Coin Case glitches - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokmon encyclopedia

May 28, 2024

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Coin Case glitches are a variety of glitches involving the Coin Case in Gold and Silver Versions. They all involve listening to a Pokémon's cry then immediately using the Coin Case. Due to a translation bug, the Coin Case text is improperly terminated, making the game jump to $E112 every time it is used. This section of RAM is used by the game to store data related to Pokémon cries. Depending on the Pokémon's cry listened to, one of several effects will be activated: the game may restart with an altered color scheme and possibly blocks of color placed on the screen ("Glitch Dimension", "Shadow Puppet Effect" and "Shadow Puppets"), the game may crash to a white screen, or "Coin Case:" and a glitch phrase may be displayed (e.g., "which move?PP of"). The most well known of these glitches can be performed in Pokémon Gold using the Machop in Vermilion City.

Glitches caused by each Pokémon cry

Info

An asterisk by an effect means that the text is displayed in a dialogue box one line under "Coins:".
"†" (a dagger)in addition to an asterisk by an effect means that the text goes over the edge of the dialogue box.
"‡" (double daggers) by an effect means that a special version of the "Glitch Dimension" is started, dubbed "Shadow Puppets" or called the "Shadow Puppet Effect".

Display alterations

Glitch dimension

Main article: Glitch dimension

When accessed, the game restarts in what appears as an altered color scheme. This is particularly evident in the beginning cutscene/intro movie. The entire (apparently) game can be played as normal. When the player talks to a character, gets on his bike, goes through a door/portal, opens the menu, or does any other action affecting his sprite (though not necessarily changing it), a purple block is generated depending on the position of the player. At other times, seemingly randomly, blocks of color will be generated. For example, after flying to Cinnabar Island and Surfing downwards, the water will be blue, red and green in different places. Battles will be conducted with the colors of the HP bar, names, Pokémon, and Trainers altered, and with blocks of purple. Interestingly, the blocks seem to slide across the screen as the battle begins (at the point where the stat areas and Trainer slide into view). In towns, houses, routes, and other locations, blocks of color can be made to disappear by moving so that they move off-screen. The blocks appear to not be just a display problem, because they scroll with the map. This is apparently caused by the game thinking that it is being played on a Classic Game Boy.

When a cheating device is used to walk through objects, in some cases where the game does not freeze when the player walks out of the game, the game will restart in a "clean" glitch dimension where the background of the title screen is gray and has no blocky effects. Gameplay will be virtually the same, the only difference being; when a person is talked to, glitch dimension blocks will appear.

When the game is restarted, the color scheme is forced to use the player's palette on the title sequence. This makes it appear to display Ho-Oh in color, due to the similarities in the palette and where the colors are assigned. Lugia's sprite is assigned only two colors in Silver and will not display in color.

Ho-Oh in a "clean" Glitch Dimension.

Video


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Shadow Theater

Everything is completely white, except for the sprites (such as the player character, the NPCs, the Game Freak logo at the beginning). The sprites are either black, extremely darkened, dark blue, or near white. Sometimes an already-dark sprite will become white. Sprites with areas of high contrast (near black near white combinations) will appear partially black and partially white. Menus are not visible, but it is possible to navigate through them by memory. When viewing the PokéGear only the arrow selector pointing upwards is visible in the upper-left corner. During battles, the images of the Pokémon are not visible, but the blacked-out move graphics are. The specific cause of this is unknown, but is probably related to the cause of the Glitch Dimension.

Video


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Changes in the beginning cutscene

Object(s)	Original color	Color in Glitch Dimension	Color in Shadow Theater
Game Freak logo	Yellow	White	Black
Shellder	Blue-white with red tongue	Pink with blue tongue	Black
Lapras	Blue with blue-white shell	Pink-Red with light pink shell	Black
Magikarp	Red	Blue	Black
Pikachu	Yellow, red cheek pouches	Same as normal color	Black
Jigglypuff	Purple	Same as normal color	Black
Totodile	Light blue	Pink	Black
Chikorita	Green	Light orange	Black
Cyndaquil	Orange and black with red flames	Same as normal color	Black with white detail
Charizard	Red	Blue	White
Gold Version	Gold	Silver	Invisible
Ho-Oh silhouette	Black	Red with pink wing tips	Black
Sparkles from silhouette	Yellow	Purple	Black
Silver Version	Silver	Blue-grey with white highlight	Invisible
Lugia silhouette	Black	Black	Black
Clouds from silhouette	Grey	Black	Black
"Pokémon" logo	Yellow with blue border	Dark yellow with blue border and green shadow	Invisible/White

Arbitrary code execution

See also: Arbitrary code execution

Perfect EVs

When the game jumps to $E112, it starts executing data related to Pokémon cries as machine instructions. In particular, when Coin Case is used after hearing the Machop cry, the game will eventually reach address $E912. Data around that address is related to the overworld and can be manipulated through moving around in different patterns. When exiting Professor Elm's Laboratory and moving four steps to the right (prior to using the Coin Case after hearing the Machop's cry), the game will jump to address $FA98, which is in the middle of the data of the third Pokémon in the player's party. The game can therefore be made to execute specific code, based on the Pokémon's attributes such as species, item held, ..., by deliberately placing party Pokémon. By placing a specific species of Pokémon in the fourth slot of the party with the correct held item and first move, the game's execution may even be made to jump to the memory area that stores the items deposited in the player's PC, where code will execute based on the identifier and quantity of the items in the PC.


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This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Pokémon modifying using box names

By meeting special conditions, the player can allow the Coin Case to execute arbitrary code based on the names of their PC boxes, which in turn can modify the first Pokémon in the player's party. The exploit requires having a freshly caught low-level "slide" Pokémon with specific DVs in the party's third slot (preferably caught from Route 29), and a Quagsire holding TM02 with Return as its first move. Finally by performing a specific movement pattern, the player can listen to a certain Pokémon's cry (e.g. Machop or Bellsprout), then use the Coin Case to execute code from the box names.

The "slide Pokémon" is what allows the game to read the Quagsire and its first move and held item, which in turn uses it as a jump location to execute arbritrary code (because Quagsire's index number C3 represents the instruction jp yyxx), in this case the location it goes to is the PC box names. It is important to have a "good" slide Pokémon as bad opcodes such as FF (rst $38) causes the game to not reach the Quagsire's data, and is unable to execute the box names as code. Without a "good" slide Pokémon, the game will freeze or trigger Glitch Dimension upon using the Coin Case even after the other requirements are met. Obtaining a working slide Pokémon can be very time consuming and luck dependant, as a result this is one of the most common reasons the glitch fails. The best solution if the glitch fails is to catch another Pokémon, and repeat if it doesn't work. Once a "good" slide Pokémon is caught, it will always work.[citation needed]

Requirements

Slot 1: Pokémon that the player wants changed

Slot 2: Any Pokémon

Slot 3: A low-leveled freshly caught "slide Pokémon"

The player must also have Bellsprout registered in the Pokédex to listen to its cry.

How to perform:

Leave the Poké Mart and take 4 steps to the right

Switch pockets (required) and use the Coin Case

If performed correctly, the menus will slow down and the sprites will disappear. To fix it, save the game and reset. If the glitch fails despite all the other requirements being met, this means the player needs to replace their slide Pokémon. If the glitch shows the Shadow Puppet Effect instead, then the player should only listen to the cry once.

Make Pokémon 1 shiny

The following box names are needed:

Box 1: A p 0 'd 'v R 5 5

Box 2: é 'm 2 p p 0 4 5

Box 3: é A 4 p 0 'd 'v Q

Box 4: é ? 2 p 0 k 5 5

Box 5: 5 5 é A 4 p p p

Box 6: 'v 7 'v 'd é 4 2 p

Box 7: é D 9 'l 'l A 'l x

Box 8: 'd 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Modify Pokémon species in party slot 1

The following box names are needed:

Box 1: A p 0 k 'v A 5 5

Box 2: é 'm 2 p [x x x x]*

Box 3: é A 4 p 'v 7 'v 'd

Box 4: é ♂ 2 p é D 9 'l

Box 5: 'l 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Box 6: 5 5 5 A 'l x 'd 5

*The species is modified by the last 4 letters/numbers in box 2's name. After performing the glitch correctly, the player needs to deposit the Pokémon in slot 1 at the Day Care and withdraw it. Only the species of the Pokémon is changed, it will still have its previous name (e.g. its name is still PIDGEY, although it can be changed granted it is not an outsider), previous moves and it will not be registered into the Pokédex.

The player can also modify an Egg this way as well. If this glitch is performed with an Egg in the first slot, it will hatch into the desired Pokémon without the need of depositing and withdrawing it from the Day Care.

Pokémon obtained by modifying box 2


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Unused Memory Game

The glitch can be used for executing the code for the unused memory game. The player needs a Quagsire, which holds an HP Up and a new captured Pokémon, which does not hold an item. Also the player needs the following items in his PC in the following order:

Then the player has to go back to Professor Elm's Laboratory, save the game, exit and moving four steps to the right. If you now hear the cry of a Bellsprout, it is possible to enter the memory game by opening the Coin Case.


This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.


This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

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