Pokémon: Magikarp Jump player reaches maximum Jump Power at 12,900,605,640,709

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-05-13 15:18 (JST)
Translated by. Nick Mosier

A Pokémon: Magikarp Jump (Magikarp Jump) player has reached the maximum Jump Power (JP) possible in the game. Pokémon: Magikarp Jump is a light Magikarp raising game that was developed by SELECT BUTTON Inc. and published by The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android and released in May of 2017.

In Magikarp Jump, players feed and train their Magikarp in order to raise its JP, and when it’s strong enough, enter it in jumping competitions. When in these competitions, it’s also possible for the player to raise their Trainer Rank. Depending on the Trainer Rank, Magikarp’s maximum Jump Power level changes, so the name of the game is to raise your trainer rank to raise stronger Magikarp and win competitions. With that in mind, a player has trained their Magikarp to the highest JP possible.

Japanese Twitter user Rest reported in late April that they had hit the game’s JP limit at JP12,900,605,640,709. This is definitely the strongest (jumping) Magikarp around. It took around 2 years and 1 month to raise and it was Rest’s 169th Magikarp. This also raised Rest’s Trainer Rank to the maximum level of 100.

Magikarp Jump is a pretty straightforward Magikarp raising game. Feed your Magikarp by tapping the screen, train over and over, raise it to the highest level and then have it retire. The Magikarp get stronger with each passing generation so even if you keep losing you can keep powering up.

One thing to keep in mind is that the maximum JP depends on your Trainer Rank. In other words, if you don’t continuously play and raise your Trainer Rank, the upper limit of your JP won’t rise either. You have to keep entering competitions to raise your Trainer Rank so Rest had to play consistently to achieve this feat.

We spoke with Rest and asked directly about their Magikarp raising routine which can be broken down as follows. Feed Magikarp, use support Pokémon skills, and have 5 training sessions (the normal 3 training sessions plus 2 more after using Piplup’s healing ability) which all requires about 10 minutes. Rest said they followed this routine every day.

As for Rest’s motivation to keep playing, they told us it was because Magikarp are so cute. Rest also mentioned enjoying the kind and gentle world of the game. Magikarp Jump is all about jumping competitions so there isn’t even any battling. The townsfolk always support you and there are sections like helping a lost Luvdisc find its way. It’s a very peaceful game and even bad events can be avoided based on player choices.

The game also sends you notifications if you haven’t played for a while like, “Magikarp is full of energy today!” or, “Magikarp seems lonely!” Rest said they enjoyed these messages and would apologize to Magikarp when starting the game if it had to wait awhile between play sessions.

We also asked about in-app purchases and Rest told us they purchased 250 diamonds three times for a total of 1830 yen (around $16.73), though these were not necessary to advance in the game. Rest also said these purchases were made as a thank you to the developers and two of the purchases were actually made after clearing the game. Rest also plans on making another purchase as a thanks to the developers after reaching the maximum JP in the game.

Why is the Jump Power limit 12,900,605,640,709? There are a few theories so we asked Rest what they thought. Rest believes it’s related to the level cap. In the game, you raise your level by accumulating JP. Rest explains that if you keep raising your Magikarp beyond the fixed limit, the level will stop at 100, but JP will continue to accumulate so the 12,900,605,640,709 might be equal to level 150 or level 200.

Rest’s guess makes sense, but there are probably people that want to know the official reason so we contacted The Pokémon Company and asked. They weren’t able to answer as to what the reason is, but did say, “We’re very surprised to see a Magikarp with a JP that’s 100 billion times higher than its number in the Pokédex. We’re happy that someone has played the game for this long.” While they didn’t reveal the explanation, the developers are probably happy that someone pushed the game to such an extreme.

It seems there was also another player that reached the max JP back in 2017 with their Magikarp maxing out at exactly 12,900,000,000,000 (なべ神 – NABEGOD). With this, it does look like it has something to do with Magikarp’s Pokédex number which would be some pretty crafty design if intentional.

Magikarp Jump has players that are willing to spend years maxing out their Magikarp which shows the appeal of the game and how much it’s loved by players. Pokémon: Magikarp Jump is currently available for iOS and Android.