Recently I have been in one of those periods where no video game will do, where I have chased a game – a something – across download libraries and subscription catalogues and a couple of cupboard drawers in vain, a quest across gaming’s ribcage and shoulder blades for some roaming, ineffable itch that I cannot scratch. I suspect I’m not alone in this one, though, so if you ever find yourself in the same spot, may I suggest: the mop-up.
The mop-up has many forms. For me, somewhat uncreatively, it’s the task of completing a “living ‘dex” in Pokémon – catching one of every Pokémon ever released and storing them all, in order, in one place, including all the many different forms and stages of each evolution. This makes it a bit more long-winded than completing a regular regional or national Pokédex, because you couldn’t just catch, say, one Abra and then evolve it into Kadabra, then Alakazam, crossing off all three at once – you need one of each in your possession simultaneously.
The challenge is really besides the point, though. A good mop-up, I reckon, will always have a few common elements. One is that it happens, by definition, at the end of a game you’ve broadly completed – think finishing sidequests, bumping off the last surviving enemies on a given list, wiping the final factions off a map, et cetera.
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