I knew I was in for a treat, and YouTuber Jan pChal Kruger provided the goods.
You may know him asPokemon Challenges.
You may know him as pChal since his relatively recent rebrand.
You may know him as Jan if youve got a weird parasocial thing going on.
But most people know him as the best Nuzlocker in the world.
However, he let his lead slip.
pChal is very upfront about his situation as a content creator.
Sometimes, he phones in a video.
Its interesting, its fourth wall-breaking, its why pChals videos hit different to any others.
Even when he falls into a rut, pChals videos are interesting.
Theyre not exciting or YouTube-defining, but theyre entertaining nonetheless.
And, put simply, its really fl*pping relatable.
But the reality is much different.
Sorry for making you the butt of that joke, Mum and Dad.
Yes, we do a whole lot of unpaid overtime.
We have a quota of articles to hit each day.
A lot of my time is spent curating spreadsheets and looking at graphs.
Im very rarely totally satisfied with the articles I publish.
But then, once in a while, youll create something that youre proud of.
Something that you managed to find the time to makereallygood.
Something that feels important to yourself and to other people.
And I feel that same pride emanating from pChal when he produces an hours-long Nuzlocke compilation-cum-video essay.
He certainly is if you measure his work by quantity.
Pokemon Run & Bun is a game of preparation.
The very first route is impossible to defeat without utilising the Oran Berries you collect along the way.
If youre not meticulous, you will fail.
Best Nuzlocker in the world or not.
But pChals eye for preparation in-game has rubbed off on his video skills, too.
Heck, there are even three fake adverts for the kinds of stuff YouTubers like Kruger tend to flog.
Every so often, you watch a YouTube video that feels like the peak of its subgenre.
The best Pokemon VGC report.
The best Lets Play.
But this doesnt feel like that.
This feels like pChal breaking into his stride.
Because hes the most entertaining.
And that counts for something, right?
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet might be the worst Pokemon games ever made.
But could the Switch 2 save them from mediocrity?
