The Missingno: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:VG Cats missingno 6374.jpg|link=Super Effective (webcomic)|frame|[[Pokémon|Great, now the game]] [[Pokémon (anime)|AND''and'' the anime]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|are broken.]]]]
 
'''The Missingno.''' (short for Missing Number) is a [[Video Game]] character whose very existence is actually just a flaw in the game's internal programming. Can be considered a [[Good Bad Bug]] in and of itself, but all bets are off.
 
May be found in a [[Minus World]], and often exists for the same sort of reason—the game accidentally tries to load character data from a section of memory that is intended for some other purpose entirely, leading to the resulting "character" appearing. If a Missingno is noticeably more powerful than anything obtainable at the point in the game that it can be gotten, using it treads into [[Fake Skill]] territory.
 
Note that because this character was never intended to actually exist, merely ''encountering'' '''The Missingno''' can trigger an unpredictable bevy of side effects, ranging from other [[Good Bad Bugs]] to game crashes, or even [[Game Breaking Bug]]s. In the rare worst-case scenario, '''The Missingno''' can even corrupt the player's save file, forcing them to erase it and start the game over from the beginning.
 
{{examples}}
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is the glitch ''[[Pokémon]]'' "[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Missingno MISSINGNO]" from Generation I. A similarly glitchy creature has a name consisting of a quote mark, the letter M, and two [[The Unpronounceable|unpronounceable]] symbols. It has been [[Fan Nickname]]d "M-Block." The glitch is actually caused by the game trying to interpret your [[Player Character]]'s name as random-encounter data.
** Missingno., its [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Glitch_Pokemon glitchy kin], and the effects they have on the game make up an impressive amount of [[Pokémon/Nightmare Fuel|Pokémon's Nightmare Fuel page]]. In fanfiction, they're often portrayed as a form of [[Eldritch Abomination]].
** [[Good Bad Bugs|Missingno. also has the benefit of multiplying the sixth item in your bag to 128 or 255 in quantity]]. For competitive battling, this is quite the [[Game Breaker]]. Cloned Rare Candies + Cloned Technical Machines + Cloned Master Balls + Cloned Medicine = A team of six in the timeframe it would take to create one Pokémon without glitching.
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== Non-Video Game Examples ==
 
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* ''[[Dennou Coil]]'' has Illegals, sentient viruses that feed on metabugs, and may or may not have been cyberpets once.