Twitch Plays Pokémon, the popular social experiment that allows thousands of online viewers to collaborate on a single playthrough of Pokémon, is set to move on to the most recent generation of Pokémon games with Pokémon X this Sunday.

Twitch Plays Pokémon is a Twitch channel that began by streaming a playthrough of Pokémon Red on an emulated Game Boy. Instead of watching someone else play the game, however, the audience was in control. “Players” could type suggestions into the Twitch chat for what button to press next – “up”, “down”, “a”, etc. – which were then sent to the Game Boy emulator as commands. The setup is analogous to an average of 8,000 people fighting over the Game Boy’s controls, and the results were as erratic and hilarious as you’d expect.

Despite the extremely chaotic nature of the game, the Twitch Plays Pokémon community managed to beat every generation of Pokémon up to Pokémon X and Y, including remakes. However, because 3DS emulation is not in a very polished state at the moment, the immediate future of the channel was unclear. Fortunately, a little ingenuity has allowed the game to continue, and possibly catch up to the production of the games themselves. According to a report from Destructoid, an Internet user by the name of dekuNukem has built a device that allows a 3DS’s circle pad, touchscreen, and buttons to be controlled via a PC. This is combined with a video capture card, which will allow Twitch Plays Pokémon to be played on a real 3DS; thus, Pokémon X and the upcoming Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire can now get the same treatment.

Twitch Plays Pokémon X begins tomorrow at 9:00 am Pacific time – be sure to tune in!

My Opinion:

This is pretty impressive! I was expecting to have to wait for 3DS emulation to catch up before seeing more of Twitch Plays Pokémon, but as it turns out, we only have to wait less than half a day longer. I’m looking forward to more hilarious adventures in the world of Pokémon, and the promise of other 3DS games following the format has me excited as well. (Perhaps Fire Emblem would be fun?)

Aaron Dobbe is an Associate Writer at MONG specializing in Nintendo but playing a bit of everything else too. Follow him on Facebook and pester him to get a Twitter.