Pixelmon - Minecraft and Pokemon Unite

Header of Pixelmon's official website

I love Pokemon and I love Minecraft, and I just discovered the unthinkable.  My two favorite games have been merged into one awesome experience: Pixelmon.  I have known about Minecraft mods for a long time now.  They are variations of the game that are often created by fans and are often free to use.  Below are a few examples:

Image by kingbdogz

The Aether Mod
By creating a special portal, Minecraft players are whisked away to a floating world with new crafting materials (like Zanite and Aerclouds) and new mobs (like Flying Cows and Whirlwinds).

Image by toesmash

BuildCraft
This mod adds many industrial materials and crafting options, including: pipes, engines, lasers, and
more.

Image by Paulo Guilherme

More Explosions Mod
Who doesn't enjoy blowing things up?  This mod introduces many forms of explosives beyond Minecraft's standard TNT, including grenades, time bombs, C4, nukes (pictured), and more.



However, since mods are not official additions to Minecraft, it takes some work to install them, and sometimes they can corrupt your game or cause it to crash.  Because of this, I have always been too intimidated to install any sort of Minecraft mod.  I was always content to watch other people on Youtube play them.  Until I discovered Pixelmon, that is.  As I learned more about the mod, the more excited I became.  Over one hundred Pokemon wander the different biomes of Minecraft, able to be captured by Pokeballs you craft yourself.  After catching them, you can battle the Pokemon with wild ones so it can gain experience, level up, and learn new moves.  Despite my past inhibitions about mods, I was eager to try Pixelmon out.

(When starting your first game, you get to pick one of four starter Pokemon:

Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, or Eevee).

I found this mod installation tutorial by LittleLizardGaming invaluable in installing Pixelmon to my Minecraft.  The person speaks clearly and gives easy-to-follow directions from start to finish.  There are, however, a couple things I realized after installing this mod:

1. Once you install a mod, you cannot switch back to the original Minecraft or another mod without having to remove and reinstall files, sometimes resulting in losing all of your saved games.

2. Mods are more complicated to install in the latest version of Minecraft (v. 1.6.2).  The tutorial video above shows how to install mods in versions 1.5.2 and older.

That being said, after spending hours of tweaking and fiddling, I figured out a way to have two Minecraft launchers on my computer at the same time, one with the original game, the other with Pixelmon.  That way, I don't have to go through the trouble of moving files, reinstalling launchers, or losing my saved games.  I will share how to do this in a future blog post.  Until then, don't be afraid to give mods a shot.  They add variety and excitement to a game that was already incredible.