In 2014, a Twitch user played a game of Pokémon Red in a collaborative experience with thousands of players. TwitchPlaysPokémon used commands to move through the world of the game, culminating in the defeat of the Elite Four and capturing all 151 of the original series of pokémon. Gameloft 3D programmer Constantin Liétard tries a similar feat, this time via Twitter.
Liétard’s version plays through his avatar – the image is updated as the game progresses as players fight and cross Pokémon Redworld. To play, users tweet commands – up, down, start, select, and so on – on a continuous thread. Comments are drawn every 15 seconds, Liétard tweeted, with the comments being the most commented. Users can discuss strategy on a Discord channel that Liétard created specifically for the game.
You can now play Pokémon Red in my avatar!
Comment on one of the buttons on this tweet:
Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, Start, Select pic.twitter.com/9RV383BGjW– Constantin Liétard (@screenshakes) 8 January 2021
The match kicked off on January 8th. Based on how long it took Twitch to finish Pokémon Red, it’s probably going to take a while.