America's first Pokemon Go master is now the world's first Pokemon Go master
According to the original video games that Pokémon Go is based on, there are 151 total monsters. We know that there are 142 you can catch in the US, six rare Pokémon that are currently unaccounted for, plus three more exclusive to certain international regions.
In late July, Johnson became the first in America to capture all 142 Pokémon available in the USA. And so, with accommodations covered by Marriott Rewards and travel paid for by Expedia, Johnson set off last week to find those three international Pokémon and complete the set.
It took some doing, and at least one flat-out sprint through Sydney, but Johnson caught 'em all. And he found that he had become something of a celebrity along the way.
And now that it's done, Johnson says he feels "like the very best, like no one ever was."
Pokémon journey
First, Johnson went to Paris, France, to catch Europe's exclusive Mr. Mime, where they were greeted at their hotel by an employee in a Pikachu snuggie.
Mr. Mime was a difficult capture, Johnson says, largely because the same day that he left, Pokémon Go developer Niantic totally changed where Pokémon appeared - meaning all the intelligence he gathered from Reddit and Facebook ahead of his arrival was worthless.
With only a limited timeframe in which to capture Mr. Mime before he had to move on, things got a little tight. Eventually, and luckily, he found it in a small park on the south side of the city with enough time to spare for a little R&R in Paris.
Then, it was off to Hong Kong - with his arrival delayed for a full day by a monsoon blowing into the region.
In Hong Kong, Johnson says, he was surrounded by fans and media while he searched for Asia's Farfetch'd. Eventually, to keep to the tight travel schedule, his trip sponsors at Expedia drove him around for half an hour until they encountered the monster he needed.
After that, it was onwards to Sydney, where Johnson just caught Australia's Kangaskhan - marking the completion of his Pokédex, with 145 monsters caught.
He says that finding Kangaskhan was a huge pain: He was hanging out around Sydney's Hyde Park for five hours, just waiting, when one of his fans sent a Snapchat message informing him that one had spawned nearby. He got into an Uber, but found that the road was blocked due to construction.
"So I got out and flat out sprinted for about 5 blocks," Johnson says, and ended up capturing it in front of a Tommy Bahama store.
What's next
Next, Johnson is off to Tokyo, where he'll do media interviews, catch up with fellow Pokémon fans, and try to visit Nintendo headquarters (they haven't yet gotten back to his tweet requesting a meeting).
Meanwhile, Pokémon Go developer Niantic is hinting that those few missing monsters might be coming soon. In fact, thanks to a glitch, some people got ahold of legendary Pokémon ahead of schedule.
And Johnson's journey has inspired at least one would-be rival - a Wall Street finance worker who gave up after a disastrous encounter with a car in Sydney.
If you want to keep up with Johnson and his global Pokémon adventure, he's chronicling the whole thing on Snapchat:
