Twitch beats Pokémon Red, moves on to Pokémon Crystal

It happened! 16 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes and 30 seconds after the debut of the livestream Twitch Plays Pokémon, the masses have worked together to conquer the 1996 Nintendo classic Pokémon Red — it took 122 million chat messages.

"It’s safe to say that Twitch Plays Pokémon has been the biggest cultural phenomenon to strike Twitch all thanks to The Creator and You, our passionate and absolutely preposterous community," Twitch said of the event.

"In total, the army totaling 1,165,140 of You furiously entered chat commands to guide our Hero through the perilous trials of Pokémon Red and brought the world a thrilling conclusion. Nine million onlookers watched, enthralled and perplexed, as millions of “up”, “down”, “right”, “left”, “democracy” and “anarchy” orders flooded the battlefield. No giant amorphic General has ever fought so inefficiently yet so effectively.  As a result, the Event has far transcended the gameplay itself, generating life-important discussions about religion, politics, mythology, and the importance of collaboration across cultural boundaries."

Celebrating the triumphant victory, Twitch revealed some staggering numbers around the event.

• The unfolding of the Story: 16 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes and 30 seconds.
• Pokémasters who mashed their keyboards: 1,165,140
• Commands issued: 122+ million
• Peak Pokémasters watching: 121,000
• Onlookers: 9+ million
• Total views: 36+ million
• Minutes watched: 1+ billion

So what now? Pokémon Crystal, obviously.