How they patched bugs in the GameBoy era
The Trojan Horse you wanted to let in.......
Bugs can be resolved relatively easy these days, provided you are connected to the internet, but back before Game Consoles connected to the World Wide Web, resolving a bug was a lot harder.
In some cases it resulted in a recall of the game, in others players, could get a refund and a reprinted bug-free version of the game was then put on the market. Of course their were plenty of times when nothing was done.
In most high profile games from yonder year, the games were simpler than they are today and so a heap of testing helped allow for a relatively bug free experience, especially if your game carried Nintendo’s Seal of Quality.
However, in 2002, Game Freak, developers of the Pokémon franchise, accidentally had a game breaking bug slip through the cracks when they released Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire - my favourite generation.
Early versions of the game contained a game-breaking bug that only occurs after 366 days have elapsed on the game clock. No wonder testing didn’t find it.
The bug occurs because the game starts the clock as of January 1st, 2000, but an issue with how the clock converts time means it is unable to correctly tick over into 2001 and instead just freezes at the end of its first year and stays frozen for another 366 days until the clock hits January 2nd, 2002.
It meant that Berries, a new feature in this series, could not grow. A cave with different areas accessible to the player based on whether the tide was low or high would be stuck on one of the tides and would not change. Another location, Mirage Island, which was hidden and only had a slim chance of showing up every day, would never show up. Timed events such as sales in markets or stores would not occur, and NPC’s that are supposed to re-battle you later would not.
It wouldn’t have been a bug that impacted many people. Pokémon games do get a longer playtime, though I doubt many players would have played the game consistently for 366 days of game time. Despite that, Game Freak fixed the issue in the next round of cartridge printing and set about trying to figure out how to fix the bug remotely.
However, this was 2002, Gameboys were not internet-connected devices, so Game Freak had to get creative.
Initially, when the issue was first detected, Nintendo formally acknowledged it and provided a way for players to receive the patch in person by going into a store. Players were compensated for the inconvenience by receiving a Shiny (rare) Pokémon, Zigzagoon, when they completed the patch.
Nintendo also offered to fix the issue for you by sending it to them. Though, they rescinded this program in late 2012 (only Nintendo would support a minor bug for a decade).
For those who could not visit a store in person, send the game to Nintendo, or who would encounter the issue later, Game Freak rolled out another contingency plan by way of hiding the patch inside subsequently released Pokémon titles.
A big selling point of Pokémon games is how they can talk to other Pokémon games, allowing players to trade Pokémon between titles. This feature required a link cable accessory that players had to buy separately; however, I believe it was quite common for people to own one of these.
This allowed Game Freak to hide the patch inside several GameCube games and apps, such as Pokémon Colosseum (2003), Pokémon Channel (2003), Pokémon Box (2004), and Pokémon XD (2005). For the most part, if an affected Gameboy was connected to a GameCube with one of these titles installed, the patch was installed automatically.
Game Freak also hid the patch inside a set of e-Reader+ cards issues in 2004 that connected to the GBA using a specific accessory and the three Gameboy Pokémon titles released in 2004; Emerald, Fire Red, and Leaf Green. The patch installed itself if the affected Gameboy was connected and transferring data; otherwise, there was a specific combination of buttons to press to force the patch.
I wonder how many people inadvertently fixed a bug in Pokémon simply by trading a Farfetch’d or two.