for the pre-run intermissionTwitch Plays Pokémon (TPP) is a series of social experiments in which commands representing buttons on an original Nintendo 3DS (up, down, left, right, A, B, X, Y, L, R, start, and select) and touchscreen coordinates are entered into a chat on Twitch, and then translated into a game of Pokémon via an IRC bot. In short, hundreds of people are fighting over a controller. Throughout its life, Twitch Plays Pokémon has spawned hilarious characters, memorable moments, and even a few religions.
Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Ultra Moon, often abbreviated as "RUM", is the sixth run of Season 6, which began on October 12th, 2019, and ended on October 23rd, 2019. It is the eighth randomized run overall, and makes Season 6 the first season to feature two randomized runs since Season 1. On top of the usual randomization of wild encounters, movesets, opponents, and evolutions, Randomized Ultra Moon also randomizes character dialogue, meaning any line may be used anywhere in the game. The result is a nonsensical story filled with characters that keep changing names, Pokémon that talk, and a constant stream of non sequiturs that the chat desperately attempts to make sense of.
The Host for this run is a dark-skinned girl named "VRG", finally breaking the streak of picking white-skinned boys in Alola-based games; due to the line "I do" popping up during their first encounter, it was quickly assumed that she and Lillie married each other early in the game. Most of the lore ended up all over the place, as other events caused by the randomization included (but weren't limited to) characters joining the ranks of various villainous teams (including Game Freak), others being either overly present or never seen at all, and "boss" Pokémon being swapped for others, with the fearsome Necrozma notably turning into a fluffy Whimsicott.
See also here for the archived status of the run. A transcript of the run's dialogue can also be found here.
Twitch Plays Pokémon Randomized Ultra Moon contains examples of:
- Breaking Old Trends: After three different runs in which a pale-skinned boy was picked as the protagonist, this run features a dark-skinned female Host. This is also the first time a dark-skinned character was picked in a game that allowed it.
- Deadly Book: Lillie makes multiple references to a "cursed diary" that was used by Drifbloon to prank people; it apparently makes "scary things" happen when it's read, and even takes away whoever finishes reading it. Not that it stopped VRG from taking a peek◊.
- Dummied Out: Played With.
- Several lines of dialogue and opponents from Pokémon Moon that were cut but left in the code of Pokémon Ultra Moon re-surfaced during the run, thanks to the randomization not blacklisting them. Said opponents include the Elite 4 variation of Hala, the Champion battle variation of Kukui, and Mother Beast Lusamine.
- Despite being unobtainable in the games themselves due to never having been distributed, Original Color Magearna did make an appearance during the run. Light of Ruin, a move exclusive to the similarly unreleased Eternal Flower Floette, was also used by several Pokémon.
- Forbidden Fruit: Lillie told the player about a cursed diary that makes scary things happen and can even take away the reader. Obviously, the first thing VRG did upon finding a diary on Lillie's desk was to try to read it.
- Fun with Acronyms: The name of this run can be abbreviated as "RUM", a fact that was noticed by players as soon as it was announced; jokes about people under 21 not being allowed to play and the Host being an alcoholic abounded as a result. Of course, given how garbled the randomized dialogue is, it does indeed feel like every character in the game is drunk...
- Hint System: During the last days of the run, the plushies seen when opening the QR scanner held a 3DS screen, which would display an area where some yet uncaught Pokémon could be found.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Mallow comments on her stew by stating that "this is what the humans of Alola look like◊". Cue horrifying implications.
- The Man in Front of the Man: Grimsley, who the randomization made a member of the Elite 4, was revealed to also be the final opponent of the newly founded Alola League, and later turned out to be the head of Team Rainbow Rocket as well.
- Me's a Crowd: An higher-than-expected amount of Trainers ended up randomized as Hau, to the point where #HauWorl ended up trending in the chat. At one point, VRG even ended up fighting a Double Battle against two of them. Overlaps with Collective Identity, as several Trainers on top of that ended up with the name "Pokémon Trainer Hau".
- Non-Indicative Name: As a result of randomized evolutions combined with people purposely reverting nicknames to default during the naming process, some Pokémon ended up with names that had nothing to do with their final form, such as a Grotle named "FennekinR", a Dugtrio named "Morelul", or a Walrein named "TorracatNIII".
- Non Sequitur: Due to randomization, most of the lines spoken bear no relevance to the current situation, come without any kind of context, and keep leaping from on point to another.
- Oddly Common Rarity: Despite shinies being extremely rare (1/4096 in Gen VII), several NPC trainers had a shiny on their team, with a few having two or even three.
- Previous Player-Character Cameo:
- Because the same SD card that was used during Twitch Plays Pokémon Ultra Sun was left in the console used for RUM, the chat was able to watch some of Rrwq:'s Battle Videos.
- Red and Blue had their teams changed to match those of the Hosts of Twitch Plays Pokémon Dual Red & Blue. Blue also used Lana's model in order to better match the appearance of XXWWNNᴾk, although this ended up being unseen in the run proper as only ((( was fought, using his first Hall of Fame team. Their team's respective Venusaur and Charizard were also granted access to their Mega-Evolution, similar to Red's Pidgeot and AIIIAAB's Slowbro in Twitch Plays Pokémon Waning Moon.
- Because the same SD card that was used during Twitch Plays Pokémon Ultra Sun was left in the console used for RUM, the chat was able to watch some of Rrwq:'s Battle Videos
- Story and Gameplay Segregation:
- Due to the dialogue being randomized, it has absolutely nothing to do with what is actually going on most of the time.
- While VRG's starter was randomized into a Fennekin, it still appears as a Litten during cutscenes. The same applies to Hau's starter, which appears as a Rowlet during cutscenes, but changes into something else during battles.
- The Unfought: Red and Blue had their teams changed to those of the Hosts of Twitch Plays Pokémon Dual Red & Blue; however, the chat chose to fight against ((('s team and won on their first try, meaning XXWWNNᴾk's team was left unseen.
