Published Title Publisher
New Title Publisher
Updated Title
Published Title Score Editor's Choice
Published Title Score

Pokémon: Sun & Moon

Purchase on Amazon

Pokemon Refresh

By
Vincent Lau

All 800 or so Pokemon can be petted. D’awwww…

Pokemon Refresh is a little mini-game that allows you to care for your Pokemon, in a very personal manner, by feeding them and stroking them, etc. If you used Pokemon Amie in the previous games, it’s essentially that. You can access it via the main menu, by press the X button while on the field.

Aside from the blatant cuteness, Pokemon Refresh has a surprisingly large amount of in-game benefits too, such as boosted experience gain, increased critical hit rate, and even allowing you to clear status afflictions after a battle! You’d be silly to not at least give it a cursory glance!

Compared to Pokemon-Amie, Pokemon Refresh has a few differences. The in-game battle benefits have been expanded upon, but there are no more minigames or facial recognition games. Additionally, Poke Puffs have been replaced with Poke Beans, but they do the same thing.

Pokemon Refresh Stats

There are three stats specific to Pokemon Refresh:

Affection is the king of all stats. Unless traded, a Pokemon’s Affection stat will never go down. Maxing out Affection will earn you all the benefits from Pokemon Refresh possible.

Fullness refers to whether the Pokemon will still eat Poke Beans or not. At max fullness, if you offer them a bean they will reject it. Feeding Poke Beans will increase Affection, but you can’t just stuff them until they burst!

Finally, Enjoyment will tell you how much your Pokemon has been played with. Petting your Pokemon will increase Affection, but after being pet a lot, your Pokemon will stop gaining Affection and instead gain Enjoyment.

When you start seeing musical notes pop out of your Pokemon’s model, it’s very happy but its Affection isn’t going up!

Increasing Affection

When a Pokemon is petted, cured of a status, or fed, you will see small hearts pop out of it. These hearts are actually very relevant. The number of hearts your Pokemon sends your way will indirectly show you its Affection.

At certain milestones your Pokemon will suddenly make its happy gesture twice in a row and sparkle. When this happens, this means its Affection has gone up a level!

The following table shows you how many small hearts total your Pokemon needs to give to you to reach each level of Affection. When in the Pokemon switching menu, the Affection meter is shown with 5 hearts, so there are 5 possible levels of Affection (not including 0).

Affection Level Small Hearts Required
One Heart 1
Two Hearts 50
Three Hearts 100
Four Hearts 150
Five Hearts 250

If your Pokemon has maxed out Affection, you can take it to an NPC in Malie City’s Community Center. Show the NPC your spoiled sweet Pokemon to receive the Best Friends Ribbon.

Using Pokemon Refresh to Care for Your Pokemon

The prompt appears for a fair amount of time.

Occasionally after battle you will see on the touch screen a hairbrush icon with the prompt to press the Y button. This means that your Pokemon is afflicted with a status (Poison, Paralysis, Burn, Sleep, or Freeze) or that it got a bit dirty during its battle.

You will then see a special care kit menu show up instead of the Poke Beans menu, allowing you to cure your Pokemon of statuses and get it cleaned up. After tending to your Pokemon, you’ll be rewarded with a cured Pokemon and Affection points!

Here’s the list of care items you can use and what they do.

Item Effect
Medicine Heals your Pokemon of status affliction
Comb Neatens a Pokemon’s fur. Use if you see white fluff balls everywhere
Towel To wipe off dirty Pokemon. Use if you see dark brown dirt globs
Brush Removes sand from Pokemon. Use if you see clumps of dust
Dryer Dries off wet Pokemon. Use if you see water drops

Battle Benefits

We’ve been talking a lot about why you should use Pokemon Refresh for the in-game benefits, so it’s time we actually tell you what they are! Each level of Affection gives you new benefits, giving you plenty of incentive to max the Affection of any Pokemon you use frequently.

Affection Battle Benefits
2 Hearts 20% imcrease in experience points gained. Flavor text while awaiting instructions is more personalized
3 Hearts Pokemon has a chance of surviving an attack that would KO it with 1 HP. Chance of survival is higher with higher Affection. Flavor text when sent to battle is more personalized.
4 Hearts Chance of evading opponent’s attacks or curing itself of status conditions earlier. Pokemon may look back at you when getting sent to battle
5 Hearts Boosted chance of landing a critical hit
No Comments
Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Nintendo
  • Platforms,
    DS
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    12 December 2016
  • Last Updated
    7 December 2020
  • Guide Author
    Vincent Lau, Cassie Sun

Share this free guide:

Welcome to Alola, a region of tropical islands, filled with gorgeous natural beauty and Pokemon never seen before. Having recently moved to Alola, your journey begins soon afterwards. Your adventures will be filled with fascinating and colorful people with quirky island traditions and of course Pokémon. Delight in the mysteries of the brand new Alola region as your travels take you the length and breadth of the region and the secrets of the legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala are finally unveiled.

Our massive and comprehensive guide includes the following:

  • A full route and trial battle guide covering your journey from Pokémon novice to eventual Champion.

  • All dungeons and Rite of the Island challenges covered.

  • Detailed breeding and capture guide, including locations for every Pokémon as well as information on the new Alolan forms.

  • Gameplay strategies to maximise your team potential as well as details on Hyper Training.

  • Minigames and secrets uncovered.

  • An explanation of the brand new Rotom Pokédex and loads more!

Get a Gamer Guides Premium account: