This article has a talk page!This page details bugs of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
|
This page sucks. |
|
This page or section needs more images. |
|
This page or section needs more videos. |
The page for Diamond & Pearl's Glitches. Some may also work in Platinum.
Aaron Door Glitch#
This glitch is exclusive to early Japanese revisions of the games. Simply put, the door through which the player enters Elite Four Aaron's room can be surfed on and through to access the void beyond.
Union Room Wrong Warp#
Watch on YouTubeThis is another early-Japanese-revision-exclusive glitch, and one that's even easier to encounter during normal gameplay.
When a player saves their game, the game checks their current map and coordinates before saving. Saving by talking to the Union Room NPC upstairs in the Pokémon League causes the game to mistakenly consider the player's coordinates invalid and discard them. This means that the player will be wrong-warped upon leaving the map.
It is possible for the player to control where they are wrong-warped to by using the Explorer Kit beforehand.
Broken Escalator Glitch#
The above glitch has a side-effect on one of the map scripts used on the second floors of Pokémon Centers. It's supposed to activate when the player leaves the map in the intended way, but since the player wrong-warped, its flag never clears. As a result, entering the second floor of a Pokémon Center again will run the map script in the improper context and push the player into the void.
This glitch was common and pervasive enough that Nintendo of Japan actually published instructions for fixing it - go to the Contest Hall in Hearthome City, speak with the leftmost attendant, save, and then reset the game. This will fix the glitch until it is performed again from the beginning.
Tweaking#
Quite possibly the most notorious glitch in the game is the Tweaking bug. This exploit allows the player to glitch into normally inaccessible areas, potentially obtaining event-exclusive Pokémon or skipping all the way to the Hall of Fame. It also has the potential to corrupt your save file, so it is advised to be cautious if trying this at home.
Theory#
All maps in Generation IV games are broken into numerous 32x32 chunks. At any given point, four of these are loaded - the one the player is currently in, one horizontally adjacent, one vertically adjacent, and one diagonally adjacent. The three latter chunks depend on which three are closest to the quadrant of the current chunk the player is in, and change at the boundaries between quadrants of the occupied chunk.
By repeatedly crossing these boundaries in certain ways, it is possible to cause the game to attempt to load multiple areas before it's ready. Effects can vary from crashes to completely different sections of the game loading in the wrong place. If the game remains functional, any oddities can be removed by unloading the affected chunk, either by moving away or opening any menu that takes up both screens.
Methods#
The above diagram shows the four quadrants and their boundaries - it is easiest and clearest to represent methods of tweaking in numbers.
As an example, 4213 would be quickly moving past quadrant #4's boundary into quadrant #2, then #2's boundary into #1, then #1's into #3. Doing this fast enough requires starting and remaining very close to the centre of one's home chunk.
All of the sequences below can be reversed to reverse the direction of their effects.
Fast Bike
The Fast Bike method is also called "zorching" for its discoverer, Zorch, and was the first reliable method of tweaking to be discovered. It is performed by going 3124343 with the bicycle in its higher gear.
A quicker Fast Bike method can be performed by going 42121. This is a "shortzorch".
Slow Bike
Tweaking is also possible with the bike in its lower gear. This has the potential to corrupt diagonally adjacent chunks, which Fast Bike methods do not.
Corrupting diagonally can be accomplished through 12421, 13431 or 1242131. Corrupting horizontally can be accomplished through 42131, but this only seems to corrupt the graphics and NPC placements.
"Super Glitch"#
|
This needs some investigation.
|
Watch on YouTubeIn the Generation III games, the variant of the glitch Pokémon ?????????? that occupies hex 0211 learns an attack called "events sleep." at level 41. While it is not possible to transfer Generation III glitch Pokémon directly to Generation IV, it is possible to transfer a Smeargle who has Sketched this move to a Generation IV game via Pal Park, as one would with any ordinary Pokémon.
Sending out this Smeargle in battle normally will freeze the game, so using "events sleep." is only possible by having another Pokémon use Assist. Doing so will produce a semi-consistent and bizarre series of effects reminiscent of the TMTRAINER effect found in the Generation I games. In a wild Pokémon battle, this will end when the opponent's 'perish count [falls] to 0' and both Pokémon faint.
Afterwards, the Pokémon who used the move will be holding a Master Ball, and Assist will have been permanently replaced with a glitch move with no name or PP listed (as though the slot were empty). Attempting to view the type of this glitch move will freeze the game.
"events sleep." causes no ill effects when transferred to Generation V - it becomes the move Ally Switch due to sharing an ID number with it.
Fire Fang Wonder Guard Glitch#
In the Generation IV games only, Fire Fang can hit through Wonder Guard, even if the target Pokémon does not have a weakness to the Fire type.
The leaked Diamond and Pearl source shows the reason why this bug happens: the code that handles Wonder Guard has a switch statement that makes the charging turn of certain moves, such as Bide, not fail against a target with Wonder Guard. This list is supposed to include Shadow Force (move ID 272) but due to an off-by-one error it instead includes move ID 273, which is Fire Fang, and as such Fire Fang can hit through Wonder Guard.
As the only Pokémon that has Wonder Guard as its Ability, Shedinja, does have a Fire-type weakness, the only way this can be seen is if Wonder Guard is Traced by another Pokémon, such as Porygon.
Rage Glitch#
A Pokémon that uses Rage, then uses a different move is instantly cured of all volatile status conditions, such as Confusion or Infatuation. If the Pokémon was Transformed, it will no longer be considered transformed, and thus it will keep the moveset of the Pokémon it transformed into forever.
This bug happens because Rage itself is implemented as a volatile status condition, which is what causes a Pokémon's Rage to build when it is being attacked, so long as the Pokémon continues using Rage every turn. Using a different move was supposed to remove Rage as a volatile status condition, but due to a wrong operator, it instead removes every volatile status condition except for Rage.
Protection Bypass Glitch#
In Diamond and Pearl, a move that gains perfect accuracy through either Lock-On/Mind Reader, the effects of weather (Thunder in rain, Blizzard in hail) or the ability No Guard will be able to hit through Protect and Detect at an inverse rate to its regular accuracy (so a move that would normally have 70% accuracy has a 30% chance to hit through Protect/Detect under these conditions, and moves with 100% accuracy will always miss). This was fixed in Platinum.
First Battle Crash#
Diamond and Pearl crashes if the player loses the very first battle against the wild Starly.
This is normally impossible, as Starly is programmed to flee if the player Pokémon's HP gets below 20% (in the red), and critical hits are disabled for this battle. However, a specific set of triggers allows it to happen anyway:
- The player picks Chimchar as their starter
- Chimchar has 11 or less HP IVs
- Chimchar has a Nature that lowers Defense or 11 or less Defense IVs
- The wild Starly does not have a Nature that lowers Attack
- The wild Starly reduces Chimchar's HP to 4/19
- The wild Starly uses Tackle, deals 4 damage and knocks out Chimchar
The chance of all these conditions meeting up, assuming the player does not KO Starly, is 0.68 %.