Cloning glitches

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Pokémon cloning is a glitch that occurs which enables a player to make an exact clone of a Pokémon.

Generation I

The Generation I Cloning (discovered in 1999) is extremely hazardous, due to the risk of corruption of the data if done wrong. Must be done with an "incomplete trade" (this deletes a Pokémon). The steps are the following:

1. Catch a Pokémon to sacrifice (in the game that doesn't have the Pokémon that you want to clone), preferably a weak and common one (a Pidgey will do).
2. Get in the Cable Club. Select the weak Pokémon to be traded with the Pokémon to clone. Begin the transfer like normally. Wait for the animations to finish.
3. When the Message "WAIT..." disappears, and just before "TRANSFER COMPLETE!" appears, turn off the game that originally had the Pokémon you want to clone.
4. The other game will be locked up and the weak Pokémon will be deleted.
5. After turning the games on again, both players will have the same Pokémon in their respective parties.

Generation II

The most common way for it to be done in the Pokémon Gold and Silver versions is as follows:

1. Save the game.
2. Deposit the Pokémon you want to clone.
3. Switch boxes to any box.
4. When it says "Do you want to overwrite saved data?" say yes. However, while the capitalized word "SAVING" is on the screen, shut the game off. If your timing is off, you could erase your saved data. However, as long as you turn off the game from around the time "SAV" is on the screen to when the word "POWER" is shown, the game will be fine.
5. Turn your game back on, and there should be the original Pokémon in your party, and a copy of it in your box. If you made the Pokémon hold an item, that item will also be cloned.

What happens here?

Shutting the game off while saving in the Box Change makes the game to save the changes inside the PC, but not outside. So, your party and items will be the way they were at the last place you saved, but the PC will keep the changes you've just made.

This let you do a variety of massive tricks like cloning five Pokémon at the same time; or get the three starter Pokémon (though it's dangerous to do) saving, starting a new game and AVOIDING TO SAVE until you can deposit your Pokémon in the PC, then do the "save trick", and when turning on again, you'll have the Pokémon stored at PC (It's better to do this with a just started game due to the risk of deleting all the Pokémon in the box you use, or even in all the PC)

Warning: Do not attempt this method in Pokémon Red and Blue or Pokémon Yellow. Attempting this glitch in the Generation I games will sometimes give you a cloned Pokémon, but it is much more likely that the cheat will erase your saved game by corrupting the saved data.

Generation III

This method is only available for use in Pokémon Emerald. It can only be accessed after the player has beaten the Elite Four, as it requires that they are able to visit the Battle Frontier. Once the player is at the Battle frontier they must do as follows:

1. Go to the Battle Tower.
2. Deposit the Pokémon that will be cloned into a box, preferably an empty one.
3. Save the game through the normal method.
4. Withdraw the Pokémon from the box. Make sure you don't deposit any Pokémon during this step because you will most definitely lose it!
5. Talk to the nearest receptionist to the PC.
6. Enter any competition, and when the lady asks you to save, select "Yes". There should be a short pause before the real save screen appears. Select "No" on this prompt and restart your GBA.

Once the game is powered on again, you will see yourself in front of the lady. This is because the game has saved data during the short pause, and once game play has started again, the player can check their party and the PC box, and both will have the cloned Pokémon they chose. This method is 100% data corruption-free as long as you follow the steps correctly. Items may be duplicated in this method by having a Pokémon hold the item.

Generation IIII

Cloning will return in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. It is said to be something like in Emerald (Has to do with the battle tower in some way) but the exact way to do it is not known at this point. It may even be deleated in the U.S. versions of the games. More details coming soon.