They strike fighting poses – Pokémon Stadium

[Throughout this project, I will be handing over to the viewpoints of others for guest posts. For this one I welcome my friend and special Pokémon correspondent Lucy Joy, who previously wrote about Sim City 2000.]

I’m eleven years old and unlike Iain’s experience in his post on Pokémon Red I have been obsessively playing Pokémon Blue on my Game Boy (I know, I know, “Red’s so much better ohmigod” – your opinion still doesn’t matter Patrick), trading Pokémon cards in the playground, watching the show religiously each day after school on CITV and every Saturday morning with Ant and Dec for a number of years now. I have also been sporting my matching black Pikachu T-Shirt and leggings daily (I’m eleven, hygiene is super important). I must complete the set. To be a Pokémon Master is clearly my destiny. And complete the set I did. I’ve now got my very own copy of Pokémon Stadium and a shiny new turquoise-transparent Nintendo 64 console. I’m not really sure how this happened, I can only assume black magic.

Pokémon Stadium was originally released by Nintendo on 30 April 1999 as a follow up to the Japanese-only release of Pocket Monsters Stadium for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Pokémon Stadium was later released in North America, Europe and Australia just after the millennium and we all got to bathe in the glorious sun that is Pokémon in full technicolour 3D brilliance. Pokémon Stadium offers four modes of traditional Pokémon competitive play: Stadium, Gym Leader Castle (the Kanto region’s finest), Game Boy Tower (a port to play your Game Boy copy on the big screen) and Battle (Free Battle or Battle Now). The game also offers the all-too-fun Mini Games and Professor Oak’s Lab.

In the titular Stadium mode, we are offered four Cups to win in increasing difficulty and number of Pokémon; the Pika Cup (levels 15 – 20), the Petit Cup (levels 25 – 30), the Poké Cup (levels 50 – 55), and finally the Prime Cup (levels 1 – 100). You can select either three or six Pokémon to send into battle against a dangerous CPU with Rental Pokémon or using the upload of your Red, Blue or Yellow Pokémon collection. That’s right, included with each copy of the beloved cartridge was the brilliant Transfer Pak ”^TM” (probably) that allowed users with a copy of one of the first three Game Boy games to upload their very own set of Pokémon and send them into battle. There is also a selection of 150 Pokémon in the Rental library, for those without a copy of the Game Boy editions or to help even up your team selection to fully annihilate the opposition. It sounds brutal, and it totally looked that way too, but remember this is Nintendo so little Pikachu still just fainted. My big six of Pikachu, Ninetails, Charizard, Gengar, Alakazam and Blastoise remained safe. Stadium mode also offers the option to compete against one of your friends or siblings at home as a second player.

Don’t feel like sharing? Don’t worry, I got you. Pokémon Stadium also offers more traditional gameplay modes that Pokémon fans will be familiar with. Gym Leader Castle plays exactly as it reads, the only difference to the previous games is continuous levels of advancement without side quests. Oh yes, and once again we get to compete against Gym Leaders but in technicolour 3D brilliance. Magic. Select your usual fighters to strike fighting poses, or peruse the Rental library. As with the previous games, the Gym Leaders are all here; the Eight from across the Kanto regions, the Elite Four and finally the Champion. There are also eight different Pokémon that can be won from Gym Leader Castle, but I wouldn’t ruin the surprise.

Want to battle straight away without any faff? Surprise! It’s Battle mode time. With a combination of Game Boy and Stadium mode mixed together, Battle mode will feel somewhat familiar to fans. The Free Battle and Battle Now games allow players to fight immediately without endless rounds, good old instant gratification. Again users are given the option to choose three Rental Library or Game Boy uploaded Pokémon to send into battle with Free Battle or you have the option to Battle Now against randomly generated characters giving more of an edge in terms of player battle knowledge and skill. You also have the option to enter a second player, meaning wonderful quick-fire rounds without thinking too hard who has scored the highest. Plus, the amazing scenery…

Now onto the best bit, in my opinion at least, the marvellous Mini Games. Let’s be serious, Mario Party was fun but this is where the true magic of Pokémon Stadium lies. Unlike Mario Party, we get to avoid any unnecessary board game dice rolling antics that just took up far too much time (Looking at you Super Mario Party, biggest disappointment on the Switch) and rather enjoy the festivities. The games are short and sweet, watching multiples of our favourite Pokémon run over hurdles (Rattata in Run, Rattata, Run), try to stay awake whilst Drowsy hypnotises each player (the wonderfully titled Snore War) or play a reinvention of the traditional fairground Hoop toss as a poisonous snake (Ekans’ Hoop Hurl).

There’s something incredibly adorable and endearing having so many of each Pokémon in one place in such wholesome rivalry. In each game you play out as the Pokémon flopping around like Magikarp or Pika-ing away at Voltorb. Points are based on game success and no player gets an advantage due to type, level or learned moves. With the ability to have up to four players, many a summer afternoon was spent competing in vigorous exercise using our joypads. My personal favourite was Sushi-Go-Round, a game where Lickitung unrolls his famed tongue as you attempt to eat the most expensive sushi whilst avoiding the poisonous green tin of soup. Yuck.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget Game Boy Tower or Oak’s Lab. The latter takes the Pokédex and does what Pokémon Stadium does best, that’s right you guessed it TECHNICOLOUR 3D BRILLIANCE WOW (you’ll never tire of that description, will you?). Professor Oak tells you in text dialogue more about each Pokémon. Good summary, not much more to say there in all honesty. Game Boy Tower however, simply put, takes the Transfer Pak^TM and puts the Game Boy experience up on the big screen and for once you have backlight!!!!! No more Game Boy Light Magnifier for you! Until your mum asks you to turn off the TV.

In summary, Pokémon Stadium was everything and more for the avid Pokemon lover. The graphics for the time were perhaps a little subpar particularly compared to the offering of Pokemon Snap, the voice over maybe a tad cheesy and often times grating, but the heart of it is a thrilling ride further into the Pokémon universe with all the gameplay familiarity you would expect of Nintendo in the nineties. The Stadium with its cheering crowds and hearty announcer made you feel you really were competing like a true Pokémon Trainer, you were achieving something new and in your heart you were Ash Ketchum or Misty (most likely not Brock) and you’d show Gary the true meaning of becoming a Pokémon Master. 

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Top of the charts for week ending 8 April 2000:

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