Pokémon Red/Blue - Investigating the hooked Dragonite glitch

The "hooked Dragonite" glitch - a small curiosity found all the way back in 2009. Let's examine this piece of history in a bit more detail.

[@HobbesandCalvinFan]

All that man wanted to do was show you the museum, but unfortunately he did not realize he had a role in distorting spacetime.

[@demoleramera]

Maybe that IS the actual museum he's taking you too

[@gunungmerapiapi1933]

HAHAHAHA

[@crashniels]

What is the track that plays when he is explaining things? Can't seem to find it.

[@felipecosta-kv2fx]

@@crashniels It's the cassino theme from pokémon rby

[@lyrimetacurl0]

Dialga, Palkia and Arceus would all be coming after him to investigate this distortion.

[@MushroomManToad]

14:21 There's something really satisfying about the fact that even as the whole universe is dissolving around her, Nurse Joy still finds a way to heal your Pokemon. That's some great customer service right there!

[@chairwood]

And then she gets consumed by the corruption as well :(

[@TyrinsClips]

@@chairwood An honorable and heroic sacrifice under the circumstances.

[@cereal7591]

I wish my country had such quality free health care :(

[@littlefox_100]

Lol

[@MetaBloxer]

"Maybe I can't save myself...but I'm here to heal pokemon, and you can be damned sure I'll do my duty until the bitter end"

[@AmShibes]

We thought we had hooked a dragonite, but in reality, the dragonite hooked us.

[@OrgusDin]

Maybe the real dragonite was the friends we made along the way.

[@vladnex1052]

They always ask why the dragonite is hooked, they never talk about how the hooked dragonite feels :(

[@Matando]

Nice pun ;)

[@abloogywoogywoo]

So the Pokemon were catching us the whole time?

[@Serjo777]

@@OrgusDin Where is that from? ^^

[@Rukathesoldier]

"The Hooked Dragonite" sounds like a Dark Souls boss.

[@jaytheshadowpaladin]

Why is this so accurate xD

[@DerickIsCringe]

now wait for his phase 2 to begin

[@Rukathesoldier]

@@DerickIsCringe Phase 2 is Hooked Mr. Mime

[@HE13272326]

I want to see that in the Sekiro randomizer: "The hooked Dragonite, the sword saint"

[@theuncrustable5837]

Aah, you were at my side, all along. My true mentor. My guiding Dragonite.

[@bespectacledpanda]

10:36 When you're walking on the same side of the sidewalk as another person, and both of you try to step around each other at the same time

[@gregorymirabella1423]

you deserve a reply, so i'll say that this was very funny. enjoy your reply.

[@breadiswater1979]

And one dude tries to follow

[@chocolixo]

Hell

[@jacobgutierrez9642]

4:35 "The game has a fail-safe mechanism" Probably the only situation it actually has a backup for things going wrong.

[@elpirataretro8734]

Ikr

[@gairisiuil]

their goal seemed to be keeping the game running

[@kab43]

@@gairisiuil hey i see you on ch vids

[@gairisiuil]

@@kab43 yes i do

[@zeemgeem]

I suspect this is a thing because teleport, escape rope and fly also disable the player's controls before moving them. probably just easier to code it as a universal flag

[@mistashadow]

15:45 local trainer goes insane; starts walking in circles before hearing voices and seeing things that aren't there

[@riccardoboninsegna4521]

too much energypowder

[@zdude0127]

So Twitch Plays Pokemon?

[@olbluelips]

I love how there’s no validation or error checking in these games because it allows for interesting things like this

[@gypsysprite4824]

iirc there's no error checking because r/b/y simple didn't have the cartridge space with the shit they put in

[@olbluelips]

​@@gypsysprite4824 You're probably right this would make sense. They reused memory addresses constantly which makes cool things like LRT :)

[@SoulcatcherLucario]

R/B/Y has *some* error checking, but most are very... ineffective. MISSINGNO. as an example, is an error checker that shows up when the game pulls up a mon whose numbers are between the unused slots (152-190).

[@cereal7591]

I hate it when people give gen l so much shit for being "so broken", as if it was because GF was lazy or stupid. Do they realize the huge juggling they had to make to fit everything in such a limited space?? There were oversights, sure, but nothing that ruined the expierence. (and IMO, they gave us the most fascinating glitches in the history of video gaming!)

[@CristalianaIvor]

@@cereal7591 well you are right, but still: gen 1 is broken. only because its not completely unplayable, this doesnt mean that its not broken. Thats due to the fact that the game was revolutionary at that time! but also because they suck at programming. they even had to get help to learn how to read their own code.

[@endermenon4836]

11:16 Did Did you just kill that guy

[@deviantartguy0]

It appears so, my Menon,

[@TheSaiyanPrincess89]

He deserved it. He wouldn't shut up about the Museum.

[@RiderGeats]

Guy talks to you and 4 circles blinks in and the guy just exploded. *Sounds like a really cool superpower*

[@WhimsicottFanatic]

He absolutely had to go

[@Jonskipvp]

​@@WhimsicottFanaticthis made me laugh so hard

[@VoVilliaCorp]

Brock: Why are there people dancing around on top of my gym again, that's the zzazzth time this month!?

[@incredibilisman2909]

I think Brock would like that

[@MAYOFORCE]

I was hoping you would go into the game's memory address to enable controls for the hooked dragonite battle. Wanted to know it's level and stats or if there was anything unique about it.

[@spartonberry]

I was wondering if it would do that on the Japanese version. But I suspect the effect would be completely different since those have a different RAM map. I suspect a glitch battle in that would at least get to the menu before becoming softlocked, since less text in JP would mean it doesn't need as many mid-sentence waits as English does (I know that is the case with Gen 2). But I can't remember if the end of the message had a wait for input command.

[@LambentLight00]

Yeah I was hoping that too

[@danielhall6888]

Level 0, battle system is a weird hybrid mishmash of other battle systems.

[@Kairos_Akuma]

@@danielhall6888 Oh you got it to "behave"?

[@danielhall6888]

@@Kairos_Akuma Yeahh, RAM address was more or less completely hidden but disabling the button lock brought you to this. It was catchable, and a normal Dragonite in everything but level outside of battle.

[@Myjasu]

Even if we could go past the "hooked DRAGONITE" screen, i get the feeling the battle wouldn't be possible... Everytime i heard the champion battle music when encountering a wild pokemon, the fight got corrupted hard. (usually, it's a "no pokémon" fight...)

[@bottinator22]

It's not the champion music, it's the gym leader music

[@danielhall6888]

It's catchable, but the battle mode is buggy. It's at Lv. 0 and it kinda plays like a glitched out Safari Mode. When I looked at this a few years back, it was because it sets the battle type to something ridiculous like hex id 60 or something. There's only like about 4 different battle type ids in the game.

[@JetFalcon710]

​@@danielhall6888 Yeah, I'm pretty sure wIsInBattle only has four valid values: out of battle, wild battle, trainer battle, and link battle. I'm not certain, though, I'm not a Pokemon glitch hunter and you probably know more about this than I do

[@ebrules]

That bit in the second half of the video was pretty neat. I'd kinda like to see someone do a "uncorrupt a save" video where they try to make the failsafes and flag resetting eventually lead to a perfectly normal save again from a super glitch corrupted one, or somethin' like that.

[@TheZZAZZGlitch]

bepis

[@patataofcoursebutyt3372]

amazing

[@NFUN0]

beesechurger

[@classymarowak7001]

Olden *wutface*

[@ryandpr6718]

Tax evasion

[@jackmoseley4959]

How dare you! I am offended at this foul use of language!

[@generictrainer4513]

11:15 In which Red is so sick of the museum guide, he just crushes him.

[@d00styTV]

"nothin personnel kid"

[@Ale-bv3vd]

You ACTUALLY triggered part of the unused medley, that's so impresive. Great job, ZZAZZ!

[@carlalynch9612]

The corrupted music at 13:22 is my life, I love that so much

[@amandamakin1542]

The best thing about that corrupted music is at 13:24, the higher pitch notes are actually part of that cute unused Trading Theme that would've used two Gameboys for its two different channels

[@watersomic]

The last bit of loading an impossible amount of pokemon to be healed, seeing the world get overwritten into a mini glitch city, and then having the disembodied voice of copycat taunt you from beyond was low key existential horror. Which is typical for pokemon glitch stuff, so that was cool.

[@riguor9876]

7:42 I can't believe the Hooked Dragonite hired Shelder de Killer

[@Tudmoke]

It’s been ages since I’ve seen a quality AA reference

[@amandamakin1542]

Ace Attorney References! 😃

[@_Smokescreen_]

Is it actually impossible to get past the hooked dragonite part? It's such a cliffhanger omg.

[@SnoFitzroy]

You could probably edit the script to not lock the player

[@RedEyd]

​@@SnoFitzroy With F8'?

[@woopypibe9410]

possibly ​@@RedEyd

[@user-wc7dh4vl3r]

​@@RedEydor emulation/GameShark

[@cullbear55]

It's interesting how Ninten was sort of an early name for Red but also the name of the protagonist from Mother. It makes sense though, because Creatures Inc. originally was APE who'd worked on Mother.

[@amandamakin1542]

I always imaged the Mother/Earthbound series as an parallel universe of Pokemon & vice versa. The protagonists share names & appearances, the music is similar, there are animals with elemental powers, etc.

[@cullbear55]

@@amandamakin1542 Definitely. Also the fact that you're a kid 13 or younger leaving home to journey across the country, at least in the first 2 EarthBound games. The dads are usually missing except for in both series' third entries. (Although Mother 1's english prototype and GBA port added a little sprite of Ninten's dad with his back to the screen, so we still basically never see him, beyond just his body shape.) The mother is also left at home in the first two Mother games, just like with Pokemon.

[@childofcascadia]

@bijipinusyangbijakAB2 Captain Obvious to the bridge! Calling Captain Obvious to the bridge!

[@eugiblisscast]

15:06 healing pokemon while performing a glitch is usually how you kill the game 🤣

[@johtotrainermax2037]

That music at the end is Silvagunner quality right there! The highest quality rips known to mannnn

[@Only30CharactersThatsBullshit.]

Noice

[@wingedmirage4226]

That thumbnail though XD But seriously, this is a very interesting glitch.

[@therealinferno161]

7:53 "But the 'miracle' never happen." Nice.

[@ori.g4mi]

Love that I am not the only one who got this. That was my favourite Ace Attorney case. Shame I played the version where the typo was fixed.

[@AleksandrStrizhevskiy]

I would like to be brought in on the joke.

[@flyforce16]

@@AleksandrStrizhevskiy Ace Attorney joke: Justice for All's final case had a "bad ending" that included this notorious typo.

[@mgostIH]

I'm hooked already whenever I see you popping in my notifications 😍

[@sergiofls7623]

i wasn't expecting you here

[@adamant8696]

@@sergiofls7623 same

[@plainoldcereal9409]

Best pickup line I’ve ever heard

[@Veecy]

It's so weird that the hooked Dragonite plays the gym leader theme, it's just so strange to hear a trainer battle theme playing over a wild battle.

[@sigkilled]

7:52 good ol' phoenix wright reference nice!

[@cumdungeon]

Museum man attacks kid with a wild, hooked Dragonite, attempting to force him to enter a museum.

[@Only30CharactersThatsBullshit.]

Florida men visited kanto again

[@Only30CharactersThatsBullshit.]

*Florida man intensifies*

[@paulpreserves8310]

i'm not a pokémon coding expert, but you explained things pretty simple and i liked it!

[@dirty_tuna]

1st gen Mr. Mime always looked like it was hooked on something.

[@Veecy]

I love so much that the unused track just casually plays here

[@Veecy]

I also love that the debug name "NINTEN" appears on the screen after you heal

[@OrbitalPulsar]

The hooked Mr.Mime: *I CAN DO ANYTHING*

[@charliekempf]

Ah, the yearly upload

[@emanueletrentini2504]

What if you hack the game to NOT lock your movements? That way you could continue the fight with the hooked pokemon

[@AhnafAbdullah]

Yeah I wanna see that too

[@njamesm11]

I’ve seen this same effect from another video. Basically what happens is the dragonite is level 0, and you don’t send out any pokemon at the beginning of the battle, you’re just standing there and can only use the moves of your first pokemon. After 1 turn of the battle, it displays the text “PA: Ding-dong! You’re out of Safari Balls!” And ends the battle and the game immediately crashes. Edit: oh yeah and it uses the Gym Leader battle theme for some reason Edit 2: Holy... 88 likes??? Thanks everyone 😂

[@emanueletrentini2504]

@@njamesm11 that's cool!

[@jacobw1780]

@@njamesm11 67 likes

[@gregorymirabella1423]

@@njamesm11 are you able to throw a pokeball?

[@Melon_EX]

"the miracle never happen" I ded

[@eldafi]

That feeling when you escort someone and you get interrupted by some universal alarm so you become m n o p 4:19

[@aeterborne]

7:49 The miracle never happen. Nice one, Wrighto!

[@hellsmere]

Not gonna lie I was hooked until the very end zzazz

[@eaglgenes101]

Like a Dragonite?

[@amandamakin1542]

I'm glad I was hooked like a Dragonite, too, because I got to hear that cute unused trading theme again (the higher pitch notes at 13:24)

[@SilentVinyl]

I didn't know there was a hooked Dragonite glitch. It seems you can learn something new about your childhood games.

[@BackPalSA]

"But the miracle never happen", I saw that you sneaky trainer you. I love your content!

[@MOORE4U2]

"And if you haven't realized already, saving at this point would be a terrible idea."

[@jeiku5041]

That Viridian City remix the game treated us to was great.

[@chair547]

Do you think it could be possible to use this glitch for arbitrary code execution? Perhaps placing the correct items in your bag and then allowing the rest of the items to be read as a script with no 8F

[@gypsysprite4824]

8f is still far more versatile and useful

[@TheWispGuy]

12:51 The sequel to the RPG Horror game, Ib, is pretty weird. 13:22 Heh, the music sounds pretty bizarre. 13:51 omg, the music is so bad/messed up I love it. XD

[@amandamakin1542]

At 13:24, the higher pitched notes in the corrupted music are part of that unused Trading Theme that would've used two Gameboys for two different channels.

[@BlueForte]

I remember when I was a kid you could use the fishing rod at the safari zone it was super rare to pull a dratini or dragonair. And I always wondered how cool it would be to pull out a dragonite and fight Lance. I guess they did have a dragonite in the safari zone, but for some reason removed it. Or maybe it’s all just random.

[@Kairos_Akuma]

Nah. Not unnecessarily. Might just be the Game HAPPEN to call for a Dragonite. Saw the same with Metapods and Fearows.

[@l9m241]

(13:30) Bravo on the Unused music being the one song that played!

[@The_Mister_E]

So... No data on the dragonite/mr mime itself? Levels? Moves? IVs?

[@InnocentGuillotine]

If it's actually hooked and not the game reading garbage as a Pokémon that means it's probably random (or based on level in the case of moves). It'd just be a wild encounter, albeit one caused by a glitch. Ultimately though it's unlikely that the dragonite will be as interesting as the cause of the glitch in the first place.

[@chainswordcs]

I mean, you can't exactly *catch* the Dragonite either

[@abloogywoogywoo]

I read in articles that user Jojo12100 was able to dump its info and replicate it. Its Level 1, I think, not much else is known about it. Any more info would be appreciated.

[@AmericanChoirboy]

The sped up music at 10:50 sounds like an incredibly rare legendary Pokemon cry, like an epic fairy God

[@MetaBloxer]

7:40 Could that miracle happen if that value eventually showed up under the player's play time, breaking the infinite loop?

[@zolbieab8294]

Has anyone tried doing this with the guy who walks you to the gym? You'd have to use the Brock skip glitch to get to Safari Zone with him still available, but it should theoretically give different results, right?

[@SuperCatPrincess]

Game Theory: Red is Ninten Seriously though, I used to watch Missingnoxpert a lot and this video came up in my recommended videos and brought back a lot of glitchy memories. Thanks.

[@jawsome1185]

oh hey missingnoxpert's back from the dead if you haven't heard

[@blankpage9277]

I miss missingnoxpert

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

He deleted all his videos. Imma cry :(

[@nameistunbekannt7896]

This game never ceases to amaze me. And you, too. I love your bug investigations! Especially when you debug them.

[@sagetmaster4]

Wow, if you talk to him in other locations it perfectly recreates twitch plays Pokemon

[@S3lvah]

Love the video and the thumbnail. xD What level/moves would the Dragonite have if you hacked the controls back to "enabled?"

[@amandamakin1542]

At 13:24, the music becomes so glitched up, that that unused cute Trading Theme that would've used two Gameboys for two different channels begins playing! 🎶 😍

[@amandamakin1542]

A video by Zumi Daxuya that has many unused songs from Generation 1 mentions the information. The song in question plays on this video at 13:24. Also, here are more videos of that song: Hacking the game to play the song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqilpHRrd81nmpI The song again, but distorted: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3_VgJKner6DacU The song "restored": kzbin.info/www/bejne/farSqYqBj5umbtk How it actually is supposed to sound: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHmxiI2gZ8h2lZo

[@SovLestlandia]

The one thing that interrests me about this glitch is why it thinks we have encountered a Pokemon with a Fishing Rod. Or why the Gym Trainer theme is playing during that.

[@Game_Lab_Germany]

wow, nothing catch me more then those glitch stuff. When i play games i try to get out of maps and trigger glitches, because if found they are more interessting then the actual game :D. Glitching stuff is like explore hidden pathes, stuff that most people never see or understand. I swear nothing else is more exciting for me to explore this. i want to thank you alot ! watching this stuff give me chills and satisfy my 9 years old me. (:

[@CambriaBold]

Just imagine if the Mr. Mime variant was the one that was discovered all those years ago. Probably would've been the subject of many a creepypasta rumoury thing. I wonder what would happen if you could stop your controls from getting locked in those fights? How would the battles transpire?

[@soouG.]

To quote a reply to a comment that said something along the lines of "Even if you could go past the hooked Dragonite screen, I get the feeling the battle would be impossible": "It's catchable, but the battle mode is buggy. It's at Lv. 0 and it kinda plays like a glitched out Safari Mode. When I looked at this a few years back, it was because it sets the battle type to something ridiculous like hex id 60 or something. There's only like about 4 different battle type ids in the game." - @danielhall6888 Of course this is only for the "hooked Dragonite", and I don't know everything about glitch pokémon, so I wouldn't be sure how the battle with the hooked Mr. Mime transpires.

[@SoulcatcherLucario]

It's nice seeing you upload again!

[@fyimbtmn]

Really well analyzed. First time I saw somebody explain a pokemon glitch with deeper depth than "some values"(Of course it's memory corruption and bad references, I would like to see more). I find these errors fascinating, especially from a game that created childhood fantasies.

[@danielhall6888]

What is it with these Pokemon vid explanations coming the moment I've been wondering how they work respectively? Awesome, man!

[@tjayenterprises5190]

It's interesting because you can actually hook a dragonite in BW2 by fishing in rippled water

[@Muhammad-lq7fu]

Its right here ! But you have to pay to get in but it worth it ! See you around

[@weridplusho]

Stuff like this is why I love this old Pokemon games. The postgame is full of neverending surprises!

[@ubyn3816]

I think I just found my new favorite channel, you are a worthy successor of MissignoXpert.

[@regenschirm]

Olden! Brings back memories of TPP

[@lampdisease]

WutFace

[@OrigenalDarkMew]

11:16 You didn't have to kill him man!

[@ouissam2502]

You're a smart man and I have subscribed to your channel now. Keep up the great work and as always I love text videos.

[@Magus12000BC]

13:20 That hidden track that started playing sounds more intact than what TCRF has showcased on their site. Any reason why that is? He notes aren't as shrill and it appears to be playing at a proper speed. Is it because it is playing the Pewter City instruments and tempo?

[@Mastervitro]

The hooked Mr. Mime is the real creepy pasta here

[@AleksandrStrizhevskiy]

This is the first time I heard of this. I played this game non stop back in 1999 and 2000. I'm surprised 10 years (and now 20 years) later people were still finding new things in it.

[@diobrando3119]

I liked your videos before, but this really got me hooked :D

[@KUSAMOCHI-SAN42]

When the music got messed up when you got in the Pokémon center it reminded me of a cheat code i have on Pokémon Blue

[@joey7116]

Hearing the old music has just made my day 👍 Thanks very much 💗 Edit: maybe the original idea for the safari park was like one of those funfair things where you have to hook a rubber duck and you win a goldfish

[@DUBSkyLinEx3]

I love how you still make videos about this game

[@raptorgator]

14:50 this is what Hell looks like. A constant loop of voices calling from the void, seemingly conversing with one another while being trapped for all eternity

[@in1tiate]

7:52 "but the "miracle" never happen." I love you for this

[@flyforce16]

7:49 nice Justice for All reference haha

[@philipgutierrez2999]

7:45 - the "miracle" never happen. I'm gonna have to object to that. OBJECTION!

[@jrgerba]

Wow! Another buffer overflow in Pokémon r/b/g/y? WHO WOULDA THUNK IT!? Great work as always lmao

[@n8with8s]

14:00 REMIXXXX!!!

[@Yahiamice]

RED: so sad that Steve Jobs died of ligma Museum Guide: Who the hell is Steve Jobs? RED: ligma balls 11:16

[@verysillyman_yes]

Ok.

[@caperlamb1930]

This glitch is literally just a 2020 meme hidden in a 20+ year old game

[@livipup]

I hadn't heard of this glitch before, but I had a feeling it had to do with memory mismanagement :) This is more of a case of brute forcing the memory to be used in the wrong instance though rather than cases like the Mew glitch where memory is being properly managed for the most part and the player simply avoided an instance where memory was overwritten. This one requires you to go outside of the bounds of what area of memory is normally used to make it work. I find it interesting that the hooked Mr. Mime seems to be glitchier than the hooked Dragonite. I would assume that this is due to overwriting memory incorrectly though. That's the basis for most glitches with the same effect.

[@MysticBlueFox]

How bizarre, I never knew of this glitch years and years ago and seeing it now is just a trip.

[@marimuimoto3061]

To this day, nothing will be freakier than RBY glitches.

[@zolris5498]

big fan of these videos, the glitches are pretty interesting

[@RoseBleueDuRosierSec]

You're alive! We missed you!!

[@bignerd7683]

The hooked dragonite has the big enemy spider vibes

[@theonewhoscreamsiguess1996]

i can't believe you killed the museum guy

[@Ricar2002YT]

This was pretty cool and really well explained

[@iamharper]

One of my favorite channels

[@Kaizykat]

KZbin recommended this to me. I only understand about half of everything, but it's fascinating!

[@U-Flame]

7:52 Now that's an Ace Attorney reference ai wasn't expecting

[@moemm299]

10:35 **Blocks your path**

[@DaramelJr]

Good content as always ^^ I was expecting you to unlock controls in the hooked dragonite fight with memory editor just to see what happends, but it didn't happend sadly :/

[@AmyraCarter]

Anyone else thought it strange that it played the Gym Leader BGM during the borked battles? Also, would it be possible to interrupt the control disabling so that the hooked battles could actually be played out, or is that something that can't be done with memory editing?

[@sniping_287]

You know your day is good when ZZAZZ uploads 🤔

[@Fresca64_]

Everyone always uses the safari zone glitch to enter glitch Fuchsia City, but I never gave much thought to other places like Pewter City. Fascinating video!