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[TAS] Pokémon Yellow - Arbitrary Code Execution

MrWint · demo · Watch on YouTube

Speedrunning, glitches & game hackingGame history & retro gaming

What it is

A tool-assisted speedrun of Pokemon Yellow by MrWint that uses arbitrary code execution to push Game Boy hardware to its limits. Through crafted inputs it injects code and ends up running other programs, such as Tetris, inside the game.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN points to it as the standard demonstration of arbitrary code execution on a Game Boy, and of glitches and bugs being turned into a working computer.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2020, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “One of the crazier uses of ACE in Gameboy Pokemon games exploits”

    Genuine, unedited Pokemon Yellow exploit, replicable on an emulator.

    stepupmakeup, 2022-08 · Strong recommendation · in “Tetsuji: Remote Code Execution on a GameBoy Colour 22 Years Later”

  2. “Good example: (skip to 1:20 for craziness)”

    Shows bugs hacked into alternate Game Boy instructions.

    alexb_, 2022-02 · Recommendation · in “Accidentally Turing-Complete”

  3. “you can create something really beautiful for the console to run afterwards. Pokemon Yellow”

    Something beautiful running on the console after the exploit.

    Dwedit, 2024-05 · Recommendation · in “Hackers discover how to reprogram NES Tetris from within the game”

  4. “There is an amazing video of a similar exploit in Pokémon Yellow”

    Pokemon Yellow exploit runs several different games.

    alex-moon, 2025-09 · Recommendation · in “Bad Apple but it's played inside Super Mario Bros”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: pokemon yellow, tool-assisted speedrun, code injection, game boy, glitches

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