Badge (Pokémon)

A **Badge** (Japanese: **バッジ** *Badge*, Norwegian: *Brikke*) is an item which denotes a Pokémon Trainer as having defeated a Gym Leader.

Trainers need to collect a certain number of Gym Badges in order to qualify for a region's Pokémon League. Young Trainers usually begin their initial Pokémon journey by traveling from city to city in order to collect them. Badges are small enough to fit easily between one's thumb and index finger and can be pinned to a shirt or kept in a Badge case.

## Development

A selection of familiar and unfamiliar Badges can be seen in early character artwork by Ken Sugimori. It appears that the original concept of Badges was more similar to an embroidered patch than the pinned badge they are portrayed as in the anime and subsequent game entries. While some of these patches do resemble Badges seen in the final game like the Cascade Badge, the Volcano Badge or even the Rainbow Badge, others don't appear to be based on anything, and may have only been made for the sake of aesthetics, much like real-life embroidered patches, such as Red's "Leaf Badge" or Silver's "Artsy Badge".

Other instances of embroidered "Badges" can be seen in the cover art for the *Games That Stand Out Collection* magazine, with the male Trainer's rock or diamond badge and the female Trainer's teardrop badge, which shares a resemblance to the Cascade Badge. However, given the nature of this illustration (the designs were made specifically for this cover and weren't intended to be used in the franchise[1]), it is likely that these designs were chosen randomly. The latter Badge's resemblance to the Cascade Badge was most likely a coincidence, given it is a stylized drop of water.

## Effects

### Stat boost

In Generations I-III, some Badges boost a certain stat or stats of the player's Pokémon. This boost is applied only in internal battles, not link battles. In Generations I and II, the stat or stats are increased by 12.5%; in Generation III, the stat or stats are increased by 10%. This boost does not exist from Generation IV onward.

In Generation I, this boost is reapplied whenever the player's Pokémon's stats are raised or lowered, allowing boosts to be stacked (this stacking effect is lost if the Pokémon levels up). In Generation II, if the attack is a critical hit and the attacker's used offensive stat stage is less than or equal to the opponent's defensive stat stage, all Badge boosts are ignored.

 Attack
 Defense
Soul Badge**FRLG**
 Special Attack and
Special Defense\*
 Speed
Thunder Badge**FRLG**

Note that in Generation I the game states that the Thunder Badge raises Speed and the Soul Badge raises Defense, but these are not the actual effects caused.

### Type boost

In Generation II, every Badge boosts the power of the moves of a certain type by 12.5% (1/8), despite never being referenced in the games. The type strengthened matches the type theme of the Gym (for example, Zephyr Badge boosts the Flying-type). These boosts work similarly to the way same-type attack bonus (STAB) boosts work, and are, in fact, calculated in-between weather modifiers and STAB.

Just like stat boosts, type boosts are not applied in link battles.

### Obedience

*Main article: Obedience*
Badges affect a Pokémon's behavior. Outsider Pokémon over a certain level will refuse to obey the player without the appropriate Badge. In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum only, obedience is determined by the number of Badges, not which specific Badges the player has.

In the anime episode *The Problem with Paras*, Lacy mentioned this when Ash's Charmeleon refused to obey him.

### HM moves

*Main article: HM*
While Trainers can teach their Pokémon HM moves and use them in battle, Trainers require the appropriate Badge to use them in the overworld in Generations I through IV as well as Generation VI. In Generation V only, Badges are not needed to use HM moves in the overworld.

### Poké Mart stock

From Generation IV onwards, the number of Badges a Trainer possesses affects which items Poké Marts sell. The more Badges, the more items that become available for purchase, with more expensive items generally appearing after more Badges are obtained.

### Pokémon League

In the games, in order to enter the Pokémon League and challenge the Elite Four and Champion, the player must have all eight Badges from that region (or in the case of the Indigo Plateau, either Kanto or Johto). In Unova, Kalos, and Generation I/III Kanto, Badges are checked individually through a series of Badge Check Gates; in Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Generation II/IV Kanto, Badges are checked all at once.

## List of Badges

*Information about badges from the Kanto league to the Galar league will not be featured, so please pay a visit to Bulbapedia's page about Badges.*