that it's more than '''eighty feet tall''' and weighs more than '''three tons''', dwarfing any non-glitch Pokémon except for Eternatus in its [[OneWingedAngel Eternamax form]]

* While thankfully only accessible with a Gameshark, one little thing makes the GSC version of Glitch City even worse. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODaDd6ytAU A black-and-white woman (resembling a ghost) will sometimes be waiting for the player there.]] Walking towards her results in her [[DisproportionateRetribution attacking]], playing the Burned Tower music when she does. Trying to battle her will only result in [[https://youtu.be/rxbvs9dxcCo?t=29 madness.]] Additionally, there's [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Gold_and_Silver_beta unused text in Gold and Silver suggesting somebody's daughter going missing in the Burned Tower]]. Amongst the mess of destroyed buildings and mangled data, [[AndIMustScream she waits, so close to being intact yet so far away...]]
** The madness continues with her interactions changing depending on what you have in your team or where you approach, as well as a bizarre "Quest" in glitch city where you happen to pick up a poison barb where her behavior also noticeably changes. Engaging her in battle properly requires using a Gameshark to give her a valid trainer class as well as stopping the early game auto-input. This reveals she has the name and team of Ace Trainer Cara from the Dragon's Den, which either debunks the possibility of this being a removed character or just raising more questions. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgY52E5qMEo all of this can be seen in this video.]]

* [=3TrainerPOKé=] in Pokémon Yellow Version, which amongst other things can really mess up the appearance of [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/BreakingBlue/Update%2011/39-capture_13052010_205404.png the player's]] [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/BreakingBlue/Update%2011/45-capture_13052010_205620.png Pikachu]].
* There is one glitch in Generation 4 where when using the walk-through-walls with Action Replay and walk up through the Elite 4 blackness: this eventually results in the player arriving at Floarama Meadows. Trying to backtrack result in the player eternally stuck in the Elite Four door.
* Third Gen (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) has the Bad EGG ''(sic)'', which may be [[NoFairCheating the game punishing the player for cheating.]] To elaborate, it's a glitched Pokémon egg that shows up when one misuses a Gameshark or otherwise screws with the game data. It can simply appear in an encounter as a "Not recorded yet" Pokédex question mark with the name ??? and caught as a bad egg, or have more malicious effects like turning one of your Pokémon in your current party into one that can not be removed, or worse, replacing the first Pokémon in your active box with a Bad EGG (as well as any others you try to replace it with). When hatching, it turns into another Bad EGG, then the game freezes, possibly corrupting the save file as it does.
** A similar, but different, glitch from Generation II is the Glitch Egg. Acquired from doing the Celebi egg glitch improperly, the Glitch Egg appears to be nothing more than a normal egg; however, it hatches into another egg. And will continue an indefinite cycle of hatching into another egg forever. While Glitch Egg itself is harmless (other than hatching into itself and having a badly garbled Pokédex entry), it can be quite horrific for a player attempting the Celebi egg glitch, as the only way to truly know if the glitch was successful is for the egg to hatch. In Crystal[[note]]not Gold or Silver, since glitches are different there, like in case of Red/Blue and Yellow[[/note]], the Glitch Egg at 6146.5lbs[[note]]~2788kg, about 300% of Groudon weight[[/note]]. But it's remarkably small for its mass, at only 22 inches[[note]]55.88cm; technically should be foot and 10 inches, but game wrote it as 22 inches[[/note]].
** In VideoGame/PokemonXAndY, we get a lovely crossbreed of a Bad Egg, and 'M: the Mystery Egg. Like the regular Bad Egg, Mystery Egg doesn't hatch. It was apparently laid at [[NothingIsScarier 0/0/0000.]] The Mystery Egg, like a Lv. 0 'M, corrupts the box it's in, taking all the Pokémon in there with it.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3iVFfKjklk The ZZAZZ glitch]]. Easily the most dangerous glitch in the entire series, it happens if you try to use the Ditto Glitch with a Special stat of 200 (but only a specific roster) and 251 to 255 (Bar 253, which just freezes the game). [[EldritchAbomination The glitch trainer that comes out]] ''really'' breaks the game's reality down, to say the least. It's also NightmareFuel for the game itself as all of this happens because it gets crazy upon noticing the glitch trainer's reward money. Some of its effects include:

** When you get past it, you can battle other trainers... [[HumanoidAbomination which happen to look just like Red, but have the same name and party as the glitch trainer seen above]]. You can battle that trainer, but it's completely {{Unwinnable}}, either through [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Pokémon with infinite HP, having over six Pokémon in the party]], triggering another battle as soon as they are beaten (With an even more corrupted party), or by sending out a level 147 Charizard that freezes the game in the first turn.

* Thanks to a certain glitch, the real reason why trainers need Pokémon before going into the tall grass is revealed: [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/BreakingBlue/Update%2001/9-capture_02042010_121810.png this is why.]] [[spoiler:Based on the picture, a headless Pidgeotto attacks and morphs the ''player character itself'' into a shapeless mass of pixels, taking the interface with it.]]

* Another example is [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/X_%E3%82%A5-_x%E3%82%A5,;X ゥ- xゥ,]], a Normal-Glitch type with a purple color and a cry slightly resembling Celebi's. It has a 827 stat total on the modern scale, which is still better than Arceus! It also is much safer to use, because PokéWtrainer can cause crashes if its front sprite is displayed, whereas X ゥ- xゥ, will never cause crashes and never tries to learn any volatile glitch moves such as Super Glitch.
* There is a glitchy creature in ''Pokémon Red and Blue'' that looks like Charizard, but behaves like a horrifying glitch. Because of this, it has earned the nickname "Charizard 'M", often referred to as "The Final Boss of Pokémon". It occupies the hex slot FF, which is the domain of the "cancel" button. This means it cancels everything it comes into contact with. If you store it in the PC, all your Pokémon will disappear. If you talk to Nurse Joy, the conversation will immediately end so you can't heal your Pokémon. It's nothing short of the embodiment of nothingness. If that weren't enough, battling it results in the TMTRAINER effect, and it has [[{{Cap}} 65,535]] hit points, so there is no way that the player could actually beat it. To ''really'' drive the point home, the FF index slot is also occupied by ZZAZZ. The game can't start a Trainer battle within a Trainer battle, so it corrupts data that is ''[[UpToEleven already corrupt]]''. Worse still, if you manage to get one of these abominations[[note]]this can be done by trading another glitch Pokémon from ''Pokémon Yellow'', Q (easy to get, but also qualifies as NightmareFuel due to being Yellow's version of the glitchy cancel button and ZZAZZ)[[/note]], and if it's sent out in battle or stored in the PC, the Charizard 'M can turn your Pokémon into ''even more [[TheVirus Charizard 'Ms.]]''

* Even ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' isn't safe from these glitches. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZIIqSI0NJ8 One player]] discovered the hard way what happens when you end a battle and drown at the same time. The result? A glitch they aptly dubbed "The Ghost World"--where the player is trapped in the overworld with no Pokemon, no [=NPCs=] and their battling Pokemon [[AndIMustScream seemingly stuck forever frozen in battle with their opponent]]. They can't save, they can't send out their other Pokemon and they can't leave because Professor Laventon is gone and thus they can't return to Jubilife Village. They can use Ride Pokemon, but that's all they can do. According to the person who first recorded the glitch, their character eventually [[MindScrew started crouching on their own and Professor Laventon's text box popped up but was stuck there and couldn't be exited]].

* Meeting not just Missingno and Pokémon over level 100, but glitched trainers as well (if one used grammatic symbols in the 3rd, 5th, or 7th part of their name) is another freaky experience. Example: a Channeller outside Cinnabar Island whose Pokémon were a mess of glitched names and graphics. The Pokémon also glitched the background music into a never-ending stream of randomly distorted sound effects. Also, the glitched trainers neither said anything nor rewarded money when defeated.

* Hacking the life out of a older game can cause it to retaliate. When cheats are forced upon the game, it can still works until players "cross the line" and get to Pallet Town: then the screen freaks out alongside everything else until it turns into a pattern of white and black stripes and freezes.

* Third Gen (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) has the Bad EGG ''(sic)'', which may be [[NoFairCheating the game punishing the player for cheating.]] To elaborate, its a glitched Pokémon egg that shows up when one misuses a Gameshark or otherwise screws with the game data. It can simply appear in an encounter as a "Not recorded yet" Pokédex question mark with the name ??? and caught as a bad egg, or have more malicious effects like turning one of your Pokémon in your current party into one that can not be removed, or worse, replacing the first Pokémon in your active box with a Bad EGG (as well as any others you try to replace it with). When hatching, it turns into another Bad EGG, then the game freezes, possibly corrupting the save file as it does.

** If you try to battle the glitch trainer, [[UnwinnableByMistake the game crashes]]. The only way to get past it is by using an item that does not open your party screen.

[[caption-width-right:160:Imagine surfing up and down the shore of an island and then running into ''[[TheMissingNo this]] [[TropeNamer thing]]''.]]

* Another Yellow glitch with a similar effect to the Yellow MissingNo. is "Female Symbol", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin whose name is]] [[ShapedLikeItself just the symbol for "female"]] [[TheUnpronounceable and some glitched characters]]. Its encounter is just like the above scenario, except this time the EldritchAbomination screams at the player, freezes the game and kick-starts a creepy remix of what appear to be multiple different musical tracks from Lavender Town, the Team Rocket hideout, and other places in RBY with creepy/scary music. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGlTbYMbjHY Have a listen.]] It can replace the battle music with never-ending glitchy sounds that don't allow its cry (which is identical to Raticate's) to play, effectively locking up the game.

** Missingno's most famous appearance, which M' also typically takes, is a bunch of pixels shaped like a backwards L. More people are scared by what a glitch Pokémon does than by what it looks like, but Missingno also occasionally takes the shape of a Lavender Town ghost (Gastly and Haunter sans Silph Scope), a hollow shell of a Kabutops that hasn't been revived, or the skeleton of an Aerodactyl that hasn't been revived.

** It's also worth noting that, while Missingno is typically [[NightmareRetardant harmless aside from]] [[PokeThePoodle glitching the Hall of Fame]], M' is a rather trickier beast. ''Usually'' it's fine, but under certain conditions it can become something truly horrifying:

** Also, if you somehow manage to ''catch'' Female Symbol, you'll see that it's more than '''eighty feet tall''' and weighs more than '''three tons''', dwarfing any non-glitch Pokémon known to exist.