Introduction

Friendship (also called Happiness) is a hidden stat that represents your bond with your Pokémon. You can't see it on the stat page - instead, you'll need to talk to a Friendship Rater in Goldenrod City to check it.

The main use of Friendship is evolving certain Pokémon. High Friendship also unlocks specific TMs and powers up certain moves. Polished Crystal uses updated mechanics from Gen VIII+ while keeping that classic Gen II feel.

Most Pokémon start at 70 Friendship, but Pokémon hatched from eggs begin at 120 Friendship. Pokémon caught in a Friend Ball start with 150 Friendship.^[1]

Important: Many friendship-boosting methods stop working after 160 Friendship, which is the evolution threshold.^[2]

Checking Friendship

There's no direct way to see exact Friendship values. NPCs in Goldenrod City can give you approximations based on the first Pokémon in your party.

Goldenrod Friendship Rater

The main Friendship Rater lives in a small house on the eastern side of Goldenrod City's main road. From the Pokémon Center, head north on the main road and turn right before the railroad tracks. Follow the road south to find her house.

Talk to the girl in the blue dress to check your Pokémon's Friendship:

Dept. Store Friendship Rater (Sundays Only)

On Sundays, a second Friendship Rater appears at the Goldenrod Dept. Store (5F). She's the woman in the red dress behind the counter, next to the usual clerk.

If your Pokémon has 150+ Friendship, she gives you TM27 Return.

Raising Friendship

Friendship increases and decreases based on various actions. The effects scale based on your Pokémon's current Friendship level - higher Friendship typically means smaller gains from certain actions.

How to Increase Friendship

*Affects all Pokémon in your party.^[3]

Grooming Services

One of the most effective ways to raise Friendship is using grooming services from Daisy Oak in Pallet Town or the Haircut Brothers in Goldenrod Underground.

Daisy Oak - Found inside Blue's House in Pallet Town, she offers free massages between 3PM-4PM daily.^[3]

Haircut Brothers - Located in the Goldenrod Underground. Each groomer can only style one Pokémon per day.^[3]

Haircut Brothers Schedule:

• Monday: Unavailable
• Tuesday: Older Brother
• Wednesday: Younger Brother
• Thursday: Older Brother
• Friday: Younger Brother
• Saturday: Older Brother
• Sunday: Younger Brother

Grooming Effectiveness:

The Haircut Brothers' results are randomized. Their comment indicates the outcome:

Older Brother (500 Pokédollars):

Younger Brother (300 Pokédollars):

^[4]

How to Decrease Friendship

^[3]

Fastest Methods to Max Friendship

The fastest way to maximize Friendship is repeatedly using Battle Items. While you can mix in grooming and leveling, Battle Items can be purchased in bulk and used continuously in a single sitting.

Method 1: Level Up at Catch Location

After catching a Pokémon, level it up a few times in the same area before leaving. This works even if the Pokémon was sent to the Box - just retrieve it from Bill's PC and return to train.

Leveling up at the catch location gives +6 Friendship (in the 0-99 range), which is double the normal amount. Five level-ups (+30) gets you to 100 Friendship quickly.

Method 2: Battle Items

Buy X Speed or X Special at the Goldenrod Dept. Store (3F) for 350 Pokédollars each. Enter a battle with a weak Pokémon (like Magikarp or Metapod) and repeatedly use Battle Items.

Each Battle Item gives +1 Friendship regardless of whether the stat is already maxed. This method works up to 160 Friendship.

Note: Vitamins (+3/+1/+0) are faster but much more expensive. EV-lowering Berries (+10/+5/+0) are the most efficient if you have them available.

Method 3: TM/HM Usage

Thanks to infinite TMs in Polished Crystal, you can repeatedly teach and delete TMs to gain +1 Friendship per use. This works up to 160 Friendship and costs nothing but time.

Benefits of High Friendship

There are three main reasons to maximize Friendship:

1. Evolution - Certain Pokémon require high Friendship to evolve
2. TMs - Unlock specific Technical Machines
3. Move Power - Increase damage of Friendship-based moves

Friendship Evolutions

The following Pokémon evolve when leveled up with at least 160 Friendship:^[2]

TMs Obtained Through Friendship

Moves That Use Friendship

Return - Damage scales with Friendship. Power maxes out at 102 once you reach 160 Friendship, making it a reliable physical Normal-type move for Pokémon with high Friendship.^[5]

Affection Bonuses

Polished Crystal includes optional Affection bonuses from Gen VIII+ that can be toggled in gameplay preferences at the start of a new game. When enabled, high Friendship provides powerful battle bonuses.

Important: Affection bonuses don't work in Link battles or Battle Tower battles, keeping things fair for competitive play.^[6]

Level 1: 180-219 Friendship

• Survive Fatal Hits: 50% chance to survive a hit that would otherwise cause fainting, leaving the Pokémon with 1 HP^[7]
  • Message: "[Pokémon] toughed it out so [Trainer] wouldn't feel sad!"

Level 2: 220-254 Friendship

• Survive Fatal Hits: 75% chance to survive a hit that would otherwise cause fainting, leaving the Pokémon with 1 HP^[7]
• Status Self-Cure: 20% chance at the end of each turn to cure any status condition (Sleep, Poison, Burn, Freeze, Paralysis)^[8]
  • Message: "[Pokémon] became healthy so [Trainer] wouldn't worry!"

Level 3: 255 Friendship (Maximum)

• Survive Fatal Hits: 100% chance (guaranteed) to survive a hit that would otherwise cause fainting, leaving the Pokémon with 1 HP^[7]
• Status Self-Cure: 20% chance at the end of each turn to cure any status condition^[8]
• Evasion Boost: 10% chance to dodge any incoming attack^[9]
  • Message: "[Pokémon] avoided the move in time with [Trainer]'s shout!"
• Critical Hit Rate: Double critical hit chance (applies after all other critical hit modifiers)^[10]
  • Message: "[Pokémon] landed a critical hit, wishing to be praised!"

Strategic Considerations

Affection bonuses can make max Friendship Pokémon significantly stronger in single-player battles. The guaranteed survival at 255 Friendship essentially gives your Pokémon a free Focus Sash effect every battle, and the doubled critical hit rate rewards offensive strategies.

However, these bonuses can make the game considerably easier, which is why they're optional. Consider your preferred difficulty level when enabling this feature.

Sources and Implementation Notes

All mechanics in this guide are verified directly against Polished Crystal's engine logic and data tables. Source links reference the exact routines used in-game.

[1] Base friendship values and Friend Ball

• Base friendship constants — constants/pokemon_data_constants.asm
• Friend Ball implementation — engine/events/catch_tutorial.asm

[2] Friendship evolution threshold and Return max power

• Friendship evolution requirements — data/events/happiness_changes.asm
• Return move power calculation — engine/battle/move_effects/return.asm

[3] Friendship increase and decrease values

• Happiness changes data table — data/events/happiness_changes.asm
• Daisy Oak grooming — maps/DaisysHouse.asm
• Haircut Brothers — maps/GoldenrodUndergroundWarehouse.asm

[4] Haircut Brothers probability distribution

• Haircut probability tables — data/events/happiness_probabilities.asm
• Haircut implementation logic — engine/events/haircut.asm

[5] Return move mechanics

• Return move effect code — engine/battle/move_effects/return.asm
• Return base power data — data/moves/moves.asm

[6] Affection system and thresholds

• Affection level checking — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm
• Affection thresholds (180, 220, 255) — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm

[7] Affection survival mechanics

• Affection endure implementation — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm
• Survival chance calculations — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm

[8] Affection status self-cure

• Status cure end-of-turn check — engine/battle/endturn.asm
• Self-cure implementation — engine/battle/endturn.asm

[9] Affection evasion boost

• Affection-based evasion — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm
• Evasion text and handling — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm

[10] Affection critical hit rate

• Critical hit rate doubling — engine/battle/effect_commands.asm
• Critical hit text — data/text/battle.asm