Friendship

Goh and his Cinderance hugging each other as seen in Pokémon the Series, a prime example of the important bondage between Pokémon Trainers and their Pokémon in the franchise

Friendship (also known as Happiness) is an aspect in the Pokémon games where it measures how attached a Pokémon is to the player. It is literally the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, and like Pokémon battling, is an essential theme of the franchise. Friendship can be gained by winning battles, grooming, using certain items and healing the Pokémon. The higher the friendship, the more the Pokémon likes the Trainer and in some cases, earn bonuses to gain an advantage during battles. Friendship can decrease if they faint often or using bitter herbal medicines. Certain Pokémon also only evolve when they gain a close bond with their Trainers. All Pokémon throughout every generation can reach high friendship (although strong Pokémon, Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, and, for unknown reasons, Buneary, are more difficult to befriend). Also, some say that if a high-level Pokémon has the highest friendship level with a trainer and it was another's Pokémon, it will listen to you. This is not the case if the player does not have the respective number of Gym Badges; even if the Pokémon is technically friendly towards you, they still will not listen to you (with the exception of First partner Pokémon). Therefore, friendship does not affect obedience. In the main games, friendship is often showcased only through First partner Pokémon, while in Pokémon the Series, the bondage between Trainers and Pokémon is shown much more prominently.

In the Games

Gameplay screenshot of Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!, where the player can interact with the Partner Eevee, the game's first partner Pokémon, to increase friendship and make it grow to love him/her

The friendship mechanic is introduced in Generation I, specifically in Pokémon Yellow Special Pikachu Edition. In this installment for the Game Boy (or Game Boy Color, internationally), where walking Pokémon also makes its first appearance, Pikachu, the first partner Pokémon, can be interacted whenever the player turns around to talk to it. Pikachu will grow to love the player by gradual walking, winning battles frequently, or healing, but if the Pokémon faints frequently or sent to the PC, the friendship will decrease. Unlike later games, the friendship with Pikachu does not have any effect in battles. Starting in Generation II, friendship applies to all Pokémon, though they can only be determined by talking to a Trainer who can rate the level of friendship of the first in their party. Friendship can determine the power of Return or Frustration. If the Pokémon's friendship is high, it likes its Trainer and the power of Return increases while the power of Frustration decreases. If the Pokémon's friendship is low, it dislikes its Trainer and the power Frustration increases, while the power of Return decreases.

In Pokémon HeartGold Version and Pokémon SoulSilver Version, the aspect of friendship can be viewed by interacting with the Pokémon in front of the party. When friendship is high, Pokémon can show signs of affection towards their respective trainers. Some of these signs can be strong. Capturing a Pokémon with a Luxury Ball, attaching a Soothe Bell to the Pokémon, or giving it Berries that augment Stats are also ways to increase friendship with Pokémon. However, allowing the Pokémon to faint in battle and letting it get injured a lot will decrease its Friendship to the trainer, making the Return attack weaker, but making Frustration stronger, as in the previous Generations.

Friendship can also help certain Pokémon evolve, such as Togepi into Togetic and Golbat into Crobat. Many Baby Pokémon evolve into their base Pokémon though Friendship. Additionally, in Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version and Pokémon Platinum Version, one can check their Pokémon's friendship level with a Pokétch app.

Friendship can also help certain Pokémon with their special moves. In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!, where the mechanic is in greater focus than in previous games, both Partner Pikachu and Eevee require a high level of friendship in order to activate their Special Moves: Pika Papow and Veevee Volley. In addition, when high enough, they can be seen giving direct affection to the player by rubbing on their face when interacted.

A Pokémon's friendship value ranges from to 255 (stored as a single unsigned byte), and since Generation III, each Pokémon has a base friendship value (often 70). This base value applies when a wild Pokémon is caught with most kinds of Poké Balls and in most cases when a Pokémon is traded. As of Generation IX, there are two exceptions for caught or traded Pokémon:

• A wild Pokémon caught in a Friend Ball starts with 200 friendship, regardless of its base friendship.
• A Pokémon traded back to its original Trainer regains the friendship it had before being traded away (Generation VI or later).

Additionally, a Pokémon hatched from an Egg starts with 100 friendship (Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl)/120 friendship.

Pokemon that evolve from friendship requires its value to reach 220 in Generations II to VII, while Generation VIII onwards requires only 160.

Friendship Evolution Pokémon

List of Pokémon Evolves by Friendship
Name	Conditions	Evolve to
Golbat	None	Crobat
Alolan Meowth		Alolan Persian
Chansey		Blissey
Pichu		Pikachu
Cleffa		Clefairy
Igglybuff		Jigglypuff
Togepi		Togetic
Azurill		Marill
Buneary		Lopunny
Munchlax		Snorlax
Woobat		Swoobat
Swadloon		Leavanny
Type: Null		Silvally
Eevee	at Day	Espeon
Budew		Roselia
Riolu		Lucario
Eevee	at Night	Umbreon
Chingling		Chimecho

In the Anime

The friendship of Ash and his Pikachu, a prominent theme of the series

Similarly to the games, it is said that Pokémon who have friendly relations with their Trainers perform better in battles. Ash believes that friendship with Pokémon will make him stronger and almost invincible, and he treats all his Pokémon friends with special care and respect, bordering on love.

However, some Trainers, such as Paul and Cross, have been shown to focus on raw strength alone, disregarding their Pokémon's feelings and well being over the course of the series. In those cases, often the Pokémon grow to dislike them.

The powerful Bond of Ash and Greninja which activate Ash-Greninja

In the case of Greninja, his bond with Ash was so strong that he is able to use the power of Bond Phenomenon to activate Ash-Greninja mode, which may be able to surpass even Mega Evolution.

Throughout various episodes, usually after evolving, achieving a big accomplishment such as winning tournaments, or, defeating Team Rocket, many Trainers can be seen sharing affection with their Pokémon, sometimes Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, or even Pokémon Champions. Sometimes, Pokémon can be seen making strong friendships with other species.

Trivia

• In all core series games from Generation III to Generation VII, every non-playable Trainer's Pokémon that knows Frustration or is in Pokémon Emerald Version's Battle Factory has 0 friendship, and all other NPCs' Pokémon in those specific generations have maximum 255 friendship, making their use of Return effective.
• In Pokémon Yellow Special Pikachu Edition, a glitch exists that whenever Pikachu is in full HP and the player repeatedly uses healing items, although the game says the message it won't make an effect, Pikachu's friendship actually increases, giving an easy way for it to like the player character.
• According to Professor Oak, in Generations I and II, the close bondage between a Trainer and their Pokémon plays an integral role for them to become a Pokémon Champion or at least a powerful user in battle.
  • In Pokemon Masters EX, this is displayed very closely by the few Trainers who earned the extremely powerful Arc Suits.