It has been a long few months for Twitch Plays Pokémon, and it has finally reached the last handheld game it can play (for now): Pokémon X and Y.
I recall being part of the 100,000 players, sending inputs in the final “URN” (run) of the Elite Four in Twitch Plays Pokémon Red. I became part of the lore: Mighty Lord Helix, Bird Jesus, ATV the Dragon Slayer, Battery Bird (which was an incredible catch), etc. I survived Twitch Plays Pokémon.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, you have a lot to catch up on. To make it short and sweet, Twitch Plays Pokémon started as a social experiment in which a Twitch.tv user (and streamer-senpai) streamed a game of Pokémon Red, and anyone with an account could send inputs via chat. This resulted in a chaos, where thousands of people were playing the game at once. As you can imagine, there was a lot of bumping into walls, releasing Pokémon, falling off ledges, getting stuck, etc. However, as those who haven’t played TPP probably can’t imagine, we beat the game. That’s right. We taught the necessary HMs, got through the labyrinths of caves, the 500-step limit Safari Zone, caught a Zapdos, etc.
Granted, there were options that helped us. Two modes: Anarchy and Democracy ruled the gameplay. Each was activated through voting (later changed). Anarchy was the normal chaos all-chat-inputs-go-through-to-the-game mode, and Democracy waited 20 seconds and would input the most-sent button. It was up to the thousands of us to use each mode strategically, and though there were hardships, we got through it. Though participation has decreased with each new game, TPP is a social phenomenon. The channel reached the Guiness World Record of the most participants on a single-player online videogame, at 1,165,140 players for Pokémon Red.
Twitch Plays Pokémon has gone through every generation of handheld Pokémon games, even Pokémon Stadium 2.
Recently, TPP began Pokemon X, reaching the end of the Pokémon handheld family. If you have yet to become a part of this family, use this chance to take part here. Discover how easily you become part of the “lore” that is created when going through the game. Each Pokémon becomes special, each action becomes important, and thousands of inside jokes are created. After the end of this game, the TPP channel will be switching to Pokémon Stadium 2 battles (details explained on the channel).
