Old man glitch

The old man glitch (not to be confused with the item duplication glitch) is an infamous glitch in Pokémon Red and Blue. It is one of the ways in which a Trainer can encounter Missingno. and 'M. Its name comes from the old man in Viridian City, who is required to complete the glitch.

Through the development of Pokémon Yellow, which occurred in the two years following the release of Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, the old man glitch was disabled by blanking the data for wild Pokémon before overwriting it, and reprogramming shore tiles to not call any wild Pokémon. However, even before Yellow, this glitch was fixed in some European versions of Red and Blue, such as the Spanish and Italian versions, by making the shore tiles act as water tiles, but still remains in other European versions, such as the German version. In the French version, the glitch is present, but the game freezes every time a Missingno. or 'M appears.

Performing the glitch

To perform the glitch, the player must talk to the old man located in the north of Viridian City and allow him to demonstrate how to catch a Pokémon. After the demonstration, the player should immediately Fly to Cinnabar Island. Here, the player should surf up and down along the east coast of the island where the water is touching the land without leaving Cinnabar Island. Wild Pokémon will appear, based on the player's name.

Effects

The wild Pokémon that appear are based on the player's name. The third, fifth and seventh slots of the players name are the species of Pokémon that will appear (see table below). The second slot of the players name becomes the level of the Pokémon caused to appear by the third slot, the fourth slot for the fifth slot, and the sixth slot for the seventh slot. The game also reads the ninth and eleventh slots as wild Pokémon and the eighth and tenth slots as levels; however, due to the seven character name limit, these slots are not used, so are blank (00), causing 'M to appear at level 0.

At the end of the player's name, there is a special character to mark the end of the name. This character can either cause Missingno. to appear, or create the possibility for wild 'M to be at level 80.

Results

This table demonstrates what Pokémon specific characters in the player's name will cause to appear, or the level of the Pokémon that they will cause to appear. Only characters possible to include in the player's name are included. Glitch Trainers are in bold.

Pokémon Level    File:000.gif Missingno. 80 … Primeape 117    File:000.gif Missingno. 127 A Golduck 128 B Hypno 129 C Golbat 130 D Mewtwo 131 E Snorlax 132 F Magikarp 133 G File:000.gif Missingno. 134 H File:000.gif Missingno. 135 I Muk 136 J File:000.gif Missingno. 137 K Kingler 138 L Cloyster 139 M File:000.gif Missingno. 140 N Electrode 141 O Clefable 142 P Weezing 143 Q Persian 144 R Marowak 145 S File:000.gif Missingno. 146 T Haunter 147 U Abra 148 V Alakazam 149 W Pidgeotto 150 X Pidgeot 151 Y Starmie 152 Z Bulbasaur 153 ( Venusaur 154 ) Tentacruel 155 : File:000.gif Missingno. 156 ; Goldeen 157 [ Seaking 158 ] File:000.gif Missingno. 159 a File:000.gif Missingno. 160 b File:000.gif Missingno. 161 c File:000.gif Missingno. 162 d Ponyta 163 e Rapidash 164 f Rattata 165 g Raticate 166 h Nidorino 167 i Nidorina 168 j Geodude 169 k Porygon 170 l Aerodactyl 171 m File:000.gif Missingno. 172 n Magnemite 173 o File:000.gif Missingno. 174 p File:000.gif Missingno. 175 q Charmander 176 r Squirtle 177 s Charmeleon 178 t Wartortle 179 u Charizard 180 v File:000.gif Missingno. 181 w File:000.gif Missingno. (Kabutops fossil form) 182 x File:000.gif Missingno. (Aerodactyl fossil form) 183 y File:000.gif Missingno. (Ghost form) 184 z Oddish 185 ' Black Belt 224 PK Rival Blue 225 MN Pokémon Prof. 226 – Chief 227 ? Rocket 230 ! Cooltrainer♂ 231 ♂ Blaine 239 × Gentleman 240 . Rival Blue 242 / Champion Blue 243 , Lorelei 244 ♀ Channeler 245

Preset names

Choosing a preset name will result in different results to inputting a custom name. Inputting a custom name which is the same as a preset name will not cause the glitch to behave as if a preset name was chosen.

Preset names function differently as they are stored one after the other in the game data, separated by the end of name marker, whereas custom names are succeeded by zeros after the end of name marker. In English Pokémon Red, the player's name is stored as "RED<end>ASH<end>JACK<end>NEW NAME", starting from the selected name; in English Pokémon Blue, the player's name is stored as "BLUE<end>GARY<end>JOHN<end>NEW NAME", likewise starting from the selected name.

Due to the names extending past the usual seven character limit, the ninth and eleventh characters are also used to determine the wild Pokémon, and their levels are determined by the eighth and tenth characters, respectively. These characters are usually null, so cause 'M to appear, and Pokémon to at level 0, respectively. Because of this, unlike when inputting a custom name, 'M do not appear when using a preset name. Characters after the eleventh are ignored.

Results

The numbers in parentheses are the index number of the specific Missingno. in hexadecimal.

Pokémon Red

Name Level 1 Pokémon 1 Level 2 Pokémon 2 Level 3 Pokémon 3 Level 4 Pokémon 4 Level 5 Pokémon 5 RED 132 Mewtwo 80 Golduck 146 Missingno. (87) 80 Missingno. (89) 128 Golbat ASH 146 Missingno. (87) 80 Missingno. (89) 128 Golbat 138 Missingno. (50) 141 Snorlax JACK 128 Golbat 138 Missingno. (50) 141 Snorlax 150 Missingno. (7F) 141 Golduck

Pokémon Blue

Name Level 1 Pokémon 1 Level 2 Pokémon 2 Level 3 Pokémon 3 Level 4 Pokémon 4 Level 5 Pokémon 5 BLUE 139 Abra 132 Missingno. (50) 134 Golduck 145 Starmie 80 Missingno. (87) GARY 128 Marowak 152 Missingno. (50) 137 Clefable 135 Electrode 80 Electrode JOHN 142 Missingno. (87) 141 Missingno. (50) 141 Snorlax 150 Missingno. (7F) 141 Golduck

Cause

When the game sets up the battle between the old man and a wild Weedle, it needs to temporarily change the player's name to "OLD MAN" so that it will display that name, rather than the player's entered name, during the battle.

The programmers decided to use the space where data for wild Pokémon found in the grass is stored (which is completely blank in Viridian City, as only Surfing and Fishing data is used) to save the player's name temporarily. Normally, this would cause no abnormal activity, as this data is overwritten when the player moves to a different area.

In all cities, however, this data remains blank, and so the data is never overwritten (as there is nothing new to overwrite it with), and thus, the data that was last entered (be it the player's name or the wild Pokémon data from another area) remains in place. This itself still causes no harm; however, an oversight in the programming of the tiles used to denote the shore of Cinnabar Island marks them as equivalent to grass. As all water routes have no real grass on them, likewise, the data is not overwritten, and so whatever data is in the slots for wild Pokémon found in the grass is used, be it the player's name or wild Pokémon found elsewhere, such as the Safari Zone.

The name of the player has six hexadecimal values in it. The game needs only three "slots" of wild Pokémon data to store this.

The species of wild Pokémon the player encounters along the coast 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. The game also reads the ninth and eleventh slots as wild Pokémon and the eighth and tenth slots as their respective levels; however, due to the seven character name limit, these slots are not used unless using a preset name, so are blank (00), causing 'M to appear at level 0.

Other coast related exploits

Due to the fact that Cinnabar Island has no wild Pokémon data but the potential for wild Pokémon to appear, and that wild Pokémon data is not formatted when entering a new area, any location that can be flown from can have its wild Pokémon available on the coast. This includes the Safari Zone, so players can encounter Safari Pokémon under normal battling circumstances.

Trivia

• Although less practical, players can make a trade and then surf on a coast to find the same Pokémon that they would have found otherwise via the old man glitch. This is because name data is stored in the RAM and recalled after performing a trade.

Glitches in the Pokémon games Multiple generations Transform glitches • Glitch Trainers • Cloning glitches • Error messages • Arbitrary code execution Generation I Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches -- • 0 ERROR • Broken hidden items • Cable Club escape glitch • Dual-type damage misinformation Experience underflow glitch • Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick • Glitch City • Item duplication glitch • Item underflow Mew glitch • Old man glitch • Pewter Gym skip glitch • Pokémon merge glitch • Rhydon glitch • Rival twins glitch Select glitches (dokokashira door glitch, second type glitch) • Super Glitch Time Capsule exploit • Walking through walls • ZZAZZ glitch Generation II Glitches • Battle glitches Bug-Catching Contest glitch • Celebi Egg glitch • Coin Case glitches • Experience underflow glitch Glitch dimension • Glitch Egg • Teru-sama • Time Capsule exploit • Trainer House glitches • GS Ball mail glitch Generation III Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Berry glitch • Dive glitch • Pomeg glitch • Glitzer Popping Generation IV Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Acid rain • GTS glitches • Pomeg glitch • Rage glitch Surf glitch • Tweaking • Pal Park Retire glitch Generation V Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Frozen Zoroark glitch • Sky Drop glitch Generation VI Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Lumiose City save glitch • Symbiosis Eject Button glitch • Toxic sure-hit glitch Generation VII Glitches • Battle glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Toxic sure-hit glitch • Rollout storage glitch Generation VIII Glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Toxic sure-hit glitch • Rollout storage glitch • Party item offset glitch Generation IX Glitches Glitch effects Game freeze • Glitch battle • Glitch song Gen I only: Glitch screen • TMTRAINER effect • Inverted sprite Gen II only: Glitch dimension Lists Glitches (GO • Mystery Dungeon • TCG GB • Spin-off) Glitch Pokémon (Gen I • Gen II • Gen III • Gen IV • Gen V • Gen VI • Gen VII • Gen VIII) Glitch moves (Gen I) • Glitch types (Gen I • Gen II)

This article is part of Project GlitchDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on glitches in the Pokémon games.