List of glitches in Generation IV
This is a list of glitches in the Generation IV Pokémon games.
Some glitches are found on separate pages:
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver
Corrupted save file cloning
Occasionally, when the save file gets corrupted, the Pokémon data is kept. When this happens, the game can still be saved, but the save file will be unable to be loaded. With the assistance of another handheld and another game, the Pokémon can be traded from the game with the corrupted save file. After the trade is completed, if the game is rebooted, the Pokémon traded from the corrupted save file will be in both games but the other traded Pokémon will be lost.
DNS Mystery gift exploit
When a player sets Nintendo Wifi connection, entering a certain Primary DNS and Secondary DNS (variable by game) will enable them to receive most of the past Wifi mystery gift events. Also, the GTS can be accessed even though the service has been discontinued.
GTS morphing glitch
There have been somewhat numerous reports of a glitch that happened in the GTS that causes a player's offered Pokémon to become "morphed". The Pokémon's sprite will change into that of a different Pokémon and the gender might be swapped as well. The game will also say it is the same species it used to be (e.g.: a morphed Heatran would still be recognized as such) and it will be holding a Seal Bag, an unused item. There is no confirmed way to reproduce this glitch; however in many of the reports, people have claimed that the glitch happened right after the GTS came up with no searches for any of the Pokémon but did not send out a Communication Error. After it stops blocking all access to other Pokémon, it is believed that is when the glitch is most likely to happen. Trying to withdraw the glitch Pokémon may result in a Communication Error but when the game lets a player withdraw the Pokémon, it returns to normal.
A similar glitch occurred where the Pokémon in the GTS is morphed into the wanted Pokémon (as shown in the photo). Instead of its name being the same as before, its name is now that of the wanted Pokémon, but still the same species as the Pokémon originally offered. There's also the possibility of the morphed Pokémon holding a Seal Bag. Most of the time, trying to trade for it will either cause a Communication Error or say that the Pokémon has been traded. In addition, sometimes these glitched Pokémon will be the only that appear when searching for Pokémon of a certain level.
GTS trade evolution oversight
There is a glitch in the GTS that allows Pokémon to evolve by being traded, but without actually trading them.
Players must first place a Pokémon that evolves by trading it (with the correct held item, like Metal Coat for Scyther or Electirizer for Electabuzz) onto the GTS. To prevent the deposited Pokémon from being traded away, players should request an impossible trade, such as a level 9 and under Mewtwo. The player must then search for a Pokémon on the GTS and trade for it. After this has been done, returning to the Pokémon that was placed on the GTS by the player and taking it back will cause it to evolve.
The risk of not being able to reacquire a Pokémon while trying to evolve it through trade evolution over the GTS is very great and this could have been a planned countermeasure. The requirement (a trade) must still be met in order for the Pokémon to evolve, but this system would prevent a player from potentially losing the Pokémon they wanted to evolve.
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GTS vanishing glitch
There have also been instances of a "vanishing" glitch on the GTS. After uploading a Pokémon to the server and checking its summary without changing the Pokémon, the "SUMMARY" button is sometimes replaced with "DEPOSIT", suggesting that the Pokémon has been traded. Selecting "DEPOSIT" will cause a Communication Error, and the player will return to the front desk. Logging on to the server again will cause the Pokémon to reappear, with no noticeable changes.
Pal Park name encoding glitch
In Western versions of the games, all characters before '0' (0xA1) on the Gen 3 character encoding table use the Japanese table rather than the international one. In other words, when a Pokémon is sent through Pal Park, all characters in its nickname and OT that occur before '0' on the international encoding table will be converted to their corresponding characters in the Japanese character encoding. This also affects the non-inputtable character '$' (0xB7), which is converted to '円'.
This appears to be the result of the developers using the Japanese encoding as a base and, for Western games, only changing the encodings for characters that are able to be input by the player (like changing fullwidth characters to halfwidth, or changing the quotation marks to match the language of the Pokémon). However the assumption that a Pokémon can only have inputtable characters in their Nickname and OT is false. Indeed, there are a few in-game trades in the Spanish games which have non-inputtable characters in either their OT or nickname, and a few preset Trainer names in the Spanish games also contain non-inputtable characters. All applicable cases are listed below.
| Original character | Corrupted character | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Á | い | Hiragana i |
| Í | コ | Katakana ko |
| Ú | つ | Hiragana tsu |
- In-game trade nicknames
| Original game | Language | OT | Pokémon | Original nickname | Corrupted nickname |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LG | Spanish | QUICA | Nidoran♂ | NIDRÁN | NIDRいN |
| FRLG | Spanish | GOYO | Seel | SEELÍN | SEELコN |
- In-game trade OTs
| Original game | Language | Pokémon | Original OT | Corrupted OT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRLG | Spanish | Mr. Mime | RÚTEO | RつTEO |
| Colo XD |
Spanish | Plusle Meditite Shuckle Larvitar |
GERMÁN | GERMいN |
- Default names
| Original game | Language | Gender | Original name | Corrupted name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR | Spanish | Male | LLAMÍN | LLAMコN |
| FRLG | Spanish | Male | ÁLVARO | いLVARO |
| FRLG | Spanish | Female | MARÍA | MARコA |
Pomeg glitch
- Main article: Pomeg glitch
Trade cloning
If a player is trading Pokémon and one of the handhelds is turned off at a certain time, the Pokémon that was traded to the game that was not turned off will appear in both player's parties. However, this glitch is very difficult to perform and quite commonly corrupts the save file.
Tweaking
- Main article: Tweaking
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Egg determination glitch
This glitch requires a Pokémon and an Egg in the same spot of adjacent boxes on the Pokémon Storage System. By having the cursor on the Pokémon in one box, pressing the L or R buttons to switch boxes as the display is rolling over to the next piece of data will allow the player to see the held item (always none), Nature, Ability, or type of the Pokémon inside an Egg.
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Friendship underflow glitch
This glitch allows friendship to underflow to values close to 255. The player must do these:
- Start a wild encounter.
- Lose some HP on the Pokémon to increase friendship of, but don't make it faint.
- Use some EnergyPowder or an Energy Root in the battle.
- Run away from the battle.
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GTS cloning
This cloning method is reminiscent of the methods from the first two generations and involves the GTS.
If the Pokémon is deposited in the GTS and the connection is interrupted at the right time, the Pokémon in question would be in the player's party or Pokémon Storage System box and in the GTS, requiring the player only to withdraw the Pokémon from the GTS to obtain the clone.
Ribbon check glitch
When the player's party is being checked for the total amount of unique Ribbons at the Ribbon Syndicate, Pokémon in party slots after an Egg will not have their ribbons counted.
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Pokémon Platinum
GTS level display oversight
In early releases of the American version, when seeking Pokémon on the GTS, the game will not display the level range of the wanted Pokémon. This can result in confusion as offers are blocked so even if a player has the right Pokémon to offer but it is not at the right level, it will not able to be selected.
This glitch is not present the original Japanese versions or in other localized releases, indicating that it was a minor error made in the development of the American version. Nintendo offered a patch for the problem by sending in an affected game.
Member Card name error
If the player receives the Member Card from the man in the Poké Mart that delivers event Pokémon or event items, the name will be displayed as "Member's Card" as opposed to "Member Card".
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum
Disappearing PC Pokémon glitch
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This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Need info on what causes it. You can discuss this on the talk page. |
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Sometimes, Pokémon placed in the PC may disappear completely.[1][2]
HM05 Defog error
HM05 (Defog) appears as a Water-type HM rather than a Flying-type one.
Wild Pokémon with Run Away glitch
The game displays the wrong message when successfully fleeing from a wild Pokémon with the ability Run Away. This only occurs after a player's Pokémon faints just after the wild Pokémon moved. The game code behaves as if the wild Pokémon was the subject of the escape, and because of the wild Pokémon having Run Away, the special message "<Pokémon name> escaped using Run Away!" is tried to be displayed (instead of the normal message "Got away safely"). However, due to how messages with buffers work in battles in Gen IV, this message index is added +1 when a wild Pokémon triggers the message, thus displaying the message "The wild <Pokémon name> fled!".
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Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
Buena's Password glitch
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This glitch is in need of research. Reason: This glitch is not fully confirmed, may affect other events that change daily and needs further testing. You can discuss this on the talk page. |
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If the player saves the game as soon as they have stepped through a doorway or stairway and their first Pokémon has not appeared, then Buena will not give a new password the following day or any thereafter unless the player re-saves in a new location that allows the primary Pokémon to leave its Poké Ball.
Pokémon Lullaby underflow
If the player's radio is playing Pokémon Lullaby, the movement rate of the encounter algorithm is decreased by 25. However, as the default value while walking in tall grass or in a cave is 20 and there's no code that prevents it from underflowing, if there are no factors present that increase it, the value is decreased below 0 (and then set by the game's code to the cap of 100).
Pokéwalker data cloning
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This glitch is in need of research. Reason: If the cloned Pokémon is traded out to another game, or leveled up in the Pokéwalker, does the game accept? You can discuss this on the talk page. |
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When a Pokémon is successfully transferred to the Pokéwalker but the game is turned off before saving, the Pokémon would appear in both the Pokéwalker and the Pokémon Storage System box it was in before the transfer. However, attempting to bring the Pokémon in the Pokéwalker back into the game would cause it to be released into the wild, even if the original Pokémon data had already been deleted or moved, such as being traded or released. This is because the data of the Pokémon that was transferred was not saved onto the game, thus the game will not recognize the Pokémon that is on the Pokéwalker, therefore it releases it. The game only recognizes Pokémon caught from the Pokéwalker and the Pokémon's data that is stored in the game after the transfer. This is to prevent external or third-party devices from transferring Pokémon data onto the game.
Pokémon Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver
Giratina form change glitch
If Giratina has its held item changed to or from the Griseous Orb in the PC (i.e. using the "Move Pokémon" or "Move Items" option), it will change form, but its stats will not change to reflect its new form. It will retain these stats even after saving or being traded and uses these stats during link battles. Its stats will be changed to those of the correct form if it has its held item changed outside of the PC. Its stats are recalculated when leveled up, but since these changes are considered to be as a result of the level up, leveling up a Giratina affected by this glitch can cause negative stat growths.
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Pokémon Battle Revolution
Mystery Gift exploit
Although only one Mystery Gift is intended to be received by the player through its 300 seconds of transmission, there is nothing to stop a player with another handheld and a different game cartridge from receiving the same gift. For example, when purchasing a Salac Berry for 19,200 Poké Coupons and receiving it on one game cartridge, another player with a different handheld and game can quickly receive a copy of the same Salac Berry for free, provided that the 300-second period haven't expired.
References
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This glitch Pokémon article is part of Project GlitchDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on glitches in the Pokémon games. |
