Pokémon breeding

Pokémon breeding is a method of making a new Pokémon by producing and hatching an egg. In the anime, it also refers to Pokémon grooming and caretaking.

In the games

How to breed

Pokémon can be bred by leaving two compatible Pokémon at the Pokémon Daycare in Generation II and beyond, located on Route 34 in Johto, Route 117 in Hoenn, Four Island in the Sevii Islands, and Solaceon Town in Sinnoh. Two Pokémon are compatible if they are of the same species, or share at least one Egg Group, and are of opposite genders (see below); alternatively, breeding is usually still possible as long as one of them is Ditto, even if the other parent is genderless. Legendary Pokémon (excluding Phione and Manaphy), baby Pokémon, Unown, Nidorina and Nidoqueen cannot breed whatsoever. Pokémon with gender unknown (besides the aforementioned legendaries) can only breed with Ditto.

Breeding Rate

• Same species, different ID numbers

The chance of getting an egg is 69.3% (has a value of 70). The old man in the Daycare will say: "The two seem to get along very well."

• Same species, same ID numbers

The chance of getting an egg is 49.5% (has a value of 50). The old man in the Daycare will say: "The two seem to get along."

• Different species, different ID numbers

The chance of getting an egg is 49.5% (has a value of 50). The old man in the Daycare will say: "The two seem to get along."

• Different species, same ID numbers

The chance of getting an egg is 19.8% (has a value of 20). The old man in the Daycare will say: "The two don't seem to like each other."

• Different egg groups, same genders or No egg group

The Pokémon are incompatible and therefore will not make an egg. The old man in the Daycare will say: "The two prefer to play with other Pokémon than each other."

Receiving the egg

When there are two compatible Pokémon in the Daycare, for every 256 steps that the player takes, the game will decide whether or not the old man has found an egg, with chances depending on the exact compatibility of the two Pokémon. If there was an egg produced, the old man will be outside (Generation II), out of line with the fence (Generation III), or facing the road (Generation IV). The man will hand the player an egg if he or she replies to his question with "Yes" and has an empty slot in the party, and permanently keep the egg if the player responds "No". If the player selects "Yes" but does not have a spare slot, the man will keep it until the player returns and offer it again. Otherwise, there is no way to refuse the egg and receive it later.

What will hatch

After walking around for a while, the egg will hatch into a level 5 (Generation II and III) or level 1 (Generation IV) Pokémon of the bottom of the female's evolutionary chain (or the non-Ditto parent).

Examples:

Parents		Offspring
Ditto breeding
Porygon-Z	Ditto	Porygon
Same species breeding
Glaceon♂	Glaceon♀	Eevee
Same evolution family breeding
Electivire♂	Electabuzz♀	Elekid
Same Egg group breeding
Staraptor♂	Togekiss♀	Togepi
No eggs egg group breeding
		None
Heatran♂	Heatran♀	None

However, there are two pairs of Pokémon species where the male and female are treated as different Pokémon. In these cases, an egg produced by the female species may hatch into either the male or female variant; however, breeding the male species with Ditto will not produce the female counterpart. The pairs are the following:

• Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂
• Illumise and Volbeat

There are also some Pokémon which will produce variable eggs. The Pokémon that is in these eggs will depend on whether or not the parents held a certain type of incense while breeding.

Parents		Item	Offspring
Roselia	Roserade	Rose Incense	Budew
		No Hold Item	Roselia

Parents		Item	Offspring
Marill	Azumarill	Sea Incense	Azurill
		No Hold Item	Marill

Parents		Item	Offspring
Chansey	Blissey	Luck Incense	Happiny
		No Hold Item	Chansey

Parents	Item	Offspring
Wobbuffet	Lax Incense	Wynaut
	No Hold Item	Wobbuffet

Parents	Item	Offspring
Chimecho	Pure Incense	Chingling
	No Hold Item	Chimecho

Parents	Item	Offspring
Sudowoodo	Rock Incense	Bonsly
	No Hold Item	Sudowoodo

Parents	Item	Offspring
Mr. Mime	Odd Incense	Mime Jr.
	No Hold Item	Mr. Mime

Parents	Item	Offspring
Mantine	Wave Incense	Mantyke
	No Hold Item	Mantine

Parents	Item	Offspring
Snorlax	Full Incense	Munchlax
	No Hold Item	Snorlax

Wobbuffet and Azumarill/Marill baby forms were introduced in Generation III. Chimecho, Sudowoodo, Mr. Mime, Chansey/Blissey, Snorlax, and Mantine baby forms were introduced in Generation IV. Each evolution-chain requires a specific attached incense to breed the baby form.

Hatching eggs

The time it takes for eggs to hatch depends on the species. Magikarp is the fastest hatching Pokémon. Some baby fairies, such as Cleffa, Pichu and Igglybuff hatch quickly as well. Besides these, most Pokémon take considerable time to hatch. Rare and powerful Pokémon, like Dratini, Bagon, Beldum, Larvitar, Gible, Aerodactyl, Snorlax, Spiritomb, Chansey and Eevee, among others, take a long time to hatch.

"Time" is actually determined in steps. For example, a Gligar egg takes 6364 steps to hatch. Therefore, riding a bike would reduce the egg's actual hatching time by traveling quickly. Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald allow players to use the Mach Bike, which is twice as fast as the Acro Bike. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen give players a harder time hatching their eggs, however, for there is no "Mach Bike" available. Additionally, in Pokémon Emerald, if any Pokémon with Flame Body or Magma Armor is in the party, it reduces the hatching time by half: A Gligar egg would take only 3282 steps if a Slugma is in the party. This feature became standard in Generation IV.

Passing moves down

The moves obtained by a Pokémon when hatching are as follows:

• The Pokémon will start with any moves that it would learn as a "Start" move in its learnset (In Generation II and Generation III, they learned all moves that are level 5 and below in their learnset.).
• The Pokémon will start with any moves that it would learn by leveling up only if both parents know the move.
• The Pokémon will start with any TM or HM moves (and starting in Crystal, move tutor moves) that the father knows and the baby can also learn by machine.
• The Pokémon will start with any Egg moves that the baby can learn and the father knows.

The moves will take precedence in the order listed, and if there are more than four moves to learn, the moves will start being overwritten much like when leveling up at the Pokémon Daycare.

In Pokémon Emerald (and subsequently Generation IV), there is a specific method to produce a Pichu that knows the move Volt Tackle: When breeding a Pikachu or Raichu holding a Light Ball, the offspring Pichu will know the move Volt Tackle. It should be noted that the parent need not know the move itself, and is not required to be of any specific gender; however, a male Pikachu or Raichu has to breed either with a female counterpart or with Ditto so that the offspring is, in fact, a Pichu.

Inheriting stats

A Pokémon's Individual values are also passed down. This is determined differently between Generation II and Generation III games.

Generation II

In Generation II games, the baby inherits its stats from the parent of the opposite gender, unless one parent is Ditto, and in that case it inherits the stats from Ditto. The Defense IV (Individual Value) is passed, and also either the Special IV or the Special IV plus or minus 8 (plus for values in the 0-7 range; minus for values in the 8-15 range); the Special IV has a 50% chance of remaining the same. Attack and Speed IVs are determined entirely at random, whereas HP is determined by the IVs of the other four stats, using the same formula for wild Pokémon. The probability of a Pokémon inheriting all of its opposite-gender parent's IVs is therefore 1/512.

When determining if two Pokémon are compatible, their egg group is only one criterion. For Pokémon of the same egg group, if the Defense IVs are the same, and either the Special IVs are the same or 8 off, they are incompatible. This is due to the high likelihood of a family relation, hence the inability to breed.

Generation III

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed and LeafGreen, exactly three of the baby's IVs are inherited from either parent (which is to say that one parent can contribute a number of IVs that ranges from 0 to 3, and its mate will contribute the remaining number of IVs from other stats). The other three are determined at random, in such a way that it is possible that more of the offspring's IVs will coincide with those of its parents.

In Pokémon Emerald, the process is similar but more complicated. First, a random IV is passed from one of the parents to the baby. Afterwards, a random IV of any stat other than HP, is inherited from either parent to the baby. If this IV is from the same stat as the first IV (not necessarily the same IV value, depending on whether or not the same parent passed it on), it will override it. Finally, another random IV of any stat other than HP and Defense, is passed from one of the parents to the baby. This IV will override any of the previous two if it is from the same stat. The remaining stats (a number ranging from 3 to 5) are determined at random, again with the possibility of one or more IVs coinciding with those of the parents.

Generation IV

Inheriting IVs in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is determined in the same way as in Pokémon Emerald.

In HeartGold and SoulSilver a new mechanic was added to breeding, in which the EV Items can pass on the corresponding IV of the parent Pokémon to the baby. For example, if a parent is holding the Power Anklet, the Speed IV would be passed on.

Inheriting Natures

Another change introduced in Emerald is the ability to inherit Nature, which also influences stats. If the mother (or Ditto) is holding an Everstone, the baby has a 50% chance of inheriting that Pokémon's Nature. When breeding a female Pokémon with Ditto, it is Ditto whose Nature has the increased 50% chance of being inherited in case it holds Everstone.

In Generation IV inheriting Nature was changed a little. Whichever Pokémon is holding an Everstone will pass down its nature, regardless of gender, or whether it is breeding with a ditto. . Another minor change is that the passing on of natures via an Everstone will not work if the pokémon are from different real world countries (e.g. Argentina and Spain).

Breeding for Shininess

Generation II

In Generation II a player can breed for "shininess" due to the method Generation II games used for calculating whether a Pokémon is shiny or not, an egg hatched from an alternate colored Pokémon in has a 1/64 chance of being alternately colored itself. This does not apply with later games, however.

Generation III

In Generation III a breed pokémon has the same chance as being shiny as any met in the wild. There is no known method to change this.

Generation IV

Breeding in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for shininess is unchanged from Generation III (i.e. impossible to change the chance from the default 1/8192).

In HeartGold and SoulSilver however, a new mechanic was added to breeding, there is an increased chance (1/2048 as opposed to 1/8192) of hatching a shiny Pokémon when both parents are from different games. This is due to special coding written into the game by director Junichi Masuda.

In the anime

In the anime, Pokémon breeding refers to an entire line of work practiced by Pokémon Breeders, such as Brock. So far, the anime has shown and discussed little about the literal breeding of Pokémon to produce eggs, but it is assumed this is part of a Pokémon Breeder's work. It has been shown that professors get their starter Pokémon from breeders who specifically raise and breed them, like Old Man Swampy from A Mudkip Mission. There are also a few farm-like facilities that produce Pokémon eggs of various species. Ash received his egg from such a location, as did May and her egg.

Pokémon breeding in the anime focuses heavily on raising healthy Pokémon and keeping them in top condition by grooming them well and feeding them nutritious food.

Trivia

• Some aspects and contradictions of breeding in the games have spawned debate and confusion. Pokémon which breed differently depending on whether or not they hold an incense item, are particularly debated. Most fans perceive the necessity of the Incense items as a mere excuse for the fact that the baby Pokémon could not be previously obtained. Perhaps also surprisingly, these baby Pokémon have different egg move lists than those of their evolved forms.
• Some unusual pairings of Pokémon can be found within the egg groups, such as Seviper and Zangoose (which are even said to be mortal enemies), and the most famous pairing: Skitty and Wailord. This has led fans to view Pokémon breeding as being quite different from real-life mating. Indeed, the characters in the game make special mention of the fact that no one has seen Pokémon breed.
• One particularly unusual oddity is that Nidorina and Nidoqueen cannot breed, despite the fact that their pre-evolution and male counterparts can.
• Although there is no known way for legendary Pokémon to be bred, there is evidence that it can occur somehow, since eggs with Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres can be hatched in Pokémon Snap and a baby Lugia has been seen in the anime. Likewise, Manaphy can be hatched from a special egg from Pokémon Ranger in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Furthermore, Manaphy is the only legendary Pokémon who can breed with a Ditto. However, the offspring will always be Phione, who doesn't evolve into Manaphy.
• When a Pokémon hatches from an egg during both Generation II and Generation III, it is at level 5; however, Pokémon can be found in the routes around the player's hometown that are leveled lower than this, down to level 2. This oddity has been addressed in Generation IV, where all hatched Pokémon started at level 1.
• No negative effects occur from inbreeding Pokémon in Generation III and Generation IV, despite this being impossible in Generation II due to data storage methods regarding the personality value.

External links

• Smogon's detailed guide on breeding and egg-hatching