Level

Levels are a measurement of how strong a Pokémon currently is. They are portrayed differently in the anime, games, and manga.

In the games

Levels are featured predominantly in the Pokémon games. They are determined by how much experience that Pokémon has. A Pokémon's level will range from 1 to 100. When a Pokémon gains a level, its stats increase by a small amount. It may also learn a new move or evolve. Opponent's levels may be viewed in-battle, and players may see their own Pokémon's levels in-battle, in the PC or by using the menu.

A Pokémon's level will also affect its happiness, raising it slightly when the Pokémon levels up. This means that a Pichu trained in battle will eventually evolve into a Pikachu, with its happiness going up slightly each level. Using Rare Candies will also raise happiness, though for a long time people thought it did not, due to a Pokémon's happiness also being raised by the large amount of walking that a player must do in long grass to encounter wild Pokémon or recharge such items as the Vs. Seeker.

Also, when a Pokémon has reached level 100 it cannot continue gaining Effort Points in Generations III and IV. In Generations I and II, however, the player can use the box trick.

By doing the Missingno. trick or using other cheats, a Pokémon can temporarily acquire a level higher than 100. However, whenever this Pokémon gains any amount of experience, its level will revert to 100.

In Generations I and II, Pokémon assigned to the "Medium Slow" experience formula (1,059,860 Exp. at level 100) were unavailable at a level below 2, due to a glitch in the games' programming that was never solved, and resulted in such a level 1 Pokémon jumping straight to level 100. Pokémon eggs, therefore, hatched at a standard level of 5. The Generation III overhaul addressed this error; however, eggs still hatched at level 5, likely to maintain continuity. Generation IV finally set all hatched eggs to level 1.

Underleveled Pokémon

Through some unique circumstances, it is possible to have Pokémon at a lower level than they are usually available. Underleveled Pokémon appeared as early as Pokémon Yellow, with level 9 Pidgeotto available in Viridian Forest. Pidgeotto cannot be obtained by evolution until level 16; this event is meant to syndicate with the anime.

In Generation IV, the key item PokéRadar lets players find rare Pokémon from outside of the Sinnoh Dex. Some of these, such as Kirlia can be found underleveled alongside their pre-evolutionary forms. Underleveled Pokémon also be found in certain locations when utilizing the dual-slot mode.

In-game Trainers also possess underleveled Pokémon; this is primarily done to fill the player's Pokédex at a faster rate.

In the anime

The concept of levels in the anime is not as detailed, nor as frequently mentioned, in the anime. The first time levels were referred to was by students at the Academy in The School of Hard Knocks. One of them was able to quote the levels at which Pidgey and the rest of its family evolve and learn certain moves. The main characters and their Pokémon, however, remain seemingly oblivious to the idea.

Brock mentions them once, in Doing What Comes Natu-rally!. He states that moves become more powerful as a Pokémon's level is raised; and Ash adds that the best way to raise levels is by battling. Despite this, Ash's most used Pokémon, Pikachu, doesn't show signs of being at a higher level than any other Pokémon. After appearing in more than 600 episodes, and battling in most of them, its level would be expected to be high: but it is still defeated easily by some other Trainers' Pokémon.

Dawn's Piplup also shows that the anime doesn't strictly follow the games' system. In its debut episode, it used Bide, a move Piplup normally doesn't learn until level 18, by which point it would be showing signs of evolution. This did not happen until DP122. Therefore, level up moves can generally be learned at any time in the anime.

In the two Mystery Dungeon specials, levels are mentioned, but not explained. This may mean that Pokémon themselves understand the concept of levels in the anime but humans do not.

Trivia

• Before Generation IV, as it was impossible to get a Pokémon at level 1 without the aid of a glitch or cheating device, it was possible to get a Pikachu at a lower level than a Pichu.