Guide: 1st & 2nd GEN: Bugs/Glitches/Exploits

[jojobear13]

The Itemfinder has a flaw in the Gen 1 games. It is unable to detect an item if that item has zero for either its X or Y coordinate. The reason for this is because of how it checks the X and Y values. It uses the CP command to "Compare" the X or Y value to a target number. It relies on the CP command setting a carry bit if [X or Y < target]. But it does not take into account the situation where [X or Y = target].

 

[jojobear13]

Here is another really, really obscure bug in the gen 1 games. When you push a boulder in the downwards direction, the puff of dust has poor visibility. This is because its object attributes are not getting set correctly. What happens is that, when pushed downwards, the pointer that is supposed to point to the puff's object attributes gets decremented; this makes it point to the attributes of a different object instead. The puff's attributes never get correctly set.

 

[Son Goshin]

HAHA Don't forget about getting Mew at lvl 20 or 30 I forget which. On the bridge north of Cerulean city I forget how though lol. Gen 1 I believe.

 

[jojobear13]

Another Gen 1 oversight that was brought to my attention and which I have documented.

AI trainer HUD does not update when it uses healing items

When an AI trainer uses a Full Heal (such as Brock), the status of the opposing pokemon does not update until after the player's turn. When playing with Super Gameboy colors, and the opponent is in yellow or red health, and the AI trainer uses a healing item to restore HP up into a new color (such as back into green health), the color of the HP bar will not update until after the player's turn. The AI's version of using a Full Restore combines both of these observations. Why does this happen? The cause is that, unlike what is done in the core battle engine, the function DrawEnemyHUDAndHPBar never gets run when executing the AI item functions.

 

[jojobear13]

Not really a glitch, but this would be a good place to put it. It's well documented that the critical hit threshold for Gen-1 is different between the gameboy games and Stadium 1. Specifically speaking:

R,G,B,Y Threshold = Base speed 'B' / 2
Stadium Threshold = (Base speed 'B' + 76) / 4

With focus energy:
R,G,B,Y Threshold = Base speed 'B' / 8
Stadium Threshold = (Base speed 'B' + 236) / 2

Satoru Iwata was the one who ported Morimoto's battle engine over to Stadium, so what was Iwata thinking here? I believe I know what Iwata was thinking. Follow along with me.

First let me state this. The RGBY threshold for focus energy is bugged due to a typo in the code. It is supposed to be B * 2 (quadruple rate).

Now, let's start with the regular threshold.

B
--
2

Multiply this by 2/2 to get

2B
--
4

And rewrite as

B + B
-----
4

Here's the first change Iwata made. He took one of the B variables and turned it into a constant of 76. This is a balancing decision that tightens the range of the critical hit threshold. Pokemon with a base speed >76 get nerfed and those with a base speed <76 get buffed.
B + 76
------
4

Now to look at how Stadium handles focus energy. First thing is that it properly multiples the crit rate by 4.

B + 76
--------- * 4
4

Rewrite as

B + 76
---------- * 2 * 2
4

Multiply one of the 2's through the numerator

2B + 2*76
--------------- * 2
4

Rewrite as

B + B + 76 + 76
---------------------- * 2
4

Now Iwata does some more balance changes. He changes another B variable into a constant 80. Then he changes one of the 76 constants into 80 as well. This means that focus energy itself is less effective for pokemon with base speed >80 and those with base speed <80 get more mileage out of the move.

B + 80 + 80 + 76
------------------------ * 2
4

Now add everything up and simplify

B + 236
-----------
2


And that is the thought process of why Stadium 1's crit rate formulas are what they are.