IVs and EVs

Polished Crystal has hybrid IV and EV mechanics mixed from the vanilla and Gen. III+.

Contents

• IVs
  • Hyper Training
• EVs
  • EV Training Spots
  • Power Item List
• Stats Judge
• Trivia

IVs

IVs in Polished Crystal range from 0 to 15 and are stored for each of the six stats.

• IVs determine the type of Hidden Power with the parity of the six numbers as in Gen. III+. (hidden_power.asm)
  • Only on Modified, Fairy-type Hidden Power is now available.
• The game has an IVs vary color option that can be picked during new game preferences.
  • Note that these variations are different from Shiny Pokémon. Shiny Pokémon have an animation and a star-shaped icon as in FR/LG and later.
  • With this option turned on, IVs give subtle color variations for both Shiny and non-Shiny Pokémon to better give uniqueness of each Pokémon. (vary_colors.asm)
    • Perfect-IV Pokémon show no changes, but the color variations result from a complicated calculation so players can't predict IVs from the tints and shades. It's NOT "the closer to the original the better" situation.
• IVs are independent from Shininess as in later Generations.

Hyper Training

Hyper Training is available at Celadon Hotel, a Gen. VII+ function that puts an IV modifier for a stat to be treated as if it had the highest. Give a Bottle Cap to Mr. Hyper staying there to have him Hyper Train a stat of your Pokémon. Polished Mr. Hyper no longer requires Lv. 100 and now trains the IVs of a stat of maxed (252) EVs.

EVs

EVs in Polished Crystal max out at 252 for each stat, and each species has an ev_yield for the amount of points to be given to EVs when defeated. Unlike the modern games, however, there are no limits to the total EVs; every Pokémon can max out all its EVs.

Polished Crystal has the Power items and, as a QoL update, lets the EV boost apply to the Exp. Share holders as well. A Power item and five Exp. Shares is the fastest way to raise EVs. EV grinding isn't necessary in a regular playthrough but should be used for Polished Battle Tower challenges.

EV Training Spots

Wild Encounters (Pre-E4)

• HP: Surf in the water behind the counter in Cliff Edge Gate to encounter only Wooper and Quagsire.
• Attack: Unown in the Ruins of Alph give both Atk and Sp. Atk EVs.
• Defense: Walk in the grass at Route 45, with a 100% chance of gaining Defense EVs at night and 90% during the day. Most caves have a high chance as well, e.g. Victory Road with 80–90% (along with good EXP). Use multi-hit moves or Mold Breaker to handle the Sturdy Ability.
• Special Attack: Unown in the Ruins of Alph.
• Special Defense: Surf at either New Bark Town, Cherrygrove City or Olivine Port to encounter only Tentacool and Tentacruel.
• Speed: Surf at Blackthorn City to encounter only Magikarp. Alternatively, spam Old Rod or Good Rod at most towns to encounter only Magikarp and Poliwag.

Special Rematches (Post-game)

The special Trainers who give you a copy of the Power items will go to Battle Tower 2F for post-game rematches. They all feature the corresponding stat, though with some exceptions:

• Cheryl: HP +17
• Riley: Atk +18
• Buck: Def +14
• Mira: SpAtk +18
• Anabel: HP +2, SpDef +14
• Marley: Atk +2, Spe +13

Note: Their parties are commented as TODO and subject to change.

Power Item List

Item	Stat	Guest	Location
Power Weight	HP	Cheryl	Murky Swamp
Power Bracer	Atk	Riley	Dim Cave
Power Belt	Def	Buck	Cinnabar Volcano
Power Lens	SpAtk	Mira	Scary Cave
Power Band	SpDef	Anabel	Noisy Forest
Power Anklet	Spe	Marley	Quiet Cave

Stats Judge

The Judge program has now been installed at Goldenrod PCC. The machines at the right side of the floor display a hexagon chart of IVs and EVs of a Pokémon in your party. As the engineer tells you about his hope for Breeders, you need to breed an Egg (NOT hatching gift Eggs) to unlock the Judge.

Caution: There used to be a major bug in the machines where some numbers would cause a hang. That was fixed at the end of Aug. 2021. Make sure to update it! Save before using the Judge just in case.

Trivia

• IVs in Gen. I and II have a different mechanics with more roles than in later Generations and are more commonly referred to as "determinant values" (DVs). The term "DV(s)" often appears in the code of Polished Crystal as the mechanics is hybrid.
  • e.g. DVs determined Shininess, and a Shiny Ditto in breeding gave a 1/64 chance of Shiny offspring (Gen. II Shiny breeding).
• EVs in Gen. I and II are also different; commonly as "Stat experience" (Stat EXP).
• The Power items + Exp. Share combo used to be an oversight but has become a feature of the game.
• The Judge's Egg breeding requirement refers to that in Alola (Gen. VII) which needed 21 Egg hatches.
• The machines in Goldenrod PCC were originally News Machines for paid online news letters as well as mini-games, quizzes, and rankings.