MissingNo.: Bug Type Pokemon

MissingNo. remains an iconic relic from the original release of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. While much has been made of MissingNo.’s presence in playgrounds and other third spaces for children, MissingNo. also emerged in tandem with personal websites in the late 1990s. The mysterious circumstances around MissingNo.’s discovery and its strange in-game behaviors quickly transformed it into a subject of significant writing, discussion, and study in the burgeoning online video game scene. In prompting speculation and conversation, MissingNo. became a lightning rod for community formation and creative practices, connecting individuals across the early internet through dedicated webpages, rumors, and PokéGods/Fakémon. This short chapter introduces the “bug” type Pokémon and provides some brief discussion of its importance to the series, video games, and early internet culture broadly.