From Neuroscience to Gaming: Raspberry Pi Powers Twitch Stream Where a Simulated Fruit Fly Brain Plays Pokémon

Earlier this month, Google and the Janelia Research Campus made waves in the scientific community by releasing the comprehensive blueprints of a fruit fly brain. Researchers likely anticipated that this milestone in connectomics would be studied closely by neuroscientists, leading to deeper insights into how biological neurons function and process information. However, the internet had a different trajectory in mind. True to the unpredictable nature of online culture, digital creators quickly began subverting the monumental dataset for entertainment. Before long, internet communities were rendering the classic music video Bad Apple across the simulated neurons and embedding fragments of the neural scan into The Amazing Digital Circus.

Now, this digital journey has reached a new threshold of absurdity and technical ingenuity. A technology enthusiast has taken the complete neural simulation of the fruit fly and forced it to play the classic Game Boy title Pokémon, broadcasting the experiment live on Twitch. Viewers tuning into the broadcast can watch the biological simulation navigate the digital world and, should they feel inclined, actively assist the insect on its quest to defeat the Elite Four.

You can help a fruit fly achieve its goal of becoming a Pokémon master

Over on the Raspberry Pi subreddit, a Twitch user known as Leetzerzz detailed the fascinating architecture behind the live stream. The project demonstrates the surprising capabilities of modern single-board computers, operating at the intersection of neuroscience, emulation, and internet-driven experimentation.

According to Leetzerzz, the stream runs on a Raspberry Pi 5, which handles both the heavy computational lifting of the neural simulation and the execution of the game via the mGBA emulator. The simulation incorporates all 139,255 neurons from the FlyWire FAFB v783 reconstruction, representing a complete adult female Drosophila brain, though excluding the ventral nerve cord. To make real-time processing feasible on consumer hardware, the setup utilizes connections involving five or more synapses.

Translating a biological insect brain into inputs for a retro role-playing game required some clever engineering, given the obvious differences between navigating a laboratory maze and walking through the tall grass of Kanto. The spatial layout of walls, doors, and nearby characters is extracted directly from the game’s memory. This environmental data is then fed into the simulation’s looming-detector populations, specifically the LPLC1, LC10, and LPLC4 groups, acting as directional left and right drives.

As Leetzerzz notes, the system is not performing traditional image processing, meaning there is no retinotopy—an acknowledged limitation of the current setup. Instead, the activity of the descending neurons is decoded into discrete button presses, allowing the digital fly to make decisions within the game environment.

It’s up to you to decide if the project is either really cool or a manmade horror

The interactive element of the Twitch stream pushes the experiment further into experimental territory by allowing human viewers to directly influence the fly’s neural state in real time. Audience members can pop into the chat and nudge the creature by providing directional inputs. More remarkably, viewers hold the power of reinforcement over the digital organism.

If the fly makes a favorable move or progresses appropriately, participants can stimulate its reward neurons, encouraging the system to replicate that behavior more frequently. Conversely, if the creature performs poorly or wanders aimlessly, viewers can trigger punishment neurons to induce negative feedback within the simulation.

Every single neural zap initiated by the chat actually modifies the underlying neural pathways, with the resulting behavioral effects persisting for up to ten minutes at a time. The ability for a live internet audience to arbitrarily reward or punish a simulated biological brain offers a fascinating glimpse into cybernetics, though one that blurs the line between innovative computer science and unsettling digital experimentation.

For those intrigued by this unusual fusion of high-end biology, single-board computing, and retro gaming, the experiment remains accessible to the public. Viewers can visit Leetzerzz’s Twitch channel to observe the Raspberry Pi 5 in action and give the fruit fly a nudge in the right direction as it continues its unexpected journey through the world of Pokémon.