PokeGods is the collective name for a late-1990s set of hoax codes claiming players could unlock secret, overpowered Pokemon such as Pikablu, Mewthree, Flareth and Nidogod in Pokemon Red and Blue.

Where did PokeGods come from?

They spread through small Pokemon fansites on GeoCities and Angelfire, with sprite art often borrowed from the fan project Pokemon Factory at ocf.berkeley.edu.

What does PokeGods mean?

The term refers to invented, god-tier Pokemon that fans believed were hidden in Red and Blue, separate from canonical legendaries like Mewtwo or later arrivals like Arceus.

How do you use PokeGods codes?

The copypasta typically told players to assemble a specific team at level 100, beat the Elite Four a set number of times, then talk to a named NPC dozens of times, as in the Flareth guide that demanded four Moltres and 100 chats with a Celadon rooftop character.

Is PokeGods still popular?

The codes are no longer passed around as real cheats, but they live on as retro-gaming nostalgia, with videos like TheJWittz's Pikablu history pulling over 1.4 million views in 2015.

PokeGods

1998copypastaclassic

Published October 30, 2026

PokeGods were a wave of late-1990s hoaxes claiming players could unlock secret ultra-powerful Pokemon like Pikablu, Mewthree and Flareth in the first-generation Red and Blue games through absurd button sequences and ritual-like NPC interactions. Fansites copied the fake codes verbatim, and by the mid-2010s YouTubers like TheJWittz turned the hoaxes into retrospective lore videos with millions of views1.

pokemon hoax memes late 1990s memes fan theory memes early internet memes

Overview

A typical PokeGod entry read like a magic spell crossed with a GameFAQs tip. Readers were told to put a specific team at level 100 in an exact order, beat the Elite Four a set number of times, then talk to a background NPC twenty, fifty or a hundred times to unlock a hidden creature such as Flareth, Nidogod or Altanes4 5. One widely copied Flareth code demanded four Moltres in the party and 100 conversations with the thirsty girl on the Celadon PokeMart rooftop4.

The names mixed real second-generation leaks, movie marketing and pure invention. Pikablu was a nickname that caught on for the then-unrevealed Marill, Pikaflare was pinned to Cyndaquil, and 'Mewthree' grew out of the Armored Mewtwo seen in Pokemon: The First Movie trailers2. Fusion fakes like Venustoise from the anime and Zapmolcuno from the Pokemon manga were also treated as catchable, and April Fools jokes about Luigi and Yoshi hiding in Kanto got repeated as fact2. Sprite art was often lifted from the Pokemon Factory, a fan site run by aspenth and mewthree that published high-quality fake Pokedex entries without ever claiming they were real8.

Origin & Background

Platform

Pokemon fansites / GeoCities (viral spread)

Date

1998

The hoaxes grew out of the real glitches in Pokemon Red and Blue, where very specific input sequences could produce Mew, battle Professor Oak or spawn MissingNo. Because the legitimate tricks already looked like nonsense, trolls could write up equally absurd 'codes' for invented Pokemon and have them taken seriously1. Writers posted the fake methods on message boards or small sites, then waited for fansite owners to paste the text onto their own GeoCities and Angelfire pages1.

One of the key visual sources was the Pokemon Factory, originally at pokemonfactory.com, where artists aspenth and mewthree posted sprite work for made-up Pokemon numbered 300 to 4108. The site itself was upfront that the designs were fan creations, but its Pokedex-style images were scraped and reused on PokeGod guides as supposed proof. Hoax authors paired that art with codes like the Nidogod ritual, which told players to beat the Elite Four twice with a Slowbro, Nidoking and Nidoqueen at level 100, then collect a 'mist stone' from Professor Oak5.

How It Spread

Through 1998 and 1999 the codes multiplied across personal fansites hosted on Angelfire, GeoCities and Tripod. Major Pokemon news sites avoided reprinting them because the methods were impossible to confirm, but the same specificity made them hard to debunk outright, so smaller fansites kept copying them unchecked1. Lists of PokeGods still preserved in the Wayback Machine include Gengar Arbok, Marowak, Dugtrio, Hellfire, Firegod, The X, Houou and Charcolt3.

As Gold and Silver shipped in 1999 and 2000, most of the codes fell apart publicly. Marill made Pikablu obviously a nickname, and no 'Mewthree' appeared in any mainline game, which pushed the PokeGods from active rumor into nostalgia material2. Game Skinny later framed the whole episode as a product of a late-90s internet that lacked reliable info and a developer culture that enjoyed teasing players7.

TheJWittz posted a Pikablu history video in December 2015 that passed 1.4 million views, and on June 3, 2017, YouTuber Twintendo uploaded a broader PokeGods retrospective that reached over 450,000 views1 9. Both videos leaned on the Pokemon Factory sprites and archived fansite copypasta as source material8.

Timeline

1998

First PokeGod codes for Pikablu, Mewthree and similar hidden Pokemon start appearing on fan message boards and personal fansites.

1998

The Pokemon Factory, run by aspenth and mewthree, publishes fake Pokedex sprites later reused on PokeGod guides.

1999

Pokemon Gold and Silver reveal Marill, exposing Pikablu as a fan nickname rather than a hidden creature.

2015-12

TheJWittz uploads a Pikablu history video that passes 1.4 million views.

2017-06-03

YouTuber Twintendo publishes a PokeGods retrospective that reaches over 450,000 views.