As has been well-documented, Minecraft is a sort of breeding ground for Pokémon fan recreations. Somebody made a working Game Boy Advance capable of playing Pokémon Fire Red last summer, while another fan created an entirely new 3D Pokémon adventure, all in Minecraft. If you’ve been reading the site for a while, you might also remember the fan who was working on a fully functional recreation of Pokémon Red. He was off to a strong start in 2015, and now, the project is finally finished (via Polygon).
When we last checked in on Mr. Squishy, who went by Magib1 at the time, he had the Pokédex, basic game mechanics, and the world map done. Now, he’s finally finished, and the game is a true port, meaning that he didn’t just make a Game Boy emulator in Minecraft and load the Pokémon Red ROM into it: He recreated the entire game from scratch.
In the above video interview with Polygon, Mr. Squishy explains how that process worked and why it was necessary:
Minecraft has command blocks, which allow you to write code in-game. There’s no easy way to just take the ROM for one of these old games and dump it into Minecraft. To get all of the functionality in the game, you basically need to re-code everything from the ground up inside the game, so that’s what I’ve done here.
Mr. Squishy also documented the process on Reddit and answered some questions there, revealing that so much effort went into this endeavor: He walked over 1,760 in-game miles and used 357,000 command blocks over the 21 months it took to finish the project. Even all of the game’s original glitches have been recreated. Now that’s dedication.
Of course, this Minecraft-based Pokémon game is a totally different beast from the other aforementioned efforts…
The Pokémon Fire Red remake is more graphically intensive since it’s a GBA game, but movement is a bit choppy and it’s still very much a work in progress (although the latest version of the game has made great strides and it looks fairly accurate at this point).
Then there’s Pokémon Cobalt and Amethyst, which is in a completely different league. Instead of recreating an existing game, this one is a completely new adventure in 3D. It copies the original game mechanics, and it’s sort of like a merge of Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Sun and Moon, so it’s very robust. It has an original plot and even a bunch of brand new Pokémon, so the game definitely goes beyond the call of duty.
Each of these fan projects are special in their own way, and a testament to how versatile of a creation environment Minecraft can be to people with good ideas and ambition.
Feel free to download the Pokémon Red remake for yourself and give it a go, right here. Are you going to try this out, or are you going to stick to your emulators, or perhaps an original cartridge? Hit up the comments below and let us know what you think!
Snapshot 17w15a has been released for “Minecraft,” and this latest update preview brings some new features as well as several bug fixes that players have been looking for.
Facebook courtesy of MinecraftA new Snapshot was released just recently for ‘Minecraft’
Before diving into what Snapshot 17w15a contains, players should know more about how to activate it for the game. They can do this by first navigating over to the Launch Options tab and then checking off the box that says “Enable Snapshots.” They should then save the change they just made.
Players who will be activating the newest Snapshot or any Snapshot for that matter are encouraged to back up their files first to avoid any issues that may stem from their worlds possibly being corrupted.
Once players have taken care of all that, they can go ahead and see what is inside the latest Snapshot.
According to the changelog posted over on the game’s official website, players now have access to colored beds, and these are ones they can make either by using dye on a white bed or by crafting one while using some colored wool.
“Minecraft” players can now also toggle the narrator between options such as off, chat only, system messages only, and chat & system. A new toast notification has also been added via Snapshot 17w15a for toggling the narrator.
Advancements should now also come with descriptions while some of the titles in the game have been changed as well.
Stairs have also been improved, and they are now designed to function better with things such as fences, glass panes and walls.
As for the bug fixes, one in particular addressed by Snapshot 17w15a ensures that the statistics page should now work properly.
Improvements for many of the tamed animals have also been applied, and several fixes for the game’s parrots have been added.
More news about “Minecraft” should be made available in the near future.
Super League Gaming, a Santa Monica, California-based gaming company, partnered with Harkins Theatres to host tournaments for kids and teens in one of its Gilbert locations.
“We’ve looked at Phoenix and long believed it was a great city due to its family-friendly focus — we partnered with Harkins, and they helped us decide that Gilbert’s audience in particular would be a great place for this offering,” said Ann Hand, CEO of Super League Gaming.
Kids cheer at the Minecraft City Champs events.
Competitors vie for a spot on the city teams, which include the Phoenix Blaze team, to compete nationally. Events kicked off in March and continue to run through May.
“Super League is bringing an experience that kids already love — playing Minecraft — to a local level,” said Hand. “With Super League, gamers have the opportunity to play face-to-face with their local team, building, creating and battling against other local communities which fosters a stronger sense of teamwork and city pride.”
Hand said the demographics for the tournaments historically has been between the ages of 9 and 13, while the gender skews male.
A Harkins representative for Scottsdale-based Harkins Theatres, said the partnership is part of the company’s venture into unique viewing experiences.
“Whether it’s broadcasting the NCAA Finals, showing the season premiere of BBC’s hit show Sherlock or allowing gamers to play their favorite games on the big screen, Harkins is always looking for new opportunities to create memorable experiences for guests,” said the Harkins spokesperson. “The in-theater Minecraft tournament is just one more opportunity to use the state-of- the-art technology and larger-than-life screens to bring fans together to share in an experience unlike anything available at home.”
The theater chain also has endeavored into eSports by broadcasting video game League of Legends national and global tournaments at various Valley locations. The Harkins representative said the company is in the process of planning for more eSports broadcasting.
Children as young as 5 years old spent part of spring break working on their engineering skills.
The city’s Recreation Department held a variety of camps, several of which involved engineering and technology, across Stamford schools this week.
They included a Minecraft engineering camp for 5- and 6-year-olds and a Minecraft master camp for ages 7 through 12. Both were held at Newfield Elementary School and were run by Play-Well TEKnologies, which uses LEGO to teach engineering to children.
Nintendo announced today that Minecraft will come to Nintendo Switch on May 11 digitally, with a physical version to hit stores at a later date.
Minecraft will include multiplayer for eight players online or four players locally on Switch, offering split-screen as well as support for the Switch Pro Controller.
The Switch version will also include the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack that previously came to Wii U, which offers Mario-themed skins, textures, music, and much more from previous Mario games.
On Nintendo Switch
This link directs to a retail affiliate. IGN may receive a commission from your purchase.
We finally found out that Minecraft is coming to the Nintendo Switch during the Nintendo Direct which took place earlier this week. We received a glimpse of the game and we will be getting more footage come on Tuesday, April 18th. Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition launches on Nintendo eShop on May 11th and in stores at a later date.
Next @MinecraftUKLive livestream will be Tuesday 18th…either 4pm or 5pm UK time @mcdamoski and I will show off new Glide tracks & Switch!
