165 hours. 17 months. Shiny-Only Oak's Living Dex: Chapter 1
Disclaimer: This was not a well-adjusted way to spend 165 hours. Yes, I will be continuing.
Chapter 1 of a Shiny-Only Professor Oak's Living Dex Challenge in Let's Go, Pikachu!, the highlights:
Methods used, 27 catches total:
- Catch Combo: 3x Nidoran M, 3x Nidoran F, 2x Spearow, 1x Rattata, 3x Bulbasaur.
- Sit and Wait: 2x Pikachu, 2x Pidgey, 2x Oddish, 1x Weedle.
- Random Encounter: 1x Rattata, 3x Caterpie, 1x Pidgey, 1x Oddish, 1x Kakuna, 1x Weedle.
Longest chain: A Spearow, chained to a combo of 2507 before it turned shiny. Over 1000 bigger than anything else I caught this chapter.
Extras seen along the way, not caught: 2x Metapod, 1x Caterpie.
Bulbasaur chains broken before I learned my lesson: 6, in 5 days. Every one of them was a shiny I needed cutting into a chain I cared about. After the sixth, I stopped chaining Bulbasaur entirely and cleaned up everything else first.
Total time played: 165 hours, 31 minutes.
Total earned selling candies: $4,669,674.
Calendar time, start to finish: March 20th, 2025 to August 11th, 2026. 17 months.
Time spent not playing at all: 15 of those 17 months. One 11-month gap after the Spearow chain wrecked me, one 4-month gap that was just life happening. Only about 2 months of actual calendar time were spent touching this save file.
Brock doesn't know what's coming for him.
The one lesson worth stealing if you ever try this: Save the special spawns for last. Restarting a chain for them takes forever.