Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium
Developer	Game Freak
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo 64
Release Date	JP April 30, 1999 US March 6, 2000 AU March 2000 EU April 7, 2000
Rating	ESRB: E

Pokémon Stadium was the 3D incarnation of Pokémon focused on the Pokémon battling aspect of the game that was released on the Nintendo 64. In Japan, this game was called Pokémon Stadium 2, as a previous Pokémon Stadium was released exclusively in Japan.

Gameplay

The game's main mode was the Stadium. Players could select one of four Cups to participate in, along with four difficulty settings. Using any combination of Pokémon uploaded from their Game Boy games and Pokémon provided for them, the player had to defeat all of the opponents in the Cup. Another single player made was the Gym Leader Castle, which let the player go against all of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four of Kanto from the first generation games. If the player defeated the Elite Four, they were given a Pokémon that could be transferred back into the Game Boy game. The prize Pokémon were ones that could only be obtained once in the original Game Boy games and were ones that typically involved choices, such as the starter Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur), Eevee and the fossil Pokémon (Kabuto and Omanyte). Completing all of the Stadium cups and the Gym Leader Castle would unlock a special battle with Mewtwo called Vs. Mewtwo, and defeating Mewtwo would unlock Round 2 or R2, which had harder versions of the Stadium, Gym Leader Castle and Vs. Mewtwo. There was also a Hall of Fame which registered information on Pokémon that the player used to win at the highest Stadium levels and to defeat the Elite Four at the Gym Leader Castle.

Players could also battle each other or the computer in Free Battle, with or without custom rulesets, while Battle Now! was a mode in which players fought using one of two predetermined teams that were selected at random. There were also several modes which utilized the player's Red, Blue or Yellow through the transfer pak. The Game Boy Tower was a a mode through which the player could play the Game Boy game within Pokémon Stadium, while the Pokémon Lab allowed players to rearrange Pokémon and items in their PC as well as coming with a 3D Pokédex. The game also had a mode called Kids' Club, which had nine mini-games featuring Pokémon.

Legacy

Ports/Remakes

• While it never got a release on any iteration of the Virtual Console, Pokémon Stadium was added to the collection of Nintendo 64 games available on the Nintendo Switch for subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pack program in April 2023, 24 years after the original Japanese release of the game. This release came with online multiplayer, but the Transfer Pal-related features were unavailabe.

Sequels

Pokémon Stadium received a sequel after the release of the second generation Pokémon games, Pokémon: Gold and Silver Versions: Pokémon Stadium 2 retained most of the features from the first games while adding some new ones and incorporating Pokémon from the second generation agmes.