Twitch Plays Pokemon
Twitch Plays Pokemon ended after 16 days following the completion of "Pokemon Red." Imgur/Twitch

It took 16 days, seven hours, 45 minutes and 30 seconds for “Twitch Plays Pokemon” to defeat the game. For those hoping for the next great social experiment, the streamer is planning to start a new game at 7 a.m. EST.

Twitch Plays Pokemon had a simple premise in that it gave control of the main character, Red, to thousands of users that would input commands in a chat. The stream was a modified emulated version of “Pokemon Red.” User inputs guided Red through the game and, with thousands of users that would at times lead to little progress as he would move in a circle, save frequently and check various items.

After a particularly difficult part, the streamer tweaked the input and included an “Anarchy” mode, which was the original mode that applied user inputs automatically, and a “Democracy” mode that selected the most popular user input.

While it has been interesting to watch thousands of inputs dictate the game that randomness has also led to some unique events and plenty of memes. One of the most popular was “Lord Helix” a fossil that, due to the delayed inputs, Red would frequently look at in the items menu. A religion of sorts grew up around the character as well as other Pokemon, including “Bird Jesus,” an evolved Pidgeot that became one of the strongest members of the team. A full list of memes as well as popular characters and events can be found here. There is also a subReddit dedicated to the game.

Twitch beat Pokemon after a level 81 Zapdos, named “AA-j,” defeated Blue, the last member of the Elite Four, and his Blastoise. As noted by Kotaku, Twitch Plays Pokemon was an incredibly successful experiment with, at the height of its popularity, 120,000 users playing at the same time.

For those that missed out on the finale, a video of the final battle can be viewed below. The Twitch channel promises a new adventure on Sunday at 7 a.m. EST.

Pokemon