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This article is a summary page for variations of certain glitches or phenomena such as Pokémon Cloning, glitch myths, beta elements, or a collective term for variations of glitch Pokémon which share similar names, sprites or other information.

The Global Trading System or "GTS" was intended to be an ideal method (through the Global Terminal or GTS building) for players to trade Pokémon through a Wi-Fi connection with others, regardless of their location.

There have been various glitches in the Global Trading System however, some of these have led fans to criticise the system or have lead players to take advantage of the effects of some these glitches. For example, one of the GTS glitches allows the player to duplicate a Pokémon.

Cloning/Duplicating Pokémon

Main article: Global Trading System glitches/Pokémon Cloning (Generation IV)

In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a flaw in the Global Trading System has allowed a player to copy a Pokémon in the sense that he or she would still have that Pokémon in his her party but also in the GTS Deposit Box.

This glitch happens because all of the current Pokémon games do not actually move a Pokémon in one operation and instead the played game will copy the data of a Pokémon first and then erase the old copy. This glitch involves the player turning off the power at a short time before the game has finished submitting the Pokémon onto the GTS and removing the old copy, in such a manner that the game has not had time to remove the old copy which in a sense allows the player to 'duplicate' a Pokémon.

It is notable that any Pokémon with a Classic Ribbon cannot be submitted on to the Global Trading System, which may have been part of an attempt by the game developers to stop players from Pokémon Cloning rare Pokémon.

Evolving trade evolution Pokémon without trading

Main article: Global Trading System glitches/evolve trade evolution Pokémon without trading

In all of the current handheld Generation IV Pokémon games it is possible for a player to take advantage of the Global Trading System in such a way that it allows him or her to evolve a Pokémon which would normally evolve by trade, without the need of actually obtaining that Pokémon from another player.

This glitch exploits an oversight in the GTS relating to the byte which manages whether a trade evolution Pokémon should evolve or not. Normally when the player recieves his or her Pokémon back from the deposit box this value should be 0 (no), so that the player's Pokémon will not evolve after it has been recieved, however if the player recieves his or her Pokémon as soon as he or she obtains another Pokémon from a GTS trade this value will be set to 1 (yes) and will remain so even if the player decides to recieve his or her Pokémon again, thus this value will activate a trade evolution.

Pokémon portrayed as the wrong species

A Mew, portrayed as a Torterra

This glitch is sometimes referred to as the 'GTS morphing glitch' and refers to instances in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl when a Pokémon indexed on the 'Seek Pokémon' option of the Global Trading System is displayed as the wrong Pokémon, with the picture of another Pokémon and often a nickname of that Pokémon. It does not change the original species name of that Pokémon however, resulting in many reports of players seeing for example, a Mew with the nickname and picture of 'TORTERRA'.

The exact causes of these glitches are still unknown, but it theoretically happens when the GTS blocks access to all other Pokémon, most notably when Nintendo temporarily banned the trade of all legendary Pokémon. There have also been reports of affected Pokémon being displayed with the wrong item, or being the wrong gender however these claims are unconfirmed.

Contrary to older theories, Pokémon whom are affected by this glitch are not permanently stuck on the Global Trading System and although at first the player will recieve a communication error when attempting to withdraw the Pokémon it will be listed as a normal Pokémon the next time the player attempts to withdraw it and can be re-obtained.

Pokémon displayed with the wrong pallettes

A box of Pokémon with the palettes of the last Pokémon in memory. Some of these Pokémon are using the wrong pallettes, for example Dewgong is a golden-yellow colour.

Main article: Abuse of processing speed

In Pokémon Diamond, Pokémon Pearl and Pokémon Platinum, if the player chooses to quickly switch between different boxes on the 'Deposit' menu for a short time Pokémon will be displayed with the wrong colours. This slight glitch is caused because the game has difficulty swapping the colors of Pokémon in a short amount of time when the system has to pick up signals from a Wi-Fi connection simultaneously.

Replacement of the 'Summary' option

This is sometimes referred to as the 'Vanishing glitch' and refers to a glitch when the 'Summary' button is replaced with the 'Deposit' button, even if the player has already submitted a Pokémon. The causes of this glitch are unknown, however its effects will happen if the player presses 'B' on the 'Summary' screen. If the player attempts to submit a Pokémon when or she already has one he or she will recieve a communication error and be forced out of the Global Trading System.

This glitch can be temporarily fixed by logging out of the Global Trading System and logging in again but this does not patch the causes of this glitch.

Level display glitch

This glitch only exists in early English versions of Pokémon Platinum and is not present in Japanese or PAL versions of the game. In these games, when the player attempts to seek for a Pokémon the levels of the chosen Pokémon will not be displayed. This may have been caused by possible errorneous alterations to the Global Trading System in Pokémon Platinum where the player can only search for Pokémon in between particular levels ranges for example 'Level 90 to 100'.