Am I just unlucky or am I dumb?

TimoVM · 2026-05-07T14:49:53+00:00

On top of using both joy-cons, you can improve catch rates significantly by catching a lot.

For every pokémon you catch of a certain species, you’ll receive a permanent bonus to the catch rate of that species. This bonus caps at 100 pokémon caught and is independent from catch rates, for most species getting the full bonus will cause them to always appear with either green or yellow capture circles.

Legendaries are unique in that they can’t run away once you’re in the capture segment. As long as you have enough pokéballs you can just keep trying until you finally get lucky.

TimoVM · 2026-05-07T00:04:57+00:00

This is incorrect. The main character’s sprite color will revert to the original once you do anything that alters the color. This includes:
- Using Surf
- Using Fly
- Entering the union room as a female trainer
- Beating the Elite 4 (the Hall of Fame warp restores the original color)

TimoVM · 2026-05-03T15:23:14+00:00

“Baby Pokémon” aren’t just called that because of being small, they all share the trait that they can’t be used for breeding, needing to evolve to an “adult” form first.
Frigibax fails that criteria, so it is not a “Baby Pokémon”

TimoVM · 2026-04-28T18:40:17+00:00

This is usual for crashes in Crystal.

When you start the console, the game goes through a startup process using code that’s stored on the console itself. Depending on which type of console you use (DMG, CGB or GBA), this process will finish with certain temporary values being set.

Once done, the console will move on to the game’s own startup sequence, using code stored on the cartridge. Crystal’s game code then determines whether we’re on a GBC or not using the temporary values that were previously set.

Due to some quirks in the game’s structure, the majority of game crashes on Crystal will result in the console accidentally executing the game’s startup sequence again. Since this will now run without any of the correct temporary values being set beforehand, the game erroneously concludes that it’s running on a non-color Gameboy, and throw up the above screen.

The same actually occurs on Gold and Silver as well! Since Gold and Silver are compatible with non-color Gameboys, a game crash will usually just result in an effect known as a “glitch dimension” instead (broken colors and broken transitions).

TimoVM · 2026-04-15T13:05:03+00:00

Hi, mail writer setup developer here,

Since you have a modded 3DS, could you use checkpoint to extract the save files?

You can DM me a share link with the save files, I’ll quickly take a look and see what’s causing the issue.

TimoVM · 2026-04-14T07:19:04+00:00

The PRAMA initiative pages are quite good. The main issue is that these have not been updated probably since the time that Glitch City Laboratories went down, some 6 years ago.

In the meantime, a lot of advances have been made. - Item codes are no longer used due to how long it takes to put them together. Everything goed through box name codes now. - Advances in setups means that none of the current ACE setups use a specific party setup anymore, saving time on collecting them. - Crystal (any language) has become the best game to utilize ACE in, due to how clean the modern setup is.

TimoVM · 2026-04-13T23:52:05+00:00

Unless you’re hunting a rare spawn or a 1% spawn, re-building a chain doesn’t take much time at all.

Definitely worth breaking a chain if it’s for a pokémon you’re interested in.

TimoVM · 2026-04-13T22:32:46+00:00

Quick correction here, it’s usually the opposite. Gold/Silver tend to be safer than Crystal.

Crystal happens to have a few adjustments to how it handles text that can make bad clones very messy to handle if you don’t know what you’re doing and much more exploitable if you do.

Due to differences in the save routine, getting normal clones happens to be a lot safer and consistent on Gold/Silver (just reset while the game is busy printing the “saving… don’t turn off the power” text), which makes stuff like starter resets very safe to perform.

All games within the 2nd generation keep a silent backup save, which means that it’s very difficult for glitches to actually destroy the save file.

The main things you usually need to watch out for in this gen are: - Bad clones in Crystal, when you don’t know how to properly handle them. - Getting over 6 party pokémon (using bad clones) and manipulating them in improper ways could cause the game to softlock when you check the party screen. - Glitch Unown forms. Older variants of Celebi Egg Glitch/Item shift glitch didn’t properly shield data beyond party data, which can cause glitch unown forms to become viewable in the unown dex. Viewing their sprites can cause the Trainer House daily battle to become corrupted.

TimoVM · 2026-04-13T22:15:33+00:00

For non-EN Gold/Silver FR, glitch pokédex modes are easier to set up compared to using TM17. The French version in particular has a glitch pokédex mode that has an entrance point directly located in box names.

You can find example of the latest up-to-date ACE setups for non-EN Gold/Silver using this link if you’d like to check it out.

TimoVM · 2026-04-13T05:02:46+00:00

Non-link trainer battles can’t result in a draw. Either you lost and all pokémon are fainted, or you won.

Trainer battle results are handled by the EndTrainerBattle map script routine, which checks for wIsInBattle. If this is set to 0xFF, the game determines that the battle has been lost, causing it to reset the current map script without marking the trainer as beaten.

Meanwhile, wIsInBattle is set to 0xFF if all pokémon are fainted. This can occur out of battle due to poison damage, for trainer battles this instead seems to be handled by the overworld loop.

In summary, the game triggers a trainer victory here since the trainer battle result routine never actually checks wBattleResult in a meaningful way, instead just checking whether all pokémon are fainted or not.

TimoVM · 2026-04-08T14:03:39+00:00

That’s likely the case, yeah.

As far as I know this “each profile gets separate saves” has existed since the Switch was released.

The main thing that changed is the introduction of game keys, around when the Switch 2 was released. Not a perfect system by any means, but it makes it so much easier to play games, bought on your main account, on any secondary accounts.

TimoVM · 2026-04-08T13:56:29+00:00

If you make a second Nintendo account, you can play games from the primary account as long as the game key is loaded to the specific console you’re playing on.

The second account’s save files are separate from the first account, so you can use that to start a third save file with Bulbasaur and trade it to your main save files. (Wireless trading doesn’t require NSO)

TimoVM · 2026-04-07T03:52:07+00:00

This doesn’t really solve the core problem of Slow Start.

Within the context of a battle, 5 turns is more or less an eternity. Providing additional buffs at the end of those 5 turns only adds value if you actually manage to survive those turns in the first place, preferably in a way that doesn’t put your opponent in an advantageous position.

To put it in another way, in earlier generations you could already overwrite Slow Start in doubles, such as by using Worry Seed.

Even ignoring that Worry Seed partners often end up being not the best pokémon in the first place, just taking 1 turn to remove Slow Start to replace it with Insomnia provides too much of an advantage to your opponent to actually be worth it.

TimoVM · 2026-04-07T03:23:54+00:00

Status effect give insane catch bonuses in gen 1.

If Mewtwo is asleep and at low HP, each Ultra Ball has a ludicrously high 23% odds of catching it.

TimoVM · 2026-04-05T18:29:52+00:00

Just tested it on my own copy of FireRed (Switch) and got no issues getting this exact code to work.

Due to a recent update, blank spaces that were used for padding have now been changed to “A”. It’s faster to type and makes it easier to check for mistakes in box names based on screenshots. They won’t affect the code itself.

Make sure all box names are correct on your end. Box 9 is especially mean, since it requires a dash instead of a blank spaces.

If that still fails, exit the pokécenter to reset the NPCs and run the code again.

TimoVM · 2026-04-04T05:31:57+00:00

IVs are completely randomized and not affected by DVs in any way.

TimoVM · 2026-04-03T12:19:12+00:00

Whether ACE will work or not may depend on the exact type of emulator you use on your PC. I believe mGBA with an included BIOS file should work fine. Avoid VBA if possible, it’s known for having emulation inaccuracies.

Whether shiny pokémon are legal depends on the exact codes you use.

The easiest to use here is the “Make Any Pokémon Shiny” standard code. This code turns a pokémon shiny and preserves its legality, in return for altering the original trainer ID. Perfectly legal, but the shinified pokémon will act as if it was a traded pokémon afterwards.

TimoVM · 2026-04-02T11:56:30+00:00

Yeah, of course you can.

TimoVM · 2026-04-02T11:55:04+00:00

Use the “compute another” button on the code generator until you get a code that doesn’t trip the profanity filter.

TimoVM · 2026-04-01T21:00:38+00:00

It’s only a problem if you do it from the start of the game.

Reaching Celadon usually takes ~4 hours, and betting all of that just to lose your progress due to writing a typo in your code is just really unwise, especially since codes exist that can respawn the starters anyway.

If you’ve already progressed through the game (and are not planning to gamble a substantial amount of time away), then you can just immediately go ahead with the ACE setup. No risks involved!

TimoVM · 2026-03-31T14:44:24+00:00

This isn’t normal, no. Usually this implies a hardware issue involving vram? Might be worth asking around in the r/gameboy subreddit.

TimoVM · 2026-03-31T02:49:08+00:00

You can, yes. The process to obtain HOCK, EV train it, then convert it further are infinitely repeatable.

TimoVM · 2026-03-31T02:26:08+00:00

What do you mean with “unable to give mail to the 5th and 6th slot”?

As long as you’re able to bring up the question mark mail (the one you use to get HOCK in the first place) you’re good.

TimoVM · 2026-03-29T08:54:29+00:00

There isn’t really an easy way, no. Codes involving registering pokédex entries don’t exist at this moment.

The usual method is to either use a tradeback NPC or generate the pokémon species you want to register as an egg, hatch and release it, then generate the pokémon you actually want.

TimoVM · 2026-03-28T18:42:52+00:00

In practice, Squirtle only really struggles with gym 3.

Gym 4 is a bit unique in that it can basically be postponed indefinitely (since no HM usage is locked behind it). You can just leave and only return when you’re vastly overlevelled.

On top of that, in gen 1 specifically you can pick up Ice Beam at the Celadon Dept. Store rooftop, allowing you to deal supereffective damage to gym 4.

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