Is there a way to hack the data of a legitimate/in-game Pokemon?

Question

I'm curious. I know someone who has hacked their ingame Pokemon to be shiny once, and I wonder if it's possible to do the same but give ingame Pokemon its hidden ability or egg moves it didn't have before, or change its nature. It's been making me curious.

Comments

I think of PokeGen but wasn't it discontinued when X and Y were introduced? I can't remember.

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Here's my explanations of how hacking works (not sure if accurate)

Do you play Pokemon Showdown? If you do, then you know there's an import/export button. When you click it, it shows text. If you edit the text, it's sorta like hacking but not quite.

Another example which is more related to programs and games still uses text, but is more complicated. Basically, when you open a JSON file from the program with a text editor, you see confusing scripts all over the place. Depending on the program and JSON your hacking, it will show different things. In Minecraft Files, you can find the AI and behavior of the entities, which you can edit and 'mod'. That's how people mod Minecraft.

Answer 1

I have Action Replay 3ds and I know (at least) in X/Y and OR/AS you can put a Pokemon in the first slot of the first box and turn them shiny. You can change their nature, moves, and ability too. you would have to give yourself 999 in the first 8 items though. You need to drop a certain amount of items with the moves you need; http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_moves
I haven't done it in such a long time, but if you want me to figure it out again I can figure it out.
Edit: The codes for SuMo is in folders named stuff like "Poplio Folder" and "Pikachu folder". They probably have the same things though.

Comments

(I know you need atleast 999 in 6 slots, but I just went with 8 to be safe.)

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I can probably edit pokemon to have z moves they aren't supposed to have. :P

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that seems like the one my friend might've used. Is there a way to do it safely without corrupting data?

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the worst it's done for me is me being dumb and accidentally giving an absol absorb and tackle lol, but you can revert to the last backup with powersaves also.

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for online though, id just stick with free play, i havn't done it with ranked.

Answer 2

Yes. there is this thing called PokeGen, it still exists. I prefer not hacking though, because if you take hacked Pokemon online, nintendo catches you, and BANNED from all online stuff. it happened to me, and I had to erase everything.