Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Duplication Glitch Lets You Clone Shiny Pokémon

A newly discovered glitch in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet allows the player to very simply duplicate Pokémon, including the incredibly rare shiny ones.

As reported by Nintendo Everything, YouTuber Austin John Plays uploaded a video detailing the glitch and how it lets players clone any wild pocket monster in the game.

To trigger the glitch, simply catch the Pokémon you want to clone and head directly to the nearest open town that doesn’t require a loading screen to enter. Once the town name appears, save the game and close the software.

How to Duplicate Wild Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet https://t.co/LFBA5EPTBC pic.twitter.com/hw0Sg7rQ5j

— Austin John Plays (@AustinJohnPlays) November 21, 2022

Upon starting back up and reloading, the game should have respawned the Pokémon in the same location at which you caught it the first time around. The glitch only works if used on a proper town that you can walk straight into, and won’t trigger if tried with Team Star compounds or the random Pokémon Centers that you can travel to out in the open world.

Austin John Plays believes the glitch could be caused by entering an open town, at which point he believes the Pokémon in the world outside are put in a suspended state, but not despawned.

Ordinarily, heading back out of the town would cause them to respawn, but by closing the game and re-opening with the save in town, the game redraws the same Pokémon from the previous instance.

Glitches and what IGN called a “grevously poor performance” have been at the forefront of conversations around Pokémon Scarlet and Violet since it launched last week. IGN also released a performance review of the games, saying that, “both in docked and undocked modes, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet present framerate that are hard to ignore.”

Alongside the duplication glitch, players have also discovered a bizarre way to run at double speed. Ironically, however, the official Pokémon virus appears to be missing from this generation. See the tested cheat-like exploits in IGN’s Pokemon Scarlet and Violet guide.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer.