Pokemon Stadium

"There's one attack that describes this game perfectly: Double Edge."

Pokemon Stadium will delight many Pokemon fans, but I can't say the same thing for Pokemon dislikers. Some might even say it's good for only two reasons, the 3-D Pokemon battles and the GB tower...

Difficulty: (1 being easiest) 6/10 / 9/10

6/10: This refers to people who are familiar with the Pokemon genre. At the start, this game is unbelievably easy. But later on, you will see it raises it's difficulty signifigantly.

9/10: This (obviously) refers to people who aren't used to the Pokemon genre. If you know nothing about Pokemon types, attacks, or even names, you won't get the hang of it, or get far on it for a long time.

Control: 9/10

It would of gotten a 10 instead if it weren't for a couple of minigames. Other than that, you aren't timed for anything, so you shouldn't find to much trouble in the controls.

Story: 5/10

What story? If you had to describe it, it would be the same as the Pokemon Gameboy game, BECOME A POKEMON MASTER! That's all.

Sound effects/Music: 6/10

The music is mostly (or all) bad remixes of the original game, add more instruments and you have Pokemon Stadium's music. The sound effects are average. The Pokemon cries are also redo's of the original game, the only Pokemon that say's his own name is Pikachu, but you have to load him from your Yellow version. The announcer is HORRIBLE, he is the most obvious person you will ever hear.

Video: 8/10

This is the real strong point of the game, because if it didn't have such good graphics, nobody would play it. The Pokemon are beautifully done, each with about two different attack animations. But the attacks themselves, are not very well done. Many will have the same animation but with different colors, and the physical attacks are anything but physical. The fire attacks look like they came from an SNES, but are usually okay because they sway as the Pokemon sway's.

Replayability: 8/10

Another strong point. With up to four player's playing at the same time in minigames and battles, the combinations are limitless. You can even play your Pokemon game in the GB tower, and with upgrades that make it super fast, training won't become much of a chore anymore.

Rent or buy?:

If you are in to this kind of stuff, DEFINITELY buy it. The secrets in this game will take WAY to long to unlock. But for those of you who dislike or don't care for Pokemon, give it a rent, you might just change you're opinion on the overblown craze that is: POKEMON!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/16/00, Updated 03/16/00