10 Video Games That Are Better When You Break Them

6. Pokémon Red And Blue

Pokemon Red Blue Missingno
Nintendo

The existence of the mysterious glitch Pokémon, Missingno, is one of the most famous exploits in video game history. What makes it so remarkable is that it's so easy to do.

In the original Pokémon Red and Blue, simply talk to the Old Man in Viridian City and then immediately fly to Cinnabar Island and surf on the east shore of the location.

Eventually, this will introduce players to Missingno. As the game attempts to record Missingno in the Pokédex, it instead duplicates the sixth item in a player's bag 128 times over. This little trick can be used to clone gold nuggets to make money, randy candies to power-level Pokémon in minutes and Master Balls for easy catching of any monster.

A similar quirk of being spotted by certain trainers, which loads info into the buffer for the game, and then abandoning it through quick menu navigation can also have other results. One of these, wonderfully, can trigger a battle with the illusive Mew, typically only available as part of special events.

So, in short, the original games can give you level 100 God Pokémon if you're willing to utilise a few glitches. And why wouldn't you want to do that? That'll get Gary back for every time he made a remark about smelling you later.

Contributor

Coming from a content creation background that now spans over two decades, Psy cut her teeth on personal video production and community radio. Originally joining the team as a writer and presenter, she added video editing duties to her responsibilities over time and became the longest-standing editor of the irreverent gaming show Tues Your Own Adventure. Psy has worked on many previews and reviews, long-form editorials (either her own, or supporting as an editor), as a frequent quizmaster and more. Praised for the two-pronged attack of her hard work ethic and light-hearted editing style, Psy is otherwise known as a font of retro video game knowledge which has caused her to rack up many quiz wins. Outside of WhatCulture, Psy runs First Aid Spray Podcast - a long-running channel that focuses on Resident Evil in all of it's forms. You can follow her on BlueSky at http://psywhite.bsky.social and Instagram at http://instagram.com/therealpsywhite