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Generation I Glitch Discussion

Mysteries of Missingno. - Page 1

Mysteries of Missingno.

Posted by: MysticFlygon
Date: 2013-01-27 07:13:16
What causes Missingno. to have, besides it's glitchy form, three sprites that were not assigned to any Pokemon?
Why is it always partially of the scrapped type, Bird?
What causes Missingno. to scramble other sprites?
What causes Missingno. to have two water guns and one sky attack in R/B but one water gun and one pay day in Yellow?

Will anyone ever be able to solve ALL of these mysteries?

Re: Mysteries of Missingno.

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2013-01-27 09:10:10

What causes Missingno. to have, besides it's glitchy form, three sprites that were not assigned to any Pokemon?


I've heard that they were intentionally given these sprites - as to display the Kabutops Fossil, Aerodactyl Fossil sprites in the Pewter Museum, and so the Ghost can get its sprite. I'm not sure if this is true though as I don't have proof.

By the way, if you encounter Ghost Missingno. (B8h) on Pocket Monsters Red/Green/Blue/Pikachu, it's simply called '' (Ghost), not Missingno.

[img]http://i.minus.com/jMeuplVcRP0yK.png[/img]

This is unused, because the ghosts in the Pokémon Tower (including the Marowak ghost) are called  '' (Yurei). This can
also be seen if you try to Trainer-Fly a Marowak.

[img]http://i.minus.com/jb0ySqFu81oqhB.png[/img]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhOMQisg0rc


Why is it always partially of the scrapped type, Bird?


This is a coincidence. To find data including base stats, type, catch rate, experience yield, dimensions of frontsprite, pointer to frontsprite and backsprite, starting moves, growth rate and TM/HM flags of Pokémon in the English ROMs, you look from the offset at 0x0383DE + (PkmnNo. - 1) * 0x1C. (An exception to this is Mew in Red/Blue, whose data begins at 0x00425B)

Missingno. and 'M (00h) happen to be #000, so 000 underflows to FFh (256) and the base stats data begins at 0x0384F9. This data is used not for Pokémon, but is in the middle of Biker rosters.

The base stats data structure in Generation I for every Pokémon is organized like this:

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_base_stats_data_structure_in_Generation_I


Missingno.'s Type 1 - Bird (0x384FF). This is actually Biker 0x0A's second Pokémon - Voltorb (06h). Bird type has an index number of 06.

Missingno.'s Type 2 - Normal (0x38500) is a byte that means Biker 0x0A's data is over. The Normal type has an index number of 00.



What causes Missingno. to have two water guns and one sky attack in R/B but one water gun and one pay day in Yellow?


Pokémon 000's starting moves begin at 0x38508. The data is 37h (Water Gun), 37h (Water Gun) and 8Fh (Sky Attack). This is actually Biker 0Ch's third Pokémon - Koffing (37h), Biker 0C's fourth Pokémon - Koffing (37h) and Biker 0C's fifth Pokémon - Weezing (8Fh).

The reason why Missingno. has different starting moves in Yellow is because the data from 0x38508 corresponds to something else. The equation above also explains why 3TrainerPoké doesn't have Yellow Missingno.'s starting moves; because it is number 176.



What causes Missingno. to scramble other sprites?


I don't know the answer to this, but it's something that isn't exclusive to Missingno.

Re: Mysteries of Missingno.

Posted by: Raven Freak
Date: 2013-01-27 18:22:35
I'm assuming the reason why it scrambles other sprites is probably because it doesn't have a define sprite, and therefore messes with the decompression process (or compression process, i'm not sure if the sprites are decompressed or compressed into some algorithm), and finally VRAM draws the tiles incorrectly.

Re: Mysteries of Missingno.

Posted by: camper
Date: 2013-01-27 20:41:03
Every Pokemon not in a valid family can scramble sprites. Is that right?

And I think the reverse L-shape of Missingno. is intentionally given too.

Re: Mysteries of Missingno.

Posted by: Bent`
Date: 2013-01-29 00:24:50

And I think the reverse L-shape of Missingno. is intentionally given too.

No, this is a coincidence.