Kaila White

The Republic | azcentral.com

Patrick Ryan’s marathon world-record attempt is a bit unconventional.

Marathon location: A brown couch in his Gilbert apartment, seated below Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles posters and vintage Marvel Comics signs, in front of a computer live-streaming his work.

His medium of choice: Nintendo 3DS XL, a large, handheld video-game system.

The marathon: Playing at least 24 hours straight of Pokémon.

Ryan, 23, the week attempted to set the first Guinness World Record for the longest marathon playing a single game in the Pokémon series.

A San Tan Valley teacher's shot at global fame

Ryan graduated from Northern Arizona University last year and just finished his first year teaching at Poston Butte High School in San Tan Valley. He told his freshmen English students about the competition on the last day of school.

"I know it’s really silly. As a young teacher you don’t want them to lose respect for you," he said. "But most of them understand my personality and think it’s funny.

"I try not to be too serious and I guess that’s why going for this record appeals to me, because it’s something that, at the same time, is an accomplishment but also something that’s really dumb or pointless," he said with a laugh.

He plans to make a cape and crown out of Pokémon cards and a staff with a Pokéball on top to wear to Phoenix Comicon, which runs Thursday, June 2, through Sunday, June 5.

"I'd be the king of Pokémon. That’s probably how I’d revel in my glory the most."

A lifelong quest to be the best Pokémon Trainer

Ryan said he's never stopped playing since he was a kid with an Atomic Purple version of the Game Boy Color.

"I got my first Pokémon game when I was probably 6, and I’ve gotten every single Pokémon game that was released ever since then."

Out of the more than 20 versions of the game, Ryan's all-time favorite is Pokémon Sapphire Version, which came out in 2003.

His favorite Pokemon is from that version: Metagross, a robotic Pokémon that looks like a metal spider and is highly intelligent thanks to its four brains.

In a poetic turn, the version he played for the record attempt is Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, which is a remake of his favorite.

A look inside his record attempt

His attempt started 7 a.m. Wednesday and finished Thursday morning.

Although he successfully completed 24 hours, now he must submit documentation and wait weeks for Guinness to approve his attempt.

The rules allowed him 10 minutes of rest for every hour he played, which can be accumulated so, for example, he could rest for 40 minutes after playing for four hours. He could eat and drink while playing, but had to use rest time to go to the bathroom or sleep.

Like the Michael Phelps of video games, the food to sustain him was French onion-flavored SunChips, white-Cheddar popcorn and his favorite soda, Diet Dr Pepper, which ended up wronging him in the process.

"In the afternoon, I had just taken a 30-minute break and then my girlfriend brought me a big Diet Dr Pepper from Circle K and I drank the whole thing and I really had to go bathroom and couldn’t, and I was like, dying. That was actually the hardest part," he said Thursday afternoon.

He didn't nap. Sleep was no problem because "in college I spent plenty of nights for almost as long doing the same thing, so I feel like it’s not too far off from what I would do anyway," he said, laughing.

The No. 1 hiccup that may actually affect his attempt is that Twitch.tv, a social-video platform for gamers, shut down Ryan's live stream. Video of the attempt is among the long list of qualifications to prove his success.

"I’m sure that I set it," he said. "My friends know that I stayed up for 24 hours playing Pokémon, so whether or not they accept the attempt ... that’s OK. I still know I did it."