Super Glitch
Super Glitch is the nickname for a large amount of volatile glitch moves that exist in hexadecimal slots AC to C3 in Pokémon Red and Blue. These moves generally have either no name, a number of glitchy symbols as a name, or the name of a Pokémon in one's party as its name. Super glitch effects can also occasionally be caused by the move --.
Effect
Super Glitch can cause some rather strange effects. The most famous scenario is a chain of events starting with the music slowly fading out before stopping altogether known as the 'TMTRAINER effect'. The opponent's name then changes to "TMTRAINER" followed by several lines of glitch dialogue, and the HP of his or her Pokémon would rise to a very large value which is often larger than the amount of total HP that the opponent Pokémon has, which causes the HP bar to stretch and wrap around the screen. It will display that the enemy Pokémon is poisoned, but the game will state that it is frozen solid, followed by the enemy Pokémon becoming hurt by a burn. This burn will often deplete all of the enemy Pokémon's health, causing the giant HP bar to loop several times before all the HP is depleted, causing it to faint. If the battle is won before the game freezes, the glitch pokemon that used Super Glitch may grow to a random level (sometimes even exceeding lvl 100). Also, sometimes many random pokemon not part of the player's team evolve right after a battle. On occasion, a player may return to the game after a battle in which Super Glitch was used, however everything will be severely messed up. It will appear as if some pokemon are poisoned in the player's team as every few steps a pokemon faints. However these pokemon have glitchy names and were never part of the player's team before the battle. Some positions of the map will be glitchy and volatile, as if parts of glitch city merged with the regular map. The player's name will have changed to a scrambled string of symbols. The player will be unable to view his or her pokemon (if the pokemon option is selected in the menu, a blank screen will show from which one can't escape) and hence it becomes impossible to surf or fly. Pokemon will disappear out of the pokedex after taking a few steps. The music everywhere (except in battle) becomes eerie and glitched. The game may unexpectadly freeze at any point. Also the player may randomly get stuck.
Cause
It is suspected that this happens because the attack scrambles some information in the game's RAM. After the battle in which Super Glitch was used, the game freezes most of the time. Almost anything done with this glitch move can and usually will result in a game freeze: viewing the user's second stat page, selecting it in battle, even replacing it with another move (basically, anything that involves viewing the attack's name). However, there is a chance that one can view the move's name without the game freezing, thus allowing it to be overwritten.
Misconceptions
Something important to note is that it is the move that is dangerous, not its users. For example .4, which knows Super Glitch as a starting move, is mistakenly believed to be extremely dangerous to one's game and save file. However, .4 as a species is no more dangerous than Missingno. or 'M. In fact, a .4 acquired by trading a pPkMnp from Yellow Version will pose no threat whatsoever to the game, and a .4 that has forgotten Super Glitch is completely safe. Though obviously, a wild .4 will still pose a significant threat, as it will know Super Glitch.
Generation I
By leveling up
# | Pokémon | Type | Level | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | II | III | IV | V | VI | |||||||||||
000 | 3TrainerPoké | Normal | -- | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ||||||||
000 | PokéWTrainer | Normal | Ground | 11 40 55 80 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | Z4 | Bug | Poison | 35 42 128 175 182 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | a (lowercase) | Water | 43 121 195 238 239 240 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ||||||||
000 | LM4 | Water | Fighting | 24 55 56 71 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | h POKé | Ghost | Poison | 205 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | Q | Water | Psychic | 9 224 234 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | X ゥ- xゥ, | Normal | 11 40 55 80 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ||||||||
000 | ゥ | Normal | Ground | 33 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | p T | Normal | Ground | 243 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | PC4SH | Normal | Ground | 28 62 207 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | PkMnaPkMnfPkMnk | Normal | Ground | 24 140 158 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | Glitch (CA) | Poison | 135 204 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ||||||||
000 | pPkMnp | ? | Poison | 100 240 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
000 | .4 | Pokémaniac | -- 97 170 195 234 240 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ||||||||
000 | A (uppercase) | Normal | Normal | 224 248 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
006 | Charizard 'M | Fire | Flying | 28 62 207 |
' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
006 | u | Fire | Flying | 96 175 224 240 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | |||||||
033 | Glitch Nidorino | Poison | 22 195 213 | ' | ' | ' | ' | ' | ||||||||
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move. A dash (−) indicates a Pokémon cannot learn the move by the designated method. An empty cell indicates a Pokémon that is unavailable in that game/generation. |
External links
This article is part of both Project GlitchDex and Project Moves and Abilities, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on glitches in the Pokémon games and on two related aspects of the Pokémon games, respectively. |