Pokemon Stadium: A Poke in Mons Clothing? (Pokemon Stadium 64 (N64))

Member Name: garrymac

Product:	Pokemon Stadium 64 (N64)
Date:	15/09/00 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bright, colourful, addictive, fun.

Disadvantages: May not retain younger players attentions for very long

As a huge Pokemon Red and Blue fan, I could not wait to get my grubby little hands on Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64. I was overjoyed at the thought of seeing my winning team of Pokemon from my Game Boy cart displayed in glorious 3D graphics and battling the way they should be (with lots of fancy effects and flashy colours).
You might get a great feeling from seeing your own Pokemon kick a friends monsters to the floor on your Game Boy but it's not the same as seeing your favourite Pokemon drain the last of its opponents hit points with a big flashy move before rubbing your sweaty hands together as your opponents monsters limp body topples over on the ground before being automatically called back to its Pokeball. Nothing beats that rush.
In fact, Pokemon Stadium was the sole reason that I purchased a Nintendo 64 console. The game is extremely good value for money. It retails at around £49.99. This price not only includes the game pak itself (which would usually cost around £40 anyway) but a handy little device called a 'transfer pak' as well.
The transfer pak slots easily into the bottom of your N64 controller and not only does it allow you to upload Pokemon to battle with in the Stadium modes from your Red, Blue or Yellow Game Boy paks but it also lets you play the entire Game Boy game on your normal television set.
And now on to the game itself. Pokemon Stadium concentrates more on the battle element of Pokemon instead of the storyline (like the Game Boy versions do). There are four different tournaments in which you can compete and each of these tournaments then has four difficulty settings (you have to complete the easiest setting before you can advance to a harder one).
Each tournament has a different set of rules and regulations, for example, certain tournaments may have level restrictions for Pokemon and others may only allow pre-evolved forms to compete.
After you have finished with the tournaments in Pokemon S
tadium, you can take a trip down to Gym Leader Castle. This is the place in the game where the you get to battle with all the Gym Leaders from the Game Boy games (and even Gary Oak) to compete for badges.
Even after all this,Pokemon Stadiums resources still have not been exhausted. You can compete in a quick battle with the computer if you do not fancy competing in the tournaments or in Gym Leader Castle, or you can battle with a friends Pokemon. The game can support up to four players each using Pokemon they have uploaded from their own individual Game Boy paks or Pokemon they 'rented' from the game itself.
You can have a one on one battle or even a one on three battle depending on how you feel (and how many friends you have of course).
Well that about wraps this opinion up. OOPS! I guess I really ought to apologise as I have neglected to mention the best bit of all about Pokemon Stadium. It has MINIGAMES.
The minigames consist of nine different types of timed game using different Pokemon in each (my personal favourite is the Ekans Hoop Toss game). The minigames can be played by 1-4 players and words can not describe how much fun it is to play 'Ekans Hoop Toss', 'Lickitung Sushi Bar' or 'Rattata Race' with three friends. In my experience the minigames in Pokemon Stadium have been more like bonding sessions than actual videogames.
There is only one bad thing that I can think of about the game and that is that the commentators voice can get extremely annoying after a while as he just keeps on repeating the same few phrases over and over again. However, you can turn the commentators voice off in the options menu which is a God send.
Overall Pokemon Stadium seems to be targated at an older audience than the Game Boy games (apart from the minigames which are under the 'Kids Club' section) as they focus completly on Pokemon battles and not on catching and training the Pokemon. The game is quite difficu
lt in some parts (especially in the high difficulty level tournaments) while other parts will have you tearing your hair out in frustration. There is tons of gameplay though and the flashy graphics will make sure play it until you see each move at least once.

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