I'll be honest with you, folks: I do not understand Minecraft. I mean, I've seen screenshots that people have taken of things they've made, and I know it's a video game that's pretty popular, but since it doesn't have any of the things that usually draw me to games -- stealing cars, beating Draculas to death with a whip, Robot Masters, space lesbians, Renaissance murdering, that sort of thing -- I've never actually played it. The whole thing has passed me by. Fortunately, an enterprising player has combined the game with something that I do understand pretty well in a mod that adds Pokemon to the world of Minecraft.

According to the typically helpful Wikipedia page, Minecraft seems to be based around mining and crafting, and honestly? I probably could've figured that one out by myself. The emphasis appears to be on using resources to create structures in a massive, virtual world of LEGO-style building blocks made of different materials.

What weirds me out, though, is that from what I can tell, your character is completely alone in this world, which would seem to lead to a massive existential crisis that leads to building a terrifyingly empty ghost town created in mockery of society. It's a lot like the "Blue World" issue of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, except that instead of shambling doppelgangers, you make giant, pixelated pictures of My Little Pony characters. Minecraft as I understand it is a pretty grim affair.

But nothing lightens things up like Pokemon!

Because really, if you're going to be trapped in a world where you're completely isolated, you might as well have a few pets that you can train to fight each other for your amusement.

It's pretty cool to see the blocky Pidgey and Caterpie hopping around while the player chucks Pokeballs at them is pretty great, and Bulbasaur is every bit as adorable in blocky form as he ought to be. Although I will say, as a Poképurist, I feel the need to point out that they're well outside the boundaries of the Tall Grass.

What really sold me on it, though, has nothing to do with the gameplay. Instead, it's the fact that the guy names his Pidgey "Fly Like A G6," and my realization that if you remove the spaces, that totally fits within the actual Pokemon games' ten-character name limit.

It's the actual crafting that throws me off.

Making a Pokeball seems logical enough (by Pokemon standards, anyway) in that you just make a line of red, a line of black and a line of white. But when it comes time to make yourself a Pokedex, I'm right back to where I started.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how wooden planks, wool and a rock combine to make a computer. Unless... are the wooden planks made of oak? Like Professor Oak? And the wool is his lab coat? Are you crafting a voodoo doll that's going to ask you if you're a girl or a boy? Is Minecraft a 21st century Thaumaturgy simulator?! What is going on?!

There is of course the distinct possibility that I'm overthinking it. Either way, it's still pretty neat to look at, and if you're in that Venn diagram sweet spot of people into both Minecraft and Pokemon, I imagine it's well worth checking out.

More From ComicsAlliance