---------------------------------
| Pokemon Happines Points FAQ |
| version 1.1 |
| by Ignacio de Lucas |
---------------------------------
What's new
----------
v 1.1 - Some corrections and information about the haircut brothers.
v 1.0 - Initial version.
This is a VERY short FAQ to fill in a quite specific gap I've found in all other
Pokemon FAQs out there. The purpose of this FAQ is to list how exactly do your
actions affect the Happiness of your Pokemon. In short, every Pokemon has a hidden
stat or value which is usually referred to as Happiness (the term "loyalty to its
trainer" is, however, used in Pokemon Stadium GS).
The most interesting consequence to this is that certain Pokemon only evolve to
their next form when that stat reaches or surpasses a certain value after leveling
up. Which Pokemon are these is conveniently explained in other FAQs, so I won't
repeat them here. Also, I won't explain what the actions below are: if you are
serious about making a Pokemon happy, you should know about all of them, and
again, they are outlined in other FAQs as well.
The needed value of Happiness for a Happiness Evolution is 220 (yes, 220, not 218
as listed elsewhere). However, the evolution is only triggered after a Level Up. A
Pokemon evolves when they have 220 happiness AFTER a Level Up. The reason for this
remark is that Leveling Up itself raises Happiness (generally 5 points, but
sometimes only 3. I'm not sure what determines this, but I'm pretty sure it isn't
random).
How was this FAQ done? Easy. Using a GB emulator, I just scanned the memory
address where the value is stored, and checked how actions affected it. Believe it
or not, though, I play the game on a real Gameboy, which made things a little
harder since I had to search for saved games all over the 'net :/ As a consequence
of this, some of the stuff (namely Daisy and some other) had to be tried on
Pokemon Crystal (only saved game I found near the end), but I doubt the values
were changed (for the record, the haircut brothers were tried on BOTH Gold and
Crystal).
This should be obvious, but all stuff listed under "rumored to affect happiness,
but proved wrong" has been tested thoroughly as well.
Happiness values
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Pokemon is captured with Friend Ball | Starts at 200 |
| Pokemon is captured with any other Ball | Starts at 70 |
| Pokemon is traded | Resets to 70 |
| Amount of happiness needed for Evolution | 220 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuff that affects Happiness
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Every 512 steps you take with Pokemon in party | +1 |
| Stat-up item used on the Pokemon | +2 |
| Pokemon gains a level | +3 or +5 |
| Hair cut by younger haircut brother (300) | randomly +1, +3 or +10 |
| Hair cut by older haircut brother (500) | randomly +1, +3 or +5 |
| Daisy (Nanami) grooms the Pokemon | +3 (can be done twice a day) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Pokemon faints | -1 |
| Heal Powder used on the Pokemon | -5 |
| Enegy Powder used on the Pokemon | -5 |
| Energy Root used on the Pokemon | -10 |
| Revival Herb used on the Pokemon | -15 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuff rumored to affect Happiness, but proved wrong
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Pokemon is given an item to hold | +0 |
| Walking while Pokemon holds an item | +0 |
| Pokemon wins a battle | +0 |
| Pokemon wins a trainer battle | +0 |
| Pokemon wins a gym trainer battle | +0 |
| Pokemon wins a gym leader battle | +0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Pokemon falls to critical HP (not fainting) | -0 |
| Storing the Pokemon on the PC | -0 |
| Walking without Pokemon in party | -0 |
| Pokemon gets affected by Poison | -0 |
| Walking while Pokemon is affected by Poison | -0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, after some more testing with the haircut brothers, I've discovered that you
can actually know what points did the haircut you just took give to your Pokemon.
- If it says "XXX looks a little happy." you received 1 point.
- If it says "XXX looks happy." you received 3 points.
- If it says "XXX looks delighted!" you received 5 points (older brother) or
10 points (younger brother).
While checking the above, I noticed that, actually, the younger brother gives 1
point most of the time, and 10 points very rarely, while the older brother gives 3
points more often than 1, and 5 points more frequently than his younger brother
does 10. So I thought it might be that the older brother isn't as bad as it first
seemed, and maybe, he could even be the better one after all. I decided to do some
sampling and after taking about 150 samples, I found that the percentages are
approximatelly as follows:
Younger brother : (1 x 0.7) + (3 x 0.2) + (10 x 0.1) = 2.3 points on average
Older brother : (1 x 0.2) + (3 x 0.6) + (5 x 0.2) = 3 points on average
Younger brother's average points per 100 yen : 2.3 / 3 = 0.7
Older brother's average points per 100 yen : 3 / 5 = 0.6
Note that (assuming the sampling I performed actually represented the real ratios)
the younger brother is STILL the better of the two, but not by as much as I first
thought.
Also note that the actual points per 100 yen ratios are much lower than what I
estimated :(
Of course, the best option is letting Daisy (in Pallet Town, from 3PM to 4PM
everyday) groom them, since that gives 3 points twice and it's absolutely free.
However, you don't reach Pallet Town until very late in the game. Oh, and yes, you
can groom the same Pokemon twice and he'll gain 6 points total.
Also, if it's a catchable Pokemon, using a Friend Ball to catch it will make a
HUGE difference (200 instead of 70!). It's a pity, though, that most Pokemon that
evolve by happiness are in fact not catchable :( . The only one I can think off
the top of my head is Golbat (to Crobat).
And finally, note that stat-increasing items actually raise happiness very little
for their price, making it more of a "nice side effect" than an "strategic
exploitable bonus".
Final note: I don't want mail. I haven't ommited my e-mail address for nothing,
you know. If you happen to obtain it by other means, don't use it. Oh, and I eat
little children alive.
