142 'Pokemon Go' Characters Caught: Know the Lucky Guy Who Caught 'Em All
It took Brooklyn-based Nick Johnson two weeks and a daily walk of eight miles to complete the 142 Pokemon characters listed in the North American Pokedex. Johnson became the first known and verified player to successfully beat "Pokemon Go" after its release just over two weeks ago.
Johnson said that his loaded workdays of more than 50 hours per week didn't stop him from making another eight-hour walks every day around New York City. He needed to sacrifice happy hours at home or with friends though.
Johnson's motivation includes trying to lose weight, and it seems that eight is a lucky number for him since he also lost eight pounds strolling around the city. The adventure led Johnson to clock a total of 129 miles, mostly spent looking for Pokemon characters.
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The biggest challenge for Johnson was the rare Omanyte, who can also evolve into a rarer Omastar, since his collection would have been completed a day earlier if not because of a dead spot in the cellular service. When Johnson spotted the two, the phone signal was weak and was good for only about fifteen minutes then dead for the rest of the day.
Another rare monster Porygon may not be as challenging for Johnson but required him a trip to Jersey City. He admitted to being tempted to simply drive around until luck pressed him, and he spotted the monster in the Pokemon radar.
Basing on the original Pokemon video games, Nintendo has 151 species to collect, so there are still nine characters that Johnson needs to get. However, only 142 species are confirmed available in the United States. Three characters are not included and only available in certain international regions. Nintendo's original Pokemon video games feature 151 species, 142 of which are available to catch in the United States. Three more remain exclusive to certain international regions. The remaining six are thought to be available only whenever Niantic decides to manually spawn them, including the three team mascots: Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos.
Rumors about certain prizes when a trainer caught 'em all is to be given by Niantic, but Johnson belied this and said that he hasn't received prizes if there are any. The best consolation a player can get is to be able to live normally and get to bed earlier instead of walking around the city in wee hours looking for elusive monsters.
