OPkMn4X
The name looks less like a name than a stock code stamped on a crate: an O, the PkMn glyph, a 4, an X. OPkMn4X. It reads like the serial number of a product that fell off the assembly line before anyone printed a label, which is not far from the truth of what it is. Index 207, a barcode where a name should be.
Under the barcode is a wasp. It wears Beedrill, species 15, a genuine Bug and Poison type with the twin-lance frame and a respectable 80 attack, and it carries Beedrill's real weapons, opening with Fury Attack and learning Twineedle later on. It stings like the genuine article. Somewhere in its learnset it also picks up Thunderbolt at level 25, which no self-respecting bug should know, the first crack in an otherwise convincing insect.
The real surprise is what it turns into. At level 5, absurdly early, OPkMn4X evolves into Charmander. Not a bigger bug, not a lump of noise, but one of the three starter Pokemon, the little fire lizard a whole generation of players chose first in Professor Oak's lab. A serial-numbered wasp that becomes the game's most beloved beginner. Its other evolution paths sprawl toward Exeggutor and Tauros and MissingNo., but that Charmander at level 5 is the one that lingers. Somewhere in the broken data, a bug dreams of being the start of everyone's adventure.
BUG POISON
The bytes
| What | Where in the ROM | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Index number | slot 207 of the species table | 0xCF (207) |
| Pokedex byte | 0x410F2 | 15 (borrowed from a real species) |
| Stats entry | 0x38566 | 0F 41 50 28 4B 2D 07 03 2D 9F... |
| Size byte | entry byte 10 | 0x77 = 7 wide, 7 tall (the buffer holds 7x7) |
| Name bytes | 0x1CA2A | 8E 21 34 4A FA 39 D6 C3 97 3D |
| Catch rate | entry byte 8 | 45 |
Front sprite pointer 0x7788 resolves into ROM bank 0x0D (deterministic) at file offset 0x37788. The decode is deterministic: it looks the same on every cartridge, every time.
Byte for byte identical in Blue.
Base stats
Its stat spread, straight from the entry bytes. Glitch specimens love extremes, a wall with zero attack, or a paper-thin speedster.
Moves
Knows from the start: FURY ATTACK.
Learnset (read straight from its pointer)
| Level | Move |
|---|---|
| L38 | SPORE |
| L89 | PETAL DANCE |
| L129 | SWIFT |
| L25 | THUNDERBOLT |
| L129 | TWINEEDLE |
| L52 | STRENGTH |
| L26 | PAY DAY |
| L53 | GLITCH MOVE 0xAA |
| L141 | GLITCH MOVE 0xA7 |
| L9 | COMET PUNCH |
| L241 | GLITCH MOVE 0xEC |
| L252 | AURORA BEAM |
| L126 | MEDITATE |
| L186 | SELFDESTRUCT |
| L15 | GLITCH MOVE 0xAD |
| L254 | SELFDESTRUCT |
| L31 | PETAL DANCE |
| L87 | CONVERSION |
| L195 | TAIL WHIP |
| L75 | GLITCH MOVE 0xFF |
| L169 | BARRAGE |
| L146 | SKULL BASH |
| L109 | GLITCH MOVE 0xFF |
| L255 | GLITCH MOVE 0xF9 |
TM and HM compatibility (flag bits, entry bytes 20 to 26)
| Machine | Move |
|---|---|
| TM03 | SWORDS DANCE |
| TM06 | TOXIC |
| TM09 | TAKE DOWN |
| TM10 | DOUBLE-EDGE |
| TM15 | HYPER BEAM |
| TM20 | RAGE |
| TM21 | MEGA DRAIN |
| TM31 | MIMIC |
| TM32 | DOUBLE TEAM |
| TM33 | REFLECT |
| TM34 | BIDE |
| TM39 | SWIFT |
| TM40 | SKULL BASH |
| TM44 | REST |
| TM50 | SUBSTITUTE |
| HM01 | CUT |
Evolutions
| Trigger | Becomes |
|---|---|
| LEVEL 5 (glitch method 0xCF) | CHARMANDER (0xB0) |
| LEVEL 60 (glitch method 0x7A) | EXEGGUTOR (0x0A) |
| LEVEL 89 (glitch method 0x52) | TAUROS (0x3C) |
| LEVEL 10 (glitch method 0x1B) | MISSINGNO. (0x50) |
| LEVEL 218 (glitch method 0x8E) | NIDORINA (0xA8) |
| LEVEL 101 (glitch method 0x98) | PORYGON (0xAA) |
| LEVEL 87 (glitch method 0x4E) | KABUTO (0x5A) |
| LEVEL 81 (glitch method 0xAA) | \x21\x5b\xcc4S\xcfH\x16\x00\x5f (0xCA) |
Hear its cry
A cry is three bytes the game looks up by index number: a base sound, a pitch, and a length. This specimen reads a base that points past the real cries into data that was never a cry, so it comes out broken straight from the table. I rebuild the sound live from the Game Boy's two pulse channels and its noise channel. This is not a recording.
Does it still work?
This is the question people actually ask about a glitch, so here is the honest answer for this one.
| Where | Still works? |
|---|---|
| Original Game Boy cartridge | Yes. The source of every byte on this page. |
| Game Boy Color / Super Game Boy | Yes, with the auto-assigned palette shown above. |
| 3DS Virtual Console (2016 re-release) | Yes. Nintendo shipped the re-release unpatched, so this is the most accessible way to reach it in 2026. |
| Later remakes (FireRed, Let's Go, and newer) | No. Rebuilt engines, the empty-slot overflow that produces this creature is gone. |
Fight it yourself
This is our from-scratch recreation of the Red battle engine. The enemy team is preset to this specimen; pick your own fighter, glitch or otherwise.
Every number on this page was read from a Pokemon Red ROM by reproducing the game's own out-of-bounds memory reads. Nothing is invented. Part of The Glitchhouse.