1st Gen Day Care

The Day Care in gen 1 was different to all later generations; you could only put one Pokémon in at a time and Eggs did not yet exist in the series. The Day Care in subsequent generations was used a lot more due to the added breeding mechanic.

So let's talk about the Day Care in gen 1. Since you couldn't use it to breed it was more limited in its usage, only existing to level up Pokémon you may want to power up but not actually train yourself in battle. Did you use the Day Care in gen 1 or did you not care much for it?

Neither I nor any of my friends at school used it. We quickly realized its many shortcomings:

• It gave a flat 1 exp per step. I did the math, and grinding ratatas on route 1 yielded more exp over time. Switch-training a pokemon was in every way more expedient.
• Pokemon with HM moves could not be entered. This was because...
• The daycare would overrwrite move slots with new learned moves in list-order; useful moves could potentially be erased with no move tutor to bring them back.
• The issue about the daycare overwriting HM moves is moot anyway because you can access the daycare without any need for HM moves.

I don't think I ever used it much. All I can remember about my usage of it was the one time I left like a Pidgeotto or something in there, forgot about it, then came back eons later to find it had had gained 20ish levels lol

I've used the Day Care. On my way to Vermillion City I would drop a Pokemon at the Day Care, afterwards I would take the S.S. Anne, battle trainers in the nearest route, battle in the Vermillion Gym and come back to the Day Care to check on the Pokemon to see how much it leveled.

I remember dropping off something.....
.... which I don't think I ever picked up again 😅

So I didn't really make use of it.

I only used it maybe once or twice. I always felt like it was kind of out the way? Once I learned how the daycare actually works with level up moves, that kind of deferred me from using it.

I remember thinking the idea was great, but used it like once or twice, because it messed up my moves. And it was faster to just grind somewhere.

jojobear13 said:

Neither I nor any of my friends at school used it. We quickly realized its many shortcomings:

• It gave a flat 1 exp per step. I did the math, and grinding ratatas on route 1 yielded more exp over time. Switch-training a pokemon was in every way more expedient.

Click to expand...

I actually wasn't aware of this! Or knew it at some point and completely forgot. I guess that explains why it feels so slow haha. :x

Anyway, I definitely didn't use it. Training other mons in gen 1 was always exceptionally difficult due to the Exp. All not being great and training being a bit too slow as a whole.. so I mostly just stuck with my starter. I do remember placing one or two things there and completely forgetting about them though. Woops!

I did use daycare, even though they weren't able to fit in breeding mechanics yet. It was still some levels while you walk in the overworld, doing the things you were doing anyway. If you were committed to level grinding or switch training, I am sure that would be faster levels, but this was just a way to enjoy the game casually and come back and find that your pokemon has grown up.

I sometimes use daycare early game when I had more than 6 Pokemon that I relied on regularly and was fond of, and not keen on taking anyone off the team yet, but not allowed to use anymore, so if I am not too far from Cerulean city I might drop one of them off in daycare, so they are still leveling up with the rest of the party, even though they are not there with me, they might not fall behind too much as I walk around and explore areas like the St Anne or Diglett's cave, and I come back and get them later.

There were a lot of caveats though, and you had to be careful about the moveslot since you couldn't relearn moves, if they were deleted, and it was odd that HM-users weren't accepted. But I do remember using daycare now and then.

I've used it mostly just to get some more levels on Pokemon I didn't train. I think the most use I got out of it came due to schoolyard rumors of some sort of Poke gods at the time. Leave a Pokemon there for too long and it'll run away and you get some OP stuff as compensation.

The things we believe as kids. ^^"

I've legit only ever used the Daycare for breeding better stats or shinies.

As there was no breeding in Gen one, I never used the Gen one Daycare except when I was trying out fake mew cheats out of wishful thinking and read one where a Magikarp could be transformed into a Mew by leveling it up in the Daycare.

I don't appreciate that the daycare overwrites your Pokemons moves. Back when the move relearner wasn't accessible until late game (did it even exist in gens one and two? I don't remember.) that mechanic could really screw you over.

I didn't care for the daycare in generation I at all. It wasn't even useful for having your Pokémon forget those pesky HM moves. In fact, to be honest, I abused the MissingNo glitch back then to clone Rare Candies and level up Pokémon beyond my party that way to complete my PokéDex. I fell in love with the daycare system in generation II onwards though, especially when transferring through Pokémon Stadium 2 and starting new games.

being honest, i forgot there was an daycare on gen 1, so i definely dint use it xd
or maybe i left a pokemon in there and forgot about it, i only use daycare for breeding nowadays (since i just prefer to grind on my own) so i really wouldnt have that much of a use for gen 1 daycare anyways, not counting the fact that it can mess up the moves you have lol