You have to get its Happiness rating over 220. When you catch Zubat or Golbat, your Poke starts off with a Happiness rating of 50-99. I give it a range because I haven't been able to spend enough time getting an exact amount. I do know that whenever you trade a Poke from one cart to another, its rating is reset to 70. Now, in order to find out where your Golbat's Happiness rating is at, go talk to your rival's sister in Palet Town. I only have the phrases for RSE, but I am pretty sure that when she says "It adores you. It can't possibly love you any more. I even feel happy seeing it", it's Happiness is almost maxed and it will evolve. Generally, I will stop when it says "It seems very happy. It obviously likes you a whole lot", since that means it is 200-249 and close to being able to evolve. I reserve the former for when I am going to have that Poke learn Return.
Now that you know what you need to do to evolve your Golbat, l will cover how. The first thing you need is a Soothe Bell. It is a hold item found by using the Itemfinder where Mr. Fuji was standing in Pokemon Tower (Fuschia City). What it does is increase the Happiness your Poke receives by 50%. Here are some ways to increase your Pokes Happiness:
Walk 256 steps: +1 for all Happiness values
Give Vitamins: +5 in 0-99, +3 in 100-199, +2 in 200 and over
Level Up: +5 in 0-99, +3 in 100-199, +2 in 200 and over
Important battle: +3 in 0-99, +2 in 100-199, +1 in 200 and over
Now, there are also things that make your Poke lose Happiness. All deal with giving your Poke any of the bad-tasting herb heal items. Avoid them at all costs. The other thing that reduces is having your Poke faint. It will drop 1 point for each instance.
There are also some myths about Happiness that just aren't true. The following myths do not affect Happiness in any way:
- Healing a weak Poke
- Giving it a hold item (not called Soothe Bell)
- Putting a Poke in the PC
- Winning wild Poke battles
- Letting a Poke's HP fall into the red
- Walking around when your Poke has a status effect.
The last thing that can affect Happiness can only be found in Emerald. Feeding a Poke any of the berries (21-26) will increase their Happiness rating. Again, I have not spent enough time to calculate at what rate a berry increases Happiness, but it definitely works. Unfortunately, it is only attainable in Emerald though.
Follow these steps and you should be able to evolve your Golbat in no time. Good luck.
