Effort & Individual Values

The thing about Effort Values is that they've always existed. They aren't a new feature to the Digital Version of Pokemon Yellow; however, the Effort Value System that newer Pokemon Fans are used to in the newer games (Third Generation Moving Forward) is a vastly different system than the one used in Pokemon Yellow.

Effort Values (EVs) and Individual Values (IVs) each have a system that allow for your Pokemon to earn higher statistics. In the newer games, a Pokemon has an Individual Value for each of its Base Stats (Hit Points, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed). This number can be anywhere from 0-31, where the closer you are to 31 in each stat the higher that stat will be (Natures also play a role now to further boost or lower stats).

Effort Values can then be used to help your Pokemon boost a few of their stats. A Pokemon can only earn 510 Effort Values in the newer games, but only 508 of them can be used since the number has to be divisible by four. One stat can only be trained with a maximum of 255; however, again, only 252 are usable since the number has to be divisible by four. The more EVs given to a stat, the higher that stat will be. Say you have an untrained Pokemon with an Attack of 100. That same Pokemon would have an Attack Stat of 163 (252 / 4 = 63 Additional Stat Points) if it was given the maximum 252 Effort Values. In the newer games, one Pokemon will usually give you anywhere from 1-3 EVs, depending on what their highest stat is and their overall base stats.

However, it was an entirely different story back in Pokemon Yellow (and still is in the Digital Version). Instead of only being able to add the maximum 252/255 Effort Values to one stat and only a 508/510 grand total of maximum EVs, in Pokemon Yellow you can have a maximum of 65, 535 for each stat with no grand total limit. IVs also have a maximum of only 15, less than half of what they currently are.

From there, it was complicated on how to find the actual stat value from all those Effort Values. But the most basic of calculations is:

For The Hit Points Stat: ((((Base Stat+IV)*2+(√(EV)/4))*Level)/100)+ 10 + Level

For All Other Stats: ((((Base Stat+IV)*2+(√(EV)/4))*Level)/100)+ 5

Since the total of each EV is exponentially greater than that of the newer games, you gain much more than just 1-3 EVs for each Pokemon you defeated. Instead, you received the number of EVs for each of the Base Stats for the Pokemon your defeated.

Say you defeated a Chansey:

Chansey has the following base stats:

HP - 250

Attack - 5

Defense - 5

Special - 105

Speed - 50

Your Pokemon would receive 250 Hit Point EVs, 5 Attack EVs, 5 Defense EVs, 105 Special EVs, and 50 Speed EVs (415 Total EVs).

Items, like newer generations, can also help you EV Train your Pokemon when starting off:

HP UP: +2560 Hit Points EVs

Protein: +2560 Attack EVs

Iron: +2560 Defense EVs

Calcium: +2560 Special EVs

Carbos: +2560 Speed EVs

However, these items will have no effect beyond the first 25,600 EVs that a Pokemon has in each stat.

As you can obviously see, a lot has changed in the world of Effort Values and Individual Values since the original Pokemon Yellow was released, yet these same techniques continue even in the Digital Version.