Pokémon breeding: Difference between revisions

"Time" is actually determined by egg cycle completion, which is determined by in-game steps or biking. An egg cycle is a counted number of steps that activate breeding related programs in the game. One egg cycle lasts 256 steps in the third generation and 255 steps in the fourth generation. After 255/256 steps are taken, the game recognizes the completion of the cycle and does a few things; the step counter for the cycles is reset to zero, the game randomly decides if an egg is to be found at the Day Care (if compatible Pokémon are present in the Day Care at the time), and all (or only a few) eggs currently in the player's team are taken down one egg cycle count. If the egg cycle count for an egg reaches zero or a negative number, the egg will begin to hatch. If an egg hatches, the game stops subtracting an egg cycle count from the rest of the eggs in the team. Due to this, since the third generation, no two eggs can hatch at the same time.

The other way to reset the game counter is to receive an egg from the Day Care Man (or in the Manaphy egg's case, from the mystery gift delivery man in the Poké Mart). Every time an egg is received, the game automatically resets the egg cycle step counter to zero, and counts as another egg cycle completion. This can effectively cut 254 (255 in the third generation) steps off the egg hatching process for every egg accepted from the Day Care Man (the egg must be accepted, not rejected or denied due to a full team to reset the step counter). Although this detracts an egg cycle from the eggs, any eggs ready to hatch upon this type of egg cycle completion will be denied the ability to hatch until the next egg cycle completion by steps, perhaps due to the dialogue between the player and the Day Care man following the pickup of an egg.  

There are ways to speed this system up. Riding a [[bike]] (for example) would reduce the egg's actual hatching time by traveling quickly, raising the step count faster, and completing egg cycles faster. {{game2|Ruby|Sapphire|Emerald}} allow players to use the Mach Bike, which is twice as fast as the Acro Bike. {{game|FireRed and LeafGreen|s}} give players a harder time hatching their eggs, however, for there is no "Mach Bike" available. Additionally, in Pokémon Emerald and onwards, if any Pokémon with {{a|Flame Body}} or {{a|Magma Armor}} is anywhere in a player's [[party]], it doubles the egg cycle count reduction, effectively halving the steps needed to hatch the egg. In the Gligar example, the egg would start at 21, and with {{p|Slugma}} in the party, the egg would drop 2 egg cycle counts after each egg cycle, from 21 to 19 to 17 and so on. This feature became standard in [[Generation IV]]. The final way to speed up egg hatching is to use the Pokétch step counter in {{game2|Diamond|Pearl|Platinum}} to attempt to pick up an egg from the Day Care Man one step after an egg cycle completes. This will cut 254 steps off the hatching process (this particular egg count reduction may not be affected by the Flame Body/Magma Armor ability, and may only ever reduce the egg cycle count by one). In the Gligar example, if the player had the Gligar egg and biked for exactly 255 steps after receiving the egg, the egg would reduce one egg cycle count (down to 20), and the egg cycle step counter would reset. If the player could then reach the Day Care Man with only one step, the egg cycle step counter would read one step taken. Then, the player could receive an egg from the Day Care Man, and the egg cycle step counter would be forced back to zero, and the egg cycle would reduce again for the first Gligar egg, reducing the egg cycle count for the Gligar to 19 in only 256 steps, cutting out 254 steps otherwise.