The Glitch Pokémon That Freed Trainers From Their Money Worries – The Story Behind The World-Famous MissingNo Glitch

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If you’ve ever dabbled in the world of Pokémon games, chances are you’re acquainted with one of the most notorious bugs in video game lore. In this write-up, let’s delve into the mysteries of MissingNo and unravel how this glitch operates.

Let’s travel back in thought to when the internet wasn’t merely unexplored land for us – it was an unattainable, extraterrestrial world situated far away. A time filled with playground gossip about gaming secrets, where a distant cousin’s friend from another school was said to have witnessed something utterly bizarre in Pokémon, or a third-removed uncle was rumored to work at Nintendo and could validate even the most outrageous tales our classmates concocted.

In these days, Pokémon Red and Blue ignited our creativity and sparked countless tales.

During that period, Pokémon Red and Blue set our minds ablaze with excitement and stirred up lots of gossip.

MissingNo – The Poké-Glitch

Fan’s imaginations ran wild with ideas, ranging from basic concepts like repeatedly pressing the B button to boost catching a wild Pokémon, to plausible speculations about the S.S. Anne reappearing, and even outlandish notions about the evolution or fusion of characters like Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise.

In this same period, gamers came across an anomaly known as MissingNo – a bug native to the games, adding more confusion to the boundary between gossip and truth.

The Unique Master Ball – Not So Unique After All

At the time, only a small number of individuals had access to the internet, making it impossible for anyone to confirm exactly what MissingNo was. However, whether it was a hidden Pokémon, a divine or malevolent Poké-entity, a computer virus, or simply a bug, the most significant factor initially was how incredibly beneficial this strange occurrence proved to be for players.

Initially, players wouldn’t just come across MissingNo in their journey, but also numerous other Pokemon that were either rare or much stronger than usual due to being located in special spots or surpassing the level limit of 100. However, these creatures were quite unpredictable, as some lacked moves entirely, others would transform mid-game, or their levels would mysteriously plummet from 128 to zero. Despite their intrigue, they didn’t provide any significant benefit within the gameplay.

Instead, the whole thing was interesting and sought after for a different reason.

People discovering MissingNo might find an unusual occurrence when inspecting their inventory – some items appear to have reproduced. Multiple Max Revives, stacks of Rare Candies, and even a single Master Ball may seem to be usable countless times.

Besides the straightforward advantage that numerous items were extremely beneficial individually, they also aided players in acquiring elusive, scarce Pokémon indirectly. For instance, if you wished to possess a Porygon, you had to get it from an arcade or exchange your valuable Poké Dollars for coins. However, thanks to MissingNo, this became unnecessary as items could be continuously reproduced and then sold, making it effortless to purchase large amounts of in-game currency.

To this day, MissingNo remains one of the most famous glitches in gaming history.

Activating The Glitch

To personally encounter the ‘glitch’ Pokémon and utilize its unique capabilities, it’s essential to adhere to a particular series of instructions. These steps are probably deeply etched in the minds of many gamers from that era due to their repetition:

  1. First, head to Viridian City and let the old man on the outskirts show you how to catch Pokémon.
  2. Then, immediately use Fly or Teleport to reach Cinnabar Island.
  3. Head to the island’s eastern coast, use Surf, and swim up and down the coastline where the land and water meet.
  4. If you’ve followed these steps correctly, you’ll encounter “corrupted” Pokémon – and eventually, MissingNo itself.
  5. After the encounter, the item that was in the sixth slot of your bag will be multiplied.

What Exactly Is MissingNo?

Today, with the convenience of the internet at our fingertips, I’ve discovered that MissingNo isn’t some mysterious virus, Pokémon demon, or creature from a horror story. Instead, it’s merely a glitch, born out of data omissions.

To put it simply:

MissingNo, or Missing Number, refers to an “emergency” in the game.

As a dedicated Pokemon trainer, I’ve always marveled at how the first generation of 151 Pokemon are meticulously stored within the game. Yet, it seems the memory system only accommodates multiples of 2 (1, 4, 16, and so on). Even with the minimum capacity that can house all 151 – a whopping 256 slots – there’s still an astounding surplus of 105 empty slots!

Because of some glitches, the game might unintentionally use these empty memory areas. As nothing related to Pokémon or their numbers is saved in those spots, it leads to the emergence of the enigmatic figure known as “MissingNo”.

The Origin of the Glitch

Performing specific moves may prompt the game to access these storage areas, resulting in the occurrence of the MissingNo glitch.

In the initial stages of the game, you assign a unique name to your character which is employed by numerous NPCs (Non-Player Characters) to address you. This designated name maintains a constant position within the game’s memory. However, there’s an exception: when you learn from the old man in Viridian City how to capture Pokémon, his name will display on the battle screen instead of yours, temporarily replacing your name in that particular memory slot with “Old Man”.

In order for you to retrieve your name later, it will be momentarily shifted to another area – more precisely, the segment that determines which Pokémon might appear in the grass near your current location since there’s no grass here. For now, this spot remains vacant and available.

Following the old man’s tutorial, the location where his name was previously saved has been replaced with your own name. Yet, the part that governs Pokémon encounters in tall grass remains unaffected. This fact persists even during travel to Cinnabar Island, as there’s no tall grass available there.

As a passionate fan, I’ve found an interesting twist: The coastal area on this island is still labeled as tall grass, suggesting that the game is trying to tap into the memory bank where Pokémon encounters usually take place. Yet, instead of discovering a Pokémon, all it manages to find is my player name.

In this scenario, the glitch known as MissingNo arises due to an error. Unlike other Pokémon, which have two bits for “Seen” and “Caught,” each set to either 0 or 1, the data or information for the unconventional case, MissingNo, is stored in a different location – specifically, the sixth slot of your inventory bag. Consequently, when the game attempts to display the binary value here, it shows a 128 instead of the expected item count.

Hey there fellow game enthusiasts! Here’s something that brings back memories – remember the mysterious figure known as MissingNo? Back in our gaming days, we all wondered about its origin. Was it just a glitch, a computer virus or perhaps an eerie creature from a creepypasta tale? I’d love to hear your stories and thoughts on this elusive character! Share them below!

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2025-03-21 01:40