Inspired by Pokemon Snap, MMO fan builds their own RuneScape Pokedex by spending 4 years tracking down over 500 players with Pokemon usernames worth billions of gold

gamesradar.com:

One MMO player's fun Pokemon Snap-style challenge has turned into more than four years of hunting down RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players who hold coveted, one-of-a-kind Pokemon usernames, all so they can say hello and log them in one of the most unique Pokedexes ever made. 

Zarmos shared their ongoing Pokedex with the OSRS Reddit community earlier this week, collecting over 500 Pokemon usernames in one impressive gallery which begins with the one and only adventurer, "Pokemon." The first 'mon on the list, which is actually arranged by Pokedex order, is Ivysaur, who comes in at number 2 in the Pokemon games. Another player named after Terapagos, Pokemon number 1,024, is the current peak of the list, with 508 more in between for a total of 511 sightings. 

This is about more than confirming these players exist, too. That would be boring. Instead, Zarmos will physically go say hello in-game for the Pokedex photo. Pokemon players have been found in both RuneScape and its Old School sibling, but Zarmos is the common denominator in the photos. 

In an interview with GamesRadar+, Zarmos explains that this Pokedex project was inspired by a few players named Dunsparce, Wartortle, Jolteon, and Mudkip who appeared in a Twisted League tournament that developer Jagex hosted in December 2019. Twisted League is a temporary OSRS game mode that warps the MMO with game-changing effects and XP bonuses, traditionally set up like a tournament where players can compete for points. 

"Rare usernames in RuneScape are really cool to me because it's a 23-year-old database, and unlike other MMOs, there's only one of each name for the rest of time," they say. "I thought it would be a fun challenge to see how many owners of these names I can meet in-game for a picture. It's kind of like playing Pokemon Snap. I added every Pokemon name across two of my accounts and played the game normally. If they went online I'll say hi." 

Most of these sightings have been "completely random" and often