If the name MissingNo. means nothing to you, then you’re probably a relatively new Pokémon player, so let us fill you in: MissingNo. is actually a Pokémon (sort of) that appears in Pokémon Red and Blue through a glitch. When the games first came out and the internet wasn’t as big a part of kids’ lives as it is now, MissingNo. was a mystical figure, a story your friend told you about and an oddity that did a bunch of fascinating and weird stuff to your game if you were to encounter and catch one yourself.
That was years ago, though, and MissingNo. has been a non-factor in subsequent Pokémon games… until its return in Pokémon Sun and Moon, thanks to the 3DS Virtual Console release of Red, Blue, and Yellow (via IGN).
Casual fans also might not know about Pokémon Bank, a downloadable 3DS application that gives users an extended PC to store Pokémon from DS and 3DS Pokémon games. The software was recently updated to include compatibility with Sun and Moon, and alongside that update, a companion app, Poké Transporter, which allows players to transfer creatures from the Virtual Console versions of the first-generation games to the current-generation titles.
Some players checked to see what would happen if MissingNo. was transferred to Sun and Moon, and as you’d imagine, it causes some mayhem, although significantly less than in its native game. When transferred, it disappears from the Transport Box, and shifts the names of the Pokémon in your box over by one. For example, Twitter user blazevoir had his Tentacool renamed “MISSINGNO-,” his Rhydon renamed “TENTACOOL,” and so on.
If you try to Transport Pokemon in a box with Missingno., the names of the Pokemon get shifted over by one. pic.twitter.com/zpsMuMZSh8
— blazevoir (@blazevoir) January 25, 2017
Another player filmed the process, so check it out below, and long live MissingNo.
Featured image: Destro-the-Dragon/DeviantArt
