Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium[lower-alpha 1] is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 video game console. First released in Japan on April 30, 1999, it was later released as the first Stadium title in Western regions the following year, and is a sequel to the Japanese-only 1998 Nintendo 64 release Pocket Monsters Stadium. The gameplay revolves around a 3D turn-based battling system using the 151 Pokémon from the Game Boy games Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Yellow.

Pokémon Stadium
North American packaging artwork, featuring Blastoise (left) and Charizard (right)
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Takao Shimizu
Producer(s)
Programmer(s)Yasunari Nishida
Artist(s)Tatsuya Hishida
Composer(s)
SeriesPokémon
Platform(s)Nintendo 64
Release
Genre(s)Turn-based strategy, Party
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The game was originally intended for the Nintendo 64's DD add-on, but ended up turning into a standard console game after the add-on failed. Using the Transfer Pak accessory that was bundled with the game, players are able to view, organize, store, trade, and battle their own Pokémon uploaded from Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Yellow. One of the main focuses of the game is the completion of the four stadium cups, each of which is a series of three-on-three Pokémon battles against an ordered lineup of opponents. Another battle mode called Gym Leader Castle allows battles against the eight Kanto gym leaders and the Elite Four. Other features of Pokémon Stadium include mini-games, versus-style battles, a hall of fame, compatibility with the Game Boy Printer, and a built-in emulation function for Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Yellow.

Pokémon Stadium went on to become one of the Nintendo 64's best-selling titles, reaching one million copies sold before the end of 2000. Critical reception of the game was mixed, with critics praising the game's visuals but finding fault with the audio quality. A sequel, Pokémon Stadium 2, was released in 2000 as a counterpart for the next-generation Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Silver, and Pokémon Crystal games.

Gameplay
See also: Gameplay of Pokémon
The player's Dragonite faces off against the opponent's Parasect. Pokémon in this game may be rented or imported from Pokémon Red, Blue, or Yellow.

Unlike the Game Boy games Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, Pokémon Stadium does not have a storyline or a well-defined world, meaning that it is not considered a role-playing video game.[4] Instead the game challenges the player to defeat trainers at the Stadium, a tournament consisting of 4 "Cups" and 80 battles in total, as well as the Gym Leader Castle, where the player battles the 8 Kanto Gym Leaders, the Kanto Elite Four, and the Champion. When all Cups have been won and the Gym Leader Castle is completed, a battle against Mewtwo will be unlocked. Defeating Mewtwo unlocks another round of Stadium, Gym Leader Castle, and the Mewtwo battle, but with higher AI difficulty.[4]

In Stadium mode, the player is challenged to earn trophies by winning the Pika Cup, Petit Cup, Poké Cup, and Prime Cup, each having its own set of rules and restrictions. In the Poké and Prime Cups, four trophies may be earned, one for each level of difficulty, but the Pika and Petit Cups only award one trophy each. After choosing a Cup to compete in, the player decides on a party of six Pokémon, which may include available rental Pokémon and/or Pokémon imported from a Game Boy cartridge. In each battle, the player and the opponent are only allowed to use three of their six Pokémon. The player wins a trophy after successfully completing all battles in a Cup. If certain conditions are met using imported Pokémon from a Game Boy cartridge, the player will be awarded a Pikachu with the move Surf, which unlocks a mini-game in Pokémon Yellow.[5]

In the Gym Leader Castle, the player initially challenges the eight Kanto Gym Leaders from the Game Boy games, followed by the Elite Four, and finally the Champion. Before battling a Gym Leader, however, the player must defeat a gym's three Pokémon trainers. Like in the Stadium, the player has to pick a team of six Pokémon and may only use three at a time for battling. Each time the player defeats the Elite Four, one of eight randomly selected prize Pokémon will be awarded, which can be transferred to the player's Pokémon Red, Blue, or Yellow game using the Transfer Pak. The prize Pokémon are Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Eevee, Kabuto, and Omanyte.

Other features

Pokémon Stadium includes other features, such as mini-games, a Game Boy Tower (a way to play the Game Boy games on the console via emulation), the Victory Palace (a showcase of Pokémon that have been present in the player's team once achieving victory), Oak's Lab (featuring connectivity to the Game Boy titles including a Pokédex), Free Battle (a battle between two players with set rules), Battle Now (a battle with pre-determined teams), and Gallery.[6]

The video game can work with a Game Boy Pokémon game cartridge, allowing people to play their Pokemon that are stored on their Game Boy cartridge on their television through the Nintendo 64 console. A player's Pokémon that is on a Game Boy can also be saved to the Nintendo 64 in the video game's lab. The lab area of Pokémon Stadium lets players study each Pokémon's behavior and attacks.[7]

Mini-games

Nine mini-games are included in Pokémon Stadium, located under Kids Club, and each game allows up to four players. If any of the four player slots are not taken, the computer takes over the excess slots.[8]

In "Sushi Go-Round", the player controls a Lickitung that has to try to eat more expensive sushi than other players.

The mini-game "Snore War" has players control a Drowzee and attempt to put the other Drowzees to sleep by using the move hypnosis.

The "Rock Harden" mini-game requires players to have their Pokémon use the move harden to stop boulders from damaging them.

"Clefairy Says" is a version of the game Simon Says. The player has to press the controller's buttons in the same sequence that is put on the blackboard by the instructor Clefairy. When the sequence is completed successfully, the Clefairy will dance in that sequence.

"Run, Rattatta, Run" has players race against each other as a Rattatta on a treadmill that has walls which pop up throughout the race. The goal is to leap over the walls and to not knock into them.

In "Ekans' Hoop Hurl", the goal is to toss a curved Ekans over Digletts. Each successful toss gives the player points.

In "Magikarp Splash", players must have their magikarp jump/splash high enough to hit the counter at the top of the screen. The marikarp with the most counts wins.

"Dig, Dig, Dig" is a race to see which Sandshrew can dig for water the fastest.[9]

Development

Pocket Monsters' Stadium
Pocket Monsters' Stadium
Cover art
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Nintendo
SeriesPokémon
Platform(s)Nintendo 64
Release
  • JP: August 1, 1998
Genre(s)Turn-based fighting
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The first Pocket Monsters' Stadium was released in Japan on August 1, 1998. Once intended as a Nintendo 64DD launch title with a March 1998 release date,[10] it was instead converted to a standard Nintendo 64 game on a 32MB cartridge.[11] Because of technical limitations, this version features only 42 Pokémon that are available for battle, instead of the full 151 Pokémon from the Game Boy versions as originally planned.[11] The remaining Pokémon can be viewed in a Pokémon encyclopedia called the Pokédex, but the models lack the required animations for battle. Connectivity with the Pokémon Game Boy trilogy is available using the Transfer Pak.[11] Hal Laboratory president Satoru Iwata, who would later head Nintendo itself, was the one who managed to port the battle system to work in the Nintendo 64, taking a whole week to read the entire Game Boy source code, and afterwards convert Shigeki Morimoto's programming from the Pokémon games.[12] The game sold a reported 270,000 copies in its first month of release.[13] This version was not released outside Japan, and as such the numbering of the subsequent 2 is ahead of the North American releases.

International release

On February 16, 1999, Nintendo announced that it would be showing Pokémon Stadium 2 in a Japan-exclusive event called Pokémon Festival '99.[14] Early reviews of the game from Japan's Weekly Famitsu Crew were favorable.[15] Because the first game had met criticism for its difficulty, the AI was toned down for the sequel to make it easier for average players. Released as Pokémon Stadium throughout North America and Europe, this version supports the transfer of all first generation Pokémon to and from Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow via the N64 Transfer Pak. Nintendo also released a limited edition bundle in North America that included Pokémon Stadium, a Transfer Pak, a Nintendo 64 console, two controllers, a poster, the strategy guide by Prima Games, and a "Cool Porygon" trading card.[16]

Reception

Pokémon Stadium received mixed reviews from critics. GameSpot contributor Jeff Gerstmann gave the game a 5.7 "mediocre" review, writing that the gameplay "feels scaled down and oversimplified, even when compared with the original Game Boy games". IGN's Peer Schneider wrote an 8.2 "great" review of the game, calling it "a must-buy for Pokémon fans", but also citing that "the audio is nowhere near the quality of some of the recent Nintendo releases".[4] Regarding the game's announcer, a frequent complaint among critics, RPGamer's Ben Martin wrote that: "With a very limited vocabulary and continual comments thoughout [sic] every single action, it certainly is a nice option to be able to turn this guy off".[20] In his review on gaming website Cubed3, Ross Morley praised the game's battle system for its "beautiful 3D models, special effects and range of options".[21]

In its first month of sales in North America, Pokémon Stadium sold over one million copies,[16] and it became the best-selling console game in the region during the year 2000.[22] Nintendo of America announced that it would be released as a Player's Choice title, a well-selling game with a lower suggested retail price, on December 26, 2000.[23] Approximately 3.97 million copies have been sold: 3.16 million in the United States,[24] 710,765 in Japan,[25] and 100,000 in the United Kingdom.[26]

Sequel
Main article: Pokémon Stadium 2

Months after its debut, a follow-up to Pokémon Stadium, tentatively titled Pokémon Stadium Gold/Silver, was announced by Nintendo.[27] The game was released in 2000 and 2001 as Pokémon Stadium 2, featuring the 251 Pokémon from the first two generations. Transfer Pak compatibility was included for Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal—as well as Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow.

Notes
  1. Known in Japan as Pokémon Stadium 2 (Japanese: ポケモンスタジアム２, Hepburn: Pokemon Sutajiamu 2)

References
  1. "Pokemon Stadium for Nintendo 64 - Pokemon Stadium Nintendo 64 Game — Pokemon Stadium Nintendo 64 Video Game". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  2. "Pokémon Stadium | Nintendo 64 | Games". Nintendo. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  3. "Pokémon Stadium". Archived from the original on 1999-10-12. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  4. Schneider, Peer (March 3, 2000). "Pokemon Stadium". IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  5. "Snag a Surfing Pikachu". IGN Entertainment. March 7, 2000. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
  6. "Pokemon Stadium Official Player's Guide". Archive.org. 2000. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  7. "Pokémon moves to a whole new level". The Vancouver Sun. March 16, 2000. p. 83. Retrieved August 1, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Joshi, Arjun (August 22, 2016). "Pokémon Stadium Review (N64)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  9. Hank Schlesinger (12 February 2001). Pokemon Future: The Unauthorized Guide. St. Martin's Press. pp. 93–96. ISBN 978-0-312-97758-0.
  10. "Four Games to Launch with Japanese 64DD". IGN Entertainment. June 2, 1997. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  11. "Nintendo Super-Sizes Pokemon Stadium 2". IGN Entertainment. March 3, 1999. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  12. "Iwata Asks: Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver". Nintendo. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  13. "Pokemon Stadium Stays Put". IGN Entertainment. August 27, 1998. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  14. "Pokemon Stadium 2 Announced". IGN Entertainment. February 16, 1999. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  15. "Pokemon Stadium 2 Garners Praise". IGN Entertainment. April 23, 1999. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  16. "Pokemon Blasts Through Sales Charts". IGN Entertainment. April 3, 2000. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  17. "Pokemon Stadium for Nintendo 64 - GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  18. ニンテンドウ64 - ポケモンスタジアム2. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.27. 30 June 2006.
  19. Gerstmann, Jeff (February 29, 2000). "Pokemon Stadium Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  20. Martin, Ben. "Pokemon Stadium — Review". RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  21. Morley, Ross (August 19, 2003). "Pokémon Stadium (Nintendo 64) Review". Cubed3. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  22. "Best Selling Console Games of 2000 in North America". The Magic Box. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  23. "Nintendo Beefs up its Player's Choice Line". GameSpot. December 21, 2000. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  24. "US Platinum Videogame Chart". The Magic Box. 2007-12-27. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  25. "Nintendo 64 Japanese Ranking". Japan Game Charts. 2008-04-10. Archived from the original on 2008-12-30. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  26. "ELSPA Sales Awards: Silver". Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  27. "First Screens of the Next N64 Pokemon Stadium". IGN Entertainment. July 20, 2000. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
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