Pokémon Stadium (Japanese)

From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
Jump to navigationJump to search
This page is about the first game in thePokémon Stadium series. For the game known as "Pokémon Stadium" outside of Japan, seePokémon Stadium.
Pocket Monsters' Stadium
ポケモンスタジアム

Cover of Pocket Monsters Stadium
Basic info
Platform:Nintendo 64
Category:Battle Simulation
Players:1-4
Connectivity:Transfer Pak
Developer:Nintendo
Publisher:Nintendo
Part of:Generation Iside series
Ratings
CERO:N/A
ESRB:N/A
ACB:N/A
OFLC:N/A
PEGI:N/A
GRAC:N/A
GSRR:N/A
Release dates
Japan:August 1, 1998[1]
North America:N/A
Australia:N/A
Europe:N/A
South Korea:N/A
Hong Kong:N/A
Taiwan:N/A
Websites
Japanese:Pokémon.co.jp
Nintendo.co.jp
English:N/A
StrategyWiki
StrategyWiki
StrategyWiki has more about this subject:

Pokémon Stadium (Japanese:ポケモンスタジアムPokémon Stadium, subtitled asPocket Monsters' Stadium) is the first game of thePokémon Stadium series. It was released exclusively in Japan on August 1, 1998.

Terminology

The namesPokémon Stadium andPokémon Stadium 2 refer to different games between Japanese and English. Since this game was never released outside Japan, the later game known asポケモンスタジアム２ (Pokémon Stadium 2) in Japanese had its name adapted toPokémon Stadium in English.

Subsequently, the third game inthis series had its name changed as well, fromポケモンスタジアム金(きん)銀(ぎん) (Pokémon Stadium G&S) in Japanese toPokémon Stadium 2 in English.

This game's Japanese title literally translates toPokémon Stadium. The game is subtitled with the English subtitlePocket Monsters' Stadium. On the official Japanese site for the game, the background image uses the English titlePocket Monster's Stadium.[2]

Gameplay

All modes except Battle require a Game Boy game saved at aPokémon Center and connected viaTransfer Pak.[3] If a Game Boy game is connected but not saved at a Pokémon Center, the game displays an error message.

  • Battle (バトル): Players can battle against other humans or computer-controlled opponents.
  • Organize (せいとん): Players can transfer Pokémon and items between theirparty,PC boxes, and storage boxes in the game.
  • List (いちらん): A list of a player's Pokémon and their stats can be examined.
  • Pokédex (ずかん, orEncyclopedia): Players can view their Pokédex in 3D.
  • Register (とうろく): A team can be registered.
  • Party (てもち): The player can examine their current party.
  • GB (Game Boy Tower in international versions): AGeneration I game can be played on the Nintendo 64.

Many of these features were integrated intoOak's Lab in future Pokémon Stadium games.

Battle Mode

Battle Mode features two modes:Free Battle (フリーバトル) andTournament (トーナメント).

Teams using Pokémon from theTransfer Pak must be registered before selecting the mode, or already be members of one Game Boy cartridge's activeparty, otherwise they are unavailable. Any empty or invalid slots in a team will prompt an error message, and allow the player to replace those slots withrental Pokémon. In future entries, teams could be built within the mode, and players could select any Pokémon from 1 cartridge, including the party andGB boxes, and rental Pokémon.

Free Battle

In Free Battle, a player can battle against another human or a computer-controlled player under one of three rule sets: the L1-30 Division, based onNintendo Cup '98, the L50-55 Division, based onNintendo Cup '97, or Free Battle, where 6 Pokémon of any level may be used and brought into battle. Each rule set has its own list of rental Pokemon

Aside from battling with their own Game Boy or rental Pokémon, there are eight pre-configured Trainers that players may use, with Pokémon ranging fromlevel 20 to 100.

Tournament

This mode features two tournaments based uponofficial Pokémon tournaments. After selecting your team, 8 trainers must be beaten one at a time in order to win. Each trainer will give you abadge upon defeat, which is adorned on the player's cap.

  • L1-30 Division: This tournament is based on theNintendo Cup '98. There are four divisions: theMonster Ball,Super Ball,Hyper Ball, and Master Ball. Opposing Trainers and Pokémon species are consistent through all 4 divisions, but theirlevels andmoves differ in each. Pokémon at or between levels 1 and 30 are available for this division. Pokémon unobtainable normally at those levels, even if acquired at a lower level through other means, are still unusable.
  • L50-55 Division: This tournament is based on theNintendo Cup '97. The total levels of the three Pokémon selected cannot exceed 155. The opponents in this mode are based on actual competitors in the 1997 tournament.
KopīLv.51
Type:
Ability:
No Ability
Held item:
None

Unlike future Pokémon Stadium games, there are no Continues.

The credits roll after a tournament is cleared.

After one of the tournaments is cleared, the player obtains a Doduo Game Boyupgrade that allows the Game Boy games to be played with frame skip at double speed. When both tournaments are cleared, the Dodrio Game Boy is obtained, allowing the games to be played with frame skip at triple speed.

Available Pokémon

There are only 40 Pokémon available for battles. Most of these Pokémon were used in official tournaments, with a few Pokémon added for type balance.[4] Below is a list of the Pokémon that were included in the game.

While the other 111 Pokémon cannot be used in battle, their 3D models can still be viewed in the other modes.

Most, if not all, of the 111 remaining Pokémon were intended to be accessible via theNintendo 64DD, using a special expansion disk. Due to heavy delays of the 64DD console, this disk was never released. This is also why during the credits,Caterpie,Weedle,Hitmonchan,Hitmonlee,Clefairy, andJigglypuff are shown battling, even though these Pokémon cannot be used in the game. The final game is still compatible with the 64DD in a technical sense, and even has a floppy disk drive 3D-modeled in the game terminal, but no disk can actually work with it.[5]

Move Tutor

If the player clears the Master Ball division of the L1-30 Division with aPikachu in their party, that Pikachu can learnSurf.

Since this game was only released in Japan, Pikachu can be taught Surf in theinternational Pokémon Stadium, whereas it cannot in the Japanese version of that same game.

Staff

Main article:Staff of Pokémon Stadium (Japanese)

Gallery

  • Title screen
    Title screen
  • The main menu. An error message that tells the player that the game has not/cannot access game data from a Generation I game cartridge.]]
    The main menu. An error message that tells the player that the game has not/cannot access game data from a Generation I game cartridge.]]
  • Transfer Pak compatibility
    Transfer Pak compatibility

Trivia

Nintendo's flyer for the retail release of Pokémon Blue
  • Nintendo advertisedPokémon Blue's compatibility with Pokémon Stadium in a September 1999 flyer for the game's retail release in October 1999. Oddly enough, it does not mentionPokémon Stadium 2, which had already been released in April 1999.
  • According to theIwata Asks forPokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver,Satoru Iwata studied the battle logic ofPokémon Red and Green for the development of Pokémon Stadium without having the appropriate specification document fromGame Freak.[6][7]Shigeki Morimoto from Game Freak also commented on how it took him a long time to create the original battle program for Pokémon Red and Green, which was then ported to Pokémon Stadium by Satoru Iwata in a week.
  • This is the onlyPokémon Stadium series game released in Japan in whichPikachu can learnSurf. Additionally, Pikachu is the onlyGeneration I Pokémon the player can battle with that can alsoevolve.
    • Raichu is conversely unavailable, despite being the Evolution of Pikachu.
  • Pokémon withmoves exclusive to events are considered to have illegal moves. This includesFearow withPay Day, andPikachu withFly. This is despite the fact most of these events were either from before — or actively ongoing when — Pokémon Stadium released, and would be corrected in Pokémon Stadium 2.Dugtrio withAcid, a Pokémon that was never made available, but considered legal inPokémon Stadium 2, is also considered illegal in this game.
  • The game's name may be a reference to64 Mario Stadium, a Nintendo-centric Japanese variety show that featured televised coverage of Pokémon tournaments.
  • The game was going to have team battle support like the English release and sequel, but programming for the function was never completed.
  • According to a FAQ page that was available in February 1999 onPokémon.com, there were no plans to release an American version of Pokémon Stadium, as well as any other Pokémon games that have been only released in Japanese at the time.[8] This referred to the first Pokémon Stadium game (the version with only 40 Pokémon available for battles), which was indeed never released in English. The second game in the series was translated in English as simplyPokémon Stadium later (as opposed to the Japanese name Pokémon Stadium 2).
  • This game is sometimes nicknamed "Pokémon Stadium Zero" outside of Japan to distinguish it more easily fromits sequel.
  • This was the first Pokémon game released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan.

Notes

  1. ↑1.01.11.21.31.41.51.6Unavailable in L1-30 Divison

References

Related articles

This game-related article is part ofProject Games, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on thePokémon games.