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With 58 consoles and a dream, Pokemon Sapphire player chases “1 in 9 million” odds in an attempt to find a very specific shiny duck that he could immediately lose
A Pokémon Sapphire player is attempting an unusually difficult shiny hunt for a specific Psyduck encounter, using 58 Game Boy Advance consoles at once to improve the chances of success. The challenge is notable because the desired shiny Pokémon is estimated to have odds of about one in nine million, and could still be lost immediately if the player fails to catch it.
The hunt depends on a particular in-game encounter and the random chance of finding Psyduck in its rare shiny form, rather than simply any shiny Pokémon. Running dozens of consoles simultaneously increases the number of encounters checked, but does not remove the risk that a successful find could flee or otherwise be lost before it is secured.
In short
- A player is hunting a one-in-nine-million shiny Psyduck.
- They are using 58 consoles to improve their chances.
- Finding it would not guarantee catching it.
Explained simply
Pokémon Sapphire is a role-playing game in which players explore the Hoenn region and catch creatures called Pokémon. A shiny Pokémon has an unusual colour and is very rare; Psyduck is a duck-like Pokémon that can appear in certain encounters.
The player is checking many encounters at once across 58 Game Boy Advance consoles to find one particular shiny Psyduck. The estimated odds are about one in nine million for each relevant encounter, so using many consoles increases the number of chances but does not guarantee a find.
Finding it would not necessarily secure it: the encounter could be lost before the player catches it. That makes both the rarity of the search and the risk after a successful encounter central to the challenge.