Twitch Plays 'Pokemon' Now Also Playing 'Tetris'

Game Rant

By Anthony Taormina

Published Feb 20, 2014

Now the inputs from the Twitch Plays Pokemon stream are also being used to play an NES version of 'Tetris.' How deep does the rabbit hole go?

Twitch Plays Pokemon Also Playing Tetris

Those gamers who have not been living under a rock will be fairly familiar with the Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon phenomenon. Basically, someone wrote a code whereby, through a series of text inputs, an entire Twitch chat could control an emulated version of PokÃ©mon Red. Those who haven't seen this awesome creation are encouraged to do so first before reading on.

Now that the Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon movement has gained a tremendous amount of steam, dozens of clones have come out of the woodwork. Some of the highlights include Twitch Plays Super Mario Bros, Twitch Plays Adam Sessler, and Twitch Plays Tetris.

Twitch Plays Tetris is of particular note because it actually piggybacks off of the Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon inputs. As players type in the various Game Boy commands for PokÃ©mon Red, those same commands are then used in a NES version of Tetris. So, while the Twitch chat is trying to progress through PokÃ©mon Red, they are also trying to keep track of the next move in Tetris. Oh, who are we kidding: this is just pure chaos. See below:

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However, while many of these clones hope to recreate the magic of Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon, that's a more challenging task than some might expect. See, what makes Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon so brilliant is that the Twitch chat is actually progressing through the game. Sure, there have been some missteps, like releasing their starter PokÃ©mon out into the wild and touching the Helix Fossil about a hundred times, but this collective gaming experience is still going somewhere…we hope. In fact, the Twitch stream has added a democracy/anarchy meter to show how devoted the cause is towards getting further in the game versus making hilarious things happen.

These other clones — those that aren't outright parody of course — are more about mimicking Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon without actually emulating that base line experience. Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon has dominated the zeitgeist for a reason, and playing Tetris communally isn't the same. It's actually just a lot of random nonsense.

What has been your favorite Twitch Plays PokÃ©mon clone? Why do you think so many people have been transfixed by the idea?

Source: CVG