The most outrageous bug in Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow that few noticed

Pokémon is a very popular video game that has sold more than 279 million copies over the years since its launch in 1996 in Japan and then in 1999 in Europe for the Game Boy console .

During the first generation of Pokémon , which includes the Red, Blue and Yellow editions , there were several invisible bugs that, if discovered, would have increased the power of players in battles.

Pokémon are creatures of all shapes and sizes that live both in the wild and alongside humans and are used by trainers to battle other Pokémon teams. Currently, there are more than 700 creatures in the Pokémon universe, according to Nintendo's official website. These creatures can evolve and become stronger for battle.

The mistakes made during this first generation of Pokémon were due to the creators' lack of experience . However, very few were visible to players.

The Gym Badge bug was a glitch in the stat system that unintentionally made the player's Pokémon stronger in battle , as each time a Pokémon used a move that affected its stats, such as Fortitude or Swords Dance, the game would recalculate the values ​​and apply them again.

This allowed the player to unknowingly drastically and cumulatively boost their Pokémon's power by repeatedly using certain moves. Passive bonuses from Gym Badges were reapplied to their base values.

This meant that certain Pokémon could end up with much higher attributes than the game intended , even reaching 999 and gaining unexpected advantages in combat.

This game glitch only affected PvE, i.e. battles against AI trainers, but not PvE or multiplayer games via Cable Link .

This bug was unpopular because players were required to perform certain stat-altering moves in battle , such as Fortitude or Shelter. People prioritized a Pokémon's evolved moves, such as those that deal direct damage, over Gym Badges, which had less of an impact on the opponent.

Even the AI-controlled trainers in the game didn't use moves that affected Pokémon, such as Growl or Whip, so at the time when the effect of the bug could have been most evident, it wasn't noticed.

Using this bug brings several benefits to players, such as evolving or enhancing a previously useless Pokémon to significantly increase its power, such as Metapod , whose only offensive move was Tackle, could improve its power simply by repeatedly using Fortitude or including boosted Attack and Speed.

This problem was solved in the first Pokémon Stadium , released on the Nintendo 64 in 1999.