Pokémon Gold and Silver - Experience
The following information applies to generations 1 and 2.
Experience, or Exp. Points, indicates how often a Pokémon engages in battles.
In internal battles, whenever a Pokémon from the other team is defeated, all participants in the player's party earn Exp. Points (see the distribution formula). When a Pokémon earns a certain amount of experience, it gains a level. The rate at which it grows differs among different species (see growth rates.) The amount of experience the enemy Pokémon is worth also differs.
A "participant" means each unfainted Pokémon in the player's party who had seen the enemy Pokémon since the last time the enemy became active. A participant need not have used an attack against the Pokémon, but must merely have seen it. If a Pokémon faints at the same time as the enemy, it doesn't count as a participant. (In internal battles, if both teams have no Pokémon at the same time, it is considered a loss for the player.)
Exp. All
In the first generation, if the Exp.All item is in the player's pack, the experience earned is divided in half, the first half of the experience is distributed among all participants, and the rest is distributed among all unfainted members of the player's party. Stat experience is distributed in the same way.
Exp. Share
Starting with the Gold and Silver versions, if at least one Pokémon is holding Exp. Share, the experience earned is divided in half, the first half of the experience is distributed among all participants, and the rest is distributed among all Pokémon in party holding Exp. Share. Stat experience is distributed in the same way.
Level Gains
As was mentioned, a Pokémon gains a level if it gains enough experience. Starting with the second generation, a Pokémon gains levels one at a time, in case it earns so much experience at once that it gains more than one level.
When a Pokémon gains a level, its current HP is its new HP minus the HP lost before the level gain.
In the first generation, the Pokémon automatically gains up to the new level identified by the new experience, thus possibly preventing the Pokémon from learning moves that they normally would on levels skipped this way.
Day-Care
When a Pokémon is placed in the Day-Care, its experience is set to the minimum amount necessary for the current level in the Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions. It will then earn one experience point for every step the player walks until the player gets the Pokémon back. No stat experience is gained at that time. The Pokémon will learn new moves as it gains levels; such moves, if the list is full, will overwrite older moves, starting from the top of the list. (Even HM moves will be overwritten this way.)
In the first-generation versions, the Day-Care person won't accept a Pokémon that has learned an HM move.
Experience Given
The formula to determine the experience given is:
1*6/5*1*1-15*1*1+100*1-140experience = ((E × L)×B) /7
where:
- E = Base experience of opponent (check below)
- L = Level of opponent
- B = Type of battle - 1 if it's a wild battle, or 1.5 if it's a trainer battle.
The above formula calculates the experience before it is distributed among participants. The experience a Pokémon receives is multiplied by 1.5 if its ID is different from the trainer's own ID. (The OT name isn't considered.). If it's holding a Lucky Egg, that amount is again multiplied by 1.5.
The base experience depends on the species of the defeated Pokémon. A complete list is available.
Growth Rates
In the first and second generation versions of Pokémon, all Pokémon grow at one of four different rates.
| Growth Rate | Max. Value | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Medium | 1000000 | L*L*L |
| Fast | 800000 | L*L*L*4/5 |
| Slow | 1250000 | L*L*L*5/4 |
| Parabolic | 1059860 | L*L*L*6/5-15*L*L+100*L-140 |
In each formula, L is the Pokémon's level. The parabolic experience value at level 1 is -54, truncated to a 24-bit unsigned value, 16,777,162.
As with base experience, the growth rate depends on the species of the Pokémon. A complete list is available.
