Pokémon breeding is a method of making a new Pokémon by producing and hatching a Pokémon egg. In the anime, it also refers to Pokémon grooming and caretaking.

In the games

How to breed

Pokémon can be breed by leaving two compatible Pokémon at the Pokémon Daycare in Generation II and beyond, located on Route 34 in Johto, Route 117 in Hoenn, and Four Island in the Sevii Islands. Two Pokémon are compatible if they are of the same species and opposite gender, share at least one Egg Group (see below), or one of them is Ditto. Legendary Pokémon and baby Pokémon cannot breed. Pokémon with gender unknown (besides the aforementioned legendaries) can only breed with Ditto. After returning to the Daycare, the old man will be outside (Generation II) or out of line with the fence (Generation III). The man will hand the player an egg, if he or she replies to his question with yes. After walking around for a while, the egg will hatch into a level 5 version of the bottom of the female's evolutionary chain.

Examples:

Ditto breeding
	+		=
Metagross	+	Ditto	=	Beldum
Same species breeding
	+		=
Weezing♀	+	Weezing♂	=	Koffing
Same evolution family breeding
	+		=
Charmeleon♀	+	Charizard♂	=	Charmander
Same Egg group breeding
	+		=
Raichu♀	+	Wigglytuff♂	=	Pichu

However, there are three pairs of Pokémon species where the male and female are treated as different Pokémon. In these cases, the egg may hatch into either the male or female species:

• Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂
• Illumise and Volbeat
• Miltank and Tauros

There are also some Pokémon which will produce variable eggs. The Pokémon that is in these eggs will depend on whether or not the parents held a certain type of held item, an incense.

Parent		Holding	Child
Marill	Azumarill	File:SeaIncenseSprite.png Sea Incense	Azurill
		Nothing	Marill

Other Pokémon like this include Wobbuffet in Generation III and beyond, and Roselia/Roserade, Chimecho, Sudowoodo, Mr. Mime, Chansey/Blissey, Snorlax, and Mantine in Generation IV and beyond. Each requires a different attached incense to breed the baby form.

Passing moves down

The moves obtained by a Pokémon when hatching are as follows:

• The Pokémon will start with any moves that it would learn at a level of 5 or lower.
• The Pokémon will start with any moves that it would learn by leveling up only if both parents know the move.
• The Pokémon will start with any TM or HM moves that the father knows and the baby can also learn by machine.
• The Pokémon will start with any Egg Moves that the baby can learn and the father knows.

The moves will take precedence in the order listed, and if there are more then four moves to learn, the moves will start being knocked off much like at the Pokémon Daycare.

Inheriting stats

A Pokémon's Individual Values are also passed down. This is determined differently between Generation II and Generation III games.

Generation II

In Generation II games, the baby inherited its stats from the parent of the opposite gender, unless one parent was Ditto, and in that case it would inherited from Ditto. The Defense Individual Value is passed, and also either the Special Individual Value, or the Special plus or minus 8, depending on whither it was originally greater or less than 8. Whether Special changed or not is determined at random. Attack and Speed are determined at random.

When determining if two Pokémon are compatible, if the Defense Individual Values are the same, and the Special is the same, or 8 off, they are incompatible. This means they are related, and no egg will be produced.

Generation III

In these games, three of the baby's Individual Values are inherited from either parent, the other three are determined at random.

In Pokémon Emerald, if the mother (or Ditto) is holding an Everstone the baby will inherit that Pokémon's Nature.

Generation IV

Breeding in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is basically the same in Generation III games, except that a Pokémon that hatches from an egg will be at level 1.

Oddities

Some aspects and contradictions of breeding in the games have spawned debate and confusion. Those Pokémon which breed differently whether holding or not holding an Incense are also popularly debated, most especially if the Incense is necessary in the first place to make an excuse as to why the Baby forms could not be previously obtained. Also, some unusual pairings of Pokémon can be found within the Egg Groups, such as Sandslash and Arbok, or the popular example of Wailord and Skitty.

One particularly unusual note is that Nidorina and Nidoqueen cannot breed, despite the fact that their pre-evolution and male counterparts can. No reason has been given for this.

What's even stranger is that Manaphy is obtained by hatching an egg that is transfered from Pokémon Ranger, but if Manaphy is bred with Ditto, the offspring will be a Phione, who can't evolve into Manaphy. However, this may be because it is said that Manaphy eggs are only laid in waters colder than where the parents hatched. So if a Manaphy lays an egg in the warm waters of Sinnoh, then maybe Phione could be a 'mutant Manaphy' Also, it may be assumed that Phione are actually cross-breeds of Manaphy and Ditto. However, this is only speculation and has not been officially explained.