After 10 years, Twitch Plays Pokemon is going back to the beginning, and this time Twitch chat isn't getting any help to beat the classic JRPG
Feb. 12, 2024It’s time for full anarchy on original hardware
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10 years after the launch of Twitch Plays Pokemon, the social-experiment-turned-online-phenomenon is celebrating its double-digit birthday by getting back to basics, revisiting the original games on original hardware and this time trying to beat them without any method to reign in the full chaos of Twitch chat.
TPP is not as popular as it once was, but the channel has been running for the past decade to a much smaller but entirely dedicated viewership, conquering tons of official Pokemon games and romhacks along the way. Now, coming up on the project’s 10-year anniversary - yes, it really has been a full decade - the devs are going back for a “Super Gauntlet” of the original RPG series
There’s another consideration here, as stream owner VorpalNormanexplains on Reddit: “We plan to stick with Anarchy unless it’s clear that progression is basically impossible.” ‘Anarchy’ here refers to the traditional method of TPP, where everyone’s messages are translated directly to in-game inputs. At various points - sometimes because the channel runners decide a section is too difficult or because viewers have voted on it - TPP switches to a mode called ‘Democracy,’ where viewers have to vote on inputs in certain intervals, so that the chaos of chat can’t ruin a genuine push toward a challenging puzzle or map.
Democracy won’t be an option this time, unless things get very bad. “The version of the TPP core we’re using does not currently support Democracy, so it’s not like we can just throw a switch,” VorpalNorman explains. “It’s a feature we’d have to add, and I really hope we don’t have to.”
Sure, Twitch can play Pokemon, but themathematical concept of Pi isn’t having much success.
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