After getting respectably close on their first try, the player-viewers of Twitch Plays Pokemon finally beat the game late last night after many more attempts. They struggled against the Elite Four and champion Gary multiple times, but amazingly persevered in (relative) style at around 4am EST.
I was awake to see it (I have a completely normal sleep schedule, why do you ask?) and it's safe to say it was pretty magical. I'm sort of joking, but the joy and excitement of the community watching and playing was actually quite fun to be a part of. If you're unfamiliar with the phenomenon, check out my summary of it here, and read about how it became so popular it broke Twitch here.
The previous Elite Four attempts mostly ended in early failures, with a lot of mismatched types put out against the opponents' Pokemon, leaving the party too decimated to continue on even if they won the first battle.
The biggest obstacle they faced was definitely switching out Pokemon in the middle of battle: sometimes they'd want to and not be able to do it, and other times needlessly switch and get the Pokemon coming in blasted by a powerful move.
But when I looked over at the stream and saw they were starting the battle against Lance (the last of the Elite Four before Gary) with all but one of the members of their party intact, I knew that could finally be the time. And it was--they blew through Lance, and went on to have a dicey win against Gary.
The captured Zapdos, lovingly (read: accidentally) named AA-j, was a huge part of the win since it was a level 80 by the end of the run. After accidentally switching Pokemon multiple times, consulting the Secret Key and TM 17, and generally having a difficult time (using the last of their Thunders on Rhydon, which does precisely nothing), AA-j immortalized himself in the lore by landing the killing Thundershock on Blastoise, the final foe. The trainer moved on to the next room after being congratulated, and was entered into the hall of fame as Pokemon champion.
It sounds absurd (and make no mistake, it is) but it's also very interesting. The social experiment grew to unexpected heights, and in the midst of anarchy players managed to band together and actually use some tactics to beat their opponents.
There were more than 90,000 people in the stream last night as they became Pokemon champion, and it was sheer elation all around, with congratulations and love rarely seen on the internet pouring out from the viewers and players.
The stream currently has a message that reads "The End: A new adventure will begin" with a countdown timer currently at more than 19 hours. The creator plans on moving on to Pokemon Gold/Silver when the timer gets to zero. It will remain popular, but I'm not sure it will ever reach the same heights or special feeling of the first attempt, which will be remembered on the internet for a long time to come.
