Hatching Togepi

Hatching Togepi

Hatching Togepi

Under normal playing conditions the egg that you just received would be the first one you encounter in the game -- bearing in mind that you are not expected to know about Primo or have access to all of the secret codes for him.  So with that in mind, the main story presumes that this is the first egg that you have encountered, and that you are not aware that it takes X number of steps in order to hatch it, so it mercifully is an egg that requires only half of the steps that most do to hatch!  You also do not know what is inside that egg, right?

Togepi is the base type of the Togekiss Evolutionary Chain, and is a Normal Type Pokemon whose form is that of a baby half-in-half-out of its egg.  Its official species is the Spike-Ball Pokemon, and its first evolution is to a Togetic when it max's its Happiness Level.  Its final evolution is to Togekiss, which happens when it is exposed to a Shiny Stone.  Female Togepi are prized, and any effort that you make to hatch a female is worth it since you need a female in order to breed more of them, however obtaining a male from this egg is not necessarily a bad thing -- in a bit I will explain why...

It can have the ability of Hustle or Serene Grace, and requires 2,800 steps to hatch.  It has the special trait of siphoning off the positive energy of others and then release that when it encounters those in need of it.  They have a very joyful outlook and childishly trusting nature that can cause them to be oblivious to any danger around them.  They are very rarely ever found in nature, and are more likely to be male than female (their gender ratio is 87.5% male, 12.5% female). 

In the anime episode Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon Ash finds an egg, and in the episode Who gets to keep Togepi, it hatches and instantly bonds with Misty, who is the first person it sees, believing her to be its mother.  Togepi are prized as a good luck charm, and their move Metronome permits them to call upon a wide variety of moves, which makes them very unpredictable in battles. 

In fights they are weak to Fighting Type, and unaffected by Ghost Types, while all of the other types only damage them normally.  Their starting moves are Growl and Charm, and they learn their signature move, Metronome, at Level 6.   Metronome is a very powerful move because of what it is, so this is not one of the moves that you should delete to add a new move.  The egg received from Mr. Pokemon will hatch knowing the moves Growl and Charm, which all Togepi know at hatching, but it will also know the move Extrasensory, which is normally only available as an egg move, which means that it must have been bred from a Hoothoot or a Noctowl that knew the move at the time of its breeding.

-- Breeding for a Female Togepi --

The sex of the Togepi is determined at the time that the egg is created, and NOT when it is hatched, so saving prior to its hatching and trying to reload and hatch it again in the hopes of getting a female is pointless.  If you need evidence of that fact -- some trainers refuse to accept it at first -- simply write down the ID number and Nature of the Togepi then hatch it again; they are exactly the same, which means that they were locked in at the time of the egg's creation, and not at the hatching point.

I said earlier that ending up with a male Togepi is not really a bad thing -- and it is not -- it just means that you are going to have to do a few extra steps in the process of obtaining a female to use as your Alpha Breeder.  To breed the Togepi has to complete its first evolution, which means that you need to build its Happiness Level to maximum, at which point it will evolve.   There are several ways to accomplish this, but first you want to get them within a few points of leveling up and then:

- Place the Togepi in the number one position in your party and then take 256 steps.  They gain 1 Happiness for every step, and you need to get their Happiness Level above 220 in order to evolve them.  With their happiness level at 220 they will evolve on their next level-up; or

- Feed it Vitamins.  Carbos, Calcium, HP-Up, Iron, PP-Up, Protein, or Zinc will raise its Happiness at a rate of 5 from 0-99, 3 from 100-199, and 2 from 200-254; or

- Repeatedly have it groomed.  This requires you to transfer the Pokemon to Platinum however.

In addition to the above methods, using Togepi in very important battles, such as Gym Battles and the Champion Battles also raises its Happiness, as does leveling it up, but these last two are the slowest and least predictable and effective methods.

Once you have its Happiness capped you only need to level it and it will evolve, at which point it can then breed, but if it is a male, you cannot breed more Togepi from it... Or can you?  The answer is, YES, yes you can, but to do that you will need to first get the National Dex, and then acquire a Ditto, which is a special Pokemon that can act as a surrogate female for literally ANY of the Pokemon in the National Dex that have the ability to breed!

Once you have a Ditto, breed it with your male Togepi over and over again until you acquire a female, and you now have an Alpha Breeding Host.  Under ideal circumstances you are going to want the Alpha have inherited the move Extrasensory if you can, as that will give you the Alpha and your existing male Togepi both having the move, which means that chances are much higher that any eggs that they produce will also have that move.  The challenge is that you are not only trying for a female (7 to 1 odds) but also for an egg-move inheritance (50/50 odds).  It has been my experience that you should expect to have to breed a minimum of 30 to 60 eggs to hit that goal.

Why go to all of this trouble?  Two good reasons: having this ability means you can breed the perfect Togepi for any situation, including regular team play, casual match play, and the all-important Tournament Pokemon.  The second reason is that the effort that you put out in working towards that perfect breeding pair means that you will have a much easier time completing your Poke Dex!  You will find that many trainers will willingly trade you rare and event Pokemon for a legitimate female Togepi with a good egg-move!