POKEMON GOLD, SILVER AND CRYSTAL BREEDING AND EGGS GUIDE

Egg Hatching is a very important part of Gold, Silver, and Crystal. You can use this feature to get duplicates of Pokemon that you were only able to obtain one of in previous versions, like the starters, fossil Pokemon, Porygon, Eevee, and others. Let's get acquainted with this handy feature, shall we?

In order to breed, you'll need to take two Pokemon to the Day-Care Center. The Day-Care Center is the house just south of Goldenrod City which is home to an old man and an old lady. You'll be giving one of your Pokemon to each of them. Note: It doesn't matter which person receives which Pokemon! Either one could go to either one.

If you want two Pokemon to breed and produce an egg, they must be compatible. There are several different groups of Pokemon that are compatible with each other, and each group is called an Egg Group. Some Pokemon belong to more than one Egg Group. Here are the members of each Group.

Each Pokemon can breed with those within its own Egg Group(s) AND with the Ditto group (with the exception of the "Undiscovered" group of course). Even the Gender Unknown Group can breed with Ditto.

Once you have the two parents picked out, it is possible to already know what species the baby will be and even what attacks it knows. Let me explain.

The baby will always assume the LOWEST STAGE of the MOTHER's species. That means that if a female Dragonite bred with a male Arbok, the baby would end up being a Dratini. Always. There are cases in which the baby will be the father's species, however. This can only happen if a male Pokemon is breeding with Ditto. If a female Pokemon breeds with Ditto, the baby will be the mother's species; if a male breeds with Ditto, the baby will be the male's species. Ditto is genderless, so it can breed with everything else that can breed except for other Dittos.

However, in the case of Nidoran (M) and Nidoran (F) breeding, there is a 50-50 chance of producing a Nidoran (M) or (F).

So, you know which Pokemon the baby will be - now, for the moves. First, we need to see how many attacks the baby Pokemon will know right after it comes out of the egg. Use the chart below.

# of Attacks at Birth Pokemon Name 4 Girafarig, Wobbuffet 3 Cleffa, Chinchou, Grimer, Hoppip, Igglybuff, Lapras, Porygon, Snubbull, Venonat 2 All Pokemon not listed 1 Abra, Aerodactyl, Bellsprout, Corsola, Delibird, Farfetch'd, Geodude, Gligar, Horsea, Kangaskhan, Ledyba, Lickitung, Magby, Magikarp, Magnemite, Mr. Mime, Murkrow, Oddish, Paras, Pinsir, Poliwag, Remoraid, Sandshrew, Slugma, Smeargle, Snorlax, Stantler, Swinub, Tentacool, Tyrogue, Voltorb, Zubat

This indicated the number of attacks the baby would know WITHOUT inheriting moves from the father. But about this whole "learning moves from the father" - How does this work? I'll explain.

Each Pokemon that can breed can learn some special moves, called Egg Moves, that they don't learn naturally and wouldn't learn without breeding. For example, Skarmory can learn Drill Peck through breeding, but not by natural level increase. A Pokemon will be born knowing an Egg Move if the father knows one that the baby can learn.

Another way that baby Pokemon can learn moves that their father knew is by TM. If the father Pokemon knows a TM or HM move that the baby can learn, the baby will be born automatically knowing the move! Note, though, that the TMs MUST BE FROM G/S/C. That means that you can't always pass down moves like Ice Beam and Tri-Attack to the newborn, even though those were TMs in Red, Blue, and Yellow.

Another way that a baby can have attacks that it wouldn't have otherwise (at birth) is if both the father and the mother know an attack that the baby could learn by levelling up. For example, if you breed a male Lickitung that knows Stomp with a female Rhydon that also knows Stomp, you'll get a baby Rhyhorn that also knows Stomp.

Here's an example of a baby's moveset that uses all of the conditions for passing moves down.

Father Fearow - Mirror Move - Fly - Drill Peck - Agility Mother Skarmory - Peck - Growl - Agility - Sandstorm Baby Skarmory - Peck - Agility - Drill Peck - Fly

So here's the explanation. Since the mother was a Skarmory, the baby will be a Skarmory as well. With me so far? Great.

Start off with the moves that Skarmory knows at Lv5 - Leer , and Peck .

, and . Add the moves that both parents have - both the father Fearow and mother Skarmory know Agility , so it is passed down.

, so it is passed down. Add any special Egg Moves that Skarmory learns - the father Fearow knows Drill Peck and it is one of Skarmory's Egg Moves, so it is passed down.

and it is one of Skarmory's Egg Moves, so it is passed down. Add any HMs or TMs from GSC that the father knows that the baby can also learn. Fearow and Skarmory can both learn Fly, so that is passed down.

So the baby Skarmory's current moveset is: Skarmory - Leer - Peck - Agility - Drill Peck - Fly Because the baby can only have four moves, begin deleting moves at the top of the list until there are only four left. And voila, you have your baby's moveset - in our case, Leer is at the top of the list, so that is deleted.

To sum up, the order is:

1) Species moves

2) Level-up moves

3) Egg moves

4) TM/HM moves

By now you automatically know what the baby will be and what attacks it knows. With this knowledge, you can choose the right Pokemon and moves for a successful egg. Once you have the mother and father chosen, take them down to the Day-Care Center and speak with the old couple inside. Give one Pokemon to each of them and exit the house. Eventually, if the two Pokemon are compatible, an egg will be produced.

The time it takes to get an egg varies. However, some certain combinations concerning Pokemon pairings and Trainer ID Numbers will affect this time.

Same Pokemon, Different ID #'s --Shortest waiting period -- Same Pokemon, Same ID #'s Different Pokemon, Different ID #'s Different Pokemon, Same ID #'s --Longest waiting period--

Earlier, it was believed that sometimes you simply would not get an egg. This is not true. If two Pokemon are compatible, they WILL eventually give an egg - it might take a long time, but they will.

The number of steps you have to take in order for your Pokemon to produce an egg is fairly random. Check back at the Day-Care Center every 250-500 steps to check if an egg is there. If it is, speak with the old man standing in the backyard. If it isn't, keep walking/riding your bike. (I'd certainly recommend the latter.)

When your Pokemon do have an egg, the man will ask you if you want to keep it. Say "Yes". If you say no, the egg is lost, and you don't have another opportunity to get that egg back. You could breed again for another egg, though.

The egg itself is totally free, but you will have to pay for your two Pokemon's stay at the Center. With every step you took since you gave the old couple your Pokemon to take care of, your Pokemon earn 1 experience point. You'll have to pay a $100 service fee plus an extra $100 for each level each your Pokemon gained while in the care of the Day-Care workers.

Now that you have your egg, it's time to figure out how long it will take for the egg to hatch. The number of steps it will take depends on the Pokemon inside of the egg.

# of Steps Pokemon in Egg 1300 Magikarp 2600 Cleffa, Igglybuff, Pichu, Togepi 3900 Caterpie, Geodude, Hoothoot, Ledyba, Pidgey, Rattata, Sentret, Spearow, Spinarak, Weedle, Zubat 5200 All others 6500 Elekid, Heracross, Magby, Mantine, Misdreavus, Mr. Mime, Onix, Pinsir, Scyther, Skarmory, Smoochum, Tyrogue 7700 Kabuto, Omanyte 9000 Aerodactyl, Eevee 10300 Chansey, Dratini, Lapras, Larvitar, Snorlax

After all that planning, waiting, and walking, your egg has finally hatched! You now have a brand new baby level 5 Pokemon. You also know how to use one of the best new features of Gold, Silver and Crystal. Have fun with it.