We’ve been split up into two teams, with one team tackling Pokémon Red, Gold and Ruby, and the other given Pokémon Blue, Silver and Sapphire to play. It has been set up as a race, with each team vying to finish their set of games first. 

Why Pokémon?
Well, everybody (including you) has played a Pokémon game at one time in their life. For that reason, we figured it’d be a good series to start out with.

Plus, I was feeling nostalgic.

What's the criteria for completion?
For Red and Blue, we consider ourselves done once we beat the Elite Four. 

Gold and Silver will be done once we beat Red in Mt. Silver.

Ruby and Sapphire will be done after we beat the Elite Four. Again.

No Yellow/Crystal/Emerald?
Since they’re essentially remakes of games we’ll already be playing, why bother?

Synopsis of the Marathon:
    We started playing at 12:00 PM (noon) Eastern Time on June 23rd. Team Red opted to start with a Squirtle, while Team Blue picked a Bulbasaur. Team Red quickly pulled ahead and their lead was compounded by Team Blue's difficulty with Sabrina (I.E. they were stuck there for nearly an hour). Then Team Blue's game cartridge locked up and they lost another half hour of progress. However, Team Blue captured a Zapdos which helped them plow through the remaining Gym Leaders and close the gap. Team Red managed to beat the Elite Four in 8 hours and 43 minutes. Despite all of Team Blue's difficulties, they were able to beat the Elite Four shortly after Team Red, taking 8 hours and 59 minutes overall.

    Team Red moved onto Pokémon Gold, picking the fire-type Cyndaquil as their starter. Team Blue chose Totodile and for the majority of the time, both teams were neck and neck. A few notable events happened during the Gold and Silver playthroughs, including Team Red's Haunter-Togepi fight (where Haunter used Mean Look on Togepi, preventing Team Red from switching it out. Togepi only knew Charm and Growl, and all of Haunter's ghost-type attacks had no effect on the normal-type Togepi. Both Pokémon ended up using Struggle in order to end the battle. This has been recorded on our Ustream page, so you can watch it all play out). After both Team Red and Team Blue exited the Ice Path and were in Blackthorn City, Team Red began to fall behind. The Dragon-Type Gym Leader Claire held up Team Red, as did Lance of the Elite Four allowing Team Blue to take the lead. Eventually, both Team Red and Team Blue reached Mt. Silver and faced Red. Red proved extremely difficult for Team Red, resulting in Team Blue finishing Silver in 14 hours and 25 minutes and Team Red finishing nearly an hour behind, finishing in 15 hours and 23 minutes.

    We moved onto Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Team Blue was already ahead by an hour and choose Mudkip as their starter (to the delight of those watching). Team Red chose Torchic. By this time, Cuban Steve (Team Red's authority on Ruby and Sapphire) had left. Surprisingly, Team Red did catch up to Team Blue. By the time both teams had reached Petalburg City, Team Red had defeated Gym Leader Norman before Team Blue. This brief lead only lasted a few minutes, however. Team Blue quickly caught up, mostly due to Team Red's unfamiliarity with Pokémon Ruby. Team Red got lost in the Team Magma hideout and then spent nearly an hour trying to defeat the Mossdeep City Gym Leaders. Team Blue used the time Team Red was struggling to beat the Elite Four, winning the competition. Team Red found their team of Pokémon to be ineffective against the Elite Four and was forced to have Team Blue trade some of their strongest Pokémon over in order to beat the Elite Four (it's not cheating, I swear!). The final completion time for Team Blue was 11 hours and 5 minutes, while the completion time for Team Red was 10 hours, 27 minutes. However, this is only the time the game registers it was played and doesn't take into account Team Red's many dozens of restarts.

Pokémon Teams:

Team Red's Team for Pokémon Red: VinceOffer: A level 54 Haunter, named after Vince Offer. WU-TANG: A level 15 Lapras, named after the Wu-Tang Clan. The King: A level 55 Blastoise, named after King Harkinian. STEVELAX: A level 32 Snorlax, named after Cuban Steve of Team Red. ZAPADOS: A level 51 Zapados.  DUX: A level 15 Farfetch'd, received in Vermilion City already nicknamed.

Team Blue's Team for Pokémon Blue: COXBONER♂♀: A level 22 Cubone named after... well, you know. DUGTRIO: A level 33 Dugtrio STEEVEE: A level 25 Eevee, named after the Steves of either team. Billy: A level 56 Venusaur, named after Billy Mays.  STEVEDOS: A level 56 Zapdos, named after the Steves of either team. DUX: A level 19 Farfetch'd, received in Vermilion City already nicknamed.

Team Red's Team for Pokémon Gold: ROWSDOWER: A level 54 Typhlosion, named after Zap Rowsdower. SMASHLY: A level 42 Gengar, named as a mix between "Gastly" and "smash." PEERAM: A level 47 Ampharos, named after "Mareep", but backwards. brokeNCYDE: A level 44 Red Gyarados, named after the horrid band. D.MSTR FLX: A level 5 Togepi, named after a member of the chat and forums. SlickWilly: A level 20 Krabby, named after President Bill Clinton.  (Not shown: Level 71 Lugia, no nickname.)

Team Blue's Team for Pokémon Silver: STEVEODILE: A level 63 Feraligatr, named after Cuban Steve of Team Red. KIKI RIBSY: A level 47 Donphan, named after nobody in particular. CasPER: A level 48 Gengar, named after the cartoon character of the same name. Castro: A level 19 Paras, named after Fidel Castro, President/Dictator of Cuba.  SPEED RAPE: A level 24 Krabby. Changed from "SPEED RACE." PAN URINE: A level 17 Togepi, named after President Martin Van Buren. (Not shown: Level 75 Ho-Oh, named PETER.)

Team Red's Team for Pokémon Ruby: SHARPEDO: A level 31 Sharpedo. Khrushchev: A level 37 Kadabra, named after Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union. ZIGZAGOON: A level 11 Zigzagoon. ROWSDOWER2: A level 51 Groudon, the second Pokémon named after Zap Rowsdower. BOB LOBLAW: A level 44 Blaziken, named after the attorney Bob Loblaw from Arrested Development.  EL CUBANO: A level 19 Taillow, named after Cuban Steve of Team Red.

Team Blue's Team for Pokémon Sapphire: SWIMMY: A level 57 Kyogre, named after its water element. WaFfLeS: A level 32 Swellow, named after the breakfast food. LOTIM!!!!!: A level 13 Lotad, named after Tim Troppoli of Team Red. SUKAMYBALZ: A level 13 Tentacool, named after one of "Pokémon Catcher Blue's" comments in the Sirschmoopy's "Splash Attack." STRENGTH: A level 7 Geodude named after the HM Strength.  DR. FOOD: A level 47 Swampert, named after... food? I don't know..

Conclusion:
    Thanks to everyone who tuned in, we raised more than $1000 for Child's Play overall. Throughout the broadcast, 10,838 people (from more than 60 countries) tuned in to watch and there was an average of about 150 people watching at any one time. In fact, when put together, all of you watched us a total of 5,713 hours and 13 minutes (that's more than 238 days!). Good job, everyone!

   A special thanks goes out to everybody that helped advertise, such as FriendCodes.com, Bulbagarden, Uutton and Aluran, as well as anyone else who helped out by spreading the word on Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon, or various other forums. We could not have been nearly as successful as we were without your help!