List of graphical quirks (Generation I)

For other glitches in this generation, see List of glitches (Generation I)

This is a list of graphical quirks in Generation I Pokémon games. They are minor glitches that usually do not affect gameplay.

Battle graphical quirks

See also List of battle glitches (Generation I)

Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow (all languages)

Dual-type damage misinformation

Main article: Dual-type damage misinformation

Ghost identity unveiling

It is possible to reveal the identity of a ghost in Pokémon Tower without having a Silph Scope. If the player views the stats of any Pokémon in the party and then returns to battle, then the ghost's identity will be revealed. However, this glitch is only graphical, and it is still impossible to fight or catch it.

By Wooggle

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Mimic PP glitch

Horn Drill copied by Mimic with current PP higher than maximum PP
(9/5 PP)

In this generation only, moves copied by Mimic have an incorrect value displayed as their maximum PP in the list of moves. The maximum PP displayed is taken from the copied move, when in fact the maximum PP usable in battle is that of Mimic itself. The Pokémon's summary is unaffected by this glitch, and will display the correct maximum PP for Mimic.

Alternatively, if Mimic was called by Mirror Move or Metronome, then the copied move's maximum PP is that of the move that called Mimic. If Mimic was acquired by Transform, then the move copied by Mimic will use the PP that was given by Transform (instead of using the Pokémon's own PP).

If Mimic (as well as Mirror Move or Metronome) has its PP increased by any PP Ups, this unused maximum PP displayed is affected by the PP Ups.

For instance, if Mimic copies Tackle and currently has 9 PP, this can be displayed as "Tackle 9/35" (where "35" is Tackle's maximum PP with no PP Ups) or possibly "Tackle 9/56" (where "56" is Tackle's maximum PP with three PP Ups, which would be the value displayed if in fact the user's Mimic has three PP Ups). In cases like these, items such as Ether or Elixir can heal up to Mimic's true maximum PP, not up to the incorrect maximum PP displayed in battle.

Conversely, it is also possible to have more PP than the incorrect maximum value displayed. For example, if Mimic copies Horn Drill and currently has 9 PP, this can be displayed as "Horn Drill 9/5" (where "5" is Horn Drill's maximum PP, with no PP Ups)

This glitch was fixed in the Pokémon Stadium series, where the moves copied by Mimic have their maximum PP correctly displayed. In Japanese Pokémon Stadium and its sequel Pokémon Stadium, Mimic's current and maximum PP (alternatively, those of Mirror Move or Metronome if applicable) are displayed for the moves copied by Mimic.

Poison/Burn animation with 0 HP

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Is this present in Japanese Stadium and English Stadium?

If a poisoned/burned Pokémon with low HP is confused and in the next turn loses its HP, the HP will be 0, but before it faints, the message and the animation of the poison/burn will appear, although the Pokémon doesn't have any HP. This also happen with a move which reduces the user's HP, like Take Down. This was fixed in Pokémon Gold/Silver.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Substitute sprite vanishing

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Is this present in Japanese Stadium?

Using a sacrificial move like Explosion on a substitute and having the damage break the substitute prevents the user from fainting. The sprite of the user vanishes regardless.

By ChickasaurusGL

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Substitute and Minimize glitch

If the enemy uses Substitute or Minimize and the player goes to view the stats of any Pokémon and then return to the battle, the sprites will be changed. The enemy will have the sprite of the Pokémon's player but broken, and the Pokémon of the player will have the Substitute or Minimize sprite. The sprite of the rival can change if the player goes to view the stats of any Pokémon in the team.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue (Japanese)

Whirlwind text box overflow

In these games, if the player's Pokémon uses Whirlwind on an enemy Pokémon with 5 characters in its name, the exclamation mark character overlaps with the border of the text box. This was corrected in the Japanese version of Pokémon Yellow with the addition of a line break.

By ChickasaurusGL

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Overworld graphical quirks

Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow (all languages)

Disabling NPCs animation

When the player walks, the screen moves the objects of the stage where player is, including NPCs. That movement alters the animations of the NPCs, disabling their animations.

By LanceandMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Changing NPC sprites

When the walking through walls glitch is used and the player flies to Lavender Town, they can activate this glitch. They must walk down to Route 12 and walk through the side of the gate rather than actually going into the gate. Once this has been done, every NPC will have the same sprite as the player. Encountering a wild Pokémon fixes the sprites. This is due to the fact that the game fails to load the sprite graphics properly. Additionally, when a message displays (Example: The message "Repel's effect wore off), the sprites change differently.

Cut glitch

The Cut glitch can refer to two different glitches in Generation I involving the move Cut.

Invisible tree

There is a tree near the bottom of Route 14. If this particular tree is cut down and then the player walks five steps west from where the tree was (so that the spot where the tree used to be is at the edge of the screen) and then walks back their path will be blocked as if a tree was still there. Even though the tree is not visible, it can still be cut down normally using the move Cut.

By pandakekok

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Standing on a tree

If the player cuts down a tree, stands on the spot where the object was, saves, turns the game off, then loads it, the player will be standing on the tree. The same can happen with Pikachu in Pokémon Yellow.

In Celadon Gym in Pokémon Yellow, Pikachu can also end up standing on a tree after certain battles.

This glitch occurs because the Generation I engine would not store the data needed to remember that the tree had been cleared.

• 
  Red standing on top of the tree outside Vermilion Gym
• 
  Pikachu standing on top of a tree in Celadon Gym

Invisible Prof. Oak

If the player attempts to leave too many times when choosing their first Pokémon then the player, Prof. Oak and the middle Poké Ball's sprites will vanish. Pressing start will pull up some glitched text on the screen, but exiting the start menu will fix everything.

By BungiePhantom

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Landing on an NPC

If the player lures an NPC below a ledge that can be jumped over (by blocking their movement in certain directions), it is possible to land on top of the NPC when they jump over the ledge.

By ChickasaurusGL

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Lift goes to the same floor

In any lift of Pokémon Red/Blue/Green and Yellow, if the player chooses to go to the floor they're already on, the lift acts like it is moving.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Pallet Town NPC misplacement

If the player stands outside of Professor Oak's Lab in Pallet Town, the person outside it will eventually stand on the Lab's door. This is because the door tile was programmed as a non-solid tile.

By Wooggle

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Perpetual spinning animation

If the player saves the game having just entered the Safari Zone and leaves, the game assumes that the player is just entering the Safari Zone entrance, as it does not save that the player is currently in a paid Safari Zone session. Thus, upon passing by the desk, the player is prompted to pay for another Safari Zone session, although they are now traveling out towards the town below. Because the player is supposedly in a Safari Zone session, the game counts down steps passively. Upon exiting towards the bottom into Fuchsia City, the player must Fly to Viridian City and enter Giovanni's Gym. Inside, the player must walk along the spinners, proceeding to be spun around. After taking enough steps to deplete the (invisible) counter, the player freezes, the PA "ding-dong" noise will sound, and a message will pop up saying that the player's Safari Zone session is now over. If the player is in the middle of a spin while this happens, the player will be transported to the Safari Zone entrance as if they had just left the Safari Zone, and upon moving will perform the spin animation, and move slower. The player has full control over the movement of the character; the only difference is that instead of the walking animation, the spinning animation is played.

The glitch can be fixed by returning to the location where the player ran out of Safari Zone steps.

By BungiePhantom

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Changing the Player's sprite

A sub glitch involves changing Red's sprite into the sprite of another NPC. While the player is in the perpetual spinning state, they must enter a Pokémon Center then turn on the PC while hold left, then close the PC while still holding left. Red's sprite will now be replaced with the overworld sprite of an NPC based on the location of the Pokémon Center. The following list shows the towns that correspond to which overworld sprite the player will be turned into:

• Pallet Town: Professor Oak
• Viridian City: Professor Oak
• Pewter City: Lass
• Cerulean City: Lass
• Vermilion City: Lass
• Lavender Town: Jr. Trainer ♂
• Celadon City: Police officer
• Fuchsia City: Swimmer
• Saffron City: Jr. Trainer ♂
• Cinnabar Island: Professor Oak
• Indigo Plateau: Police officer
• Routes: Lass

Leaving the building or not moving will return Red's sprite back to normal.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Inverted Sprites

Main article: Inverted sprites

The Inverted sprites glitch, caused by a ♀ .

Certain glitch Pokémon can cause a bug to occur where all sprites in battle are mirrored and appear "broken". (With the exception of the opponent; the opponent appears flipped, but not broken, until it is hit by an attack.) It can be fixed by viewing the Pokédex entry or Summary screen of a non-glitch Pokémon.

Unobtainable Nugget in Safari Zone entrance

If the player uses the Itemfinder while standing on the bottom-right corner of the Safari Zone entrance, a hidden item will be detected. As usual, the Itemfinder does not tell the player what or where exactly is the detected item. However, there is actually no hidden item available anywhere in the playable area.

In the game data, it is revealed that this is an unobtainable hidden Nugget located at the top of this location (coordinates x=10, y=1), within the black void outside the playable area.

Unused overworld sprites

All human non-player characters seen in the overworld technically have sprites facing all four directions, and walking animations into all four directions as well. However, some of those characters are never seen doing so, leaving some sprites and animations unseen in normal gameplay.

In all Generation I games, this applies to Daisy Oak , Mr. Fuji , Giovanni , Koga , Lorelei , Lance , as well as the male and female sprites () that were later assigned to the Pokéfan Trainer class in Generation II.

In Pokémon Yellow, this also applies to Officer Jenny . Similarly, Bulbasaur , and Chansey have no walking animations, but they have sprites facing all four directions, even though they are not able to face all directions in normal gameplay.

Walking through an NPC

If the player lures an NPC onto the path that Professor Oak takes to bring the player to the laboratory, Professor Oak and the player will walk right over and through her.

By Wooggle

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue (all languages)

Freezing the game in Oak's Laboratory

If the player holds "A" at the moment they interact with the Poké Ball in Oak's Laboratory, the game will be frozen until the player lets go of the button.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Lift Key overworld misplacement

The Lift Key glitch

In the Rocket Hideout, if the player is standing to the left of the Team Rocket Grunt who has the Lift Key and talks to him, the Lift Key will appear underneath the player when he drops it. The player can still move around and collect it if he moves downward.

This glitch was fixed in Pokémon Yellow, due to the Grunt automatically dropping the Lift Key as soon as he is defeated.

By Wooggle

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Oak Poké Ball delivery text overlapping

If the player has no new Pokémon registered as caught in the Pokédex (by only having the unevolved starter Pokémon) and no Poké Balls currently in their Bag after defeating the rival on Route 22, Oak will give five Poké Balls to the player after being talked to. During this event in the English versions, one of the lines of his dialogue appears over the previous line, instead of on a new one.

This glitch occurs in all localizations of Pokémon Red and Blue and in the European localizations of Pokémon Yellow. In the Italian Pokémon Red and Blue, there's also a word in this dialogue that overlaps the right border of the text box. In English Pokémon Yellow, it was fixed but the dialogue contains a typo instead.

By pandakekok

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Overworld sprite misplacement

If the player does not have the Secret Key to the Cinnabar Gym, and surfs on the east coast and returns to land directly in front of the Gym, a man will appear on the roof of the Gym.

A similar effect happens if the player walks into the Vermilion Gym, walks directly left and then up so that they are facing the bottom-left trash can and press A to inspect it, or if the player is in the gate to Cycling Road. One of the Trainers in the Gym will be misplaced and return to his usual spot once the text box disappears, and when in the gate there may be a man standing on an object somewhere behind the guard.

Both of these variations of this glitch were fixed in some European releases of Pokémon Red and Blue, such as the Spanish version, and in all releases of Pokémon Yellow.

By Blaziken257

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Standing on water

A player can remain standing on water (appearing as a regular player sprite rather than a surfing Pokémon sprite) under some specific circumstances. This glitch works if the player is surfing on water while facing a land tile to the player's right, and there is a non-player character (such as a Fisherman) on that land tile. If the player uses Surf from the party screen, the player will stop surfing but will remain standing on water.

Normally, if a player surfing on water uses Surf from the party screen while facing a land tile, the player will return to land (although it is faster to simply move onto land without using the party screen). If there is a non-player character on the way, this should usually fail and an error message would appear, except this glitch occurs when attempting to go into a land tile to the player's right (as opposed to the other three directions).

Once the player is standing on water, they will be able to turn and face all four directions, but will be unable to move (either on water or on land). This is fixed if the player who is standing on water uses Surf again, causing them to start surfing as usual.

Pokémon Yellow (all languages)

Delayed Pikachu follow

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: No reason specified. You can discuss this on the talk page.

In Pokémon Tower, if the player steps on the purified zone with a fainted Pikachu, and quickly pushes (B) and takes two steps, Pikachu will not match the player's first step until the player takes their second step and will continue to follow at a delay. As a result, Pikachu may end up a space distant from the player or overlapped with them. Walking back onto the purified zone while overlapped will return Pikachu's position to normal, regardless of speed.

By Unowninator

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Thanks to the Pikachu off-screen glitch, it can be done everywhere.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Freezing Pikachu

If the player jumps off a cliff when Pikachu is dancing, the Pikachu's sprite will be frozen for 7–8 seconds.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

NPC over the grass

In the Viridian Forest, there is a Lass whose sprite is clearly over the grass. She won't move because she doesn't have a range at which she will walk up to the player, so she has to be battled by walking up and talking to her. She was not present in Pokémon Red and Blue.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Pokémon Zoo's Chansey facing south

In Pokémon Yellow, the Chansey from Fuchsia City Pokémon Zoo is always facing south. If the player uses a walking through walls glitch and interacts with Chansey, it will turn around (as Chansey technically has enough overworld sprites to face all four directions) but will quickly return to facing south as before. This is the same behavior as the Chansey seen in Pokémon Centers, which also uses the Chansey overworld sprite that was introduced in this game.

This is different from the earlier games Pokémon Red and Blue, where the Pokémon Zoo's Chansey moved around and appeared as the generic sprite .

Other graphical quirks

Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow (all languages)

Menu glitch

If the player holds A when the game is saving, the menu won't disappear until player stops holding A.

By LunarRay

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Red's transparent white pixels

Pidgeotto behind Red, with Red's white pixels treated as transparent

File:Red Magikarp intro slow.gif

Slow motion animation of Magikarp moving behing Red

In Pokémon Red and Blue's title screen, Red's white pixels are treated as transparent.

This glitch is visible once a Pokémon quickly moves to the left and passes behind Red. At this point, the Pokémon will be visible through Red's white pixels. This includes the white portions of his hat, sleeves, eyes, face, pants, shoes, and gloves.

Town Map selection oversight

In this generation, if a player currently on Route 1 opens the Town Map, pressing up at first will apparently do nothing, as the selection will go from Route 1 (the current place) to Route 1 again. The player will need to press up twice to select the next place, which is Viridian City. Similarly, if the player is currently in the Power Plant, pressing down at first will apparently do nothing; they will need to press down twice to select the previous place, which is Indigo Plateau.

Trade menu palette glitch

If the player sees the data of any Pokémon, the trade menu palette will change its colors depending on the color of the Pokémon and the HP it has at the moment. This bug was fixed in Pokémon Yellow.

By LanceAndMissingNo.

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Pokémon Red and Blue (English)

Instant Text trick

If the player goes into the Cerulean City Bike Shop without a bike voucher and cancels out exiting the shopping menu of the bike shop, the game never resets a text based flag. Instead of the game showing all the text character by character, it will instead now show all text on screen instantly. Going back to the shop later and buying the bike will reset the flag.

Pokémon Blue (all languages)

Purple Jigglypuff oversight

Jigglypuff appears purple instead of pink when battling Gengar in the intro of Pokémon Blue (including the Japanese version), when this game is played in color.

In Pokémon battles and the summary screen, Jigglypuff uses the pink Pokémon palette while Gengar uses the purple Pokémon palette. However, they both share the purple palette in this game intro cutscene.

This is a leftover from the earlier Japanese games Pokémon Red and Green, when two purple Pokémon battled instead: Gengar vs. Nidorino (which is also seen in the international versions of Pokémon Red).

References

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