Pokemon Stadium

"Pretty Good, even by Today's Standards, Though it could Have Been Better..."

(If I had been doing this rating thing when the game first came out, I would have given it a 9/10, because: 1) I was 9 years old at the time (probably wouldn't have written a good review at that age anyway) and 2) I was a huge fan of Pokemon. However, I am rating it based on how I look at it now, at 17 years of age.)

POINT OF GAME: Basically simple point of this game...BATTLE!!! Assemble a 3 to 6 team of the original 151 Pokemon and duke it out with another player (either human-controlled or an AI) and see which one of you is the better trainer. You can transfer your own Pokemon from Red, Blue, or Yellow versions and use them or use rental Pokemon of various set levels. Biggest objective here is to beat the Stadium and Gym Leader Castle (if you manage to do so, you're entitled to some bragging rights).

GRAPHICS: Based on the graphics of the N64, the models and animations of the Pokemon are impressive. The same can't be said for the backgrounds, however. They look pretty awful. Not really that detailed. On a brighter side, the attack animations are pretty good.

SOUND: Familiar Pokemon music...for those of you who play it or have watched the anime. Pretty good. The sound effects are decent enough. Now, here's what kills the sound...that stupid announcer! He constantly shouts out horrible one-liners that are worse than any cheap cliches I've ever heard. I would recommend turning the announcer's voice off in the options menu...unless you like hearing endlessly dull and repetitive comments on the battle from a guy who sounds like he hasn't "gotten any" in ten years.

CONTROLLING AND PLAYABILITY: The controls are okay, but a little simple. The game's mini-games have some fun uses of the controls, too. The game is fun to play with others, but the AI in later levels of the Stadium and Gym Leader Castle is a little too aggressive.

ENTERTAINMENT: It's nice see your favorite original Pokemon in 3-D and the battling makes for a good party game. Mini-games are a little weird, but fun nonetheless. Beating the Stadiums and the Gym Leader Castle is hard, though, but that's what will keep you trying to beat this game for quite some time.

REPLAY: 4 out of 5
Good for the long while, since you'll spend a lot of time trying to beat it.

THE GOOD: The game is fun to play and seeing 3-D Pokemon is kind of cool. Controls have a good feel to them and the animations of the Pokemon are okay. Quite challenging to beat and that's guaranteed to keep you playing this game for a while, even today.

THE BAD: The backgrounds are kind of cheesy and bad. Also, like I said before, the tough AI in later levels of the Stadiums and Gym Leader Castle is quite frustrating. Worst of all is the constant annoyance of that sorry excuse of an announcer. You never see his face, but he probably looks as hideous as he sounds.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/08

Game Release: Pokemon Stadium (US, 02/29/00)