History VideoGAME / PokemonStadium

* LoopholeAbuse: Generation I and II were for a long time (until Gens VIII and IX) the only two Generations of Pokémon games where a Pokémon can be sent ''back'', which absolutely breaks ''Stadium 1'' in half.

** There is also a large amount of trainers' Pokémon that have move combinations which are impossible to obtain. For example in Stadium 2 one Blastoise has Haze and Mirror Coat, which are two of its egg moves but together they are a combination that is impossible to breed onto a Squirtle.

** Subverted in the two ''Stadium'' games, which highlight moves a Pokémon aren't able to learn in pink, and when that Pokémon with "illegal moves" is in battle, their trainer's name will also be highlighted in pink. This becomes most obvious in ''Stadium 1'' if you're using "tradeback moves" from Generation II, where Pokémon can learn Gen I moves in the Gen II games that they couldn't originally, so it'll use the pink highlights even if the Pokémon is, in fact, completely legit. Fortunately, this doesn't actually affect your ability to battle and all wins obtained with that Pokémon will be counted.

* NintendoHard: For both ''Stadium'' and ''Stadium 2'', which are considered to be the hardest standalone Pokémon games in the series, with their Round 2 modes rivaling/surpassing the various battle facilities in the mainline games. Alongside the aforementioned ArtificialBrilliance, you can’t use healing items like in the original games, you can't play on the Shift/Switch battle mode like you can in the mainline games (meaning you're not given the option to switch out your Pokémon when you KO the opponent's, so players have to actually think about safe switch-ins), many enemies utilize various advanced strategies and type coverage, and the opposing AI here will actually utilize Stat [=EXPs=]/[=EVs=] to make their Pokémon stronger. Additionally, as you progress in the game, opposing trainers won’t just [[PoorPredictableRock use a complete team of their specialty type,]] instead mixing in Pokémon of various other types to cover their weaknesses, preventing you from just using a Pokémon with a type advantage to mindlessly sweep their team. Then there's the fact you can bring six Pokémon, but you can only use three in each battle for a 3 vs 3 (while the opponent selects three of their own), which makes battles a lot faster but introduces another element of luck to each battle, as battles become a lot harder or even nigh-unwinnable if the opponent's picks ended up being good counters to yours. Then if you complete the Gym Leader Castle and all the Cups on all the ranks, there's the even harder Round 2, where opponents diversify their teams farther, have ramped up stats, and have even better movesets. Beating Round 1 with just the Rental Pokémon, infamous for having poor movesets and/or stats (''especially'' in ''Stadium 2''), is already seen as a challenge. Attempting to do so with Round 2 is considered pure madness.

* LoopholeAbuse: Generation I and II remain the only two Generations of Pokémon games where a Pokémon can be sent ''back'', which absolutely breaks ''Stadium 1'' in half.
** The only trading restriction was that Pokémon being sent to Gen I they couldn't know any Gen II moves. All Gen I moves were fair game, however, and many Pokémon got revamped movesets that included moves that were available in Gen I but they couldn't learn at the time. Naturally, this can give you a significant advantage over opponents in ''Stadium 1'' as it doesn't do anything to prevent you from using these Pokémon. Some particularly notorious examples of abusing "tradeback moves" include Alakazam with the elemental punches[[note]]which were all considered special attacks at the time, meaning they'd run off its monstrous Special stat[[/note]], Persian with Hypnosis[[note]]letting it usurp Gengar as the fastest sleep-inducer in Gen I[[/note]], and an event Snorlax with Lovely Kiss[[note]]which is considered so broken that it's one of the main reasons why Gen I's competitive community banned tradeback moves from play[[/note]].

As detailed below, the series consists of three[[note]]four, if you count the Japan-only ''Stadium'' entry[[/note]] titles: the ''Stadium'' games on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, developed by Creator/HALLaboratory to correspond with the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue first]] [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver two]] generations of mainline Pokémon games, and a UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} installment entitled ''Pokémon Battle Revolution'', developed by Creator/GeniusSonority to correspond with the [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl fourth generation]]. The closest equivalent to these games during the [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire third]] generation were the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Colosseum]]'' [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness duology]] titles, which while having battle simulation side modes, are principally console {{JRPG}}s that are detailed on their respective pages.

''Pokémon Battle Revolution'' ultimately ended up being the final game in the series. [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]] completely lacked any kind of ''Stadium'' title, while the [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY following generation]] had the main series finally make the VideoGame3DLeap. As for storage, subscription-service applications such as ''Pokémon Bank'' (for UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS), and ''Pokémon HOME'' (for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and smartphones) would take up that role. With both main functions of the ''Stadium'' series now covered by the mainline installments and other applications (especially once ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' entered the picture), Game Freak's Junichi Masuda has [[https://www.usgamer.net/articles/no-new-pokemon-stadium stated that]] they would need a new idea to justify returning to the sub-series.

[[AC: Generation I (UsefulNotes/Nintendo64)]]

[[AC: Generation II (UsefulNotes/Nintendo64)]]

[[AC: Generation IV (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}})]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}}: The GB Tower in the first two games is akin to the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}}'s Super Game Boy peripheral, using the Transfer Pak to read your Pokémon cartridge and allow you to play any Gen I or Gen II mainline game on your television. Completing certain goals will even unlock the ability to speed up the emulation.

** Lt. Surge in the mainline games is a notoriously easy Gym Leader in all his appearances, but in ''Stadium 1'' he serves as a WakeUpCallBoss that introduces first-time players to the harsh reality that trainers ''will'' have movesets with type coverage. Those expecting to sweep with Ground-types will be caught off guard with his Surfing Raichu and Pikachu.
*** The Gym Leaders in general are a lot more difficult and befitting of their titles in this series than they are in the mainline games, heavily averting the PoorPredictableRock that a majority suffer from by wielding significantly more diverse teams that pack a lot more coverage moves, and even having some interesting strategies that are bound to catch you off-guard. This is especially so in ''Stadium 2'' with its higher difficulty.

* CripplingOverspecialization: ''The Tamer'', whose main theme is using a team of one trick ponies, with very little coverage, poor variety, and less than 4 moves. The Juggler to a lesser extent, sometimes using only Metronome.

* NintendoHard: For both ''Stadium'' and ''Stadium 2'', which are considered to be the hardest standalone Pokémon games in the series, with their Round 2's rivaling/surpassing the various Battle facilities in the mainline games. Alongside the aforementioned ArtificialBrilliance, you can’t use healing items like in the original games, you can't play on the Shift/Switch battle mode like you can in the mainline games (meaning you're not given the option to switch out your Pokémon when you KO the opponent's, so players have to actually think about safe switch-ins), many enemies utilize various advanced strategies and type coverage, and the opposing AI here will actually utilize Stat [=EXPs=]/[=EVs=] to make their Pokémon stronger. Additionally, as you progress in the game, opposing trainers won’t just [[PoorPredictableRock use a complete team of their specialty type,]] instead mixing in Pokémon of various other types to cover their weaknesses, preventing you from just using a Pokémon with a type advantage to mindlessly sweep their team. Then there's the fact you can bring six Pokémon, but you can only use three in each battle for a 3 vs 3 (while the opponent selects three of their own), which makes battles a lot faster but introduces another element of luck to each battle, as battles become a lot harder or even nigh-unwinnable if the opponent's picks ended up being good counters to yours. Then if you complete the Gym Leader Castle and all the Cups on all the ranks, there's the even harder Round 2, where opponents diversify their teams farther, have ramped up stats, and have even better movesets. Beating Round 1 with just the Rental Pokémon, infamous for having poor movesets and/or stats (''especially'' in ''Stadium 2''), is already seen as a challenge. Attempting to do so with Round 2 is considered pure madness.

* NoNameGiven: The protagonists of the ''Stadium'' games are near featureless and can't even be named.

* ShakingTheRump: In the ''Stadium'' games, Flareon occasionally taunts the opposing Pokémon this way as an idle animation.

* TheUnreveal: If Diglett or Dugtrio somehow manages to use the move Fly, they'll be animated as if their bodies are somehow made up of only their heads and the gravel around them (as [[http://youtu.be/Zy0RQLfo0pc this]] video demonstrates).

* WarmupBoss: Brock, the first Gym leader in ''Stadium 1'', where the only fully-evolved Pokémon on his team is a lowly Onix that's barely stronger than most first-stage Pokémon, his only non-Rock type is a Vulpix, and his only defense against Water-types is a Kabuto with the pitiful Grass move Absorb. Any decent Water Pokémon will sweep his entire team with ease no matter what he picks, and if he can somehow hack one of your mons down, he'll have no chance against a full team of Water Pokémon. Rentals or not, everyone should be able to stomp Brock their first try, and then be brought into a false sense of security before the difficulty ramps up severely after Brock.

* WeakButSkilled: [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] in ''Stadium'' and ''Stadium 2'', [[ScrappyMechanic for better or worse]]. Generally if a rental Pokémon has a pre-evolved form, its pre-evolution(s) will have better moves than it does, and stronger Pokémon that don't evolve will also be given intentionally worse moves. For example, ''Stadium 2'''s rental Totodile line all have a Water-type move, but each form's respective move is ascendingly worse: Totodile knows the overall-powerful and very accurate Surf, Croconaw has the PowerfulButInaccurate Hydro Pump, and final form Feraligatr has the pitiful Water Gun. This is more extreme in ''Stadium 2'', as strong fully-evolved rental Pokémon in the first game often still had good or at least moderate moves, which is a big reason why ''Stadium 2'' is significantly harder with rental Pokémon.

** The same can be said for the animation as well. All the original Kanto and Johto Pokémon retain their N64 animations all the way up to Battle Revolution. While they do create new animations when needed and the canned animations are high enough quality that it's never really a glaring issue, they do sometimes look a bit [[ChewingTheScenery overly dramatic]] when put up against the more conservatively animated Pokémon of later generations.

** Mewtwo's animation when it uses Psychic and various other attacks looks suspiciously similar to the [[Manga/DragonBallZ Kamehameha]] motion. Whoever animated his motion had taken a definite stance on the "[[VideoGame/EarthBound Giegue]] or Frieza?" argument that Mewtwo's appearance has so often sparked.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** The final trainer of Prime Cup, who uses the time-traveling Celebi in Round 2, is named Cooltrainer Marty. As in [[Film/BackToTheFuture Marty McFly]].

** [[TheRival Silver]] in ''Stadium 2'' who uses [[BlowYouAway Lugia]], [[KillItWithFire Ho-oh]], and Mewtwo. However, thanks to the former two having shared weaknesses, and the latter was (mercifully) nerfed, the sequel's 6-on-3 match is barely on a par with the first game's 6-on-1.

** In Gen I, you could skip the recharge turn of Hyper Beam if you managed to KO'd the opponent with it, making it a game-breaking move when used by strong Normal types that got STAB off it. ''Stadium 1'' made it so that the recharge turn happens regardless, making it impractical much of the time. In fact, it was made unavoidable, as unlike in Gen II onwards, the Pokémon has to recharge even if it misses.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: Nidoqueen's IdleAnimation in the Japanese version is [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdgxjwN6dV1r3w0j4.gif grabbing at her own breasts]]. Globally, this was changed to the less-suggestive animation of her roaring while shaking her torso.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: Believe it or not, Nidoqueen's animation in the Japanese version is [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdgxjwN6dV1r3w0j4.gif this]].

* BaldOfEvil: The Gamblers in the first ''Stadium'' game. [[OneHitKO You know why they're evil]].

* NintendoHard: For both ''Stadium'' and ''Stadium 2'', which are considered to be the hardest standalone Pokémon games in the series, with their Round 2's rivaling/surpassing the various Battle facilities in the mainline games. Alongside the aforementioned ArtificialBrilliance, you can’t use healing items like in the original games, you can't play on the Shift/Switch battle mode like you can in the mainline games (meaning you're not given the option to switch out your Pokémon when you KO the opponent's, so players have to actually think about safe switch-ins), many enemies utilize various advanced strategies and type coverage, and the opposing AI here will actually utilize Stat [=EXPs=]/[=EVs=] to make their Pokémon stronger. Additionally, as you progress in the game, opposing trainers won’t just use a complete team of their specialty type, instead mixing in Pokémon of various other types to cover their weaknesses, preventing you from just using a Pokémon with a type advantage to mindlessly sweep their team. Then there's the fact you can bring six Pokémon, but you can only use three in each battle for a 3 vs 3 (while the opponent selects three of their own), which makes battles a lot faster but introduces another element of luck to each battle, as battles become a lot harder or even nigh-unwinnable if the opponent's picks ended up being good counters to yours.
** If you complete the Gym Leader Castle and all the Cups on all the ranks, there's the even harder Round 2, where opponents diversify their teams farther, have ramped up stats, and even better movesets. Beating Round 1 with just the Rental Pokémon, infamous for having poor movesets and/or stats (''especially'' in ''Stadium 2''), is already seen as a challenge. Attempting to do so with Round 2 is considered pure madness.

* ObviousRulePatch: These games introduced the standard clauses that typically get used in any "competitive" environment (be it in-game or [=PvP=] battles). These include the Sleep clause[[note]]only one Pokémon on a team can be asleep outside of self-inflicted sleep[[/note]], the Freeze clause[[note]]same as Sleep clause, but with [[HarmlessFreezing frozen solid]][[/note]], the Uber clause[[note]]''Stadium 1'' bans Mewtwo and Mew in most of its Cups, with ''Stadium 2'' adding Ho-oh, Lugia and Celebi to that banlist; the Legendary Birds and Beasts got a pass. ''Pokémon Battle Revolution'' didn't have an Uber clause, with them just being implicitly banned by Sunny Park Colosseum's Little Cup, which banned all evolved or single-stage Pokémon anyway.[[/note]], and the Double KO clause (see Double KO above). Without these, battles could get degenerate in horribly unfair and frustrating situations of people trying to put the opponent's entire team to sleep or 1-on-1 scenarios being decided by whose Pokémon had Explosion/Self-Destruct.

** Faulkner, the first Gym Leader in ''Stadium 2'', isn't quite as pathetic as Brock, since his team actually consists entirely of fully-evolved Pokémon. But when it consists of ComMon birds, [[JokeCharacter Farfetch'd and Delibird]], and a crappy Togetic, he is going to be really easy to beat with any decent team, and Electric Pokémon will sweep him with ease. His only chance is getting lucky with his annoying Mud Slap accuracy drops, which you can reset by switching out anyway. Just watch out for his Fearow, the only remotely decent Pokémon on his team, who carries the move Drill Peck. But the fact the first Gym Leader's team is already all fully-evolved in Round 1 and makes some attempt at coverage with most of his team having Mud Slap, his Delibird having Blizzard, and his Togetic having Fire Blast, does show returning veterans that Stadium 2 is going to make greater effort towards giving its Gym Leaders better teams and more diverse tools to make mindless sweeping with type advantages a lot less viable.

* WakeUpCallBoss: In ''Stadium 1'''s Gym Leader Castle, Lt. Surge will probably hand new or more casual players their first loss. Up to this point, if they're using the Rentals, players have probably been chocking their team full of Pokémon strong against the gym's type and succeeding with it up to this point, so against the Vermillion Gym they naturally fill up their team with Ground types. Such players then get a rude awakening against Surge, where both his Raichu and Pikachu have Surf, which outspeed all the Ground Rentals except for Dugtrio, and with said move will one-shot all the Ground Rentals besides the Nidos, leading to many players their first time through getting their mono-Ground team helplessly swept by Surge. Once you're aware of this and don't just try tackling Surge with a team of only slow Ground types he really isn't hard, but he shows you're very much going to have to deal with trainers covering their weaknesses and having access to good coverage moves from that point forward.

* BareYourMidriff: In ''Battle Revolution'', all of the Cool Girl's fashion choices involve midriff-bearing tank tops. This also goes for Rosie.

** The Mewtwo who serves as the FinalBoss of ''Stadium 1'' has infinite PP when you fight him. Granted, you're fighting him six against one, so it's kind of a trade-off, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a blatant cheat.

** The ''Stadium 1/2'' announcer is very dramatic:

** [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA6973762B102021B Some more announced moves]] (from ''Battle Revolution'')

* OffModel: The ''Stadium'' games introduced 3D models for the first 251 Pokémon. Given the Nintendo 64's hardware limitations, most looked good for the time, though some were questionable even then (such as [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/f/f1/Stadium133.png this soulless-looking Eevee]]). However, these models continued to be used from ''Colosseum'' up through ''Battle Revolution'', which caused the lower-res textures and lower-polygon models of these Pokémon (especially the even-lower quality Gen I Pokémon) to stick out against the better-constructed Pokémon models from the third and fourth generations.
** It's worth noting that some Pokémon did manage to age remarkably well, such as Weezing, while some others like Machamp, Arcanine and Mewtwo did receive new models in ''Battle Revolution'', so they didn't stick out like a sore thumb compared to the new guys. Many, however, were still stuck with their N64 models.

** OHKO moves for the player. Since Gym Leader Castle requires winning up to five straight battles at a time with no continues, and the Cups require winning eight battles with very limited continues, gambling with 30% accuracy moves isn't the best strategy. That said, opponents who rely on OHKO moves like the Gamblers are much more threatening, as just some bad luck can cost you a precious continue or just end your run right there.

** Evasion teams. If you're not able to act before the AI opponent and quickly knock out their Pokémon before they boost their evasion a few times, then there's a good chance you'll lose the match because you're unlucky enough to never land a hit. You can try to use the available never-miss attacks to avert this, but as mentioned in the prior paragraph, this just weakens your Pokémon for all the other battles. From ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' onward you can also use moves like Foresight that removes the opponent's evasion boosts, but since its only other use is to allow Normal- and Fighting-types to hit Ghost-type Pokémon (when most players would either just switch out or give said Pokémon a move that ''can'' hit them), it's an even bigger waste of a moveset than the never-miss moves. All that said, there's nothing stopping the player from using this tactic themselves.
** OHKO teams turn the match into a pure RNG roll of the opponent having a 1/3 chance of [=OHKOing=] your Pokémon regardless of all other factors (besides type immunity). In ''Stadium 1'', this can be countered by simply using a faster Pokémon, since the user needs to be faster for that 30% chance to even happen. From Gen 2 onward though, the ability for OHKO moves to work is changed to be based on being an equal or greater level, and the only time you can have Pokémon higher leveled than the opponent is in ''Stadium 2'''s Poké Cup. Of course, the move also won't work if the target is immune to the OHKO's move typing (e.g. Horn Drill and Guillotine can't hit Ghosts, and Fissure can't hit Flying-types). Similar to evasion above, you can try using this tactic yourself.
** In ''Battle Revolution'''s Courtyard Colosseum, the Fog effect can randomly occur in any battle, causing both the player and CPU have their moves reduced to 60% of their usual accuracy, adding a huge luck element to fights where some crucial misses because of the Fog can very well decide the match. Moves that are designed to [[AlwaysAccurateAttack never miss]] will ignore the Fog, but considering that all of them (sans Aura Sphere) are on the weaker side, the player will be disadvantaged having them take up moveslots when the Fog isn't there. Using the move Defog will get rid of the Fog, but using it will give the opponent a free move unimpeded by the Fog, putting you at a disadvantage.