Friendship evolution

Friendship evolution refers to the process of evolving a Pokémon with high friendship. This method of evolution was introduced in Generation II.

Early explanation about friendship evolution
(Pokémon Gold and Silver: Complete Pokédex, page 19)

Terminology

In Pokémon Gold and Silver: Complete Pokédex, this is referred to as both Friendship Evolution and Friendly Evolution:

• "Perhaps the trickiest type of evolution is the Friendship Evolution. If you treat your Pokémon with utmost respect and care until it is very happy and very attached to you, it will evolve." (page 5)
• "I have concluded that several Pokémon will evolve only when they are very attached to their Trainers—a process called Friendly Evolution." (page 19)

List of friendship evolutions

Prior evolution		Friendship evolution			Later evolution
Introduced in Generation II
Zubat  Poison  Flying	Level 22+ →	Golbat  Poison  Flying	+ Level Up →	Crobat  Poison  Flying	Crobat does not evolve
Nothing evolves into Pichu		Pichu  Electric	+ Level Up →	Pikachu  Electric	Thunder Stone →	Raichu  Electric
					+ Thunder Stone (in Alola) →	AlolanRaichu  Electric  Psychic
Nothing evolves into Cleffa		Cleffa  Fairy	+ Level Up →	Clefairy  Fairy	Moon Stone →	Clefable  Fairy
Nothing evolves into Igglybuff		Igglybuff  Normal  Fairy	+ Level Up →	Jigglypuff  Normal  Fairy	Moon Stone →	Wigglytuff  Normal  Fairy
Nothing evolves into Togepi		Togepi  Fairy	+ Level Up →	Togetic  Fairy  Flying	Togetic does not evolveGen. II–III
					Shiny Stone →	Togekiss  Fairy  Flying
Nothing evolves into Eevee		Eevee  Normal	+ + Level Up (day) →	Espeon  Psychic	Espeon does not evolve
			+ + Level Up (night) →	Umbreon  Dark	Umbreon does not evolve
Nothing evolves into ChanseyGen. II–III		Chansey  Normal	+ Level Up →	Blissey  Normal	Blissey does not evolve
Happiny  Normal	+ + Level Up (day, holding an Oval Stone) →
Introduced in Generation III
Nothing evolves into Azurill		Azurill  Normal  Fairy	+ Level Up →	Marill  Water  Fairy	Level 18+ →	Azumarill  Water  Fairy
Introduced in Generation IV
Nothing evolves into Budew		Budew  Grass  Poison	+ + Level Up (morning or day) →	Roselia  Grass  Poison	Shiny Stone →	Roserade  Grass  Poison
Nothing evolves into Buneary		Buneary  Normal	+ Level Up →	Lopunny  Normal	Lopunny does not evolve
Nothing evolves into Chingling		Chingling  Psychic	+ + Level Up (night) →	Chimecho  Psychic	Chimecho does not evolve
Nothing evolves into Munchlax		Munchlax  Normal	+ Level Up →	Snorlax  Normal	Snorlax does not evolve
Nothing evolves into Riolu		Riolu  Fighting	+ + Level Up (day) →	Lucario  Fighting  Steel	Lucario does not evolve
Introduced in Generation V
Nothing evolves into Woobat		Woobat  Psychic  Flying	+ Level Up →	Swoobat  Psychic  Flying	Swoobat does not evolve
Sewaddle  Bug  Grass	Level 20+ →	Swadloon  Bug  Grass	+ Level Up →	Leavanny  Bug  Grass	Leavanny does not evolve
Introduced in Generation VI
Nothing evolves into Eevee		Eevee  Normal	+ + + Level Up (knows a Fairy move, 2+ affection levels)Gen. VI–VII →	Sylveon  Fairy	Sylveon does not evolve
			+ Level Up (knows a Fairy move) →
Introduced in Generation VII
Nothing evolves into Alolan Meowth		Alolan Meowth  Dark	+ Level Up →	Alolan Persian  Dark	Alolan Persian does not evolve
Nothing evolves into Type: Null		Type: Null  Normal	+ Level Up →	Silvally  Normal	Silvally does not evolve
Introduced in Generation VIII
Nothing evolves into Snom		Snom  Ice  Bug	+ + Level Up (night) →	Frosmoth  Ice  Bug	Frosmoth does not evolve

In the core series games

Some Pokémon evolve when they are leveled up with enough friendship. As long as the Pokémon has the required amount of friendship, unless there are other requirements for its evolution, it will attempt to evolve whenever it levels up by battle or Rare Candy. However, in the case of certain Pokémon, the friendship evolution may only be available at certain times of day, it may require holding an item or knowing a certain move.

This evolutionary requirement was introduced in Generation II. This is the same generation where the feature of all Pokémon having a frienship value was introduced, as opposed to the early friendship mechanic from Pokémon Yellow which only applied to the first partner Pikachu.

Baby Pokémon often have this evolution requirement, but it is also an evolution requirement for other Pokémon, and not all baby Pokémon have this as an evolution requirement

Generations II to VII

From Generation II to VII, a Pokémon requires at least 220 friendship in order to evolve.

In these generations, a level 100 Pokémon is unable to evolve by leveling up. Since the friendship evolution involves leveling up, a Pokémon with this level is unable to evolve by friendship.

Generation VIII onwards

From Generation VIII onwards, a Pokémon requires at least 160 friendship in order to evolve.

If a Rare Candy is used on a level 100 Pokémon that evolves by leveling up and currently meets its evolution requirements (including friendship), it will evolve without gaining a level.

In the spin-off games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

Main article: IQ → Evolution

In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, the Pokémon that evolve by friendship in the core series require a certain IQ value instead. The number of IQ stars required varies between species.

The requirement of evolving during the day or the night is replaced by using a Sun Ribbon or Lunar Ribbon.

Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire

In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, it is possible to evolve caught Pokémon that would normally require friendship in the core series games.

Like all evolutions in this game, this is achievable in the Evolution Mode by simply choosing that Pokémon (such as Golbat evolving into Crobat) and then obtaining a certain Evolution Item three times somewhere on the Pinball table under the deadline (usually 2 minutes, which can be extended using the Timer Bonus). In the case of friendship evolution, the Evolution item is a heart symbol (). Once this is done, the player's Poké Ball is required to enter the Center Hole to finish this process. There is a short Pokémon evolution animation, and then the evolved form will count as caught in the Pokédex.

In this game, the four friendship evolution lines from the Generation III Hoenn Pokédex are available:

Evolves from	Evolves into
Golbat	Crobat
Pichu	Pikachu
Igglybuff	Jigglypuff
Azurill	Marill

In the manga

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Check if any other friendship evolutions occur in the manga (possibly also in manga titles other than Pokémon Adventures)

Pokémon Adventures

Gold, Silver & Crystal arc

In Forretress of Solitude, it is shown that Vee evolved from Eevee into Espeon.

HeartGold & SoulSilver arc

In All About Arceus VIII, it is implied that Togebo evolved by this method from Togepi into Togetic. This happened when Gold apologized for thinking that Togebo was not as strong as his other Pokémon and upon realizing his mistake, told Togebo to join the other Pokémon in the battle against the rampaging Arceus.

See also

• Methods of evolution
• Trade evolution
• Pokémon that evolve by friendship
  • Pokémon that evolve by friendship during the day
  • Pokémon that evolve by friendship during the night

Notes

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.