Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver accessory once again shows that Nintendo will not be rushed in showing its hand.

The Pokémon video game series has been going strong for more than two decades now, and part of the secret to its success is that the franchise’s handlers never let it go more than two years without a sequel or remake. As such, you won’t find very many people passionately and actively playing 2009’s Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver these days, since there are newer and shinier Pocket Monster games to enjoy than those paired Nintendo DS iterations.

HeartGold and SoulSilver did have one very unique gameplay aspect, though, in that they came bundled with a special pedometer called a Pokéwalker (pictured above). After catching a Pokémon in the DS game, players could transfer it to the Pokéwalker and accumulate experience for the Pocket Monster as they took steps in the real world.

It was a cool bit of combined tech, and also sort of a precursor to Pokémon GO’s buddy system. No fewer than five new Pokémon games have come out since then, though, so it’s not like people are still excited about leveling-up their HeartGold and SoulSilver stables. Nevertheless, Japanese Twitter user @suica_pokeca has made a habit of keeping his Pokéwalker in his pocket whenever he goes out for the last seven years, and recently made an astounding discovery.

On March 14, @suica_pokeca looked at the pedometer’s screen and saw the message “Congratulations!!” (おめでとう!! in the pictured Japanese text). Still in possession of this DS and copy of the associated Pokémon game, he connected the pedometer to the handheld system, and was greeted with a screen informing him:

“You have finally reached 9,999,999 steps on your Pokéwalker!”

“After seven years of dedication, finally I maxed out my Pokéwalker!!” boasted @suica_pokeca along with the tweet. It’s a little sad to think that the pedometer wasn’t able to officially record his ten-millionth step, but it’s still a gaming/fitness accomplishment to be proud of. It also serves as a reminder of both the facts that there’s more than one way to beat a game, and that of all the ways to describe Nintendo, “patient” might just be the most appropriate.

Source: Jin

Follow Casey on Twitter, where playing video games and going for long walks continue to be two of his most conflicting hobbies.