List of text errors in the Pokémon games

This article is a summary page for different variations of a glitches, etc. when talked about as a whole.

Please note that such examples of glitches appear very commonly, hence it is unlikely that all examples would have been noted here.

This article is incomplete. Please feel free to add any missing information about the subject. It is missing: {{{1}}}.

A number of spelling mistakes, grammar errors, or translation errors exist in within the Pokémon games. Normally when the game is being developed or translated such errors should be fixed, or changed to suit the punctuality of the new translated game (such errors are often referred to as 'Engrish' if they are badly translated Japanese games), however possibly due to the large size and complexity of Pokémon games a lot of these grammar errors are overseen or missed.

On rarer occasions, if a feature has been altered or removed in the translated game the developers may have forgotten to change it. Perhaps the most well known example is the 'Evolving Raichu' glitch where a man states that his Raichu 'went and evolved' which is impossible to achieve in normal gameplay. In fact, this phenomenon occurred because in the original Japanese Pokémon Blue the player would trade the man a Kadabra instead of a Raichu, which would indeed evolve.

Spelling mistakes

In Generation III

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire

1. In the US/NTSC releases of Pokémon Ruby; Mawile's Pokédex entry erroneously refers to it as "Mawhile" instead of "Mawile". This was amended in the later European/PAL versions.

Pokémon Colosseum

Unused dialogue strings

1. One of several unused dialogue strings, suggesting additional Shadow Pokémon misspells "MAGCARGO" as "MAGKARGO".

Pokémon Team Turbo

1. Rayquaza is often misspelled as Rayquayza, for unknown reasons although it is sometimes speculated that this is because the developers, ValuSoft (a division of THQ) are not associated with the Pokémon Company. The game is licensed by Nintendo, although it was released as a third-party game for the PC rather than a main part of the video game series.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

1. In the Spanish versions of FireRed and LeafGreen, the two passwords required to enter the Rocket Warehouse are "Aron ama a Nora" (literally "Aron loves Nora") and "Ho-Oh es ese Ho-Oh" (literally "Ho-Oh is that Ho-Oh"). However, in one point in the game, the text reads "Garon ama a Nora" instead; note the erroneous G at the beginning. In addition, the first password isn't even a palindrome.

In Generation IV

Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver

1. If the player directly speaks to Professor Oak in Pallet Town after receiving 484 Pokémon he will give the words "Meeting you is something l will cherish all my life long!" with a lowercase L instead of an uppercase I.

Grammar errors

In Generation I

Pokémon Red and Blue

1. In pre-release versions of Pokémon Red and Blue, when the player encountered a trainer an additional "The" would be used in the phrase "(Trainer) wants to fight!". For example, in these versions the game might display the words "The YOUNGSTER wants to fight!" However, if the player was to encounter a trainer whose class is just a name such as "Brock" the game would instead give the words "The BROCK wants to fight!" A picture of a player encountering Brock with these words still remains within the instruction booklets of both games. Before this, screenshots were released by Nintendo of the player encountering Blue, where the game would display the words "The BLUE wants to fight!"

In Generation III

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire

1. A picnicker in Route 111 south of the Winstrate Family household gives the words "This road here... You have quite a ways to travel." This was not fixed in Pokémon Emerald.
2. A Swimmer? in Route 128 will give the words 'Ever Grande City is still a long ways away..." prior to battling the player. This was not fixed in Pokémon Emerald.
3. The script used for when the player uses a recovery item such as a Potion gives the words "recovered by (X) points" where X is any integer, this script is always used even if the item only restored the Pokémon health by 1 HP. In this case the game would give the words "(Pokémon) recovered by 1 points". In Pokémon Emerald, the problem was fixed by using the phrase "recovered by (X) point(s)" instead.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

1. For unknown reasons, if a Pokémon with Keen Eye is paralyzed by Static the game will display dialogue suggesting that the user's Pokémon was paralyzed by Keen Eye.
2. In older versions of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen a glitch, sometimes referred to as the Pokédex Species Glitch causes the species names of Pokémon in the Pokédex to be restricted to one word, for example "Tiny Bird" Pokémon would be shortened as "Tiny Pokémon". This happens because in Version 1.0 the game takes a space in the species name as the end name byte.

In Generation IV

Unused dialogue strings

The unused phrase "You managed to come out here? That takes focus! For someone like you, this might be perfect." associated with the inaccessible fourth floor of the Jubilife Condominiums building uses two spaces between the words 'this' and 'might'

Pokémon Platinum

1. Only in Pokémon Platinum, when the player defeats one particular Black Belt "Eddie" in Victory Road he will give the words "Done in" with more than one space, whilst this is a rather minor grammar error it can also cause the spacing syntax glitch or the "Black Belt gibberish glitch".

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

1. A signpost informing the player that the Battle Frontier is north displays the words "This Is the Battle Frontier. Come, Proud Trainers Aim for the Top". Although it is presumable that the developers intended to capitalize the two sentences in block letters with the exception of conjunctions, the first sentence is inconsistent because the word "Is" is left capitalized. Pokémon Platinum's sign gives the words "Battle Frontier Ahead Aim to Win Glory with Pokémon!" instead, correctly leaving each conjunction in small case.

PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure

1. There is an error in the phrase ..."not so far away are your Empoleon?", prior to thawing the door to Empoleon's Snow Slide. It is presumable that the word "your" should have been replaced with "you" instead.

Translation errors

In Generation I

Pokémon Red and Blue

Evolving Raichu

Main article: Evolving Raichu

If the player trades a man a Raichu for an Electrode he will state that "The RAICHU you traded to me went and evolved!" However, Raichu can never evolve in normal gameplay. This error happens because the game was directly translated from the Japanese Pokémon Blue, where the player would have to send the man a Kadabra instead (which can evolve by trade).

In Generation III

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

1. In the Spanish versions of FireRed and LeafGreen, all of the original legendary birds scream "¡Artic!" when encountered. While this makes sense for Articuno, it does not make sense for Zapdos or Moltres.

In Generation IV

PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (German)

1. In the German translation of the game, when Munchlax thanks the player, "PokéPark" is misspelled as "ParkPoké".

TM49 localization oversight

The use of the acronym "TM" within the French version of Pokémon Red and Blue. This is a translation problem because in other areas of the game Technical Machines are abbreviated as "CT"

Within European, non-English versions of Pokémon Red and Blue, if the player gives the girl at the Celadon Department Store Rooftop Square a Lemonade, when the girl rewards the player with a TM49 she will explain that TM49 contains Tri Attack; although the actual translated text will still abbreviate a Technical Machine as a "TM". In other languages, Technical Machines are usually abbreviated in different ways. For example, in the French version, Technical Machines are officially abbreviated as CTs, rather than TMs.

This translation error, however, is not present in the Spanish versions of Red and Blue; it correctly uses the abbreviation MT.

Literal ghost

In the Spanish versions of Pokémon, the literal ghost is still addressed as "Ghost". The proper word is "Fantasma". The elemental type itself, though, is still translated properly. This translation error, however, remains even in FireRed and LeafGreen.