Honestly, playing Pokémon Red the way Nintendo intended is fine, but it’s not how most of us remember it. We remember the rumors. We remember the schoolyard whispers about a secret 151st Pokémon hidden behind a truck or the legendary "MissingNo" that could break your game—or make you a god.
Looking back from 2026, it’s wild how much of that "cheating" was actually just us exploiting a game that was essentially held together by digital duct tape and hope. The Game Boy wasn't powerful. The code was messy. And in that mess, we found magic.
If you’re dusting off an old cartridge or firing up an emulator, you aren’t looking for a fair fight. You want 128 Rare Candies. You want Mew.
The MissingNo Glitch: More Than Just a Pixel Blob
MissingNo isn't a Pokémon. It’s a "Missing Number." Basically, when the game tries to load a wild encounter in a place where it doesn't have data for one, it panics and grabs whatever is sitting in the temporary data buffer.
Most people use the Cinnabar Island method. It’s iconic.
First, you talk to the old man in Viridian City—the one who needs his coffee—and watch him catch a Weedle. For some reason, this action stores your character's name in the same memory slot used for wild Pokémon data. Then, you Fly to Cinnabar and Surf up and down that tiny strip of water on the eastern coast.
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The game thinks you're in a "wild" area, but because that specific tile is technically part of the town, it doesn't have its own encounter table. It looks back at that memory buffer where your name is.
What happens next?
- A glitchy mess appears (MissingNo or 'M).
- Your sixth item is duplicated.
- You suddenly have 128 Master Balls.
You don't even have to catch it. In fact, catching it is kinda risky. It won't delete your save—that’s a total myth—but it will absolutely scramble your Hall of Fame data and mess up your character sprite. If you just want the items, run away. Your bag will thank you.
How to Get Mew (Without the Truck)
We all spent hours trying to push that truck near the S.S. Anne. It was a lie. A beautiful, frustrating lie.
The real way to get Mew is through the Long-Range Trainer Glitch. It’s surprisingly consistent once you know the steps. You need a Pokémon that knows Fly or Teleport (Abra is your best friend here).
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Go to Route 24, just north of Cerulean City. There’s a Junior Trainer hiding in the grass. You have to walk into his line of sight and hit the Start button at the exact same time. If you time it right, the menu opens before he "sees" you.
Teleport away.
The game is now in a weird state. It thinks a battle is happening, but you aren't there. Go fight the Youngster on Route 25 (the one with the Slowpoke). After you win, walk back toward Route 24. Your menu will pop up on its own. Close it, and a Level 7 Mew appears.
It feels like a fever dream, but it’s 100% real code exploitation. The "Special" stat of the last Pokémon you fought determines what spawns when you return to that route. Since that Slowpoke has a Special stat of 21, and 21 is Mew's internal ID... well, you do the math.
GameShark Codes: The Nuclear Option
Sometimes glitches are too much work. If you have a physical GameShark or you're using an emulator like RetroArch or Delta, you can just force the game to give you what you want.
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Be careful, though. Stacking too many codes usually causes the game to crash or turns your party into a bunch of level 0 Bulbasaur clones.
Essential Pokémon Red GameShark Codes:
- Infinite Money:
019946D3 019947D3 019948D3(Buying 99 Porygons becomes a lot easier). - Infinite Rare Candy (Slot 1):
012810D3(This puts them in your first item slot). - Master Ball in Marts:
01017CCF(Every shop now sells the best ball for $0). - Walk Through Walls:
010138CD(Useful for skipping the Safari Zone's annoying timer).
The Risks of "Cheating" in Kanto
Is it safe? Sorta.
Pokémon Red is robust in weird ways but fragile in others. The biggest risk with MissingNo is graphical corruption. If you see your character looking like a jumbled mess of tiles, don't panic. Just look at the stats of a "normal" Pokémon in your party, and the game usually fixes the visuals.
The real "save killer" is the Glitch City trick. If you mess with the Safari Zone exit mechanics and save your game inside a corrupted map, you might actually get stuck forever. If you can't Fly or Teleport out, that's the end of your journey.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Playthrough
If you want to dominate the Kanto region without spending 40 hours grinding, here is exactly what you should do:
- Setup your Bag: Before doing the Cinnabar Surf, put a Rare Candy or a Master Ball in the 6th slot. Not 5th, not 7th. The 6th.
- Save Early: Always save before trying the Mew glitch. If you accidentally fight the wrong trainer or talk to someone you shouldn't, you can "lock" yourself out of getting Mew for that entire save file.
- Check Your Name: The Pokémon you encounter at Cinnabar depend on the letters in your name. If you want specific high-level Pokémon (like a Level 140 Snorlax), you need specific characters in your name slot.
There's no "wrong" way to play a game this old. Whether you're a purist or a glitch-hunter, the goal is the same: becoming the Champion. If that takes a few hundred "counterfeit" Rare Candies to get there, who are we to judge?