Programming Bug

Pokémon had always been special to me, like most children. Me and my cousin had an almost unhealthy obsession with the damn franchise, but the games were our favorites to collect. We had every single game, even the newer games such as sun and moon or sword and shield, all kept in pristine condition as well. Of course, with this collecting addiction we were bound to come across bootlegged, or hacked games made by cheap companies trying to cash in on the Pokémon brand name. While annoying at first, I grew to like these silly ROMHACKS even creating a mini-collection for the parodies. I often enjoyed browsing websites for hacked cartridges or ROMS to see what I'd come across.

Eventually after scrolling on a site for a couple of minutes, I came across a brand new listing for Pokémon gold, now, even though I already had gold, this version had intrigued me for several reasons. Mainly the name of the listing, "SPECIAL PROGRAMMING BUG FOUND INGAME" Now, this had me hooked. What did they mean by programming bug? Was it something as insignificant as a missing pixel or two? Were the Pokémon randomized? I added it to my cart, bought it, and waited patiently for it to arrive.

The curiosity about the game had absolutely tortured me for the couple of weeks it took for it to arrive, so when it did I was eager to pop it into my Gameboy Advance and start playing it. Once the game loaded up, I had took notice that this special "programming bug" was rather mundane. The title screen, instead of having the usual Ho-oh and "GOLD VERSION" text, was gone, only a solid blue color with "Pokémon" all it, in its usual font. The clouds and sky shading was gone, which was odd, but all in all it was rather underwhelming. Whatever, might as well play it through, it's been ages since I've sat down and played gold. Hitting start, I was presented with the option to continue. Of course it was used, I thought. Pressing new game yielded no results, so I sighed mentally and pressed continue. > BAXTER appeared!

It was battling my Cyndaquil, I was given one option, FIGHT. I pressed the option, expecting some sort of moveset, only for my turn to then end. I stared at the Cyndaquil as I waited for it to make it's turn, all it seemed to do was flash and shake, as if it was being damaged.

> IT used scratch!

An animation of the creature slashing at BAXTER played, which did nearly more then half of it's health in damage.

> Cyndaquil used ember!

> IT avoided the attack!

I almost didn't want to hurt him, he was my starter, but I was eager to know what happened, so I pressed attack again.

> IT used bite!

I watched Cyndaquils health drain to 0, and then it froze again. I waited patiently, perhaps the Cyndaquil would also be caught? Then, my eyes widened as I watched the entity seemingly stretch upward, and forward, like some sort of horrid monster made of tar. I heard Cyndaquil's cry, then the cry began to elongate, and stutter. Then, my screen went black. I began to power it on again, and surely enough, the same introduction for the game played out, no Ho-oh, no clouds, no sky shading. I pressed new game. It still didn't work, I pressed continue.

> This doesn't belong to you.

I sighed in defeat, and turned the device off.