MissingNo.
?????????? | ????? | ! | Abnormal Pokémon | Bad Egg | Enigma Berry (Generation III) | Error! | Error codes (Generations I and II) | Error traps for damaged save data | Error traps to prevent impossible progress | Event data debugging messages | Instant victory effect (Generation II) | Mystery Zone | N/A | Pokégear instruction booklet trap | Rhydon trap | Special (location) | This Game Pak is designed only for use on the Game Boy Color. | This Pokémon cannot be traded.
This article is a summary page for different variations of a glitches, etc. when talked about as a whole.
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MISSINGNO. is an error handler primarily used in Generation I, for the instance of when the game attempts to recall a formatted and blank species name for a specified Pokémon identifier. In total, this affects 39 glitch Pokémon.
The MISSINGNO. with a hexadecimal identifier of 50 (80) is perhaps, the most well known instance because of its common appearance via the Old Man Trick. When its species data is recalled from the RAM, it corresponds to the identifier of the hidden end name character (note that this only applies if the end name character was used as the third, fifth, seventh character in the player's name). It is also well known because of its characteristics; it is part 'BIRD' type, an enigmatic Pokémon type which is never used in the final game throughout normal game play. This identifier when recalled as species data, learns Water Gun twice and Sky Attack as its starting moves and is capable of learning Pound as an advanced move at level 138.
Origin of the term
The origin of the name 'MISSINGNO.', as it appears in Generation I, is widely believed to be an error handler. When the game attempts to translate blank data into a species name, the term 'MISSINGNO.' is used instead by default. Glitch Pokémon beyond a hexadecimal value of 190 are not labeled as 'MISSINGNO.' despite the fact that their names are invalid because they will derive the names from translated versions of written parts of the game code. Such blank data, is only drawn when the game attempts to recall the identifiers of invalid species in between the identifiers of valid Pokémon. This may suggest that the error handler itself 'MISSINGNO.' was meant to inform the game developers, as a term meant to substitute any Pokémon which was completely removed from the final game.
Other uses of the term
Informal use
The error handler 'MISSINGNO.' is occasionally used by other players and/or researchers as a potentially misguiding term for another Glitch Pokémon other than the 39 identifiers which share the name 'MISSINGNO.' in Generation I. On one hand this is easier for players to refer to glitch Pokémon which use irrational names such as LM4, however unlike the actual glitch Pokémon which use the error handler 'MISSINGNO.' and have identifiers which are in between valid Pokémon, the identifiers of these glitch Pokémon are such that almost every characteristic of that glitch Pokémon, including its name is derived from an invalid translation of used data within the final game. No evidence has yet proven that those Pokémon are 'missing numbers' which were once rational Pokémon planned to exist in the final game by the game developers.
Invalid tile data
In Generation IV, a simple sprite illustrating the error handler 'MISSINGNO.' or rather '欠番'; the Kanjii version of hiragana 'けつばん' (ketsuban) is similar to the error handler 'MISSINGNO.' as it appears in Generation I, although it exists to substitute blank tile data, rather than blank species data. The sprite exists internally in the games with a file name of 'ketsuban' and illustrates the phrase '欠番' as printed in red font. [1]
MISSINGNO. in Pokémon Yellow
Although Nintendo removed the Old Man Trick in Pokémon Yellow, the error handler 'MISSINGNO.' still exists within the coding of the game. Blank species data still occupies the same 39 identifiers as in Pokémon Red and Blue, hence the term 'MISSINGNO.' is still drawn up by the game when it attempts to recall such data. It is presumable that more of a species' associated but invalid data was formatted, because when the player attempts an identifier occupying MISSINGNO. on Pokémon Yellow, the game will often crash, depending on the localization of the game.
Since the removal of the Old Man Trick, a player can still exploit the Ditto Trick to encounter any blank identifier on Pokémon Yellow. The identifier recalled by the game depends on the user's Special Stat in hexadecimal form, with a limit of one byte (2^8) or 256 values. If the user's Special stat is a value greater than 2^8, the encountered Pokémon will have an identifier of modulo 256.
Identifiers denoted as 'MISSINGNO.'
Below is a table of the details of all Glitch Pokémon in Generation I, which draw up formatted data as their species name, hence forcing the game into using the error handler 'MISSINGNO'. For information such as the equivalent symbol required for the Old Man Trick, please use our Big List.
| Name | Index Number | Hexadecimal Identifier | Family (Pokédex number) | Base Cry | Cry Pitch | Cry Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MISSINGNO. | 31 | 1F | 000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 32 | 20 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 50 | 32 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 52 | 34 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 56 | 38 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 61 | 3D | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 62 | 3E | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 63 | 3F | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | |
| MISSINGNO. | 67 | 43 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 128 | 16 |
| MISSINGNO. | 68 | 44 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 69 | 45 | (Undocumented) | 29 | 224 | 64 |
| MISSINGNO. | 79 | 4F | (Undocumented) | 34 | 255 | 54 |
| MISSINGNO. | 80 | 50 | 000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 81 | 51 | (Undocumented) | 14 | 224 | 96 |
| MISSINGNO. | 86 | 56 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 87 | 57 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 94 | 5E | (Undocumented) | 15 | 64 | 192 |
| MISSINGNO. | 95 | 5F | (Undocumented) | 15 | 32 | 192 |
| MISSINGNO. | 115 | 73 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 121 | 79 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 122 | 7A | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 127 | 7F | (Undocumented) | 17 | 32 | 16 |
| MISSINGNO. | 134 | 86 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 135 | 87 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO | 137 | 89 | (Undocumented) | 15 | 64 | 128 |
| MISSINGNO. | 140 | 8C | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 146 | 92 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 156 | 9C | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 159 | 9F | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 160 | A0 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 161 | A1 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 162 | A2 | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 172 | AC | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 174 | AE | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 175 | AF | (Undocumented) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. | 181 | B5 | (Undocumented) | 29 | 0 | 128 |
| MISSINGNO. (Kabutops Fossil sprite) | 182 | B6 | 000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. (Aerodactyl Fossil sprite) | 183 | B7 | 000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MISSINGNO. (Ghost sprite) | 184 | B8 | 000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
See also
External Links
- [2] - A Youtube video of a player performing the 'Old Man Trick' in order to encounter and capture an invalid Pokémon, using the error handler 'MISSINGNO.'
- [3] - A Youtube video of a player using the Ditto Trick, so that he or she can encounter a Level 7 glitch Pokémon, which uses the error handler 'MISSINGNO.'