If you were online in the early 2010s, you might remember Twitch Plays Pokémon—a bizarre yet fascinating social experiment that captured the internet’s imagination. In 2014, over 1.16 million users collectively controlled a single playthrough of Pokémon Red by inputting commands in a Twitch chat. This chaotic playthrough lasted for 16 days, proving that sometimes, democracy (or anarchy) can lead to something unexpectedly entertaining.

 

What Was Twitch Plays Pokémon?

To break it down: a programmer set up a system where Twitch viewers could input commands like Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, and Start in the chat, and those commands would be executed in the game. With thousands of people simultaneously sending inputs, the result was absolute mayhem.

 

Players struggled to perform even the simplest tasks—like walking through doors or navigating menus—because every move had to survive the chaos of conflicting commands. Yet, somehow, they managed to make progress, capturing Pokémon, defeating gym leaders, and eventually completing the game.

 

The project became so chaotic that the community introduced a "Democracy Mode," where only majority-voted commands were executed. This allowed for more structured gameplay, though some fans preferred the original anarchy.

 

Pokémon: A Cultural Behemoth

For those unfamiliar with Pokémon, it’s a franchise that began as a collectible card game and a series of video games developed by Nintendo. Players take on the role of Pokémon trainers, capturing, training, and battling creatures in their quest to "catch 'em all." Since its debut in the 1990s, Pokémon has become a global phenomenon, spanning TV shows, movies, mobile games, and more.

 

Even today, Pokémon continues to evolve—no pun intended. The last Twitch Plays Pokémon run was recorded in 2018, showing that this strange and wonderful social experiment had a lasting legacy.

 

Why Do We Love These Experiments?

Whether it’s thousands of people attempting to play a game together or an app that turns the world into a Pokémon playground, something is fascinating about communal gaming experiences. They remind us that video games aren’t just about competition; they’re about connection, creativity, and sometimes, pure chaos.

 

Twitch may have evolved, and Pokémon may have released new generations, but the spirit of Twitch Plays Pokémon—that mix of unpredictability and collaboration—remains a defining moment in internet history.