Time

9:37 PM UTC

B	W	B2	W2
Friday
Night
Autumn

X	Y
Friday
Night

G	S	C
Friday
Night

D	P	Pt	HG	SS
Friday
Night

Time is a mechanic in the Pokémon games. It was introduced in Generation II and has been a major component of all games released afterward. Time affects both the evolution of several Pokémon and whether certain Pokémon can be found in the wild. Some events may take place at a specific time of day, or on a particular day of the week.

Berries are governed by the time function, maturing after a certain amount of time has passed. Much like weather conditions, the games' time function has been revised and expanded in each subsequent generation after its introduction.

Generation II

Route 29 in the morning

In Generation II, the changing time of day was a highly touted feature for the games; several Pokémon were even designed with this in mind, such as Hoothoot and Noctowl, while others would only appear in certain areas at certain times of day.

At the beginning of all three games, the clock would be set upon starting a new game, even before the player is named. The default time is 10:00 AM. The clock can be reset through a code in all three games, though it is more difficult to do so in Pokémon Crystal. The player's mother will change the clock by an hour for daylight saving time.

Eevee was given two new evolutions to take advantage of the changing time: Espeon, which it would become if its friendship maxed out during the morning or day, and Umbreon, which it would become if its friendship maxed during the night.

Times of day

Morning	Day	Night
4:00 AM - 9:59 AM	10:00 AM - 5:59 PM	6:00 PM - 3:59 AM

Morning

Morning, an hour in which many Pokémon Trainers are still asleep, is when there are many Bug-type Pokémon scurrying out and about. For the most part, however, Morning is much the same as Day, as far as Pokémon distribution goes. Morning lasts from 4:00 AM to 9:59 AM, and the rising sun tints the entire landscape with a yellowish hue.

Daytime near the water.

Day

The daytime is the busiest time in the Pokémon world, as most people are up and about at this time. The same is true of Pokémon, who appear often and in many varieties. The landscape is not tinted at all during this time, making it seem closer to the timeless games of Generation I. Day lasts from 10:00 AM to 5:59 PM.

Night

A drastic change from the other two time periods, at night most Pokémon are sleeping, with the exception of a few night owls. It is at this time that players will be able to find the most sleeping Pokémon by Headbutting trees, which will give them an advantage in battle. The entire world will be colored a bluish-purple, and lights will be on in buildings all over. Wild Pokémon battles taking place at night use a slightly different music track. The longest of Generation II's three time periods, nighttime hours last from 6:00 PM to 3:59 AM.

Nighttime. Note the building lights illuminating brightly.

Days of the week

Main article: Days of the week

When the Pokégear is first received, the player's mother will ask him or her to set the day of the week as well. This affects several things, such as the National Park's Bug-Catching Contest and which of the Week Siblings appears, though not much else.

Changing the Clock

Note: In order to reset the clock, the player must input these codes on the title screen.

Pokémon Gold and Silver

Simultaneously hold down ↓, SELECT, and B.

Pokémon Crystal

Hold ↓, SELECT, and B
Release ↓ and B, while still holding SELECT
Hold ← and ↑, while still holding SELECT
Release SELECT

Generation III

Unlike Generation II, Generation III had no separate time periods, or even an ability to check the time in-game unless the player traveled back to Littleroot Town, where he or she had set an analog clock at the beginning of the game. Also, unlike Generation II, the time-based events were very few and extremely far between, with the clock mostly running to keep track of the growth of planted Berries (although this was not completely foolproof).

Additionally, there is no way to change the clock for Daylight Saving Time in this generation. There was, however, some premise in the games. For example, Shoal Cave's water level would change every six hours, at 3:00 and 9:00 AM and PM. Just the same, Eevee would be able to evolve into Espeon if the in-game time was between 12:00 PM and 11:59 PM. Eevee would also be able to evolve into Umbreon if the in-game time was between 12:00 AM and 11:59 AM.

**Shoal Cave tides**
High Tide	Low Tide
9:00 PM - 2:59 AM 9:00 AM - 2:59 PM	3:00 AM - 8:59 AM 3:00 PM - 8:59 PM

**Time-based evolutions**
Day Evolution	Night Evolution
12:00 PM - 11:59 PM	12:00 AM - 11:59 AM

Although a small part of the game, some events occur on a daily basis. Lilycove Department Store gives out Pokémon Loto Tickets for the Pokémon Lottery Corner, with the winning number changing daily. An old man who lives in Pacifidlog Town looks out for Mirage Island, and will, every day, generate a random number between 0 and 65535 and if this number matches the personality value of any of the Pokémon in the party, Mirage Island will appear in the game.

In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, however, the time function is completely absent, allowing it to be more like the Generation I games. This also makes it impossible for Eevee to evolve into either Espeon or Umbreon in these games. In order to do so, the player would have to trade Eevee to Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald and have it evolve in one of those games. The same holds true for Pokémon Colosseum, where Espeon and Umbreon are obtainable as Starter Pokémon. In XD, Eevee can only be evolved into Espeon or Umbreon by a method that is not time-dependent, the Sun and Moon Shards.

Generation IV

The overworld as it cycles through the day.

In Generation IV, the time function returned fully. This time, however, it would run off the Nintendo DS's system clock, though it would return many of the functions originally released in Generation II. Many new Pokémon also now would evolve based upon the time of day. For example, Gligar will only evolve into Gliscor at night.

The three time periods from Generation II return, with better transitions between them, assumed by many before the games were released as different time periods themselves. Also running off the DS's clock is the same day-of-the-week function from the Generation II games, though this time, by running off the DS, it keeps track of the date of capture of every Pokémon. It also determines when certain events may take place; for example, Drifloon only appear in the Valley Windworks on Fridays, and rival battles in the Battle Zone only may be initiated on weekends.

The Pokédex also has a new function that displays where Pokémon are found in each time period. When it is first opened, the Sinnoh Pokédex will also default to the current time of day.