Twitter user finds way to play Pokemon Red through their avatar

Image via Game Freak
Image via Game Freak

A Twitter user has ingeniously designed a way for anyone to play Pokemon Red through their account's avatar.

Pokemon Red is among the first games to release in the franchise. Both Blue and Red were released way back in 1996 in Japan and are beloved entries in the series. While the two titles have their fair share of problems, namely glitches, fans still play them to this day.

However, many don't have regular access to the games since they are very dated at this point. Gamers need a Gameboy of some kind to play either title, and those handheld consoles are a rarity in today's world.

Luckily, fans don't have to use an online emulator or dig through their attic to find their old Gameboy. Instead, they can use Twitter to play Pokemon Red, thanks to the work of a dedicated and genius fan.


How to play Pokemon Red through a random Twitter account

The Twitter account in question is @screenshakes, a seemingly random account until a couple of days ago. However, on January 8th, the user posted a tweet exclaiming that they had discovered a way to play Pokemon Red through their avatar.

Players can essentially comment on the above tweet using a set of commands (Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, Start, Select). These commands then get pulled every 15 seconds, and the most popular command from that time frame moves the Twitter account's avatar. So, basically, the avatar will perform the most popular action every 15 seconds.

When this experiment began, fans had no idea what to make of it. After all, playing older Pokemon games nowadays isn't something done every day. However, as time progressed and fans saw what they could do, word about the account spread like wildfire.

Fans picked Squirtle as the starter Pokemon and worked their way from there. They gave Squirtle the nickname "AMAYBE" and even changed the settings to take off Battle Animations. So far, the specific tweet has nearly 30,000 comments, and the number is climbing every few minutes.

This is one of the most ingenious ways to play Pokemon ever and has limitless possibilities. While the current game of Red will no doubt take a long time to complete, fans have been asking the creator what's next. Though nothing is set in stone, the owner has expressed interest in letting fans play Super Mario Brothers.

There's seemingly no end to what this new invention can do.