Do Glitch Pokémon count as real Pokémon?

[Missingno. Master]

Do Glitch Pokémon count as real Pokémon?

First off, a note to the mods; this is not something that can just be answered in the questions thread. This is intended as a discussion. A poll. Where people can voice their opinions on the matter, and where giving a simple, straight answer does not justify the thread being closed. There was already a poll on this, but it was mistaken for a simple question thread and closed before I could have my say on the matter, and since my request to have it reopened has fallen on deaf ears, I figured I should start a new one.

Now, then. Glitch Pokémon. Do they count as real Pokémon? I say yes. Let's look, for a moment, at Missingno., the mascot of Glitch Pokémon, for a moment here. What makes Missingno. a non-Pokémon? It exhibits traits that to date have only been exhibited in other Pokémon.

Let's say you have a TM24. Thunderbolt. TMs are devices that have been created with the specific purpose of teaching new moves to Pokémon and only Pokémon. And, oh, look! Missingno. can learn Thunderbolt! But that's not all, is it? No, Missingno. can learn moves from a whole range of TMs! Mega Punch, Sky Attack, Thunder Wave, Tri Attack, quite a diverse movepool there! You know what? Missingno. can learn TMs, and that's a whole lot more than I can say for some other Pokémon, whose status as Pokémon never get questioned. Caterpie. Kakuna. Magikarp. Unown. Burmy. Wobbuffet. Tynamo. Need I continue?

Different scenario. Your team currently consists of Charizard, Graveler, Jynx, Weezing, Tentacool, and Missingno. By the logic of one who thinks Glitch Pokémon aren't Pokémon, you have five Pokémon on hand. Because Missingno. supposedly isn't a Pokémon. But then you come across a Dodrio. You wear it down with your Tentacool and catch it in a Great Ball. But wait! Dodrio gets sent to Bill's PC! But why, you ask? That only happens when you have- wait for it- GASP! Six Pokémon on hand! While non-Pokémon things can be caught in Poké Balls, as the anime episode Primeape Goes Bananas proves, they obviously don't take up space on one's team, or else Ash would have had to send his rice ball to Professor Oak in order to retrieve Primeape. Thus, we can infer from this that while Poké Balls can catch pretty much anything, only caught Pokémon take up space in one's party. Which Glitch Pokémon do.

Catch yourself an 'M. Go on, do it. Now give your new 'M a Rare Candy. My Arceus, what's it doing? Why, it's evolving into Kangaskhan! And now, class, what does something have to be in order to evolve into a Pokémon? That's right, it has to be a Pokémon!

But, you must be thinking by now, if Missingno. and other such things are really Pokémon, why do Nintendo act otherwise? See, Nintendo's attitude towards Missingno. and its kind is what deters many from seeing the truth. Nintendo can deny Missingno. all they want, but it doesn't change the facts. Now let me make an analogy. If a father disowns his son, the two are still related in the exact same manner as before. He can deny his son all he wants, but he is still his son. Not because of what his father calls him, but because of what he was born to be. This is the case with Nintendo and Missingno. They can feed us all this crap about how Missingno. is not a part of the game, and how you must release it if you catch it, and how it's not a Pokémon, but because of what Missingno. is, because of what it can do, it is undeniably a Pokémon. And the same applies to all other Pokémon so wrongly termed as "glitches" and "errors" and "scrambled data". If it can be caught in a Poké Ball, if it takes up space on one's Pokémon team, if it can battle, and learn moves, and level up, then it is a Pokémon, and pretending otherwise is little more than an insult.

It's true that none of these Glitch Pokémon were intentionally programmed into the game. But that doesn't change the fact that they're there. If you pick up a gun you believe to be empty and shoot it at someone, and it turns out the thing was loaded, try explaining to the cops that it wasn't intentional and see how far you get. Penicillin was created unintentionally, does that make it not a real medicine? No, it does not. The intention behind them doesn't mean a thing as to whether or not they are real.

To sum it all up, Glitch Pokémon are real Pokémon, whether Nintendo likes it or not.

 

[Chrysaries]

The game is about exploring but still id say no

 

[MugoUrth]

All I have is a one-word answer: No.

 

[dragoniteKnight]

ash hasnt seen or captured a missingno yet, they dont exist.

 

[Youngster_Joey]

Since I hatched a bad egg, and know have a level 0 bad egg(actually usable), I say yes.

 

[girazard]

By the OP's logic:
-my hypothetical Mewthree that I hacked onto my Silver is a real Pokemon: I can evolve it into a Smeargle; I can teach it Blizzard; it takes up a spot in my party. Therefore, my hacked Pokemon is a real Pokemon.
-Agumon (a Digimon for non-hipsters) has aspects of real Pokemon. Therefore, Digimon are Pokemon.
-etcetera, etcetera.

Glitched Pokemon like Missingno are not real Pokemon in that they are unofficial and unintentional.

 

[manaphy910]

Glitched Pokemon like Missingno are not real Pokemon in that they are unofficial and unintentional.

This.

I don't personally consider that Glitch Pokemon (such as Missingno) are real Pokemon. They were never intended to be there, and if they were, then I think Nintendo would have decided to turn "officialize" them. In case you are wondering, I only consider the official, intended Pokemon to be considered real Pokemon.

I see where you're coming from with your logic, but I personally don't feel that they all apply in this situation.

It was a good, thought provoking question though.

 

[pikadon92]

Glitch Pokemon are Real Pokemon just like Pokemon in general are real animals. Simple as that.

 

[XXD17]

It's simply an unintentional hiccup in the game's coding...something above the actuality of the game and shouldn't be there...it's not a pokemon, it's a coding error that happens to cause a corruption that fills a spot like a pokemon...it's essentially a hole...

 

[Missingno. Master]

All I have is a one-word answer: No.

Yeah, I kinda figured you'd say that.

ash hasnt seen or captured a missingno yet, they dont exist.

By your logic, Porygon2, Mienshao, Eelektrik, and Zweilous don't exist either.

 

[PikaPika677]

It's a placeholder to prevent the game from crashing. If Gamefreak doesn't call it a Pokémon, then I won't either. So no.

 

[Auraninja]

Just as a virus does not count as a living thing, a glitch should not count as a Pokemon.

 

[RedAce♠]

As far as a real game creature, yes. But as a real pokemon, NO. There a glitch simple as that and plus if they were real, wouldn't Nintendo keep them in every pokemon game? I mean heck, they weren't in Pokemon Yellow, so why only Pokemon Red/Blue. Lastly why does it causes a glitch to make your your 6th placed item x99 and also a possible chance of crashing the game.

Just like cloning pokes and hacking pokes. All fakes basicly... Well that's my thoughts on this manner.

 

[bobandbill]

It's true that none of these Glitch Pokémon were intentionally programmed into the game.

And this is why I think they are not 'real Pokemon', leastways the way I look at it. Glitches were not intended to come about, so if the creators say it's not a real Pokemon, then it really isn't one. It's like...say, the situations when people complain that new Pokemon look too much like digimon or something, or 'not enough like a Pokemon'. What is the definition of a Pokemon? For me, it's a creature that is created by Game Freak/The Pokemon company and officially called a Pokemon; ergo, something that Missingno and other glitch Pokemon do not have. There is no official art of them either, and quite often they cannot be obtained in later games in even remotely the same form as well, making them glitches of individual games and not a consistent feature.

The argument comparing glitch Pokemon to firing a gun at someone that you thought had no bullets in it at any rate is overwhelmingly unconvincing, I might add. =p

 

[WizardTrubbish]

ash hasnt seen or captured a missingno yet, they dont exist.

Ash hasn't seen or captured Porygon Z, are they fake too.


And yes, I do beleive glitch pokemon are, in the lossest possible deffinition, pokemon.

 

[Pkfire0]

No they are not. They were developing Pokemon that got trashed before the game was created and arent specificity called Pokemon

 

[Too Funk to Druck]

No, I don't consider them real Pokemon. Game Freak has never implemented any of them in any games that they have been found in, and the only one that has ever actually been confirmed to exist is Missingno, and all that was mentioned that it only existed for the coding. Not to mention the fact that a good majority of them are only available through hacking the game, or going out of your way to get them. In order for me to consider something a real Pokemon, it has to be considered real by the people who create the games.

 

[Ciliano]

Do they have Pokedex entries? Nope? Then they are not Pokemon.

 

[Avenger Angel]

In order for me to consider something a real Pokemon, it has to be considered real by the people who create the games.

Bingo, couldn't have said it any better myself.

A glitch is a programming accident caused by an unintentional oversight by the programer. Therefore, your glitch Pokemon aren't real Pokemon. They're programming errors and were unintended by the game's programmers. Thus, they're not Pokemon and never will be.

 

[Autis-misc]

Do they have Pokedex entries? Nope? Then they are not Pokemon.

By that logic, Missigno would be a real pokemon because in Red and Blue, it had the same Pokedex entry as Poliwhirl.

therefore, it has to be a real pokemon, by that logic.

But, because they are a mistake generated by the Programmers (and i should know, I am a programmer), they are not real.