In 2014, a Twitch user turned a game of Pokémon Red into a co-op experience with thousands of players. TwitchPlaysPokémon used crowdsourced commands to move through the game’s world, culminating in the defeat of the Elite Four and capture of all 151 of the original series pokémon. Gameloft 3D programmer Constantin Liétard is attempting a similar feat, this time through Twitter.
Liétard’s version plays out through his avatar — the image updates with the game’s progress as players battle and travel through Pokémon Red’s world. To play, users tweet commands — up, down, start, select, and so on — on an ongoing thread. Comments are pulled every 15 seconds, Liétard tweeted, with the most commented directive then being entered into the game. Users can discuss strategy on a Discord channel Liétard created specifically for the game.
You can now play Pokemon Red in my avatar!
Comment one of those buttons on this tweet:
Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, Start, Select pic.twitter.com/9RV383BGjW— Constantin Liétard (@screenshakes) January 8, 2021
The game kicked off on January 8th. Based on how long it took Twitch to finish Pokémon Red, it’s probably going to take a while.
