Celebi Egg Glitch. A vulnerability in second generation of games

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The Celebi Egg Glitch is one of the most intriguing bugs discovered in the Gold, Silver, and Crystal games. It allows players to obtain virtually every creature from the second generation, including the mythical Celebi—a creature normally only available during special distribution events. This programming error became particularly popular among English-speaking fans because their regions never officially distributed Celebi, preventing them from completing the Pokédex without the use of external gameplay-modifying devices.

History of the Discovery in the Crystal, Gold, and Silver Generations

The bug was first documented on the Glitch City Laboratories website by user Paco81. It was initially known simply as the „Celebi glitch” or „Celebi trick,” as the original method did not involve an egg. However, the Celebi obtained this way had an invalid name consisting of random characters and was also locked at level 100.

Only later was an improved version of this glitch discovered, allowing Celebi to hatch from an egg, allowing it to function properly in terms of game mechanics. This version became known as the „Celebi Egg Glitch” and became the preferred method for players to obtain this mythical creature.

How it Works

To understand how this glitch works, you must first understand how second-generation games store data. In Gold, Silver, and Crystal, both creatures and moves (as well as items) were encoded in a single index table. Interestingly, the number of creatures (251) was exactly equal to the number of available moves, creating a unique opportunity to exploit this relationship.

The key to the Celebi Egg Glitch is the Beat Up attack, which has the index number 251—the exact same as Celebi. By manipulating game data, you can make an egg hatch as a creature whose index number matches the third-ranked move in its parent’s set.

This mechanism isn’t limited to Celebi—theoretically, you can obtain any creature from the first 251 by matching the appropriate move. For example:

• Psychic (index 94) will yield Gengar.
• Splash (index 150) will yield Mewtwo.

The only exception is Ledyba (index 165), which corresponds to Struggle—which no Pokémon can normally know after hatching from an egg.

Required Items

The following items are required to perform the Celebi Egg Glitch:

1. An egg with Beat Up in the third rank—This can be obtained by training a male and female Sneasel to level 57, ensuring that both have identical movesets with Beat Up in the third rank. If both parents have the same moveset, the offspring will inherit it unchanged.
2. Bad Clone – This is a cloned creature whose name consists only of question marks (or is blank), its level is 0 (not 255, as is the case with many other glitches), and its gender is different from the original. Obtaining such a clone requires luck during the standard Pokémon cloning process. The chance of creating a bad clone is highest when the box in the PC contains 15 to 18 creatures.
3. Any five creatures – Preferably weak or common creatures, which will serve as „material” for the glitch.

In-Game Glitch Procedure

The Celebi Egg Glitch procedure consists of the following steps:

1. Place an egg in the PC box.
2. Place five creatures of any species and the defective clone in the party.
3. Send the defective clone to the Breeding Center for care and then immediately retrieve it – it will become a creature named ????.
4. Place ???? in the first position in the party and go to the PC.
5. Use the „Move Creature Without Letter” option to move any creature from the PC box to the first position in the party. Its name will change to the name of its original trainer, and the party will now have seven creatures.
6. Return to the Breeding Center and place ???? in care.
7. Return to the PC and deposit the first and second creatures in the party.
8. Move the egg from the PC box to the first position in the party.
9. Deposit the next four creatures in the party, but not the egg.
10. Releasing any creature that wasn’t used to create the glitch.
11. Walking or cycling until the egg hatches as a Level 0 Celebi.
12. Caring for the Celebi at the Breeding Center until it reaches at least Level 2, which will make it function like a normal Celebi.

Item held by the hatched Pokémon

An interesting aspect of this glitch is that the hatched Pokémon will hold an item based on the fourth move of the creature used to breed it. Both the item and the fourth move have the same index number. For example:

• If the fourth move is Reflect (index 115), the hatched Pokémon will hold a GS Ball (or Teru-sama in Gold and Silver).
• If the fourth move is Whirlpool or Beat Up, the hatched Pokémon will hold the HM08 or HM09 bug items, which are not normally available in the game.
• If the fourth move is Pound, the hatched egg will hold a Master Ball, giving you the opportunity to obtain an unlimited number of these rare items.

Potential Problems and Side Effects

1. The Celebi Egg Glitch, while powerful, can lead to various undesirable side effects:

2. Some creatures deposited during the glitch may have their names, genders, levels, or moves changed. Some may become defective clones.

• Improperly executing the glitch can lead to serious game data corruption, including:
• The appearance of numerous defective clones
• Hiding 50-80 bug creatures in your party, representing game code
• Changing the player’s name to a random name composed of invalid characters
• Changing the player’s ID number
• Corrupting Pokédex data

3. Defective clones ????? are difficult to remove. There are only three known methods:

• Trading into a first-generation game
• Using a PC in the lab in Stadium 2
• Participating in the Bug Catching Contest, where faulty clones will disappear after the contest ends

Cultural Significance in the Series

The Celebi Egg Glitch is particularly significant for English-speaking second-generation fans, as Celebi was never officially released outside of Japan due to the series’ declining popularity at the time. This glitch allowed players to complete the Pokédex without the need for devices like GameShark or Action Replay, which were not yet widely used.

The discovery of this glitch also demonstrates the strength and determination of the fan community, who, through creative thinking and a deep understanding of the game’s code, were able to solve a seemingly insurmountable problem. It is a prime example of how passionate fans can find unexpected solutions in seemingly closed systems.

Celebi Egg Glitch – Summary

The Celebi Egg Glitch is a fascinating glitch that allows you to obtain virtually every second-generation creature, including the mythical Celebi, without the use of external gameplay modifiers. It exploits the unique data structure of the Gold, Silver, and Crystal games, where creatures and moves share the same index table.

While executing this glitch requires precision and can lead to undesirable side effects, it has become a significant part of second-generation fan culture, especially for players outside of Japan who had no other way to complete the Pokédex.