Pokemon Glitch Discovered by Pet Fish

10/13/2020 04:55 pm EDT

A glitch from Pokemon Sapphire was recently discovered by a betta fish named Lala, which is the pet of a Japanese streamer on YouTube. The glitch had gone undiscovered in the nearly 18 years since the game's release, and that would be notable enough on its own, outside of the animal that made the discovery! Lala's owner, Mutekimaru, set-up a tracking camera and circuit board that tracks the movements of Lala and three other fish. The movements of the fish translate to moves in the game, as part of an experiment to see if, given time, they could complete the game. A video of the glitch (and Lala) can be found in the Tweet from @eclipse_tt embedded below.

The glitch occurs in the game when using the Strength HM. In the game's Seafloor Cavern, when the player moves in a particular pattern, it can cause the boulders to duplicate, instead of moving. Considering how much time has passed without this glitch being discovered, it seems that the requirements must be pretty precise for it to occur in the game. Moving boulders in caves in the Pokemon series can be a bit frustrating, so it's hard to imagine how irritating it would be if they actually duplicated, instead of moving!

Glitches have been part of the Pokemon series since the days of Red and Green, so it isn't too surprising when these types of things pop up. However, the popularity of the series typically results in these kinds of issues being discovered fairly quickly! Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire released in Japan on Game Boy Advance in 2002. Worldwide, the games sold more than 16 million units, making it the best-selling game on the GBA hardware. Given the hundreds of hours that players have spent with the game over the last two decades, it's pretty surprising that it took a betta fish to make this discovery!

Are you a fan of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire? Have you ever encountered any strange Pokemon glitches? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

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