Pokémon Stadium
- Not to be confused withPokémon Stadium 2.
| Pokémon Kanto: Pokémon Stadium | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
    .svg) Pokémon Stadium as it appears inSmash. | |||||||||
| Universe | Pokémon | ||||||||
| Appears in | Melee Brawl Ultimate | ||||||||
| Availability | Starter (Melee andUltimate) Unlockable (Brawl) | ||||||||
| Unlock criteria | Play onPokémon Stadium 2 10 times in the Brawl Mode. | ||||||||
| Crate type | Futuristic (Brawl) Normal (Ultimate) | ||||||||
| Maximum players | 4 (Melee andBrawl) 8 (Ultimate) | ||||||||
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| Article on Bulbapedia | Pokémon Stadium (stage) | ||||||||
| “ | After ten years, it's back! In addition to the basic stadium formation, the stage also switches between Fire, Water, Rock, and Grass variations. If you want to win on this stage, you'll have to alter your strategy based on the current formation! | ” |
| —Super Smash Blog,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site | ||
Announced atE3 2001,Pokémon Stadium (ポケモンスタジアム,Pokémon Stadium), is a stage debuting inSuper Smash Bros. Melee and returning in bothSuper Smash Bros. Brawl andSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate. It is commonly referred to as"Pokémon Stadium 1" to avoid confusion with its similar successor,Pokémon Stadium 2.
InMelee'sAll-Star Mode, this stage is played on when the player facesPikachu and any of its teammates.
InMelee, Pichu and Jigglypuff are fought here for their character unlock battles; inUltimate, Pokémon Trainer is fought here for his character unlock battle.
InUltimate, the jumbotron has a wider screen.
Stage overview[edit]
Basic Version[edit]
The basic stage is symmetrical and consists of one large main platform, with two floatingsoft platforms above. After a varying period of time, the basic stage transforms into a random one of four variants, each based on atype from thePokémon series. After a while, the stage reverts to the basic form, and the cycle repeats. The same variant can occur consecutively. All forms have an impassable vertical pillar underneath the main platform.
In the background, a large crowd watches the fight while fireworks go off in the sky. There is a large jumbotron which can display the battle itself, a symbol representing the upcoming variation during a stage transition, or the current standings of fighters and thematch timer. InBrawl, the jumbotron in the background shows the fight in a lower picture definition than inMelee, and uses a new, clearer font for its display. When the jumbotron displays the "Current Leader" inMelee andUltimate, the font of the character's names matches that color of their player port. Additionally, inTeam Battles, the color of the CPU players' names matches their respective teams color but with less saturation. InBrawl it will show only one character's name even if there's currently a tie between multiple characters for the highest score/stock count, and inTeam Battles, will only display the character leading the team with the higher score rather than the entire winning team. When playing on this stage inTraining Mode inMelee, the stage will not transform and the jumbotron only focuses on the battle or zooms in on one of the characters.
Grass Version[edit]
TheGrass variant takes place in some kind of forest or park. The main platform has slightly elevated plateaus on both sides. A small stream separates the left plateau and the central area, causing a slight depression. A wooden structure with two platforms, one above the other, occupies the middle-left part of the stage, while in the right part there is a tree whose branches form a third platform.
Fire Version[edit]
TheFire variant takes place in a burning forest. The center of the main platform is occupied by a small depression. On the left side there is a ruined tree: players can stand on top of it, but, due to its height, often need double jumping to reach its top. From the left side of the tree stems a branch which supports a soft floating platform.
On the right side there is a burning shack, the roof of whose porch acts as another soft platform. Note that the fire in the background is purely aesthetic and has no gameplay effect.
Water Version[edit]
TheWater variant takes place near a pond or lake. The whole right side is occupied by a flat pond, while on the left there is a small elevated pier which slopes down on both its sides. Over the pond, two soft platforms are suspended by water spouts, the right one higher than the left one.
On the left side there is a windmill. Its arms spin slowly and can be stood upon, but players on the current lowest arm fall. The arms are soft inMelee andUltimate but hard inBrawl. InBrawl it's possible for small items to get stuck in the windmill if one lands in the center of the windmill just as it becomes solid.Poké Balls will not activate while stuck there.
Rock Version[edit]
TheRock variant takes place in a canyon near a mine. Its terrain is the most uneven of all versions. The right part is flat and empty, while in the middle there are three soft platforms one above the other, of which the bottom one touches the ground and can be walked up from it.
The left side is occupied by a large solid mountain, on whose right side stem two more soft platforms. The walls it creates can causeinfinites andcaves of life. The top of the mountain itself acts as a solid platform. The mountain's left side is almost vertical and ends almost at the right edge of the stage, leaving a small walkable space.
Ω form and Battlefield form[edit]
InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, theΩ form andBattlefield form are set on the default transformation of the regular form and does not transform into any of the four variants. The soft platforms are also absent. The main platform is also resized and reshaped to matchFinal Destination andBattlefield, respectively. The threesoft platforms of the Battlefield form are based on the ones in the normal form.
Ω form inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Battlefield form inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Hazards Off[edit]
With hazards off inUltimate, the stage remains in the Basic Version for the whole match.
Origin[edit]
While the stage is not specifically based on anything from thePokémon video game series, it may be a general representation of aGym. A possible specific origin could be thePokémon Stadium games, from which the stage's name possibly comes from and whose arenas in-game feature aPoké Ball logo in the middle, a crowd watching the battle and, in the case of Gym Leader battles, type-related aesthetics. However, the arenas in thePokémon Stadium games, including the type-themed ones, do not affect the battles in any way. Despite sharing its name with the gamePokémon Stadium, the stage features no direct references to it orits sequel.
Another possible source is thePokémon anime, in which, during tournament battles, the arena changes its terrain frequently to hinder or help either Pokémon. This was seen at least in the preliminary rounds of theIndigo League, during which each ofAsh Ketchum's four initial battles was in a different battlefield representing a specific elemental type.
The Grass Field in theanime.
The Rock Field in theanime.
Tournament legality[edit]
Melee[edit]
Pokémon Stadium was one of the few stages that people in tournaments have almost never questioned being legal, and for a long time, was a starter. Many people considered Pokémon Stadium to be one of the fairest stages inMelee because the shifting terrain was generally not very disruptive to gameplay, and for some time, was thought to prevent excessive projectilecamping. However, recent metagame developments have shown thatFox andFalco have a very large advantage on this stage because the geometry of the stage and terrain allow them to projectile camp withBlaster very safely. It is also the only legal stage with walls, allowing Fox to perform thedrill shine infinite. The large horizontal size of the stage benefits their movement greatly, while hindering other characters who cannot traverse across the stage as easily, while the low ceiling allows even earlier KOs for Fox's two main finishers. The transformations also benefit Falco, and especially Fox, greatly in several matchups by either giving them more room to approach or safe spots to camp in.
While the long stage size, platform placement of the main stage, and low ceiling can also benefit characters with gooddash dances such asMarth andCaptain Falcon, the advantages that these characters gain pale in comparison to the aforementioned advantages realized by Fox and Falco. As such, it has been deemed a counterpick stage in more recent rulesets, with someMelee players arguing that it should even be banned because the advantages given to those two characters are too overwhelming for the majority of the cast. Many players will choose to "wait out" the Fire and Rock transformations by moving to the opposite side of the stage as their opponent, without approaching or attacking them, until the transformation returns to neutral. As a result, many players complain that the transformations result in several minutes of wasted time during a set.
"Frozen Stadium", a modded version of Pokémon Stadium which disables the stage transformations, has become increasingly popular in competitive play. It was first used sporadically in regional scenes, such as atBattle of BC 3, and became more widespread following the dominance of online play in 2020, as theProject Slippi netplay system initially used Frozen Stadium as the default version prior to August 2025. After offline tournaments were ran again, Frozen Stadium became the norm for a few years, but has since declined due to legal issues with Nintendo. Since then, most majors have reverted to the unfrozen version.
Supporters of Frozen Stadium argue that the removal of transformations makes the stage less randomized, more balanced, and removes the time wasting components often seen during the Fire and Rock stages. Opponents of Frozen Stadium argue that this would open up a path towards increased levels of modding and possibly the introduction of new player-built stages, making it more difficult to run in tournaments and leading to more legal issues withNintendo. They also argue that stalling during the transformations should be seen as a viable counterpicking strategy, and that Frozen Stadium's layout is too similar to that ofFinal Destination, further hurting characters who have a perceived disadvantage on both stages.
Brawl[edit]
The stage is more debatable in its neutrality; while it is a starter in the Unity Ruleset and always in seven-stage starter lists,Lylat Cruise is often chosen over it in five-stage starter lists, while never being a starter in three-stage starter lists. The change in unquestioned neutrality comes from changes to the stage itself: first, the lips at the edges of the stage are much more thin and deceptive, occasionally flustering recoveries from slightly underneath the stage or even regular recoveries away from the stage. The most notable change in the stage, however, comes from the redesigned water transformation: while it looks almost the same as inMelee, the blades of the windmill are no longer softplatforms and cannot be passed through in any direction, resulting in stage traversal difficulties and significantcaves of life. Like inMelee,Brawl players tend to camp out the Rock and Fire transformations, hiding behind the large rock and the tree until the transformation has ended, slowing down gameplay and matches.
Ultimate[edit]
The stage is usually banned, as it has too many similarities to Pokémon Stadium 2 when hazards are turned off. Some regions, however, have Pokémon Stadium as a legal starter over Pokémon Stadium 2, most notably Chicago and, at one point,Maryland/Virginia. This is mainly due to some players believing the stage is a more reasonable size when compared to Pokémon Stadium 2. Opponents of this stage, on the other hand, cite several inconsistencies that make the stage more "janky" and therefore ill-suited for competitive play compared to its successor; most notably, the stage suffers from bugs that can cause players to clip inside the main platform of the stage, and prior to version12.0.0, the right platform featured an invisible slant that made it impossible to performlocks over it. The stage's camera also causes the visibility of the edges to be obstructed.
With the release ofSmall Battlefield, Pokémon Stadium generally fell even more out of favor, as Small Battlefield could provide a significantly more compact alternative to Pokémon Stadium 2, and the need of a middle ground was not felt much by most of the community. As a result of all these factors, Pokémon Stadium is currently banned in almost every region worldwide.
Trophy[edit]
- Pokémon Stadium
- Trainers come from far and wide to congregate at Pokémon Stadiums, the ultimate venues to show off their Pokémon teams. There are many different arenas with varying terrain designs, some of which afford advantages to certain Pokémon. This particular stadium is reserved for huge events and boasts a big screen and spectacular fireworks.
- Pokémon Stadium (3/00)
Glitches[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
- On the fire variant, if a character gets hit towards the right side of the tree's base, there's a chance they will fall through.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
- On the grass variant stage, if a character walks onto the very left where the tree stump is while it is forming, they will fall through.
Gallery[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
A pre-release image forMelee showing that the icons on the Jumbotron were originally meant to be the type symbols from the Pokémon TCG.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
Pokémon Stadium inBrawl.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
Fire version inUltimate.
Water version inUltimate.
Grass version inUltimate.
King Dedede with aPoké Ball after performing his forward smash on the stage.
The stadium's jumbotron, showing the stage layout and the fighters competing in the match.
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Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese | ポケモンスタジアム,Pokémon Stadium | Pokémon Stadium |
 English | Pokémon Stadium | — |
 French | Stade Pokémon | Pokémon Stadium |
 German | Pokémon Stadium | — |
 Spanish | Estadio Pokémon | Pokémon Stadium |
 Italian | Lo Stadio Pokémon | Pokémon Stadium |
 Chinese | Pokémon Stadium | — |
 Korean | 포켓몬 스타디움 | Pokémon Stadium |
 Dutch | Pokémon Stadium | — |
 Russian | Стадион Покемонов | Pokémon Stadium |
Trivia[edit]
- The icons flashing on the jumbotron, which denote the arena types, are derived from the type symbols of theTrading Card Game, and in an early version ofMelee, they looked exactly the same.
- The icon that flashes when the stage is about to change into its Water form is the tidal wave from Japanese painterHokusai's famous painting,The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
- Since the jumbotron takes up a large part of the stage, whenever it displays the match, the images on the jumbotron are replicated inside the projected jumbotron and so on, creating aDroste effect.
- When a player opens up the menu in Training Mode, the jumbotron will follow the game camera's zoom in on their character.
- This is the onlyPokémon stage to not feature anyPokémon in any capacity.
- InUltimate, if the jumbotron focuses on a character and the game is paused, the jumbotron will try to remain focused on that character if the pause camera is moved around.
- If the pause camera is angled such that the "back" of it is towards the focused character and the camera is zoomed in, the jumbotron's image will be rotated 180 degrees and some of the pixels will be stretched to the edge of the screen. This also occurs on Pokémon Stadium 2.
- InBrawl, ifZero Suit Samus is currently on the stage, the jumbotron will display her name as "Samus" instead of "Zero Suit Samus". This also happens inPokémon Stadium 2 andPictoChat.
- This is the onlypast stage inBrawl to have three music tracks.
- InBrawl whenever either this stage orPokémon Stadium 2 is featured in anevent match, the jumbotron will not display "SUCCESS" when clearing the event, but will display "FAILURE" if the event end in a failure. This was fixed for both stages in the PAL version.
- When playing a game ofSquad Strike, the names of the characters on the jumbotron will not change until it updates itself. This also happens onPokémon Stadium 2.
- This also happens when either adding more CPU opponents inTraining Mode or swapping betweenPyra andMythra. This is unlikeMelee andBrawl where the jumbotron updated wheneverZelda andSheik transformed orPokémon Trainerchanged Pokémon.
- In either aStock orStamina match, if a player slot is skipped, the jumbotron sometimes displays the wrong player number if a player loses their last life. For example, in a 3-player Smash involving P2, P3 and P4, if Player 2 gets defeated, the jumbotron displays "Player 1 Defeated" despite player 1 not being present.
- On the left side of the background, a building with the word "POCKET" (the O being replaced with a Poké Ball) and a screen can be seen. This is likely based on the Game Boy Tower, a location that acts as a special built-in emulator (which is actually a modified version of the Super Game Boy 2's BIOS) used to play thePokémon games inserted into the player's Transfer Pak inPokémon Stadium andPokémon Stadium 2. Additionally, the "POCKET" on the building is a reference to thePokémon series' Japanese name,Pocket Monsters.
- The followingAssist Trophies can only appear on the Battlefield and Omega forms of this stage:Burrowing Snagret,Kapp'n,Arcade Bunny andSquid Sisters. Additionally,Marshadow can only be summoned on the stage's Battlefield and Omega forms.
See also[edit]
| Stages inSuper Smash Bros. Melee | |
|---|---|
| Starter stages | Brinstar ·Corneria ·Fountain of Dreams ·Great Bay ·Green Greens ·Icicle Mountain ·Jungle Japes ·Kongo Jungle ·Mushroom Kingdom ·Mute City ·Onett ·Pokémon Stadium ·Princess Peach's Castle ·Rainbow Cruise ·Temple ·Venom ·Yoshi's Island ·Yoshi's Story |
| Unlockable stages | Battlefield ·Big Blue ·Brinstar Depths ·Final Destination ·Flat Zone ·Fourside ·Mushroom Kingdom II ·Poké Floats |
 UnlockablePast Stages | Dream Land ·Kongo Jungle ·Yoshi's Island |
