Part 9: Horrible Experiments

Look what I found...a typo! Unless there's a Pokémon based on money.



This is why I love Generation 1. Always something new to find. For example...



Even though Snorlax has disappeared, playing the PokéFlute shows the game still thinks he's there! Skipping Snorlax technically doesn't sacrifice anything after all!



Here's a minor slip-up I found in Silph Co. You know how NPCs start facing south and it takes a second for the game to correct it when they appear?



You can use that second to slip past the trainer's vision here. This area behind the door is totally optional, but it's a cool stealth-ish element. (But he should still see Pikachu right?)



So does anyone have an explanation for the Rival appearing here and NOT doing a thing about Team Rocket?



Now, I was going to show a trick to get an early Master Ball, but oops, the trainer I need was removed to make room for Jessie and James who are not even named for some reason. So here's what you do if you are playing Red/Blue: The Rocket that should be here can be used to do a Mew Glitch, so escape from him with an Escape Rope. However, instead of fighting a trainer elsewhere, immedietely come back up here.

See, for some bizzarre reason, there's a functional PC in the room here, and you can still open the door with the Card Key even though NPC interactions are disabled. So you can change boxes there and reset to get buttons back, then you can talk to the Silph Co. President and get the Master Ball! Giovanni won't fight you since the script tile and trainers are disabled until you beat another trainer elsewhere!



Anyhow, this time around we're gonna check out some of the glitch Pokémon. The only real way to do that is with the Mew Glitch and a Ditto. So after setting up on the trainer, Fly to Fuschia City and shove the Strength boulder.



Annoyingly, the only two locations in Yellow Version with Ditto are the Cinnabar Mansion basement, and Cerulean Cave. Unless you do that double-Mew Glitch from the previous update.

So after getting the Ditto I head back and...



ACK! A GHOST!



What? Tail Whip? What?



Just kidding, it's only Marowak! Funny story: Anytime you encounter Marowak in a non-random encounter, the game thinks you're supposed to encounter a "Ghost" regardless of where you are. The regular "Ghost Battle" stuff, however, is only really carried out in the Pokémon Tower.



So if you were thinking you could re-enact a creepypasta or something...sorry! Oh but Marowak can be captured here, unlike in the Pokémon Tower.

Now, onto the glitch Pokémon. In Red/Blue, there are honestly not that many that are interesting enough for me to go out of my way to get them - other than the item mutator. In Yellow, it's VERY different. The glitch Pokémon changed in Yellow, and they're just CRAZY in this version. If you obtain any and trade them to Red/Blue, they just change into whatever their Red/Blue equivalents are. They'll change back to their Yellow equivalents if traded back, which is good if the glitch you want freezes the game upon encountering it. Like this one:

ID 191 "4 4"



Oh dear lord what is this. Encountering him copies the entire ROM into game RAM (which of course freezes the game) so to get him into your party, obtain and trade over the MUCH safer "A block" from Red/Blue. Sadly there's little of interest about him, though he does start with two Blizzards.

And he has one of the most nightmare-inducing screeches ever.

ID 192 "44Hy"



Oho, you're gonna LOVE this guy. We'll come back to what makes him particularly special in a moment, but do take note of the Dex number. It's the same as Slowbro's, which means 44Hy shares some qualities with Slowbro, including type. It may even use Slowbro's sprite but not always. The best part is, since his Dex number is between 1 and 151, he won't turn into a Rhydon when caught, ever.

ID 193 "Female symbol"



Unfortunately, encountering this froze the game for me, so I can't say much about it. Instead, watch this video. At your own risk, of course.

ID 194 "pPKMNp"



Aha, now THIS guy is interesting! Remember how "94" mutated your items in Red/Blue? pPKMNp is Yellow's item mutator: he sets the third bit of the ID of the fifth item. That's +32 to the item identifier as long as its first hex digit was not 2, 3, 6, 7, A, B, E, or F. (I think. Might be wrong.)



Sadly the only item you can get that's really worth it is this. X Speed becomes WSM - which is Yellow Version's ACE item. The setups are a little different, so we'll get to that in time.

ID 195 "Z4"



Not much to say here. Its Dex number is 15.

ID 196 "X-x"



That purple tint actually makes this glitch Pokémon look kinda scary. He's notable for starting with Flash, which means catching him at a low enough level means it is impossible for him to get rid of Flash. You can't even trade him to Generation 2. No glitches allowed and all.

ID 197 "4. ."



This is one of two possible sprites for 4. .. Amusingly, if you capture it, you're shown Dragonair's Dex entry, even though 4. .'s Dex number is the same as Golduck's.

ID 198 "7g"



Dex entry is the same as Slowpoke. Sometimes it'll use Slowpoke's sprite.

ID 199 "u"



I see this one is using Charizard's sprite. This can happen on occasion since its Dex number is 006, but it doesn't always happen. His name is also so long you have to push the buttons a lot to advance the text. If you capture this guy, be sure to nickname him.

Anything past 199 turns into a trainer, so enough about that for now!



I alluded to 44Hy having an interesting property. Well, let's level him up and find out!



No, it's not the glitch move that's interesting. What's interesting is that this glitch Pokémon evolves. You want it to happen at Level 10 or higher though, because his new form learns a game-harming move at Level 9.



Behold the single most broken thing in Generation 1. "TM55" is just a name the game gives it for some reason. There actually is a TM55 item, and TMs 51 to 54 also exist. Don't get excited though, they're just consumable versions of HMs.



You'll notice this new beast is completely invisible in the menu. Let's check him out.



You remember Q, right? It's short for Q. What is Q? He's an omnipotent being masquerading as a Pokémon.

Whatever he wants to happen, happens.



For example, Q and everything below him in the list here are invisible. Not only that, the Pokémon Center and other functions never acknowledge "cloaked" Pokémon. (So if you black out with Q in the top spot, nothing gets healed and the game blacks you out again and again and again...) If Pikachu is in your party but below a Q, he won't follow you around on the map.

This is specifically because Q's ID is 255. This game does NOT like the number 255. Q also exists in Red/Blue, where he has Charizard's sprite, and he exists in even Generation 2. (Though getting him there is a lot harder.) In all versions, he has similar properties.

Starting with my all-time favorite glitch. I've arranged my party like so: Any Pokémon, then Q, then Pikachu, then a Gyarados I happen to have. I then deposit the Pidgey (you can also have this setup in a box and withdraw the Pidgey.)



Pikachu what have I done to you?!

Okay so what's going on here is, we now have a Q that the game thinks is Pikachu, and a Pikachu that the game thinks is Gyarados. In Generation 1, each Pokémon has two species bytes for some odd reason. I think it's because the game keeps a list of what's in the party independant of actual Pokémon data just so it has quick and easy access to the species.

Depositing the first Pokémon causes everything below it to shift up, but Q's ID is 255 so the game thinks it doesn't have to shift that up in the list. So, while the actual Pokémon data was shifted up, the species bytes in the list were not. This is a little hard to explain in text so here's a visual representation of what happened here:



So what does this mean? Well, byte 1 determines the Pokémon's sprite, evolutions, learnset, basically the "constants". Byte 2 and all other individual variables - IVs, EVs, Moves - was shifted up, but Byte 1 was not. That means our Q/Pikachu has Q's learnset, which includes...



BINGO. I just got Surf on Pikachu without Pokémon Stadium, so those without access to that game can play the Surfing minigame! Oh, sure, in the 3DS re-release you don't need Surf to play the minigame, but you DO need it for one other easter egg.



Wow. Okay. I thought it was weird that a giant rock rhinocerous and a pair of heavy, poisonous earth bunnies can all magically swim in the water with you on their backs, but HOW CAN YOU SWIM ON PIKACHU, ON A SURFBOARD?! Am I just...standing on the board with him?!



At least Pikachu seems happy to be a total amalgamate! At this point you might wonder how the walking Pikachu works after doing this. Well, if Byte 2 says it's a Pikachu, it will have Ikue Ootani's voice ONLY if the Trainer ID matches yours. The walking Pikachu appears if Byte 1 is Pikachu and the Trainer ID matches. If you trade Pikachu away and want another one, you don't need to reset - just Mew Glitch another one and he's back! (Though trading him drops his happiness to zero.)

Byte 2 also determines something else: The color pallette.



PIKABLU EXISTS!



And so does Venustoise! Sadly this affects only the backsprite, but hey. You can get Gold Magikarp. You can give Mew his actual pink color, and Mewtwo purple, instead of the stupid gold colors they get for no reason.

Now, you might be wondering how we can fix this, since these "hybrids" can't be traded at all if I remember right. Well, one way to do it is to evolve it.

"But Ephraim, Gyarados can't evolve, and Pikachu refuses the Thunderstone in Yellow!"



OR DOES HE?!



Yep, for some reason if the species bytes are mismatched and byte 1 is Pikachu, the Thunderstone works perfectly!...but if I do that...I'll lose Pikachu forever...



The other way to fix Pikachu is to deposit and withdraw from the daycare, which would fix the species bytes, but you can't do that if the Pokémon knows an HM move...

So...Pikachu's gone. I mean. Nobody liked him anyways, right...?

Always with that stupid smile...always being happy...and lighting up our lives when things seemed hopeless...

...I WANT PIKACHU BACK!



GIVE BACK PIKACHU! I did the Q trick again with the same Pokémon in opposite positions.



THANK GOODNESS! Pikachu, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you okay!

I really can't tell you, because I'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPY TO SEE YOU.



That just leaves Gyarados, who has no HM moves and so can be fixed with the daycare. Actually, sending him to Stadium 2 would have the same effect (Stadium 1 just locks up if you view him, so.)



As an added bonus, he keeps the moves he learned during his time as Pikachu, since he had access to that learnset at the time. Any Pokémon can get any move they please this way.

And you know what else? THERE'S MORE.



I couldn't actually get this next trick to work but I'll explain the setup anyways. You need a Pokémon with a catch rate of 255 and remaining HP equal to the ID of a Pokémon you want. Magikarp has a catch rate of 255, so that's a dime a dozen.

To get the HP I want I use another trick: Using a Rare Candy on a fainted Pokémon cures the faint status because leveling up increases remaining HP. That puts me at 1, and a Potion puts me at 21. I wonder who I'm going for, heheh.



Apparently for this to work, Box 1 must never be maxed out at any point on your save. I know it sounds weird but I'll trust the people discovering this.



Start with an empty Box 1, then deposit: The Magikarp, any three Pokémon, then Q.



Then capture something with a catch rate of 255 and have it get transferred to Box 1. The idea is that the new Pokémon gets inserted at the top of the list, not the bottom like when you deposit.



Then withdraw Q followed by the Pokémon you just captured, everything but the Magikarp, then the Magikarp.

SUPPOSEDLY it will be a hybrid with byte 2 becoming equal to its remaining HP, so I would've gotten a Magikarp/Mew, but this doesn't happen for me for some reason. I don't know why. There's videos of this so I guess I'm doing it wrong? Oh well, onto the next trick.

Side note: If a glitch Pokémon turns into a Rhydon and gets sent to the PC, you can withdraw it, deposit it in the daycare, and withdraw it to get your glitch Pokémon back. Apparently only byte 1 becomes Rhydon if it's sent to the PC.



Remember when I said moves and other individual stats get shifted? That includes IVs and experience points. That means you can shift the IVs of say a shiny Ditto over to another Pokémon, and have it be shiny, but you'd have to evolve the Pokémon to make it permanent. The daycare trick just makes it a Ditto again.

Experience points also get shifted, which leads to a mismatched EXP curve. If byte 2 is a Pokémon that levels up faster than byte 1, cool things happen.



My party order: Anything, Q, Wartortle, Jigglypuff. The Jigglypuff can be Clefairy or Chansey as well. Those three evolution lines level up the fastest. Whichever it is, it should be Level 100.



Sorry, Pikachump!

...Pikachu and Machamp fused is a scary thought.



Everything looks normal...well, normal for this trick.



Well, except for the color. Woah...that bears an uncanny resemblence to something I would draw.



Can you spot what's wrong with this picture? Compare it to the picture of his stats from earlier.

Here's what's wrong: He's Level 100 yet he's STILL GAINING EXP. You stop gaining EXP at Level 100 normally!



So, what could possibly happen? Let's beat up everybody in the Cinnabar Gym and find the answer.



Probably the same reason as me: to conduct all kinds of horrible experiments.



YEP! Mis-matched species bytes can also cause leveling problems. Our Pokémon here has Jigglypuff's EXP curve, but has Wartortle's EXP cap! (I assume. Seems logical to me.) This allows us to pass Level 100! And you don't need to grind past 100, either, since Rare Candies work from 101 onwards.

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned it, but did you know the Earth Badge doesn't make traded Pokémon above Level 100 obey you?



Wartortle evolves, curing him, and I can cure the other Wartortle with the daycare man. This unfortunately means I've lost the Level 100 Jigglypuff. But nobody liked her, either, so it works out for me.



Just remember that if you gain actual EXP with your over-leveled Pokémon, the game corrects their Level. You do get overflowing HP though!

All these tricks with Q work in Red/Blue also. Now then, what awaits us in Yellow? How about we go...exploring? Heheheh...