Missingno, the Gltich Pokemon (Redone)

Missingno, the Glitch Pokémon (Redone) By: Powerjoy64

I’m what you call… a Pokémon nerd. But for all the right reasons. I’ve played most of the Pokémon games such as Blue, Yellow, Sapphire, Pearl, Black, and eventually Y versions. I have also played other titles like Red Rescue Team. So naturally, I tried digging around my house for my old Blue version because it was my favorite. It was then I found it and my old Gameboy Color. I put it in my old GBC and unfortunately to my dismay, I found my blue version’s battery had died after all these years. Then I remembered that my friend Richard was great at fixing stuff like this. So then I called Rich to see if he could do anything to help and gladly enough, he accepted. I drove over to his house and he took the game from me. “I should have the battery fixed in a jiffy… I should have it fixed for you in about 3 days because now that I see the cartridge it does look a little worn, I should be able to make it practically brand new.” He said calmly. “Thank you so much, Richard!” I said happily “Here take this for what you’re doing for me.” I reached in my pocket and handed him a hundred dollar bill. “No, thank you Anthony.” He said. Just like that, three days passed and he was finished at last. “Here you are, Anthony. Though I will warn you… I did manage to hack the game and a few minor differences in the way you get Missingno…” He said abnormally. “How so?” I asked intrigued. “Oh… you’ll see… you shall see indeed!” He said crazily. “Umm, I should go now Rich, I’ll see you around and thanks for fixing my game…” I said quickly at that point because I just wanted to leave since he was starting to freak me out. “Enjoy the game!” He said with a wide grin on his face. His face he made I will never forget. His eyes were wide and full of what seemed like malice and craziness. I just shook it off because he was always a tad bit crazy at times (The good kind of crazy.)I arrived home and set my jacket on the hook. I sat down and got right down to playing Pokémon Blue Version anew.

The only odd thing I noticed from the start was a file was already created with my name on. I chose the file and I was in my bedroom like I was in the beginning of the game before you go to Professor Oak’s Lab. I walked down stairs and I walked up to my mother and all she said was “Have a safe journey sweetheart! Oh before you go to Professor Oak’s, go and see your friend Richard while you’re at it!” “Really Richard? You had to name yourself my rival…? Oh well…” I thought a little annoyed. But I went with it. I then arrived at Richard’s house and his mother said “Oh Anthony! You’re here already. Well if you’re looking for Richard, he’s upstairs in his bedroom.” I then proceeded up the stairs and that when things started to get a little off. When my character walked into his room, Richard was standing in the corner of the room sitting in a ball rolling back and forth. I had my character walk to him to see what was wrong and I pushed the A Button. The textbox read “All of them are fools… Every one of them even you Anthony… But what does it matter, we will all be facing it soon enough…” “Facing what” I thought a little nervous. Then another textbox came up “Well I shouldn’t worry because I’m going to become champion of this worthless region and I’m going to be the very best, even better than you! Off to Gramps then! You coming, Anthony?” He then got up and raced out of the room.

I was a little nervous but intrigued I followed Richard out of his house and to Professor Oak’s Lab. Professor Oak said his usual text and I then chose my Pokémon: Charmander. He of course Squirtle. We then had our usual battle and I won as usual. But after I won, something weird happened again. Richard then fell to his hands and knees and said “Damn it… Damn you Anthony! I promise I will be beat you one day when I’m champion of the Pokémon League!!!” He said and then ran out of the lab after snatching the Pokedex from Oak. “Anthony quickly take this and follow him because I know he’s up to something. Please stop him! It’s not his destiny to be champion!” I moved my character out of the room and started my journey to beat the gyms and my rival. Everything from that point on went as planned and I eventually made it to the Elite Four. Bruno and Lorelei were totally wiped out and eventually I beat Agatha with no problem but it was when I beat Lance his message after the battle made my stomach churn a bit. “Anthony when facing Richard… Please be careful because he’s much stronger than us four so prepare yourself.” I then walked up to my rival knowing what was up ahead.

He then started to speak “Well, well, well! If isn’t Anthony! If you think you can beat me, you’re dead wrong because I will annihilate you and your weak Pokémon!” We were then thrown into battle. He was very strong because he managed to take out 4 of my best Pokémon and I only took out 3 of his. I then said that was enough and I used my secret weapon: My level 98 Charizard. I took out his 5th Pokémon and he sent out his level 97 Blastoise and I had finally managed to get his HP down to zero. After the battle ended, Oak appeared as he should but then Richard started speaking “You… You won and I lost… All my hopes and dreams crushed by a loser like you! Anthony you’ll pay for this! You’ll all rue the day you crossed my path! DO YOU HEAR ME!?” He then ran away in a sob because he had lost of his hopes and dreams… Because of me. “Don’t mind him Anthony, there is nothing he can do to hurt you. Now come with me, we must record your place among the true winners of the Pokémon League.” We then proceed to the Hall of Fame and my Pokémon were recorded into the Hall of Fame to forever be known as winners of the Kanto League.

After the credits ended, I was a little worried about my rival. I then called the real Richard and told him that I beat the game and asked him what to do next since I was interested to see what changes he made besides just the dialogue. “Go to Cinnabar Island, find Missingno, and all will be revealed.” Before I could get another word, he hung up the phone. I was starting to get really scared at this point because this wasn’t very usual for him to be acting this way.

I then turned the game back on and went to Cinnabar Island like he requested me to. I went to the left part of Cinnabar. I then got Missingno like instructed and then out of nowhere, my in-game rival Richard came and stole Missingno and threw away all five of my awesome Pokémon except for Charizard. “Meet me at the Indigo Plateau if you wish to get your precious Missingno back… as for your other Pokémon there just garbage to me except for your Charizard.” The screen then went black for about a second and when it returned, he was gone. “What kind of hack did he make?” I thought frightened. I went to the Pokémon menu and chose my Charizard. I pressed the fly option and with that I was off to the Indigo Plateau.

I then made my way to supposedly fight Bruno again but all he, Lorelei, and Agatha were on the ground unconscious and when I interacted with them all that came up was “…” I made my way to Lance who was just trembling on the ground and I went up to his sprite and what he told me was bone-chilling “Anthony… Listen to me… Richard has gotten way too strong for his good… You have to stop him because if you don’t, we will all be goners. You too will be destroyed by it.” So that’s what Richard meant by it. A textbox then appeared “Pokémon Trainer Lance died” “Lance…died…?” I thought alarmed. I just kept going forward because I couldn’t bare the fact of him dying at the hand of Richard but more specifically Missingno.

When I saw Richard in what once was the champion’s room was reduced to nothing more than ash and in the center of it all was my rival himself. I walked up to him and he said “All of the pathetic Elite Four were no match for my Missingno. I underestimated you Anthony. I thought I was going to be the best. Me and only me. But no, you just had to walk in and crush all my dreams and now, I will finally get my revenge on you and my miserable excuse for a grandpa!” I was then thrown into a battle. When I saw Richard’s sprite, he looked extremely angry and his eyes were full of rage. He then threw out Missingno and I threw out my Charizard. I started out with a flamethrower but the text read “Charizard is too afraid to move.” “What!? How is this possible!? I couldn’t attack Missingno!” I thought surprised. Richard then came back onto the screen and said “How does it feel? To feel like you’re helpless against the person who is going to ruin your life the way you ruined mine!?” He then ordered his Missingno to use Water Gun but it didn’t obey Richard. “What are you doing Missingno!? Finish him!” Then Missingno then started to speak and said “I obey no one. You’re a pitiful human and all you’re good for is just being dead.”

It then returned to the over world and it almost shot Richard with Water Gun. “Your revenge means nothing to me. I’m going to make sure that both of you are no more!” Missingno then faced my sprite and said “You’ll be the first to die!” He then charged what looked like flamethrower and launched straight in my characters direction. Richard then kicked Anthony out of the way saying “Look out!” He then did the kicking animation from the 2nd Generation Pokémon games. The screen then flashed white for a solid minute and then it returned to normal.

My character was alright but Richard’s sprite was badly damaged and burned. Shocked, I walked over to Richard and interacted with him and he said “A…Anthony… I’m… So sorry, this is all my fault… Please forgive me for all I have done… I just wanted to be the very best… But in the end I was just a big screw up… Please… Save my grandpa…” and with that his sprite stopped moving “Former Champion Richard Died!” Oak then appeared tied up with Missingno holding him captive. “Anthony… This is all your fault! If you didn’t catch Missingno, we would all be safe right now! My grandson used you because he knew you were the only one who could let it free… Now he’s dead because of you.” “SILENCE!” Missingno let out a distorted angry cry that hurt my ears a bit. “Thanks to you kid, I’m free! Keep your stupid professor! I’ve got bigger and better plans for you!” “Missingno used Escape Rope!”

The screen showed Missingno’s sprite spinning around like when you use an escape rope and like that, he was gone. I couldn’t take this anymore so I just turned off the game to comprehend what just happened. I then tried to call Richard’s cell three times but he didn’t answer. Furious, I got in my car and drove to his house. When I arrived I nearly fainted at the site of his house. His house was burnt to a crisp and many firefighters were there. “What’s going on here!? How did this happen!?” I asked one of my fireman friends in a panic. “We believe the owner of this house’s computer was the cause of this fire. Unfortunately for the owner, he died in the fire but the only thing we manage to save was a letter that was addressed to you Anthony.”

I then opened the letter and it read Dear Anthony, That hack just goes to show you that you crushed my hopes and dreams. Now thanks to you, Missingno is free with my guidance of course. You just did everything I said without even thinking of the consequence of your actions and now you’re going to perish as I did. -Richard

To this day, I still get nightmares of this game and I look behind me to see if anyone is there. I don’t know how much more I can last. But it is only a matter of time before it finds me.