In one of the most extreme displays of dedication the Pokémon community has seen, a Pokémon Brilliant Diamond player spent four full years—and nearly 400 hours—hunting for a single shiny Pokémon before officially starting their journey. Known online as PurpleVoid13, the player refused to move beyond the game’s opening area until they got their hands on a shiny version of Piplup, one of the game's three starter Pokémon.
Brilliant Diamond, a remake of the original 2006 Nintendo DS classic, lets players choose between Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup at the very start. For the uninitiated, a “shiny” Pokémon is a rare color variant with odds of appearing at just 1 in 4,096, or roughly 0.024%—making this kind of hunt a true test of patience and persistence.
Four Years in Twinleaf Town
PurpleVoid13 began this journey back in 2021, shortly after the game's release. Their mission? Begin their Sinnoh adventure only once they had a shiny Piplup in hand. What they expected to take a few weeks turned into a four-year odyssey involving restarting the game thousands of times to reset the starter encounter.
Their commitment paid off earlier this month when the shiny Piplup finally appeared. “I screamed,” they shared in their Reddit post, describing the emotional release after years of effort. With their long-awaited companion finally by their side, they left Twinleaf Town for the first time—and officially started playing the game.
A Community in Awe
The story quickly resonated with fans. Other players flooded the comment section with praise and their own tales of shiny hunts. Some shared their heartbreak over never finding a shiny despite hours of play, while others recalled similar quests that took months—or even years. One commenter jokingly said, “You basically lived in Twinleaf longer than the protagonist did.”
The dedication shines a light on a unique aspect of Pokémon fandom: shiny hunting. It's a niche pursuit that blends luck, repetition, and sheer willpower, with some hunts stretching across multiple game versions and platforms. And while some players use more advanced methods to increase their odds, such as Masuda breeding or chaining in wild encounters, the starter shiny hunt remains one of the most brutal due to its lack of boosts or shortcuts.
What’s Next?
Now that they’ve left the tutorial zone, PurpleVoid13 is setting their sights on another massive goal: catching a shiny Dialga, the game’s legendary mascot. Given the odds, it may be a while before we hear the next chapter in their saga.
Meanwhile, the Pokémon franchise continues to evolve. With the upcoming release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A in October 2025, players will return to Kalos and Lumiose City in what promises to be an ambitious sequel to X and Y. While shiny hunting will likely remain, fans are hoping the new title brings more ways to balance challenge with reward.
Whether you're a casual fan or a shiny-obsessed trainer, stories like PurpleVoid13’s remind us of the patience, passion, and sometimes pure stubbornness that make Pokémon more than just a game—it’s a lifestyle.
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