Pokemon Stadium

"It seems Nintendo fired all their game designers and hired only marketing strategists"

I'm really worried and depressed about Nintendo's last important games. First, I saw Pokemon Snap. It was a really lame game with the only purpose of getting some bucks from all the PokeManiacs who thought it was the greatest game of all time because Pikachu was in it. Now, when I played Pokemon Stadium at a friend's house, I really felt sorry for me when I wanted to buy this ''game'' (real games should be focused on fun, not in market success).

Gameplay:
Well, it is very nice playing it the first time. I actually had some fun playing it. I chose 6 Pokemon and fought another 6 Pokemon. I was amazed. I was shocked! It almost seemed to be somewhat fun!!!
Then came the second try and I just randomly pressed every button, hoping all that !/&%$% Pokemon to finish all that endless attacks that took about 1 minute. There wasn't a third time, fortunately for my neurones... it was slowly dying of inactivity.
Then we played the minigames, which pumped up the gameplay's grade from 1 to a 3 (as you can see at the end of the paragraph). While some were really annoying, like Drowzee's timing game, some were very fun, like Rattata's game, or Clefairy's.
I give it a nice 3.

Story:
Ok... you are some trainer. You have to beat trainers to be the now redundant ''Pokemon Master'' title. I can't believe Nintendo didn't even thought up a nice little plot to this ''super'' game.
I give the ''story'' a 2.

Graphics:
Here comes the best thing about the game: graphics. While they aren't as impressive as some say, they are pretty good. Some Pokemon really seem to be majestical in terms of animation.
I give the video department an 8.

Audio:
First, the music was almost unexistant at least for the battles. Well, it does EXIST, but I think it is completely ignored by must people which just concentrate in looking the Pokemon do the attack and hearing the SFX. The SFX are pretty good, but I can't stand the narrator of the battle!! I want Pikachu to shock HIM, not that harmless Kakuna I am battling!! Also, some Pokemon ''voices'' are really stupid, for instance Diglett.......
Mmkay, I actually kinda liked the audio, so I give it a 7.

Control:
You don't control ANYTHING unless you are on a minigame. Before battles, you only go though series of menus... and during the battle... you just choose the attacks WITH A SINGLE BUTTON!!! You don't even have to choose them with the Control Pad or the Analog Stick!!!..... well I kinda liked that...^_^
And, in minigames that use the Analog Stick or Control Pad... it's good... although you use them in less than half of the minigames.
The grade for control (when you use it) is 8.

Originality:
Hahahahahaha!!!! Originality!!! in this game!!! hahahaha!!!
There's no originality here, people!!! Wake up, and see that Nintendo is just in a sad need of Pokemon Fan's money!
Since Pokemon Snap I realized that marketing is above fun in Nintendo's affairs (sniff.... if it was like the ol' SNES golden ages).
Originality is absent in this game... but I am in a good mood so it gets a 1 in this part.

****BUY OR RENT???****
Well, whatever I say, PokeZombies around the globe are buying this like crazy.
But, if you don't wanna waste your money in a ''game'' just because it has Pokemon in its name... stay away from it... or rent it to play the minigames with some friends... but don't bother, because Mario Parties are heck better than this.

Oh, and before I submit my review... just to let people know of how chaoticly worthless this game is... I have to say I tend to like Pokemon.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/00, Updated 07/14/00