Does the soothe bell really work when raising happiness?

I hatched a Riolu in Heart Gold and then traded to Platinum. Gave Riolu my soothe bell and started biking up and down until I hit 40,000 steps. It is my understanding that every 256 steps raises the pokemon happiness 1 level. In my example, 40,000 steps would actually be 156.25 points of happiness. With the soothe bell doing 2x the amount, that would be 312.50 points of happiness. Am I correct in the statement of the soothe bell doing 2x the amount? If so, how come my Riolu still does not have the maximum amount of happiness to evolve?

EDIT: Now over 45,000 steps and still not enough.

3 Answers

In Gen III it added +1 happiness to positive happiness events. However, in Gen IV and V the Soothe Bell multiplies happiness gains by 1.5x (rounding down), not 2x. It would appear that "rounding down" is a key part of the equation, as, from what information I can find, happiness appears to be an integer value. A number without a fractional or decimal component.

So, while in theory the soothe bell should reward you with 1.5 happiness for every 256 steps, in practice that .5 is being rounded down. Additionally, it is +1 happiness for every 256 steps, not 0.00390625 happiness for every step. So in all likelihood, in your example, those 40,000 steps have only provided you their base +156 points of happiness.

EDIT: Forgot base Happiness; 70 for Riolu, which means, the total would be 147*256= 37,632 steps. Which you've more than passed. Have you leveled the Riolu at all? Pokemon that evolve through happiness still need to gain at least one level to trigger their evolution. It doesn't occur solely after the happiness threshold has been passed.

The Friendship page of Bulbapedia has a handy chart for Pokémon happiness events. There are three ways in Sinnoh to gauge a Pokémon's happiness; The Pokétch app Friendship Checker, Dr. Footstep on the left side of Route 213, Or a female NPC in the back of the Pokémon Fan-club in Hearthome City

Although perhaps not entirely relevant to your question, as your Riolu was hatched, Pokémon caught with a Luxury Ball receive additional happiness from leveling up and walking. This bonus stacks with the soothe bell.

Riolu also has to level up during the day to evolve.

Well, first, hatched pokes have 120 happiness, so it might have been a better idea to evolve it in the original game, before trading it, which gets happiness reset to base 70.

That aside, the Gen IV mechanics for Soothe Bell changed, and instead of adding an amount, it multiplies 1,5x the points gained. Sadly, happiness is not a decimal number, so any decimal gain is rounded down, which means that for walking 256 steps it does gain 1,5 points with Soothe Bell, instead of +1 but it is rounded down and become +1 anyway. Soothe Bell is useless for raising happiness through walk.

Now, a poke that needs happiness to evolve does so by leveling up with a minimum of 220 of happiness (max happiness is 255)

220-70 = 150 --> 150 x 256 = 38400 steps

So it does take the almost 40000 steps to be at the minimum happiness level required to trigger evolution.

Why 45000 steps are not enough, beats me, it should have been enough 5000+ steps ago, unless you managed to faint your Riolu A LOT or gave it those bitter medicines.