Twitch WINS Pokémon: A Summary of Events

In what can only be described as a staggering turn of events, the TwitchPlaysPokemon channel has - successfully played Pokémon Red.

We reported about a Twitch channel which has been playing Pokémon via chatbox input.  Well, it appears that they have actually completed the game!

After a gruelling 15 days, 19 hours and 32 minutes, they finally defeated Lance of the Elite Four on their first attempt - with 94,725 viewers and 33,907,620 views.  However, they only had the bug-type AAATTVVV, a Venomoth level 37, left and were defeated by Gary, The Champion, in a single hit.  In front of around 105,000 viewers.  The reason AAATTVVV worked was simply because it was a poison type against Dragonite.  It used Psychic moves as it's most powerful against a poison type, despite those moves being status buffs - such was the AI of the original Pokémon.

Trying to buy enough potions for the second go at the Elite Four managed to lose 10.000 viewers, though once they got back into battle, the viewers began piling in again.

Two of the Elite Four down and down by two Pokémon, their resolve was firm - apart from the full minute they spent trying to Run from a trainer battle, or the fifty times they tried using the Secret Key.  They were back up to 106,000 viewers by that point.

Things got off the rails by the time OMASTAR was knocked out, With a further 2,000 viewers trying to force input, the strong attacks had changed to building up defence.  Of course, they were swiftly defeated, leaving 109,000 viewers to drop to 107,416.

Back through the PokéCentre and to the Elite Four, the fourth attempt reached Lance with two Pokémon left, though with AAATTVVV knocked out, there was little hope of a repeat of the first attempt.  The now-level 71 AA-j however, made short work of most of the flying types.  Sadly only AAAAAAAAAA was left to defeat AERODACTYL, a Confusion resulted in a three-move KO viewed by 111,500 people.

Fifth time through dropped the viewing number back to 107,000, but losing four Pokémon to the first member of the Elite Four also lost 5,000 viewers.  Being unable to change from AIIIIIIRRR to AA-jfor the water-type moves really worked against the players, making this the first near defeat to Bruno after four easy victories,  However, left with only a few HP they were soon sent back to the PokéCentre right at the start of the third Elite battle.

Sixth time and only 97,000 were watching.  The inability to buy any Full Restore and only get Ultra Balls was costing them viewers by the literal thousand.  But just over two hours earlier they had faced The Champion, so we knew they could do it without them.  Secret Key inexplicably in-hand, they once-again lost to Agatha, despite AA-j putting up a valiant effort and defeating two of her Pokémon with half health.

 

The seventh time seemed headed for a charmed life, when the electric-type AA-j was chosen against the water-types of Lorelei.  However they soon switched him out and lost two Pokémon to the enemy CLOYSTER's 20 HP.  The rest of the fight went the same way the eighth, ninth and tenth try would - defeat.

By now the viewership was down to 87,000, showing just how dismally they had been performing. Although it took ten minutes to do, they managed to get AA-j out and defeated two of now-arch nemesis Lorelei's Pokémon.  However, momentary hesitation caused Twitch's Pokémon to drop like dominoes.

With their twelfth attempt finally under way, the valiant 85,000 went after DEWGONG like they had a vendetta.  Which they did, given that he had resulted in many KO's.  After losing everyone except for AA_j, they defeated her.  However, with Bruno having only rock-types, the outcome of the next fight was inevitable.  A second defeat, out of eight battles, against Bruno.

At 16 days and 3 minutes, the viewers made a save file, showing that they had long since passed the maximum time Game Freak imagined anyone could play on Pokémon.

It took a further ten attempts, finally managing to overcome the arch-nemesis Lorelei and failing to Agatha half a dozen more times.  But they got to Lance on attempt twenty-two.

And finally, at 16 days 7 hours 36 minutes they defeated Lance again, making it two wins for two losses!  73,000 people watched the second fight against Champion Gary.  It was touch-and-go for several long minutes as they tried using the Secret Key again and again.  But, after reaching the Elite Four for the first time a mere thirteen hours earlier, their persistence had to pay off.

At 16 days 7 hours 45 minutes they won!  Just after 9am, in front of almost 90,000 viewers:

After many millions of button commands and thirty-six million views, AA-j took down Gary.  We were there to see it, from the first run through the Elite Four, all the way to the game's glorious completion.  However, that is not all for the channel.

Shortly after the credits ran, TwitchPlaysPokemon went to a 'We'll be back shortly' screen, coming back with a 26 hour countdown - A New Adventure will begin at 12pm GMT, Sunday 2nd of March.

Of course, if you played along and want to continue with the game - you can obtain the save file used via the channel page!  You can also find some highlights of the stream, including the final battle!

Keep updated at the Google Docs site!