Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield introduced gamers to the Galar region, a new area that is based loosely on the real-life United Kingdom. These games feature a wide array of Pokemon introduced specifically for the Galar region alongside a variety of new gym challenges to complete. Now, a pair of Twitch streamers have set a new world record by speedrunning Pokemon Sword and Shield and both DLCs.
There are around 900 Pokemon featured throughout the franchise, but only 583 of these creatures can be captured in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This number includes the pocket monsters that can be encountered in the games' two DLCs, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. Both expansions add new Pokemon as well as new clothing items and locations to explore.
Recently, Twitch streamers The4thGenGamer and GalacticElliot teamed up to set a world record for speedrunning Pokemon Sword and Shield plus its DLCs. There are many different ways to speedrun a game, with many having multiple opportunities for players to set world records for the same title. Apparently, this duo decided to invent a unique speedrunning challenge: capturing all 583 Pokemon featured in the games, including DLC exclusives. They celebrated their achievement on The4thGenGamer's official Twitter account.
Catching Pokemon can take longer than gamers expect, especially when they're actively trying to catch them all. It appears to have taken The4thGenGamer and GalacticElliot about two days to achieve their goal. The pair collected Pokemon in two roughly 13-hour-long sittings--one on April 13, and a second on the following day. In between, the streamers reportedly took a break to sleep. Their total speedrun time ended up being 26 hours and 27 minutes, a world record set for what has been dubbed the first-ever Sword and Shield 583 Pokedex run.
As well as taking a break for sleep, the streamers were also apparently allowed to trade with each other to make completing the Pokedex easier. The way that the Pokemon franchise has historically approached its dual-releases--in other words, the fact that some Pokemon can only be encountered in one version of the game--may make this rule understandable. Despite that, it seems that The4thGenGamer and GalacticElliot tried to capture most Pokemon on their own rather than simply trading duplicates. Over 26 hours may seem like a long time for a speedrunning world record. However, subsequent runs in this category will likely shave down the time further.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are available on Nintendo Switch.