Pokémon Sun and Moon devs want you to catch 100m Pokémon in two weeks

UPDATE 13th December 2016: Players have failed the challenge so badly that Game Freak has been forced to rethink its challenges.

As the first challenge of catching 100,000,000 Pokémon came to a close today, Game Freak this morning announced the failure with a post to the Pokémon Global Link site.

The post claims the first global mission goal was "just missed" - which is understating it a little. Players fell about 84 million Pokémon short of the goal, managing to catch only 16 million in the time allowed. You can pick up 200 Festival Points for your effort still, although that's some way short of the grand prize of 1,000 that could have been had for succeeding.

That failure's probably due to the fact that the challenge required players to jump through a few registry hoops with Game Sync and Pokémon Global Link for their catches to actually register, meaning the many millions of other Pokémon likely caught over the last few days will have mostly gone uncounted.

Game Freak has, in fact, noted on its Japanse Global Link site that "based on the achievement situation of those who participated, we will consider the target value of the second global mission." Probably the right move.

The next Global Mission, meanwhile, involves the Alolan Island Scan feature - which we detail in our Sun and Moon QR codes and scanner guide - and will go live on December 27, with more details to come.

ORIGINAL STORY 29th November 2016: Pokémon Sun and Moon players have a bit of work to do.

As of today, the first of what will be seemingly many Sun and Moon Global Events has gone live, tasking players with catching a total of 100,000,000 Pokémon by 13th December, for a reward of up to 2000 Festival Coins for anyone taking part.

You can get a little more information from the main Pokémon Global Link site, although the task itself really is as simple as it sounds - with the obvious point that, you know, it's not just you that needs to catch a hundred million Pokémon in a fortnight, that's a community total you're shooting for.

The prize itself is pretty significant; Festival Coins are used as currency in Sun and Moon's Festival Plaza, a slightly odd in-game area that acts as the main hub for multiplayer communication.

While some of the things you can spend Coins on are merely cosmetic, others can have a real impact on gameplay - you can completely max a Pokémon's stat, for example, for a cost of five to 50 Festival Coins depending on how high it is already.

Maxing out a Pokémon's stat entirely - through the practice of EV (Effort Value) Training, as it's known to fans - can take hours, and so having the Festival cash to take this kind of shortcut will be a big help to those interested in the more 'hardcore' side of Pokémon Training.

To the rest, it's still a nice addition to the communal side of the game, which is often skewed towards those more competition-focused trainers.

You can register to participate - which you'll need to do if you want to gain access to the event's prizes - by heading to the Festival Plaza from the in-game, bottom-screen menu, and then talking to the first lady on the right inside the castle.

You'll also need both a Pokémon Trainer Club account and a Global Link account all set up, which you can do with relative ease at the Pokémon Global Link site, here.

As things stand around 17,000 Pokémon have been caught over roughly half a day, so it looks like this one's going to take a concerted effort to pull off, despite what sounds like a pretty large playerbase in the wake of news that Sun and Moon are Nintendo's biggest UK launch of all time.

Be sure to check out our Sun and Moon walkthrough and strategy guide, too, if you're looking for a little more help!