Did the Gen 1 Special stat get assigned to either SpAtk or SpDef, or did it get split in half for both stats?

Question

Didnt some Pokemon have their stat go into either SpATK or SpDEF? Like Alakazam's Special became Special attack, but Charizard had its Special go into Special Defense? I am watching someone on YT do these challenge runs, and it made me wonder how the Special stat was changed to SpATK and SpDef. Was it split, and half went to each stat? Was it just given to one of the stats completely and the other stat had a different number? I am curious how it was fully determined.

Comments

Wasn't it one Special stat that got split into Sp Atk and Sp Def in Gen 2?

Answer 1

In Generation II, the Special stat from the Generation I games was separated into two stats: Special Attack and Special Defense, and most Pokémon have different Special Attack and Special Defense stats, which do not match the combined Special stat of the previous generation

Basically the stats were split depending on the Pokémon. Most of the time the split was not equal to the original special stat.

Source

Edit: After looking through the Red/Blow Pokédex it seems you’re right.
Gen 1 Blastoise 85 special stat-> Gen 2 85 SpAtk
Gen 1 Mewtwo 154 Special Stat-> Gen 2 154 SpAtk
Gen 1 Raichu 90 Special Stat-> Gen 2 90 SpAtk

These are a few examples. I didn’t check the entire Red/Blue Pokédex, but every entry I found had an exact number of Special Stat going into either SpAtk or SpDef. So the Special Stat was given to one of the stats completely and the other stat had a different number. Hope that helped!

Comments

I don't think that's what the question is asking. I think the OP is asking if in Gen 1, the Special stat is used for Sp.Atk and Sp.Def, or if the number is split into two to factor attack and defense.

The special stat determined how much damage a Pokemon both receives and deals from a special attack. Which means, if you want to think about it this way, Pokemon had the same Sp.Atk stat and Sp.Def stat

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No. I was asking how it was determined which Sp. stat got the original number for the Special stat, or how they split it up, because the ones I saw, the Pokemon in Gen 2+ kept the original Special stat in either Special Attack or Special Defense, like in the example I gave. Alakazam had 120 special in gen 1, but then it became 120 SpAtk for gen 2 and beyond, and Charizard's 85 Special became 85 Special Defense. Anchor9 answered it, mostly.