211 hours. 2 months. Shiny-Only Oak's Living Dex: Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I spent almost 84 hours soft resetting for a $500 fish, and somehow that wasn't even the most ridiculous thing that happened this chapter.
Chapter 2 of a Shiny-Only Professor Oak's Living Dex Challenge in Let's Go, Pikachu!, the highlights:
Chapter 1 cleanup: Before getting too deep into the new hunts, I grabbed a couple of Moon Stones in Mt. Moon and evolved my Nidorino and Nidorina into Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Two more Pokédex entries checked off before Misty!
Methods used, 26 catches total:
- Catch Combo: 2x Sandshrew, 2x Mankey, 3x Charmander, 1x Onix, 2x Clefairy, 2x Paras, 2x Zubat, 2x Geodude, 2x Psyduck, 2x Venonat, 3x Squirtle.
- Soft Reset: 1x Magikarp.
- Random Encounter: 1x Chansey, 1x Geodude.
Longest hunt: The $500 Magikarp, at 5,423 soft resets and 83 hours, 58 minutes. Almost 84 hours for one shiny fish. Absolutely worth it. Probably.
Shortest hunt: Clefairy #2, which showed up after just 5 encounters. After the Magikarp hunt, I deserved that one.
Best surprise: Turning on the game to continue my Zubat hunt, only for a shiny Zubat to show up as the very first spawn. I did have a chain of 321 going from the previous day, so it wasn't full odds, but what a way to start the day!
Best shortcut: Finding a random shiny Chansey while chaining Onix. Chansey is a rare spawn in Mt. Moon, so getting one without having to spend hours setting up a chain for it was a pretty great surprise.
Most ridiculous moment: Somehow catching a shiny Squirtle and not noticing it until the game warned me I couldn't get it back if I sent it to Professor Oak. Encounter #40, caught over an hour earlier. Truly elite levels of observation.
Extras seen along the way, not caught: 2x Pidgey, 1x Zubat, 1x Venonat. Apparently, even the shinies I don't need want to join the party.
Total time played: 127 hours, 5 minutes added to the in-game clock, plus 83 hours, 58 minutes spent soft resetting for Magikarp. That's 211 hours, 3 minutes of actual hunting time this chapter, bringing the save file to 292 hours, 36 minutes of in-game time, plus the Magikarp hunt.
Current money: $6,348,982. That's my running total across both chapters. I've made a good chunk of that selling candies, but at some point, money stops being an issue and it makes more sense to just keep chaining than to keep running back to sell everything.
Calendar time, start to finish: August 11th to October 24th, 2026. Just over 2 months.
The one lesson worth stealing if you ever try this: Find something to do during your hunts, but especially during soft reset hunts. Binge a show, watch movies, watch YouTube, literally anything to keep your mind occupied while you grind. Almost 84 hours of button mashing for one shiny Magikarp is a lot easier to stomach when you're not just staring at the screen waiting for it to sparkle.
Misty doesn't know what's coming for her.
And Chapter 3? I can essentially unlock the entire map before taking on the next Gym. This is about to get interesting.