Twitter is currently playing Pokémon Red in a user’s avatar

Twitter users currently play Pokémon Red entirely as a user’s avatar.

Gameloft Montreal programmer Constantin Liétard has built a script that changes his Twitter avatar every 15 seconds with a capture of the classic Game Boy title.

Users can control the game by replying to a Twitter feed with basic commands, such as “up”, “down” or “A”, and the most commented entry is then sent to the game each time the avatar de Liétard is updated.

So far, users have submitted more than five thousand responses to the Pokémon Twitter feed, which in real terms allowed them to pick a starting Pokémon (Squirtle) and barely leave Pallet Town, the game’s starting area, for a day of play.

On Saturday, Liétard reset the game’s progress to refine his script and allow users to add commands and comments at the same time.

The Twitter game is reminiscent of the 2014 social phenomenon Twitch Plays Pokémon, a participatory attempt to play Game Freak’s Pokémon games by analyzing commands sent by users through the channel’s chat room.

The concept was developed by an anonymous Australian programmer and launched on February 12, 2014, starting with Pokémon Red.

The stream has become extremely popular, reaching an average concurrent audience of over 80,000 viewers (with at least 10% participating), according to Twitch.

Several weeks later, on March 1, the game was finally over after more than 16 consecutive days of play, with over 1.16 million participants and a peak simultaneous participation of 121,000.

The Pokémon Company recently started teasing plans to celebrate Pokémon’s 25th anniversary next year.

A group of Pikachu danced to the Pokémon theme song in New York City’s Herald Square in November as part of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

After the performance, the group unveiled a large banner with the official logo for the February birthday celebration.

“The Pokémon Company International invites fans around the world to stay tuned for more information on Pokémon’s very special 25th anniversary celebration in 2021,” the company said in a press release.

Several Pokémon games were released to coincide with the franchise’s 20th anniversary in 2016, including Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon for 3DS and Pokémon Go for iOS and Android.

Last year, The Pokémon Company announced Pokémon Unite, a team-based fighting game created in collaboration with Tencent, and New Pokémon Snap, a Nintendo Switch sequel to the classic N64 game.