This bug lets you play “Pokémon Scarlet” and “Violet” faster than you think

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is the talk of the town, but not for the reasons Nintendo probably wanted. While many are enjoying their new Pokemon adventures, the tweets are about how buggy the games are. These mistakes range from funny to bizarre to funny. But there is one quirk that is not like the others – the hidden ability to run faster than you should be able to.

As demonstrated by Redditor hamsterhead64by connecting a second Joy-Con to your Switch player Pokemon Scarlet or Violet, you can significantly increase your running speed across the Paldea region. With both controllers connected, push both left sticks at “an angle” (meaning, position other than directly up, down, left or right), and you will see your grade order it faster than Keemstar.

The game is not necessarily the design for you to run so fast that you can tell the game is struggling to keep up with you. Wild Pokémon may not spawn in time for you to sprint past, but as one Redditor points out, “you don’t have to run fast for it.” Ouch. It’s certainly not a hack that justifies running out and spend $40 for a single new Joy-Conbut if you happen to have another Switch controller lying around, you should definitely give it a try.

Of course, this probably isn’t a bug you’ll discover on your own. Pokemons multiplayer doesn’t happen on one switch. Whether you’re trading with mons, battling friends or teaming up to complete challenges, everyone is on their own game and console, so why think about connecting another Joy-Con at the moment?

The more pressing question, however, is why this error exists in the first place. A convincing theory comes from Redditor Pulley999, who speculate that it’s because of the way Game Freak codes around the joysticks: According to their assumption, the game reads the joystick position map as a square, rather than a circle, with the four individual corners usually impossible to reach. However, use two sticks at an angle at the same time and suddenly the game thinks you’re placed in those corners, potentially allowing you to go 41% faster than normal.

Another user points out the new Pokémon Snap has the same distinctiveness, leading to speculation that Game Freak is reusing the code from that game in these new titles. Another shares they developed a game with a similar bug in their high school IT class. The whole thread is fun reading.

But we don’t know for sure what’s causing the bug, nor do we know if Game Freak will patch it in a future update. With that in mind, you should run while you still can.