Baby Pokémon: Pichu, Togepi, Elekid and the Pre-Evolutions

Pichu never existed in Pokémon Red and Blue. It was born three years later, alongside Eggs and the Day Care, when the series decided its creatures could have a childhood. Nineteen baby Pokémon exist today, from Pichu to Toxel, each with its own way of being obtained and its own way of growing up.

Contents

• What exactly is a baby Pokémon?
• The founding batch: eight babies in 1999
• Hoenn, then Sinnoh: ten more babies
• Incenses: the key to obtaining them
• How they grow up: friendship first
• Why the series invented baby Pokémon
• Weak in battle, valuable for the Pokédex
• Baby or simply a pre-evolution? The distinction
• Getting a baby Pokémon today, in practice
• The nineteen babies at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is a baby Pokémon?

The term has nothing to do with sentiment: a baby Pokémon is a stage that sits before the first stage of an existing family, introduced after that family. Its defining trait is clear and allows no exception — it cannot breed.

Technically, they all belong to the "Undiscovered" Egg Group, which locks them out of the Day Care. That detail, and not their adorable faces, is what sets them apart from an ordinary first stage like Bulbasaur.

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They appeared at the same time as breeding, in the second generation. Before Gold and Silver, nobody knew where Pokémon came from; Eggs created the need for an even younger stage, and the series never let go of it again.

One last point separates the two ideas: a baby almost never opens a brand-new family. It is added after the fact to a line that already existed; only three arrived at the same time as their evolution: Togepi, Riolu and Toxel.

The founding batch: eight babies in 1999

The second generation introduces eight of them at once: Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Togepi, Tyrogue, Smoochum, Elekid and Magby.

They all complete Kanto families that had been left without a younger stage. Pichu comes before Pikachu, Elekid comes before Electabuzz, Magby comes before Magmar, and Smoochum comes before Jynx.

🧵 Pichu before Pikachu, Elekid before Electabuzz, Magby before Magmar: the second generation gave these Kanto families back their youth, and that same order can be stitched onto your sleeve as soon as two Pokémon patches line up one above the other.

Togepi is the exception: it arrives at the same time as its evolution, Togetic. That family was born complete, something that would happen only twice more in the entire series, with Riolu and Toxel.

The strangest case remains Tyrogue, the only baby with three possible evolutions: Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan or Hitmontop, depending on whether its Attack is higher than its Defense, the other way around, or the two are equal.

These first eight share another quirk: not one of them requires any item. Simply breed two members of the family and the Egg produces the baby, a simplicity that later generations did not keep.

Hoenn, then Sinnoh: ten more babies

The third generation adds only two, but they leave a mark: Azurill, which comes before Marill, and Wynaut, the miniature version of Wobbuffet.

The fourth generation, for its part, opens the floodgates with eight newcomers: Budew, Chingling, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Happiny, Munchlax, Riolu and Mantyke.

Sinnoh works both ends at once: the same generation gives babies to older families and new final evolutions such as Togekiss, Electivire, Magmortar or Roserade.

After Sinnoh, nothing for three generations. You have to wait for Sword and Shield and for Toxel, the pre-evolution of Toxtricity, to complete the list. The count stops at nineteen.

Incenses: the key to obtaining them

From the third generation on, most babies only come out of the Egg if one of the parents holds a specific incense. Without it, the Egg produces the base stage directly: a pair of Snorlax without a Full Incense produces a Snorlax, not a Munchlax.

Each one has its own. Sea Incense for Azurill, Lax Incense for Wynaut, Rose Incense for Budew, Pure Incense for Chingling, Rock Incense for Bonsly.

The rest of the list is just as specific: Odd Incense for Mime Jr., Luck Incense for Happiny, Full Incense for Munchlax and Wave Incense for Mantyke. The eight second-generation babies, on the other hand, never asked for anything.

Two modern exceptions also escape the rule: Riolu and Toxel breed without any incense. And since Scarlet and Violet, the mechanic has been removed: incenses are no longer needed, or even available, to obtain these first-stage Pokémon.

How they grow up: friendship first

Of the nineteen babies, nine evolve through friendship and five by simply leveling up. This dominance of friendship is no accident: it captures exactly what the series wants to tell through them, a bond that gets built.

Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Togepi, Azurill, Budew, Chingling, Munchlax and Riolu belong to this friendship group, with Riolu and Budew also needing daylight, and Chingling needing night. Elekid, Magby, Smoochum, Wynaut and Toxel, for their part, simply need to reach a certain level.

👶 Pichu, Togepi and Azurill grow up through friendship, while Elekid and Magby just wait for a level: at home, too, the first method is the one that works, and it starts with a Pokémon baby onesie for the youngest member of the family.

The last five cases go through methods all their own: Happiny has to hold an Oval Stone and level up during the day, Mantyke needs a Remoraid in the party, while Mime Jr. and Bonsly have to learn the move Mimic. Tyrogue, for its part, lets its stats decide.

Why the series invented baby Pokémon

The first reason is mechanical. In 1999, breeding became a central system, and it needed a visible reward when an Egg hatches. Getting a Pichu rather than a Pikachu you have already seen a thousand times turns breeding into a discovery.

The second reason is narrative: these creatures give a life timeline to pocket monsters. A Pokémon is no longer a battle statistic; it is born, it grows, it bonds with you — and friendship logically becomes its key to evolving.

The third is purely strategic. Going through a baby lets you pick up moves passed down by the parents that no evolution learns any other way, which turns the Day Care, and later the Paldea picnic, into a genuine preparation workshop.

Finally, there is a commercial reason, one the series owns up to: a tiny, endearing creature works better as a plush, a card and a cartoon character than a two-meter giant. Togepi, carried around in someone's arms for dozens of episodes, is still the best example of that.

Weak in battle, valuable for the Pokédex

Don't expect miracles: a baby has deliberately low stats and will not last two turns against a Pokémon of its own level. None of them is seriously playable in competition, and that is not the point.

Their value lies elsewhere. They take up a full Pokédex entry of their own, which makes them essential to any completion, and some of them hide exclusives: a Pichu born from a Pikachu holding the Light Ball knows Volt Tackle as soon as it hatches.

The most famous of them all is probably the Spiky-eared Pichu from HeartGold and SoulSilver, a unique form tied to an event, impossible to evolve. A collector's item in the literal sense.

They also hold a place of their own in the imagination of the series. Togepi traveled with the group for entire seasons, cradled in Misty's arms, before evolving, and Pichu became a playable fighting-game character long before it was a competitive Pokémon.

Baby or simply a pre-evolution? The distinction

Not every first stage is a baby. Squirtle and Charmander are pre-evolutions, but they breed perfectly well: they are base stages, not babies.

Conversely, the series has made a habit of adding missing links in both directions. Sinnoh gave an evolution to Kanto Pokémon that were ten years old, and a baby to others, sometimes within the same family.

This back-and-forth explains the lopsided structure of the National Pokédex, where a single family can spread across three generations and four far-apart numbers. To find your way through it, our feature on evolution mechanics covers every scenario.

So the practical rule comes down to one question: can this Pokémon produce an Egg? If the answer is yes, it's an ordinary basic stage; if it's no even though it has an evolution, you're dealing with one of the nineteen babies.

Getting a baby Pokémon today, in practice

The method has not changed at heart: two compatible Pokémon, a breeding spot, an Egg. The Day Care has given way to the picnic in Scarlet and Violet, where the Egg shows up in a basket while your team rests.

Ditto remains the universal ally: it can stand in for either parent, and it is the one that can hold the incense in the games where that item is still required. A trick that saves you from hunting down a second specimen of the species you want.

An Egg hatches after a number of steps set by the species, and certain Abilities such as Flame Body or Magma Armor cut that time in half when their holder travels in the party. It is the shortcut most used by breeders in a hurry.

👟 Flame Body and Magma Armor halve the number of steps an Egg needs before it hatches; nobody halves yours, so you might as well walk them in Pokémon shoes.

Then there is the simple pleasure of collecting them. Pichu, Togepi and Riolu are among the designs most often turned into plush toys and keychains, far beyond their usefulness in battle.

The nineteen babies at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many baby Pokémon are there?
  Nineteen: eight introduced in the second generation, two in the third, eight in the fourth and just one, Toxel, in the eighth.
• What defines a baby Pokémon?
  The inability to breed. They all belong to the Undiscovered Egg Group, which sets them apart from an ordinary first stage like Bulbasaur or Squirtle, which can produce Eggs.
• Do you still need an incense to obtain a baby Pokémon?
  Not since Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, where incenses are neither needed nor available. In the earlier games, from the third generation on, one parent had to hold the matching incense, otherwise the Egg produced the base stage directly.
• Which incense do you need for Azurill?
  The Sea Incense, held by Marill or Azumarill. Wynaut requires the Lax Incense, Budew the Rose Incense, Chingling the Pure Incense, Bonsly the Rock Incense, Mime Jr. the Odd Incense, Happiny the Luck Incense, Munchlax the Full Incense and Mantyke the Wave Incense.
• How do baby Pokémon evolve?
  Nine of them evolve through friendship and five by simply leveling up. The last five use special methods: Happiny with an Oval Stone during the day, Mantyke with a Remoraid in the party, Mime Jr. and Bonsly by learning Mimic, and Tyrogue according to its stats.
• Is Riolu really a baby Pokémon?
  Yes. Like Togepi and Toxel, it arrived at the same time as its evolution, and it is one of the rare babies you get without any incense at all.
• Are baby Pokémon useful in battle?
  Barely: their stats are deliberately low. Their appeal lies elsewhere, in completing the Pokédex and in passing moves down through breeding, like Volt Tackle for a Pichu hatched from a Pikachu holding the Light Ball.

In short

Baby Pokémon form a tiny but tightly structured group: nineteen names, a single rule (they cannot breed), and a story that begins with the Eggs of Gold and Silver. They win no battles, but they tell the one thing stats never do: the passing of time.

To get them, there's now just one habit to adopt. Check whether your game still requires an Incense: before Scarlet and Violet, the item makes all the difference between a Snorlax Egg and a Munchlax Egg.