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If I receive hacked Pokémon from a stranger in trade, does it corrupt my game in any way?

A shiny level 100 legendary is easy to spot but what if I receive a less obvious hack like any legendary from older games non shiny?

  • Is it possible to weed out illegal Pokémon using the bank app? (which supposedly doesn't allow hacked Pokémon to be transferred), and
  • Does owning hacked Pokémon leave a permanent effect on my game?

I neither want to gather hacked Pokémon nor do I want to hurt my gaming experience by trading with strangers but for completing the Pokédex I was planning to exchange older legendary Pokémon from my other games for those that I don't have. Like circle trading one event Pokémon I legally received for others until I have them all in my Pokédex.

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  • With advanced savegame editing software it's close to impossible to spot a hacked Pokémon. Nintendo does some verification on online trading (available attacks and other attributes), but it's up to you if you want to trade your Fletchling for a shiny level 100 Xerneas and think it's a legit trade.
    – GiantTree
    Aug 12, 2015 at 17:03
  • Thanks for your feedback. As I made clear in my question I'm not talking about easily detectable hacks like that but legit looking non shiny legendary/event pokemon in GTS or trade with people from online communities via friends code and regular trade and if there are lasting negative effects on my save game.
    – All Bits Equal
    Aug 12, 2015 at 17:10
  • Like trading the legendary dragon from white against the legendary black dragon or better example trading a legit Keldeo for a Dimanche from a stranger...
    – All Bits Equal
    Aug 12, 2015 at 17:29
  • Thank you. That's the answer to my question. Care to submit that as a real answer so I can accept it?
    – All Bits Equal
    Aug 12, 2015 at 18:17

1 Answer 1

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Nintendo stated that, if they find out that a Pokémon is not legitimately acquired (ie. cheated it into the game somehow/inconsistent checksums due to savegame editing etc.), the original owner (identified by their NNID or Secret ID for instance) is marked/banned from online trading.

About your game: No need to worry about your game, a Pokémon is just some information stored in your savegame and the OT (original trainer) information is preserved so even if it is a hacked one, you can't be marked as an illegal trader because you received the Pokémon and did not distribute it.

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  • This is possibly irrelevant now (requires old firmware) but might be worth adding to the conversation. What would happen if you traded a Pokemon and someone used something like the the web browser exploit on it, then redistributed it? From memory that clones the original Pokemon, so would it have the NNID/Secret ID of the original trainer? That would imply that others could hack Pokemon you trade but you take all the risk, right?
    – Phil D.
    Oct 28, 2015 at 5:18
  • It is possible to set the Secret ID in some hacking softwares. Would that implicate the receiver if it were set to him, instead of the original cheater?
    – Yuu
    Dec 3, 2019 at 9:50

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