The Original Pokémon #151 is Back

Owners of Pokémon HeartGold or SoulSilver can obtain Mew from October 15 to October 30.

The fabled HM to move the S.S. Anne, beating the Elite Four hundreds of times, precise button combinations pinpointed to millisecond accuracy: whatever you may have heard or attempted regarding Mew is finally about to pay off. At least, you can pretend it did.

From October 15 to October 30, the series' flagship secret Pokémon will be available to owners of HeartGold and SoulSilver.

To acquire Mew, HeartGold and SoulSilver owners with less than three Wonder Cards in their game can log in over a WiFi connection through Mystery Gift. Those who do will be rewarded with a Cherish Ball containing a level five Mew with a Premier Ribbon.

Mew's presence is in response to the 10th anniversary of Pokémon Gold and Silver. For all of you Pokémon fans that have sought after Mew but never had the opportunity to catch it, now is your chance.

Joaquim Mira Media Manager

10/14/2010 at 04:38 PM

What's so special about this Pokemon, it's rarity? Isn't this supposed to defeat that purpose, so Mew just becomes like any other Pokemon?

Chris Mabrey Staff Alumnus

10/14/2010 at 08:33 PM

Yeah, it's essentially its rarity and the buzz that was around it when Pokémon first came out, at least in the US. There were so many rumors about how someone could get Mew and so many failed attempts that it's just fun to be able to acquire it without a glitch or hack.

Although it damages its rarity, it is available through other Pokémon games currently, according to Jason. R., if you accomplish certain achievements, so it's not particularly devastating. Its rarity has certainly declined over the years.

Nick DiMola Director

10/14/2010 at 08:52 PM

Much to my surprise, you can actually catch Mew in Pokemon Red and Blue. Like Chris described in the story, there were a million ridiculous tactics to supposedly catch the elusive pokemon, but all of them were a farce.

Back in 2003, someone came up with a way to force an encounter with a Level 7 Mew. It has some crazy set of in-game moves to essentially get some hex values in line to trigger the encounter. I don't know how someone could've possibly figured this out, but it seems legit to me.

Jason Ross Senior Editor

10/14/2010 at 11:14 PM

Things were figured out initially due to the Missingno. glitches found with the old man who teaches you how to catch Pokemon. From there, someone accidentally found out about the battle glitch on/near the bridge attached to Cerulean. From there, people realized the hex values worked like they did with the Missingno. glitches, and engineered a way to modify the Pokemon hex values.

I think that's how it went, if memory serves.

Additionally, what I mentioned to Chris was that you can get Mew via Pokemon Ranch, which, in North America, only works with Diamond and Pearl. Upload 999 Pokemon into the game, and Mew is given to you by the girl who owns the ranch.

PixlBit