While a new Pokemon game is currently in the works in the form of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, I can’t help but crave for something simpler. While their quality is mixed, I’m a huge fan of Game Freak’s willingness to expand Pokemon with games such as Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet, but sometimes I crave for something lighter.
Following the release of Red and Blue on the Game Boy, Pokemon Stadium and its eventual sequel released on the Nintendo 64. While crude today, this was the first time we ever saw our Pokemon battle in 3D with a full Pokedex and an anime-accurate announcer. It doesn’t look like much today, but it was hype way back then.
The Stadium games are extremely simple. You can either import your Game Boy teams to play with or you can rent any Pokemon you want to play as. With these teams, you can battle a host of trainers and become a Pokemon master - if you’re good enough.
While there were a smattering of mini games to play as, which may actually be the best part of the game, Pokemon Stadium is extremely simple. But what it lacks in overall depth it makes up for with presentation. Even now, the brilliant music and announcer combo combined with unique animations for moves and other graphical effects makes Pokemon Stadium extremely exciting.
In recent years, Pokemon Legends: Arceus did massively improve the visual flair of Pokemon battles, but there’s something special about Stadium’s presentation. Even Sword and Shield, which has huge battles in football stadiums with chanting crowds, doesn’t match the hype of these old Nintendo 64 games.
Pokemon Stadium did have a spiritual successor on the Wii: Pokemon Battle Revolution. While it offered much nicer visuals that still hold up today, the game itself lacked a lot of the originals’ accessibility. Instead, it was a product designed to sell DS games instead of offering something unique.
Obviously, a modern Pokemon Stadium wouldn’t be able to include every creature found in the Pokedex. With over 1,000 monsters, it would be a huge task to model and uniquely animate each one, but a selection of beloved (and balanced) creatures would be fantastic.
Maybe it’s just because of the disappointing visuals of Scarlet and Violet, or the static battles of the past two decades of new releases, but a new Pokemon Stadium could bring back the spark that I - and many others - felt when playing Pokemon back in the 90s and early 2000s. Imagine the team behind the truly stunning New Pokemon Snap transporting you into a lively battle arena featuring your favourite monsters. We all know that would be something truly special. Hell, make it free to play with new creatures every season and cosmetic battle passes - just give it to me.
Maybe in the time of open world games and live service schlock like Suicide Squad, we’re trained to want more out of games than just battling and mini games. But Pokemon Stadium’s pure simplicity is its charm, and it’s a charm I hope we’ll see again.