Generation 1 Shiny Tool

These instructions are broken into multiple chunks with recommended save points, but you may save at any point during the process and come back to this setup later if you don't have the time to do it all in one sitting!

THESE ACE INSTRUCTIONS ONLY APPLY TO ENGLISH COPIES OF RED AND BLUE! It will not work on other language games, or Yellow version.

A visual demonstration of this being performed to shiny hunt Tyranitar if you need visual assistance with following these instructions (Thank you Kazzouli!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZpacbS1_PY

Part 1 - Save Abuse Glitch

To get started, you'll need to use a glitch to get an expanded Party with more than 6 Pokémon slots. The save abuse glitch relies on timing a narrow 4 frame window, and as such, might take you a lot of attempts to pull off. However, it's absolutely possible with a little bit of persistence!

1. Get a copy of Pokémon Red or Blue (reminder, English language only!) that you don't mind wiping the save file of.
2. Even if you didn't have a save file on it before, press UP + SELECT + B all at the same time on the title screen to completely wipe the save.
3. Make a NEW GAME as normal. You can name yourself whatever you want as usual. Your rival's name does not matter.
4. As soon as you are out of Professor Oak's introductory sequence, press START to open the menu and navigate to SAVE your game.
5. Hover your hand over the power switch on original hardware or the home button on Virtual Console as you press YES to save your game. Turn off the console or close out of the VC app a few frames after the YES/NO box disappears, but before the Now saving... text appears.
6. Turn the game back on and try to hit CONTINUE to get back into your save. If you turned off the game too early, your save file will have been destroyed. If this happens, simply try again from step 2.
7. Once standing in your room again, open the menu and try to access your POKéMON menu. If it does not open, you turned off the game too late. Try again from step 2.
8. If your Party opens, congratulations! You've successfully executed the save abuse glitch. Nothing else in this guide requires precise timing. You can now continue into Part 2.

Part 2 - Dome Fossil

Now that you have an expanded Party, you can activate item underflow, which allows you to access items below the CANCEL button in the inventory. Across the course of this guide, you will be moving and tossing items in this expanded inventory space to manipulate various values to teleport to different places, obtain items, and of course, set up your shiny hunt.

1. Your Party should be open to blank slots with no Pokémon listed. Switch the 1st slot at the top of the Party with the 10th slot. Count carefully! The 10th slot is exactly one slot below the screen.
2. You have now activated item underflow. Exit out of the menu and walk downstairs, stopping on the right tile of the exit before leaving your house. Your screen will be flashing and making the poison sound effect as if you have a poisoned Pokémon in your Party. This is normal.
3. Open your ITEM menu. Scroll below CANCEL and go to item slot 36, usually x0 Master Balls. If your cursor gets stuck at any time while navigating your expanded inventory, you can hit B until it gets unstuck. This applies to other steps as well.
4. Every item that is listed as a x0 stack is actually a stack of 256. As such, you can scroll down when tossing to numbers like 255, 254, and so on. Since stacks that high aren't usually possible, any amount of 3 digits will appeared bugged except for the final number, requiring you to always be careful with counting. Toss 248 Master Balls so that there are only 8 left in the stack.
5. Step down and you will be on Cinnabar Island instead of Pallet Town.
6. Walk to the Pokémon Center and head to the PC. Navigate to your section of the PC and into the DEPOSIT ITEM menu.
7. Scroll down until you see a stack of x0 Ultra Balls. Deposit 255 of them.
8. Exit out of the PC and walk right in front of the trading NPC at the counter. If sprites have changed color, that's normal.
9. Open your inventory again. Switch item slot 22 (usually a Card Key) with item 30 (usually Master Balls). You can switch items by hitting SELECT on the item you want to switch, and then again on the item you want to switch it with. If your item names are different and you're having a hard time counting, item 34 is almost always an HM, so you can count from there.
10. Switch whatever item 30 is with item 36 and then exit out of the menu.
11. Take exactly 7 steps to the left. Visual glitching of the environment is normal.
12. You will now have a Dome Fossil. Switch the Dome Fossil with item 30, and then switch it with item 31 directly afterwards.
13. Leave and immediately re-enter the Pokémon Center. To do this, walk straight down regardless of how visually bugged your screen looks. Do not walk to the left.
14. Walk back to the PC and deposit the Dome Fossil.
15. Step onto the pictured tile to the top right of the trees.
    
16. Save your game. You can now continue into Part 3.

Part 3 - Proteins and Rare Candies

You are now at the point where you'll be starting to change the fossil you receive from the scientist on Cinnabar Island to your Pokémon of choice. This is done by getting your first Pokémon's attack stat to the ID of the Pokémon you want to hunt. This is where the information displayed in the tool at the top of the page comes in handy! You'll need the Rare Candy and Protein numbers.

1. You should be standing on the tile by the trees as mentioned in Part 2. You will still have a Dome Fossil in your inventory. Swap it with item 36.
2. Take 1 step to the left. Check that you now have Rare Candies in your inventory.
3. Take 4 more steps to the left. You should now have Proteins. Use the proper amount of Proteins on your first Party slot.
4. Take 4 steps to the right so that you have Rare Candies again. Use the proper amount of Rare Candies on your first Party slot. Just deny learning any moves that it may learn during level up.
5. Switch your Rare Candy stack with item 31.
6. Leave and re-enter the Pokémon Center. The exit should be 3 steps to the left, and then straight down.
7. Walk in front of the PC and save your game. You can now continue into Part 4.

Part 4 - Safari Zone Travel

With your attack-boosted glitch Pokémon in tow, you now need to set up a lot of things so that you can perform the ACE to actually convert the gift fossil into the Pokémon you want. This will be broken up into smaller chunks. For now you need to give the Dome Fossil to the scientist, and get to the Safari Zone.

1. At the PC, deposit all but 1 Rare Candy from the same stack you just moved. You can do this by tapping down twice when choosing how many to store.
2. Withdraw just 1 Rare Candy twice in a row.
3. Withdraw the Dome Fossil.
4. Leave the Pokémon Center and go give the Dome Fossil to the scientist in the Lab. He is in the top right of the rightmost room in the building to the bottom left of Cinnabar Island.
5. Exit the room the scientist was in and go to the exit for the Lab. Stop on the right tile of the exit.
6. Switch the first Pokémon slot that you boosted with Proteins and Rare Candies with slot 33 in your Party. This will cause visual glitching, which is normal. Since you can't see where your cursor is, make sure to count carefully!
7. Leave the Lab and head to the Poké Mart. Sell one Rare Candy from the very top of your inventory.
8. Without walking anywhere else, switch Pokémon slot 36 (down 3 from where you last were at slot 33) with slot 3 in your Party. You will be teleported to the Safari Zone.
9. Pay the fee and enter the Safari Zone. Save immediately upon entering. You can now continue into Part 5.

Part 5 - Glitch Pokémon

Now that you are at the Safari Zone, you'll need to catch a Pokémon. This is so you can safely store all of the glitch Pokémon in your party into the PC. This may take some time due to the wild Pokémon being glitched. Since you saved at the entrance, if you run out of Safari Balls, you can just try again.

1. Catch a wild Pokémon, doesn't matter which one. The sound during these encounters might be bugged, and the health bars and sprites may appear glitched as well. This is normal. If you run out of Safari Balls, just reset and try again.
2. After you have successfully caught a Pokémon, go to leave the Safari Zone. Before walking through the exit, stand one tile before and open the START menu before leaving. You can exit back out of the menu immediately afterwards. The game could crash if you don't do this.
3. Once you've mashed A through the dialogue, switch Pokémon slot 2 with Pokémon slot 10.
4. Toss enough of item 36 to have 1 left over, usually 7.
5. Exit the Safari Zone building. You should be in Viridian City. You will have to press A through the dialogue about the Gym doors being closed.
6. Walk to the Pokémon Center and save in front of the PC. It is important to save because under some circumstances, the next step can cause crashing.
7. You should have a stack of Rare Candies in item slot 31, which is slightly above where you last tossed items to teleport to Viridian City. Level up Pokémon slot 1 one time.
8. Deposit every Pokémon in your Party into the PC until it stops you for having only one Pokémon. Just spam A and change boxes whenever the box you're on gets full. If the game crashes when you try to deposit Pokémon, there are a few things you can try to fix this problem. You can repeat step 7, but try leveling the Pokémon outside the Pokémon Center instead. You can also continue to level it until it learns a move or check its summary before depositing it.
9. After depositing all of the Pokémon you can, withdraw 1 Rare Candy from the PC.
10. Leave the Pokémon Center and head to the Poké Mart to obtain Oak's Parcel.
11. Head back to Pallet Town, avoiding grass when possible. Run from potential wild encounters.
12. Enter Oak's Lab and pick Charmander as your starter.
13. Switch your new Charmander in the second slot of your Party to the first slot. Charmander may appear invisible until switched.
14. Save your game. You can now continue into Part 6.

Part 6 - Charizard Preparation

Your Charmander is going to need to be overleveled and full of fighting moves to get through the next part of the process smoothly. As per usual, you will be doing more manipulating of items.

1. Beat your rival as normal.
2. Talk to Professor Oak directly after the battle to receive the Pokédex. You should have obtained Oak's Parcel earlier, which is why this is possible.
3. Walk back to Viridian City. Run from any wild encounters.
4. Enter the Pokémon Center and save in front of the PC in case you mess something up.
5. In order, withdraw all the Rare Candies in your PC, then all the Ultra Balls, and then all the Potions.
6. Level up the last glitched Pokémon you still have in the second slot of your Party with one of the Rare Candies you just withdrew.
7. Deposit the glitched Pokémon into the PC.
8. While in the menu for depositing items, swap your Rare Candies stack with your Ultra Balls Stack.
9. Deposit all of the Rare Candies.
10. Exit the Pokémon Center and head to the Viridian City Poké Mart. Buy 1 Poké Ball and then 1 Antidote.
11. Return to the Pokémon Center and deposit the Poké Ball you bought into the PC.
12. While in the deposit menu, swap the Ultra Balls with the Antidote that you bought.
13. Exit out of the PC and walk to the left tile of the Pokémon Center exit.
14. Toss the 1 Antidote in your inventory, then the 1 Potion. This will appear to multiply the Ultra Ball stack.
15. Toss 253 from the first stack of Ultra Balls.
16. Swap the first stack of Ultra Balls with the second stack of Ultra Balls. This will make it look like the second stack of Ultra Balls disappears.
17. Swap the first stack of Ultra Balls with the second stack of Ultra Balls again. Item underflow is once again active due to this.
18. As you scroll down, you will notice a large amount of items that are called .j alongside a glitched letter. Out of that big chunk of them, scroll to the second to last of them. Swap it with item 36.
19. Take a single step to the right.
20. Swap the Rare Candies in slot 31 with the Master Balls below.
21. Swap the Rare Candies you just swapped with the item sitting in the same slot the second to last .j item was in previously.
22. Swap the Rare Candies one last time with the nearest Master Ball stack you see below.
23. Walk straight down to leave the Pokémon Center, and then enter the Poké Mart.
24. Stand on the right tile of the Poké Mart exit.
25. Swap the nearest stack of x0 Ultra Balls with item 36. Toss 253 of them and then leave the Poké Mart. You should now be in Cerulean City.
26. Use the nearest Rare Candy stack above to level your starter Charmander to level 50. Let it evolve into Charmeleon and then Charizard. Let it learn every damaging move it can for the most attacking PP possible. The music might bug out. This is normal.
27. Go to the Pokémon Center and deposit 255 Ultra Balls from the very top of your inventory.
28. Deposit all but 1 Master Ball from the first stack you see while scrolling down.
29. Withdraw just 1 Master Ball three times in a row.
30. Save your game. You can now continue into Part 7.

Part 7 - Nugget Bridge

For the second time in this guide, you'll be doing some somewhat normal gameplay. The Nugget Bridge needs to be cleared, and then you'll be heading to Celadon City.

1. Leave the Pokémon Center to head north of Cerulean City and beat your rival with your newly leveled Charizard.
2. Clear out every trainer on Nugget Bridge, and then beat the Team Rocket Grunt at the end to win yourself the Nugget prize.
3. Keep going north and catch an Abra in the grass slightly to the right. It might take a good handful of encounters to find one as it has a 15% encounter rate. Use one of the Master Balls to catch it.
4. With Abra in tow, head back to the Pokémon Center and access the PC.
5. Withdraw all the Ultra Balls in the PC, and then all of the Rare Candies.
6. Go to the right tile of the Pokémon Center exit.
7. Toss the remaining Master Balls in your inventory, then toss the Nugget you won at Nugget Bridge.
8. Toss 255 Ultra Balls from the first stack of Ultra Balls, then 253 Ultra Balls from the same stack again.
9. Swap the first Ultra Balls stack with the second stack twice in a row. Item underflow is now active again.
10. Swap the new x0 Ultra Ball stack with item 36, then toss 250 of them to have only 6 left.
11. Leave the Pokémon Center. You should be in Celadon City.
12. Head to the Pokémon Center, heal your Pokémon with Nurse Joy, and then save your game. You can now continue into Part 8.

Part 8 - Shopping Spree

Executing the ACE to finalize your shiny hunting setup is going to take a lot of items which can be bought at the Department Store in Celadon City. It's time to gather all of those items.

1. If you don't have a x0 stack of Ultra Balls at the very top of your inventory, swap whatever item is in the first slot with the nearest stack of x0 Ultra Balls in your expanded inventory.
2. Go to the edge of Celadon City and stand on the pictured tile exactly.
   
3. Swap the Rare Candies in your normal inventory space with the first x1 Nugget you see in your expanded inventory.
4. Toss all but one of those Rare Candies.
5. Take a single step up. You should now have a x0 Rare Candy stack instead.
6. Swap the x0 Rare Candy stack with the x1 Nugget you just moved.
7. Toss 153 of the last .j item in the big chunk of them. You can toss a stack of 99 and then 54 to achieve this.
8. Use Teleport with Abra. You should warp back to the Celadon City Pokémon Center. The Teleport animation may appear visually glitched. This is normal.
9. Inside the Pokémon Center, deposit all your Ultra Balls into the PC, as well as all but 1 Rare Candy.
10. Withdraw 1 Master Ball three times in a row.
11. Withdraw 1 Ultra Ball.
12. Withdraw 255 Rare Candies.
13. While still in the withdraw menu, swap the 1 Poké Ball with the Ultra Ball stack.
14. Withdraw the 1 Poké Ball.
15. Exit out of the PC and check your inventory. You should have the following, in order:

    x1 Master Ball
    x1 Ultra Ball
    x255 Rare Candy
    x1 Poké Ball

16. Exit the Pokémon Center and head over to the department store. Go up the stairs to the second floor.
17. From the right vendor, buy 1 TM01. From the left vendor, buy 1 Great Ball.
18. Walk up the steps twice more to the fourth floor.
19. Buy 1 Water Stone and then 1 Leaf Stone.
20. Walk up the steps one more time to the fifth floor.
21. From the right vendor, buy 1 HP Up, 1 Protein, 1 Iron, and 1 Carbos. From the left vendor, buy 1 X Accuracy and 1 X Special.
22. Walk up the steps to the roof. Head to the vending machines.
23. Buy 1 Soda Pop and then 1 Lemonade.
24. Open your inventory and swap your items around until you have the following, in order:

    x1 Master Ball
    x1 Ultra Ball
    x255 Rare Candy
    x1 Lemonade
    x1 Carbos
    x1 X Accuracy
    x1 Poké Ball
    x1 Iron
    x1 Soda Pop
    x1 Leaf Stone
    x1 Great Ball
    x1 HP Up
    x1 Protein
    x1 TM01
    x1 Water Stone
    x1 X Special

25. Toss the Master Ball at the top of your inventory.
26. Toss the Ultra Ball at the top of your inventory.
27. Toss 255 Rare Candies from the top of your inventory 13 times in a row. Count slowly and carefully!
28. Toss 253 Rare Candies.
29. Swap the Rare Candies with the second stack of Rare Candies twice in a row. Item underflow is active again.
30. Walk to the edge of Celadon City and back onto the pictured tile exactly.
    
31. Save your game. You can now continue into Part 9.

Part 9 - Stacks of Zero

You are about to change all of your x1 item stacks into stacks of 256, which display as 0, as well as obtain a glitch item that will be useful later on. This part is repetitive, but make sure to follow each step closely for small differences.

1. Swap the X Special in your inventory with the Nugget in your expanded inventory, which should be in slot 35.
2. Head right onto Route 7. You will notice that when trying to head into the building that connects Route 7 with Saffron City, it just opens up into endless nothingness.
3. Head directly right through the empty space until the trees to the left are out of view. Check your inventory. If item 35 (where the Nugget was previously) is not the glitched item 4F, walk one more step to the right and check again. Rinse and repeat until item 35 is a 4F.
4. Swap the 4F with the Lemonade in your normal inventory.
5. Take one step upwards. The x1 Lemonade should now be x0.
6. Swap the x0 Lemonade with the x1 Carbos in your normal inventory.
7. Take one step upwards. The x1 Carbos should now be x0.
8. Swap the x0 Carbos with the x1 X Accuracy in your normal inventory.
9. Take one step upwards. The x1 X Accuracy should now be x0.
10. Swap the x0 X Accuracy with the x1 Poké Ball in your normal inventory.
11. Take one step upwards. The x1 Poké Ball should now be x0.
12. Swap the x0 Poké Ball with the x1 Iron in your normal inventory.
13. Take one step to the right and then one step upwards. The x1 Iron should now be x0 Carbos.
14. Swap the x0 Carbos with the x1 Soda Pop in your normal inventory.
15. Take one step to the right and then one step upwards. The x1 Soda Pop should now be x0 Lemonade.
16. Swap the x0 Lemonade with the x1 Leaf Stone in your normal inventory.
17. Take one step to the left and then one step upwards. The x1 Leaf Stone should now be x0 X Accuracy.
18. Swap the x0 X Accuracy with the x1 Great Ball in your normal inventory.
19. Take one step to the right and then one step upwards. The x1 Great Ball should now be x0 Poké Ball.
20. Swap the x0 Poké Ball with the x1 HP Up in your normal inventory.
21. Take one step upwards. The x1 HP Up should now be x0.
22. Swap the x0 HP Up with the x1 Protein in your normal inventory.
23. Take one step to the left and then one step upwards. The x1 Protein should now be x0 HP Up.
24. Swap the x0 HP Up with the x1 TM01 in your normal inventory.
25. Take one step upwards. The x1 TM01 should now be x0.
26. Swap the x0 TM01 with the x1 Water Stone in your normal inventory.
27. Take one step upwards. The x1 Water Stone should now be x0.
28. Swap the x0 Water Stone with the x1 Nugget in your normal inventory.
29. Check that your inventory has the following items in this exact order:

    x0 Rare Candy
    4F
    x0 Lemonade
    x0 Carbos
    x0 X Accuracy
    x0 Poké Ball
    x0 Carbos
    x0 Lemonade
    x0 X Accuracy
    x0 Poké Ball
    x0 HP Up
    x0 HP Up
    x0 TM01
    x0 Water Stone

30. Use Teleport with Abra to warp back to Celadon City. The animation may be glitched. This is normal. Save the game immediately in front of the Pokémon Center without walking inside.
31. Head back to the pictured tile at the edge of Celadon City.
    
32. In order from the very top of your inventory, toss 137 Poké Balls, 45 Carbos (from the second stack of them), 221 X Accuracy, 222 Poké Balls (from the second stack of them), 222 HP Ups, 222 HP Ups (from the second stack of them), and 45 Water Stones.
33. Check that your inventory has the following items in this exact order:

    x0 Rare Candy
    4F
    x0 Lemonade
    x0 Carbos
    x0 X Accuracy
    x119 Poké Ball
    x211 Carbos
    x0 Lemonade
    x35 X Accuracy
    x34 Poké Ball
    x34 HP Up
    x34 HP Up
    x0 TM01
    x211 Water Stone

34. Save your game. You can now continue into Part 10.

Part 10 - Fossil Conversion

After all that tedious setup work, you're finally going to execute the ACE to change the fossil that you gave to the scientist ages ago into the Pokémon you want to shiny hunt!

1. Open your inventory. Directly under the 4F, toss 61 Lemonades, 38 Carbos, and 155 X Accuracy.
2. Swap the x211 Water Stone with item slot 41, usually a 1F item.
3. To ensure the game doesn't crash, go into your Party and check Charizard's summary screen before closing the menu, then close it.
4. Re-open your inventory. All three items below 4F should be x0 stacks again.
5. Directly under the 4F, toss 222 Lemonades, 38 Carbos, and 154 X Accuracy.
6. Check Charizard's summary again to prevent a game crash. Close the menu.
7. Re-open your inventory. All three items below 4F should be x0 stacks again.
8. Directly under the 4F, toss 45 Lemonades, 38 Carbos, and 153 X Accuracy.
9. Check Charizard's summary again to prevent a game crash. Close the menu.
10. Re-open your inventory. Check that all three items below 4F are x0 stacks again.
11. You're done executing ACE codes! Leave your spot and enter the building left of the Pokémon Center with the sign next to it. Stand on the right tile of the exit.
12. Swap the nearest x0 Ultra Ball stack in your expanded inventory with item 36, then toss 248 of them to have 8 left. This may change the colors of the screen. This is normal.
13. Leave the building. You will now be on Cinnabar Island again.
14. Head to the Pokémon Center and deposit Abra into the PC.
15. Now you can do soft resets for your shiny of choice! Head over to the Lab with the fossil scientist and save in front of him. If your Pokémon has bugged base stats, make sure to check Charizard's summary in the Party Menu upon every reset before taking the Pokémon from the scientist.
16. Once you obtain your shiny, it is perfectly safe to save your game. Congratulations!
17. You can now continue into Part 11 or 12, depending on whether or not you want to give your shiny a nickname.

(Optional) Part 11 - Nicknaming

If you want to give your newly acquired shiny a nickname, you'll need to do a few extra steps. It's pretty simple, though!

1. Stand on the right tile of the Cinnabar Lab exit.
2. Toss enough from item 36 so that only a stack of x4 remains.
3. Step outside. You should be in Lavender Town. Head to the building with the Name Rater and rename your shiny to whatever you want.
4. Head to the Pokémon Center and stand on the right exit tile.
5. Swap the x0 Ultra Ball stack that's slightly above into slot 36, then toss 248 so that only a stack of x8 remains.
6. Step outside. You should be back on Cinnabar Island. You can now continue into Part 12.

Part 12 - Type Changing

If your shiny Pokémon of choice is a Johto Pokémon and not one of the original 151 Kanto Pokémon , its typing will likely be incorrect, and will need to be changed to be eligible for trading into your generation 2 Pokémon game. There are some exceptions. If you shiny hunted Noctowl, Ariados, Snubbull, Totodile, Cleffa, Togetic, Aipom, Dunsparce, or a Kanto Pokémon, you may skip this entire step and head right to trading.

1. Head to the Cinnabar Island Pokémon Center. Save directly in front of the trading NPC. You don't want to lose your shiny if you mess up!
2. Check that your inventory has the following items in this exact order:

   (Amount doesn't matter) Rare Candy
   4F
   x0 Lemonade
   x0 Carbos
   x0 X Accuracy
   x119 Poké Ball
   x211 Carbos
   x0 Lemonade
   x35 X Accuracy
   x34 Poké Ball
   x34 HP Up
   x34 HP Up
   x0 TM01
   x211 Water Stone

   If any of the values are wrong, toss until they are correct again. A common one is having to toss 128 Poké Balls to have a stack of x119 again.
3. Toss the proper amount of Lemonades to change the first type.
4. Toss 47 Carbos to have 209 and toss 100 X Accuracy to have 156.
5. Use 4F. All of the stacks you just tossed from should return to x0.
6. Toss 47 Carbos to have 209 and toss 99 X Accuracy to have 157.
7. Toss the proper amount of Lemonades to change the second type.
8. Use 4F. All of the stacks you just tossed from should return to x0.
9. Now you're safe to trade! The typing of the Pokémon will not display properly on its summary screen, but don't worry, it has been changed.
10. Trade your shiny into Pokémon Gold, Silver, or Crystal with the Time Capsule! Be proud of yourself! ^^