It has been suggested that 'M be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Missingno., a glitched Pokémon, appearing in a screenshot of Pokémon Red or Blue.

Missingno. (けつばん, Ketsuban^?) is a well-known glitch found in the Pokémon Red and Blue Game Boy games. Missingno. is an abbreviation of “missing number”; its Japanese name, Ketsuban, also means “missing number”. Missingno. and other glitch Pokémon appear in the games due to programming oversights. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... Same picture as Image:MissingNo. ... Same picture as Image:MissingNo. ... Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue (known in Japan as Pocket Monsters: Red and Pocket Monsters: Green) are the first two installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, released for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996. ... Glitch City, a Pokémon programming error that creates a jumble of pixels. ... Pokémon , IPA //, although frequently, and even intentionally mispronounced //), is a media franchise[1] controlled by video game giant Nintendo. ... The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ...

How Missingno. is found

The most common way players encounter Missingno. in the Red and Blue versions of Pokémon is by doing the following:

• Going to the northern part of Viridian City and watch the old man’s demonstration of how to catch a Pokémon.
• Flying or Teleporting to Cinnabar Island or Fuchsia City.
• Surf up and down along the east coast of Cinnabar Island or the Seafoam Island closest to Fuchsia City until Missingno. appears. (Depending on the player’s name, Missingno. may not show up.[1], [2])

Alternatively, a player can also cause Missingno. to appear by trading Pokémon with a friend via a link cable or with one of the in-game traders, then Flying or Teleporting to Cinnabar or the Seafoam Islands and surfing along the coast as mentioned before. Kanto Cities & Towns Glitch City (unofficial) Cinnibar Island (Guren Island (グレンじま Guren-jima) in the Japanese version) is a fictional city in the Pokémon series. ... Fuchsia City (Japanese: セキチクシティ Sekichiku City) is a fictional city located in southeast Kanto, a region in the Pokémon world. ... In the Pokémon games Pokémon Red-Yellow and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, the Seafoam Islands are a large cavern located off the coast of Cinnabar Island. ...

When Missingno. is encountered, the game makes a partial save consisting of garbage data. In Pokémon Stadium, this is made apparent by the “game saved” message that appears when battling Missingno. It is recommended that you properly save the game immediately after Missingno. appears.

One way to start the Missingno. capture sequence is to watch the Old Man’s demonstration (also known as the “Coffee Man” due to his liking coffee) in Viridian City.

Image File history File links Oldmanmisingnoguideversion. ...

Reasons why Missingno. appears

When the player watches the Old Man catching a Weedle, the game replaces the player’s graphic and name with those of the Old Man to show the training sequence. The player’s name has to be stored elsewhere for later retrieval, and the programmers decided to store it where information on wild Pokémon availability is usually loaded, since the player won’t encounter any wild Pokémon in Viridian City.^{[citation needed]} When the battle ends, the game retrieves the player’s name from its temporary storage place.[3] Weedle (ビードル, Beedle in Japanese, Hornliu in German and Aspicot in French) is a basic bug-type Pokémon that evolves into Kakuna at level 7 and Beedrill at level 10. ...

As soon as the player enters an area with wild Pokémon, such as Route 2, the game will overwrite their saved name data with information on the wild Pokémon in the current area.^{[citation needed]} However, Flying or Teleporting directly to another city doesn’t change that data, since cities don’t have wild Pokémon.

This effect (transferring the name to the wild Pokémon data space) also occurs during Pokémon trades. When a trainer catches a Pokémon, the player’s name is stored as the Pokémon’s Original Trainer (OT). During a trade, the game effectively deletes the Pokémon from one cartridge and re-creates it on the other. In order for a player to receive a Pokémon with a different Original Trainer, that player’s name and ID number are temporarily swapped with those of the person he/she is trading with, and the player’s real name is stored in the wild Pokémon data section (the same data-swapping trick as during the Old Man’s demo).^{[citation needed]} This explains encounters with Missingno. or other Pokémon after trading.

This all causes Missingno.’s appearance because Cinnabar Island’s coast is programmed as an area where wild Pokémon are available, but it is not specified which Pokémon. Thus, the game doesn’t overwrite the previous wild Pokémon data, which (due to the Old Man’s demo or a trade) currently holds the player’s name. When a random battle begins, the game checks this data for a wild Pokémon list.^{[citation needed]} Instead of finding a valid list, it will find the player’s name. It treats the letters in the name as hexadecimal data rather than character data.

The player’s name consists of six bytes, which are interpreted as data for three wild Pokémon, whose identities and levels are determined by the letters of the player’s name. (Their identities are determined by the third, fifth, and seventh characters of the player’s name, while their levels are determined by the second, fourth, and sixth characters, respectively.)^{[citation needed]} However, not all letters in the player's name point to actual Pokémon. Though 256 slots exist for Pokémon, not all of these values are specified.[4] Of the unspecified values, most are programmed to return the name “MISSINGNO.” This prevents the game from crashing if a glitch Pokémon is encountered. Some of the higher values, as well as zero, are not crash-protected in this way. This is why Pokémon like “'M” and “3trainerpoké” appear.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, some players choose names that the beginning of the game gives them and because of that the letters in their name cause rare Pokémon to appear at Cinnabar Island. A byte is commonly used as a unit of storage measurement in computers, regardless of the type of data being stored. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

Rumors and Popularity

Missingno.'s presence in the Red and Blue versions led to widespread rumors about it and similar glitches. Many claimed that, because it had the unused "Bird" type, Missingno was a deleted "Legendary Bird." Others claimed that Missingno evolved into Mew or unobtainable "Pokégods," hybrid or second-generation Pokémon said to exist in the first-generation games. All of these rumors have been proven false, mainly by examination of the game's hexadecimal data. The word mew can refer to: Mew (Pokémon), a video game character Miaow or meow, the noise that cats make. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and the Pokémon Collaborative Projects article style, this Pokémon-related article or section may require cleanup. ...

Appearance and attributes

Missingno. has no Pokédex description, and is not registered in the Pokédex. When Missingno. is encountered, the sixth item in your inventory will increase by 128 (if you have fewer than 128 of that item). Additionally, all existing Hall of Fame data will be corrupted, even if the game is reset without saving (this is because encountering Missingno. causes a partial save, as explained above)[5]. Many players take advantage of this by duplicating rare items like Master Balls, Nuggets and Rare Candies. Catching a glitch Pokémon can mess up the in-battle graphics; sending a glitch Pokémon to the storage PC will sometimes prevent the player from using the storage system unless they start a new game; and severe glitches can erase saved games or corrupt the entire cartridge.^{[citation needed]} However, releasing all glitch Pokémon from the PC will allow you to use the storage system again. 'M can attack you even after it is captured, in the form of a Ditto. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... Ditto may mean several things: ditto marks like , 〃 or do. ...

Missingno. may also appear as a Ghost from Lavender Town’s Pokémon Tower.

The 256 slots for Pokémon graphic data are not all filled. 151 are real Pokémon; 56 are trainers; 39 are Missingno., and the remaining 10 are simply glitch Pokemon.[6] Since characters and pixel data are all stored as numbers, the characters in the player’s name determine the Pokémon encountered via the Missingno. glitch (see above). I have not seen a missingno in pokemon before, but my brother has. ... I have not seen a missingno in pokemon before, but my brother has. ...

Missingno.’s most common and well-known appearance is as a mass of pixels in a backward "L" shape (see infobox picture). Missingno. sometimes appears as the sprite which represents Ghosts in Lavender Tower before the player receives the Silph Scope item. Other types of Missingno. appear as the Aerodactyl or Kabutops fossils from Pewter City’s museum. If the player’s name has a lowercase “y” as the third, fifth, or seventh letter, Missingno. will appear as a Ghost; a lowercase “x” results in the Aerodactyl fossil appearance; and a lowercase “w” results in the Kabutops fossil graphic. (This is because the memory addresses for the Ghost, Aerodactyl fossil, and Kabutops fossil graphics correspond to the numerical identifiers for the “y”, “x”, and “w” characters.)[7] The Lavender Tower is a location in Lavender Town in the Kanto region of the Pokémon universe. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: non-notable item in a single game, wikipedia is not a game guide If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ... Aerodactyl (プテラ Ptera in Japan, Aerodactyl in German and Ptera in France) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ... Kabutops ) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ... Pewter City Gym in Pokémon Yellow Pewter City is the first available city with a Gym Leader in the Red/Blue/Yellow and FireRed/LeafGreen versions. ...

Missingno.’s icon in the Pokémon menu is also glitched, often appearing as a pixellated Surfing icon or a black blob (it changes based on the player’s location). When used in Pokémon Stadium, it looks like a Substitute doll.

Missingno.’s type, stats (including HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special, height, weight, and cry) and attacks vary depending on its identifier (there is more than one Pokémon called “Missingno.”, explained above), the characters in the player’s name, and the player’s currently owned Pokémon. Its most common types are Bird/Normal and Water/Bird, and its most common attacks are Sky Attack, Water Gun, and Water Gun (though normal Pokémon cannot learn the same move twice, Missingno. has two instances of Water Gun). It sometimes gains levels erratically, commonly gaining the experience and/or types of other party Pokémon. Its stats also change randomly, not always growing higher with the level.^{[citation needed]}

Other glitches

Missingno. is one of many glitches that occur in the Red and Blue versions. It is arguably the most well-known Pokémon glitch, and has acquired much notoriety. It appears in many Pokémon myths, especially those involving Mew.^{[citation needed]} Actually, the glitch described above cannot make Mew appear on the Cinnabar Island or Seafoam Island coasts; its numerical identifier does not correspond to a letter available for player names. Despite this, Mew’s popularity and Missingno.’s own mystery have secured Missingno. a place in Pokémon culture. Glitch City, a Pokémon programming error that creates a jumble of pixels. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and the Pokémon Collaborative Projects article style, this Pokémon-related article or section may require cleanup. ...

Another glitch Pokémon similar to Missingno. exists, with a glitched name appearing as “ ” (referred to as “'M” or “'M Block”). This “Pokémon” is far stranger than Missingno, causing more frequent and more damaging glitches.^{[citation needed]} It evolves into a Kangaskhan when it grows a level. (Leaving 'M in the PC may also cause it to turn into a Kangaskhan.) Because of this, some people believe it may have originally been intended as a baby Kangaskhan (the one seen in Kangaskhan’s pouch).^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links Msglitchname. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Pokémon , IPA //, although frequently, and even intentionally mispronounced //), is a media franchise[1] controlled by video game giant Nintendo. ... Kangaskhan , Garura) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ...

When asked about Missingno., Nintendo replied: "When players capture MissingNo., their game can perform strangely, and the graphics will often become scrambled. The MissingNo. Pokémon is most often found if the player incorrectly performs the “Fight Safari Zone Pokémon” trick. To fix the scrambled graphics, just look at a "normal" Pokémon's stats. If you look at MissingNo.'s stats again, the graphics will, once again, be scrambled up. Using the “Fight Safari Zone Pokémon” trick in other areas may cause the MissingNo. quirk. If the directions are followed, it will work.”[8]

Other glitch Pokémon include wild trainers (even Prof. Oak, used to display the professor’s image in the introduction), a mysterious pokemon known as “'9” (its attacks include Sharpen, Conversion, Horn Drill, and Wrap), “A”, and “LM4” (which knows “TM05” and Doubleslap as attacks, and evolves into Nidoking, Clefairy, Abra, or Kangaskhan).^{[citation needed]} These glitches can be encountered using certain letters in your name, via the Mew glitch, or with Gameshark cheat codes. Nidoking (ニドキング Nidokingu) is a Pokémon. ... Pippi redirects here. ... Abra is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. ... Kangaskhan , Garura) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Mew in Pokemon Red. ... GameShark Pro V3. ...

Advantages and disadvantages of Missingno.

Encountering Missingno., 'M, and other glitch Pokémon often interferes with the saved game data in various ways. Trainer and Pokémon graphics during battle are corrupted; the Hall of Fame data is extremely glitched (changes in screen color, music, and game speed have been known to occur); sometimes, every box in the PC is cleared except for the selected one if Missingno. or 'M are encountered too many times. There are rumors that the entire saved game may be deleted or the cartridge permanently corrupted, but these have been disproven.^{[citation needed]} On a very few occasions, keeping Missingno. in your party for a long time may even cause it to erase other Pokémon in the party.^{[citation needed]} It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ...

Missingno.’s presence also allows what is known as the “Rare Candy Glitch” or “Item Duplication Glitch”, an infamous item bug which adds 128 of the sixth item in the player’s inventory. It is commonly used to duplicate valuable and hard-to-obtain items, such as Rare Candies and Master Balls. However, the duplication bug can affect any item in the game, not just Rare Candies. Using the bug to duplicate Key Items is possible, allowing the player to obtain more fossils for reviving Kabuto, Omanyte, and Aerodactyl; this is not recommended, since the player cannot get rid of duplicated Key Items through “tossing” or selling, and they serve only to take up inventory space. Rare Candy illustration found in the trading card game Rare Candy is an item found in Pokémon games that is rare (as its name suggests). ... Kabuto (ドードリオ/Kabuto in Japanese, also called Kabuto in German and French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Omanyte (オムナイト Omunaito in Japan, Amonitas in Germany and Amonita in France) is a fictional species of Pokémon from the various animé, manga, and video game series of the same name. ... Aerodactyl (プテラ Ptera in Japan, Aerodactyl in German and Ptera in France) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ...

The coasts where Missingno. may be found are used for other cheats as well. If the player Surfs along the coasts after leaving an area where certain wild Pokémon appear, those Pokémon will continue to appear by the coast, even if they are not water-dwelling Pokémon. This is because Surfing along the coasts does not overwrite the data for which wild Pokémon are available, and if the player’s name has not been stored in that area through one of the procedures above, the previous wild Pokémon will appear. This glitch can be used to fight Pokémon from the Safari Zone in a normal battle.

Missingno. in other games

All Pokémon games for the GameBoy include glitch “Pokémon” similar to Missingno., most of which are only obtainable through cheating devices (such as Gameshark). Players often refer to these anomalies as “Missingno.” even though none of them explicitly carry that name within the games.^{[citation needed]} Notable glitches in other games include the “question mark glitches”, which are rumored to be Nintendo’s method of dissuading people from using such cheating devices. The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ... GameShark Pro V3. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Missingno. in Pokémon Yellow

In a link battle between the Yellow version and another game, Yellow’s perspective of Missingno. is a glitch box that depends on the other Pokémon’s appearance.

When Pokémon Yellow was released, the east coasts of Cinnabar Island and Seafoam Island were reprogrammed to disallow random encounters.^{[citation needed]} However, some time after Yellow was released, a new glitch was discovered that allowed battles with any Pokémon, including Missingno. and Mew.[9] This method is an extension of the Mew glitch: Image File history File links This screenshot is a revised version of the image Yellow2. ... Image File history File links This screenshot is a revised version of the image Yellow2. ... Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition is the fourth game in the Pokémon video game series in Japan and the third game in the series in North America. ... Mew in Pokemon Red. ...

• Outside the Underground Path between Celadon City and Lavender Town, there is a bald Gambler trainer. Walk down towards him such that he notices you just as he appears on the screen.
• Just before an exclamation mark appears over the Gambler’s head and he battles you, open the Start menu and Fly to Lavender Town. Your Start Menu will not work past this point until the procedure is complete.^{[citation needed]}
• Enter the Pokemon Tower and fight any Channeler with a Gastly. Make sure the Channeler walks up to you to battle, or the game will freeze.
• Head out and walk west, back towards the original Gambler (do not Fly). As you exit Lavender Town, the Start Menu pops up.
• Close it and a level 7 Missingno. will appear. The game might freeze; if it does, wait a while or turn it off.

A Yellow-version player can also receive a Missingno. by trading with a Red or Blue version player. In this case, Missingno. will affect the Yellow version in the same way it affected the Red or Blue versions, including corrupting the Hall of Fame data. In some instances, a Missingno. traded from Red or Blue to a Yellow version will become a Rhydon or Kangaskhan for the same reasons Missingno. and 'M can evolve into those Pokémon.^{[citation needed]} Celadon City in Pokémon Yellow Celadon City , Tamamushi City) is a fictional city in the Kanto region in the Pokémon series. ... Lavender Town , Shion Town) is a fictional town in the eastern part of the Kanto region of the Pokémon universe mainly characterised by the Pokémon Tower. ... Rhydon (サイドン Sidon in Japanese, Rizeros in German and Rhinoferos in French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Kangaskhan , Garura) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ...

In Pokémon Stadium

Missingno. and 'M can be uploaded to Pokémon Stadium, and (if the game doesn’t freeze) will look like Substitute dolls (small Rhydon or Kangaskhan-like figures that appear when a Pokémon uses the Substitute attack). Missingno.’s graphic is purple and 'M’s is blue. When viewed in the Pokémon Center, all of Missingno.’s stats will be question marks (including the species ID, even though Red, Blue and Yellow identify Missingno. and 'M as #000). However, the glitches will not be allowed to battle, nor will they function correctly in the Gallery (in which players can take pictures of Pokémon). Photos of them will not develop if taken.[10] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and the Pokémon Collaborative Projects article style, this Pokémon-related article or section may require cleanup. ... Rhydon (サイドン Sidon in Japanese, Rizeros in German and Rhinoferos in French) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ... Kangaskhan , Garura) is a fictional character of the Pokémon franchise. ...

If Missingno. or any other glitch Pokémon is selected in the “see list”, the game will freeze, playing the music without the bass track in the background. If a player tries to view Missingno.’s stats, the game will also freeze on occasion.[11]

The second generation

Missingno. cannot be traded to Pokémon Gold and Silver because the data slots once filled by Missingno. in the first generation are filled by real Pokémon in the second generation. In the trade center, Missingno appears as whatever second-generation Pokémon corresponds to that Missingno’s numerical identifier, often a Remoraid or Tyrogue. When the players try to trade Missingno., a message appears stating “Your friend’s [Missingno.’s name] appears to be abnormal.” and the trade is cancelled automatically. Less often, Missingno can be traded, in which case it turns into the Pokémon it was displayed as. This also occurs with other glitch Pokémon, such as “Prof. Oak” and “4”.^{[citation needed]} This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Remoraid (テッポウオ Teppouo in Japanese, Remoraid in French, Remoraid in German) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ... Tyrogue (Balkie in Japanese, Rabauz in German, Débugant in French) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. ...

Similar problems present themselves when attempting to transfer Missingno. or 'M to Pokémon Stadium 2 (USA). If successfully transferred, Missingno. and 'M will become a Ditto. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... Ditto ) is a fictional being in the Pokémon franchise, known as the resident shape-shifter in the Pokemon world. ...

To meet Wikipedias quality standards and the Pokémon Collaborative Projects article style, this Pokémon-related article or section may require cleanup. ... Screenshot of the Glitch City accessed through the Cinnabar Coast (the moment that the player comes out of the Safari Building) Glitch City is a term used by Pokémon gamers to refer to a hidden fictional city caused by a bug that occurs in the Pokémon video game... In the Pokémon video games, there are two primary ways to clone Pokémon, both of them involving exploiting in-game glitches without special hardware aside from the standard link cable. ... A Bad EGG is a deliberately programmed glitch found in the Advance Generation of Pokémon video games. ... Mew in Pokemon Red. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Missingno. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

External links

Websites

• SailorClef's MissingNo. Page
• Team Rocket's Rockin': Expert authority on Red/Blue glitches