Egg cycle
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The subject of this article has no official name. The name currently in use is a fan designator; see below for more information. |
An Egg cycle (Japanese: タマゴのサイクル Egg cycle) is an internal value used for tracking how long until a Pokémon Egg hatches in the core series Pokémon games.
An Egg's Egg cycle counter is initially set to a specific value that depends on the Pokémon species about to hatch. When an Egg is in the party, taking a particular number of steps equal to an Egg cycle decreases its remaining number of Egg cycles by 1. Once an Egg has no Egg cycles remaining, it hatches. The specifics of how this is implemented differ between generations.
Steps per cycle
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Are egg cycles shorter on special dates in the original Generation IV games? |
The number of steps per Egg cycle differs between generations.
- In Generations II, III, and VII, Egg cycles are 256 steps long.
- In Generation IV, Egg cycles are 255 steps long.
- In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Egg cycles are also 255 steps long, but are shorter on special dates.[1]
- In Generations V and VI, Egg cycles are 257 steps long.
- In Pokémon Sword and Shield, and in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Egg cycles are 128 steps long.[2]
Decreasing Egg cycles
Generation IX
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Egg Power details, Research Thread 1 Research Thread 2 |
Every time an Egg cycle is completed, the game goes through the Eggs in the player's party in order and performs the following:
- If the Egg's Egg cycle count is 0, the Egg hatches and no other Eggs are processed.
- Otherwise, subtract 1 from the Egg's cycle count.
Generations V through VIII
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Confirm SWSH and BDSP mechanics SWSH Egg cycle difference |
Every time an Egg cycle is completed, the Egg cycle count for all Eggs in the player's party is decreased by 1; if a Pokémon with Flame Body, Magma Armor or Steam Engine is in the party, it is instead decreased by 2 (but not to less than 0).
When an Egg's Egg cycle count reaches 0, it hatches. If multiple Eggs are ready to hatch after an Egg cycle ends, the first Egg in the party will hatch immediately, while the remaining Eggs will hatch—in party order and one at a time—each time the player takes another step. In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the player doesn't need to take a step, with each Egg in the party automatically hatching subsequently, in party order.
Using a Hatching Power (from Pass Powers or O-Powers) will shorten the length of an Egg cycle depending on the strength of the Power used.
- Weak: 4/5 (205 steps)
- Medium: 2/3 (171 steps)
- Strong: 1/2 (129 steps)
The number of steps walked in the current Egg cycle is also modified by the appropriate multiplier above. When the Hatching Power wears off, the current number of steps walked in the current Egg cycle is divided by the same multiplier.
In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, using a Secret Pal's "Take care of an Egg" skill decreases an Egg's current Egg cycle count by half of its base Egg cycle count, rounded up.
In Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon, if the player leaves an Egg at Poké Pelago's Isle Avue, its remaining Egg cycles are decreased over time.
Generations III and IV
Every time an Egg cycle is completed, the game goes through the Eggs in the player's party in order and performs the following:
- If the Egg's Egg cycle count is 0, the Egg hatches and no other Eggs are processed.
- Otherwise, subtract 1 from the Egg's cycle count.
- In Pokémon Emerald or Generation IV games, if a Pokémon with Flame Body or Magma Armor is in the party, subtract 2 instead of 1 (but to no less than 0).
As a consequence of this logic, in order to hatch a given Egg, the player must walk one more Egg cycle than the Egg's base Egg cycle value. For example, a new Magikarp Egg has an Egg cycle value of 5, but the player must walk 6 Egg cycles in order to hatch it. Likewise, if a Pokémon with Flame Body or Magma Armor is in the party, instead of an Egg taking base_Egg_cycles / 2 (rounded up) Egg cycles to hatch, base_Egg_cycles / 2 + 1 (rounded up) Egg cycles must be walked.
When an Egg is received from the Day-Care Man, the counter for the current number of steps taken in the current Egg cycle is set to 1 in Generation III or to 0 in Generation IV.
Generation II
Every time an Egg cycle is completed, the game goes through the Eggs in the player's party in order and performs the following:
- Subtract 1 from the Egg's cycle count. If its Egg cycle count is now 0, the Egg hatches and no other Eggs are processed.
Quotes
The quote shown from the table below depends solely on the Egg cycle value in the Egg's Pokémon data structure. That is, since, in Generations III and IV, the number of Egg cycles remaining for the player to walk before an Egg hatches is one greater than the value in the Egg's data structure, the maximum number of Egg cycles the player must walk is not the maximum shown in the leftmost cell, but one greater than that value. As an example, in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a new Magikarp Egg has a base 5 Egg cycles and will show the quote "Sounds can be heard coming from inside! It will hatch soon!" on its summary screen, but the player will have to walk 6 Egg cycles before the Egg will hatch.
| Egg cycles | Generation II | Generation III | Generations IV and V | Generations VI and VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 or fewer | It's making sounds inside. It's going to hatch soon! | It's making sounds! It's about to hatch! | Sounds can be heard coming from inside! It will hatch soon! | Sounds can be heard coming from inside! This Egg will hatch soon! |
| 6-10 | It moves around inside sometimes. It must be close to hatching. | It moves occasionally. It should hatch soon. | It appears to move occasionally. It may be close to hatching. | |
| 11-40 | Wonder what's inside? It needs more time, though. | What will hatch from this? It will take some time. | What will hatch from this? It doesn't seem close to hatching. | What Pokémon will hatch from this Egg? It doesn't seem close to hatching. |
| 41 or more | This Egg needs a lot more time to hatch. | It looks like this Egg will take a long time to hatch. | It looks like this Egg will take a long time to hatch. | It looks as though this Egg will take a long time yet to hatch. |
At Poké Pelago's Isle Avue, if the player has an Egg in the hot springs and taps it, Mohn will have a unique set of quotes about the Egg, but they will still correspond to the same intervals.
| Egg cycles | Quote |
|---|---|
| 0 | You've come at just the right time! This Egg looks ready to hatch at any moment! |
| 1-5 | This Egg looks ready to hatch at any moment! |
| 6-10 | I think this Egg's still got a little while to go before it'll be ready to hatch. |
| 11-40 | This Egg still looks like it's a quite a while away from hatching. |
| 41 or more | It looks like it's going to be a good long while until this Egg hatches. |
Trivia
- In the Pokémon data structure, the number of Egg cycles required to hatch an Egg is stored in the same field that stores the friendship of Pokémon that are not in Eggs.
- The only Pokémon species with more than 40 Egg cycles are those in the No Eggs Discovered Egg Group, and therefore those Eggs cannot be obtained legitimately. However, the Wynaut and Togepi Eggs received by the player in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have Egg cycles of 70, making them the only legitimate Eggs that can bear the quotes given for 41 or more Egg cycles.
See also
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This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games. |