Pokémon Stadium 2, a Twenty Year Reunion

Pokémon Stadium 2 was one of the last games released for the Nintendo 64, while sixth-generation consoles like the PS2 and Dreamcast were already on the minds of gamers around the world. I was a die-hard Nintendo fan as a kid, so I didn’t care if Unreal Tournament or Zone of the Enders came out soon. I liked Pokémon, I liked Generation II, I liked the stadium spin-off. Pokémon 2 Stadium was a GAME for me. This game also taught me a valuable lesson about how much worse sequels are than the original. At least in almost all areas except the amount of content. So much so that even an eight-year-old could see it clearly.

Pokémon Stadium 2 still looks great today.

If you think about it, Pokémon Stadium 2 might be the most impressive game in the Nintendo 64’s library. It has most of the elements of the original Pokémon Stadium, such as. B. Mini-games, four types of trophies, Gym Leader Castle mode, GB Tower, and Pokémon on loan, but on a much larger scale.

Instead of 151 Pokémon, you can use 251. The gym leader’s castle features leaders from Johto and Kanto, and an interlude dedicated to Team Rockets. The minigames are more detailed, and you can use your own Game Boy monsters. Pokémon Academy includes tutorials, battles, and a list of all the moves each Pokémon can learn, either by posing, spawning, or learning with TM. When you insert the Gen II cartridge, you’ll also see a 3D reconstruction of your hero’s room. Finally, the cups are more diversified: The Challenge Cup is the most interesting mode of the entire game, as you are given a random list and you have to go through it.

The Challenge Cup can be a breeze or a nightmare, depending on how good your randomly assembled team is.

On paper, it all sounds great, but there are some small details that make Pokémon Stadium 2 seem less impressive than its predecessor. First there was the introduction. It was Pokémon Stadium 2 that taught me about frame rate, because even my eight-year-old mind could see that the game was slower than the first. Overall, it was a slow experience. The soundtrack was also significantly less memorable and of lower sound quality than the absolutely fantastic Pokémon Stadium collection.

The Pokémon 2 stage features animated rollers to attack from above. I love it.

What really bothered me then, and what bothers me even more now, was that the rented Pokemon (i.e. Pokemon in a cart) were terrible. Their movies are specifically designed to annoy you and force you to use your favorite Game Boy movies instead. In theory, this shouldn’t be a problem, but we live in an era where most Game Boy battery backups no longer work. Because of this, most Game Boy cartridges today are unusable unless you buy new batteries and put them in your cartridges.

It also means that if you decide to play this game as planned in 2021, you’ll have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a Pokémon Stadium 2 cartridge, a Nintendo 64, a transfer pack (good luck finding one that works) and a full Pokémon cartridge for the Game Boy. Pokémon Stadium 2 was never remade because of its functionality. If you decide to buy or recreate a replacement, you’ll have to use terrible in-game reel Pokémon like Venusaur with Tackle, Suicune with Gust, or Charizard with Fire Blast. There is no balance or reflection behind these films: They’re terrible because the game wanted you to use your Game Boy lists instead.

Who invented the Pokemon rental?

The four main trophies in the game were also mixed compared to Pokémon Stadium. While I appreciate the novelty of the Challenge Cup, I can’t praise the Little Cup at all. This is a Level 1, non-Pokémon, Level 5 Pokémon competition. Meanwhile, Pokémon Stadium had a similar Little Cup, but of a higher level, and the crazy nonsense of the Peak Cup, where you could put together a team with Mahamp and Dragon Wizard, as long as you knew where to find them at the right level. The level 50 Pikey Cup and level 100 Premier Cup are also back, with the Premier Cup this time reduced to a round cup.

But if there’s one thing Pokémon Stadium 2 excels at, it’s its minigame mode. They’re far more interesting than Pokémon Stadium’s, with the Beyblade-like Topsy-Turvy, a Japanese Clear Cut challenge, and the absolute stunner that is Delibird’s Delivery being the highlight of the game.

Babeblade! Let yourself go!

I’m not saying Pokémon 2 Stadium is a bad game. On the contrary, you can still have fun with this game today, as the visuals and gameplay have aged surprisingly well. He has also amassed a staggering amount of content in his 64 days at Nintendo. It’s just way inferior to its predecessor, not only in functionality due to the death of the Game Boy cartridge, but also in performance and soundtrack. It may be the 2001 game that offers the most value for money, but not the one you’ll remember the most. His predecessor would be.