Certain games are marketed on their length and fail to deliver the goods, but other titles can truly last for years — even if the player has to enforce their own house rules to extend the experience. One Pokemon superfan has now finished a mammoth quest to complete Pokemon Ruby with a seriously underpowered team.

Streamer Leomon began this epic undertaking back in 2011, broadcasting the adventure via NicoNico. His playthrough Pokemon Ruby was unlike most others, as he was committed to beating the game and becoming a Pokemon master while using a single pocket monster, the almost-useless Magikarp.

In the creature's defense, it was a shiny Magikarp — even though that distinction only offers a slightly different color palette, rather than any advanced capabilities. For the uninitiated, the water Pokemon starts out with only the move Splash, a nigh-on-useless technique.

Leomon was forced to outlast opponents, plying Magikarp with health-restoring potions until his enemies ran out of PP, and began to hurt themselves rather than deal out damage. As you might imagine, this is an incredibly time-inefficient way to play the game, which explains why it took the player six years to complete the task.

Magikarp wasn't completely alone on the journey, as the mechanics of Pokemon Ruby dictate that Pokemon of other types are required to learn moves via HM and access certain areas. However, when it came to battling, the fish took the reins, reaching level 75 by the time all was said and done.

Obviously, there are more entertaining ways to play through Pokemon for yourself — but as a streaming experiment, it's a rather novel way to experience the game. Relying on Magikarp might not be quite as frustrating as the chaos that is Twitch Plays Pokemon, but it's probably pretty close.

Pokemon Ruby was available for the Game Boy Advance.

Source: WWG