Pokemon master arrives in Hong Kong on worldwide quest to complete his collection

Nick Johnson, the man who claims he is the first person in the world to catch all Pokemon available in the United States on the hit mobile game Pokemon Go, is on a global quest to “catch ‘em all”.

There are 151 Pokemon in the game, and Johnson caught all of the 142 types available in the US two weeks after the game’s launch on July 6.

The game, which encourages players to find and capture the fictional creatures in the app by going to real locations, also has four regional-exclusive Pokemon and five legendary ones that have yet to appear.

Last week, Johnson embarked on a journey across the globe to capture the three remaining regional-exclusive Pokemon: Mr Mime in Europe, Farfetch’d in Asia, Kangaskhan in Australia and New Zealand. Tauros, which he had already collected, is only available in North America.

“I was a big Pokemon fan as a kid. I played as soon as the [Gameboy] game came out in 1997 and I caught them all,” Johnson said.

Sponsored by Marriott Rewards and US-based travel agency Expedia to go around the world, Johnson managed to collect Mr Mime in Paris last Friday.

Hong Kong is Johnson’s first stop in Asia to try to catch Farfetch’d. If he fails, Johnson will head to Tokyo as a last resort.

Johnson, the 28-year-old chairman of a mobile startup Applico has caught a total of 4,269 Pokemon so far.

Johnson, who usually goes on a Pokemon hunt after work, recalled walking for 11 hours until 5am in the morning around New York city as his longest journey.

In the US alone, he has walked 205 kilometres, or an average of 14km a day, to achieve the feat and become the ultimate Pokemon master.

The hardest Pokemon to catch to date has been Mr Mime in Paris, which happened to be just after Niantic, the game’s developer, updated the game. The update meant that it completely changed where the Pokemon used to appear in the old version.

“I spent two-thirds of the day looking in places where it didn’t exist,” Johnson said.

“It was really getting down to the wire. But thanks to someone that texted me I got it just in time before I had to fly the next morning.”

The Pokemon master, who spent around US$300, or around HK$2,327 on game items said the best advice to move up in the game is to walk a lot and talk to other players.

Aside from the regional exclusives, five legendary Pokemon – the game’s rarest and most powerful creatures – have not been sighted or have been caught anywhere in the world, according to several crowdsourced forums.

Users speculate that these Pokemon – Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo and Mew – may appear later in the game.

Ditto, a shape-shifting Pokemon, is the only non-legendary Pokemon unavailable in the game.

Niantic, the game’s developer, and Triplepoint PR, the firm representing Pokemon, could not be reached for comment.

(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)