Remember the days when thousands upon thousands of people would all shout out inputs on Twitch, which were then translated into control inputs for classic Pokemon Games? I was there during some of the greatest moments of the channel, from Red’s slow decent into madness at the hands of the Helix Fossil to the birth of Lazor Gator, destroyer of Suicune. It was an exciting time for Twitch, as fans from all over the world watched the protagonist of each game trudge through the seemingly impossible task of finishing the game.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, as less and less viewers frequented the famous channel. However, after almost eight years of work, a new Pokemon hack has been developed by the Twitch Plays Pokemon team and its being played on the channel first! After years of the channel fading into internet obscurity to hang out with things like Neopets and Salad Fingers, Twitch Plays Pokemon is relevant again with Pokemon Prism.
The rom hack is entitled Pokemon Prism, which is pretty standard fair when it comes to names, but this hack of what looks to be Pokemon Crystal has tons of cool content hidden beneath its typical title. Pokemon Prism is surprisingly by the creators of Pokemon Brown and is being led by the famous Koolboyman. The game is being played now by the Twitch Plays Pokemon community with an official release to gamers everywhere in December. The hack offers tons of new sprite work, brand new areas to explore, and has 20 badges to collect.
What is extremely interesting is the fact that players can customize their trainer, something that is still barely a feature in the 3DS games that doesn’t offer a whole lot of uniqueness. Prism also goes beyond the powers of the original Gameboy Color by cranking up the engine to run at 60 FPS, something that in motion is rather beautiful. Trainers can even play as their Pokemon in various moments, but its unsure how this feature will work.
Overall, this hack seems to be pushing the Gameboy Color to the absolute limits. It will be interesting to see if this rom will be playable on flash carts, which would enable players to play the game on an actual Gameboy, but judging on the 60 FPS gameplay, that feature may not be possible. If anything, maybe two builds will release in December, one for PC emulation, the other for flash carts.
Once again, Pokemon Prism is being played right now over at the Twitch Plays Pokemon channel. Will our hero make it to the end of the journey by December? Only time will tell, but it would be great to see a resurgence in interest. New memes, new artwork, and new stories are sure to develop as progress is made.
Here at Marooners’ Rock, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the project. Until then, enjoy the team’s original rom hack Pokemon Brown on their official website. The team’s Discord channel is also available there.
