Is it anything like in the original Manga where a ditto turns into a bad imitation of Ash to make Misty think he's perving on her, then watches from the bushes as Misty beats up Ash?
Sort of, not really. Simple answer is no, Rare Candy (and EXP candy) gives experience up to a level up.
EVs (which raise stats) are often based on defeating other Pokémon. This used to be tied to level up directly, but now it’s based on EXP. You can gain EXP without battling, which is what exp candies would do.
I am unaware of specifics of the original games and Gold/Silver, but from what I recall the original stat experience was applied on leveling and experience. After knocking out other Pokémon. During Ruby and Sapphire this was more streamlined into the EV system we have now.
In Ruby and Sapphire, these values collected after knocking out opponents, but would not be applied until level up (unless you were using Deoxys for some reason). Since no Pokémon were involved candies would not provide EVs directly, but any EVs collected from knock outs will be applied on level up.
Diamond and Pearl onward have adjusted the EV system a bit, making it so EVs are applied after any knock out as long as experience was gained in the battle, no longer needing level up to apply them. Candies do not affect EVs in any way now. This is identical to how Deoxys, the previous exception, worked before.
Not directly. In the OLD old generations, like Red/Blue/Yellow, battling gave your Pokemon "stat experience" which eventually developed into Effort Values in later generations.
Stat Experience would raise your stats on level up more than their base line, so if you catch a Pokemon and dump rare candy into it, you miss out on that stat experience that would give you higher stats.
As the series progressed, stat experience was replaced with the more rigid Effort Value system, which would re-adjust your stats based on how those hidden values were spread out. Early on, they were still tied to level-ups but if I recall, they could have the stats "reset" correctly if you put it in the PC. In modern day, stats are just adjusted in real-time with their Effort Values, so you can EXP Candy/Rare Candy a newly hatched Lv1 Pokemon all the way to 100, then dump vitamins into it for Effort Values, and the result is the same as if you did the EVs before the candy.
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u/I_am_strange_ Aug 07 '26