History VideoGAME / PokemonStadium

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Unlike in the mainline Pokemon games, in the Stadium series you get to see the exact HP your opponent's pokemon have instead of just a health bar. This lets players know the exact damage they're doing and keeps them better informed for what moves and risks they should do.

** 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.

* Generation I (UsefulNotes/Nintendo64)
** ''Pocket Monsters Stadium'': The first game in the series, which was never released overseas. While every Pokémon could be viewed in the Pokédex, only 42 of them could be used in the game's Battle Mode. Other modes included the ability to play the Game Boy games on the TV through the Transfer Pak, as well as store and organize all your Pokémon. The game's [[DifficultyByRegion high difficulty]] and limited roster, plus the fact that a more fleshed-out sequel came out just months after ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' were released in North America and Europe, meant this title was skipped over. Fans tend to refer to this as "Pocket Monsters Stadium" rather than ''Pokémon Stadium'' to distinguish it from the more commonly-known Western release. It's one of the first games to use the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak to allow connectivity between this game and a Game Boy copy of the first-gen Pokémon games.
** ''Pokémon Stadium'': Called ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' in Japan, this game supported the use of all 151 Pokémon in its battle modes. In addition to adding several more tournament levels, it included a "[[BossBonanza Gym Leader Castle]]" to battle the Gym Leaders and Elite Four from the Generation I games, a "Kids Club" to play {{minigame}}s, and an expanded "Pokémon Lab" to manage the Pokémon and items in your mainline games (including trading between Transfer Paks). The ability to play the Game Boy games on the TV through the Transfer Pak also returns.
* Generation II (UsefulNotes/Nintendo64)
** ''Pokémon Stadium 2'': Called ''Pokémon Stadium Gold/Silver'' in Japan, it was compatible with all Gen I titles in addition to the new Gen II games (''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal]]''). It included most of the same modes and features as the original ''Stadium'', with a more expansive Gym Leader Castle and a new, larger slew of minigames. New modes include Mystery Gift, which will grant you a random item whenever you connect daily, and "Earl's Pokémon Academy", where one can learn basic and advanced game concepts and even fight puzzle-style training battles.
* Generation IV (UsefulNotes/{{Wii}})
** ''Pokémon Battle Revolution'': Compatible with the Gen IV mainline installments (''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum]]'', as well as Gen II remakes ''[[VideoGame/PokemonHeartGoldAndSoulSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''), this entry was developed by the same team behind the ''Colosseum'' games. The game has a far more extensive tournament mode with multiple ranks of difficulty, but removes several modes such as Gym Leader Castle, minigames, training; storing Pokémon has also been removed, instead being handled by [[VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch a different game]]. Mystery Gift is now an in-game store where you can purchase clothing for CharacterCustomization, as well as items to send back to the mainline games, using in-game currency earned from winning fights. In addition to connecting your UsefulNotes/NintendoDS to battle, the online mode allows you to fight both friends and random people. Finally, as opposed to the freer rental system of previous entries that allowed you to pick individual Pokémon, ''Battle Revolution'' makes use of a "Renal Pass" system where you're given specific teams of six, though you are eventually able to swap Pokémon between passes the more you collect.

** ''Pokémon Stadium'' (Japan-only): The first game in the series, which was only compatible with 42 out of the then-151 Pokémon; it was really just intended as a visual tool for tournaments, since those 42 were generally high-end competitive 'Mons, and wasn't intended to be a major consumer product. The sequel was out in Japan only a few months after ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' were released in North America and Europe, so this game was skipped in those regions in favor of the more complete sequel. Fans tend to refer to this as "Pocket Monsters Stadium" when needing to distinguish it from the commonly-known Western release. It's one of the first games to use the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak (a sort-of predecesor to the Nintendo [=GameCube=] - Game Boy Advance Link Cable) to allow connectivity between this game and a Game Boy copy of the first-gen Pokémon games.
** ''Pokémon Stadium'' (International): Called ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' in Japan, it was fully compatible with the UsefulNotes/GameBoy games, including support for all the Pokémon, and was produced as a much more complete product after consumers clamored for something more in the wake of the very simplistic first release. It included several tournament levels, a "[[BossBonanza Gym Leader Castle]]" to battle the Gym Leaders from the Generation I games, the "Kids Club" to play minigames, a "Pokémon Lab" to manage the Pokémon and items on your games, including trading and transferring Pokémon between titles and keeping them on the N64 cartridge, and the "Game Boy Tower" to play the Game Boy games on the TV through the Transfer Pak.

** ''Pokémon Stadium 2'': Called ''Pokémon Stadium Gold/Silver'' in Japan, it was compatible with all of the first generation games as well as the second-generation games, ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonCrystal Crystal]]''. It included most of the same modes and features as the original ''Stadium'', plus others, such as an in-game Mystery Gift and a Trainers' School area where one could learn basic and advanced game concepts and even fight puzzle-style training battles.

** ''Pokémon Battle Revolution'': A Wii game, compatible with the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS mainline installments (''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonPlatinum Platinum]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonHeartGoldAndSoulSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''). Developed by Creator/GeniusSonority, the same team behind the ''Colosseum'' games. Though not technically a ''Stadium'' game, it counts here because of its return to the battle focus of those games. More so in fact, as it lacked minigames and any sort of storage (which would end up in ''VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch''). Featured several different battle styles, CharacterCustomization, and the ability to battle random opponents over the internet.

** ''Pokémon Stadium'': Called ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' in Japan, it was fully compatible with the UsefulNotes/GameBoy games, including support for all the Pokémon, and was produced as a much more complete product after consumers clamored for something more in the wake of the very simplistic first release. It included several tournament levels, a "[[BossBonanza Gym Leader Castle]]" to battle the Gym Leaders from the Generation I games, the "Kids Club" to play minigames, a "Pokémon Lab" to manage the Pokémon and items on your games, including trading and transferring Pokémon between titles and keeping them on the N64 cartridge, and the "Game Boy Tower" to play the Game Boy games on the TV through the Transfer Pak.

!!The ''Stadium'' series provides examples of:

As detailed below, the series consists of two[[note]]three, if you count the Japan-only entry that was essentially a demo version of the later international release[[/note]] ''Stadium'' titles 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 do have battle simulation side modes but are principally console {{JRPG}}s that are detailed on their respective pages.

A series of battle-focused console games in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series. They are all compatible with the corresponding handheld games in the series, though they can be played in a limited capacity without those games. Current games in the series are:

* Generation III (UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube)
** This generation got the ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Colosseum]]'' [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness duology]] instead of new ''Stadium'' games. While they did include some elements of the ''Stadium'' titles, mainly the ability to wage battles between the mainline [[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance GBA]] games (''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonEmerald Emerald]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen FireRed and LeafGreen]]'') on the television, their main draw was the fact that these were full-fledged home console [=RPGs=]: something that the mainline series wouldn't deliver until the end of Gen VII with ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee''. As such, much of the utility found in the ''Stadium'' games were put into ''Pokémon Box'', while tournament modes were nonexistent. '''Tropes for those games go on their respective pages.'''

Following ''Battle Revolution'', the ''Stadium'' series of games met its end. [[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, 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, 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.

!!The ''Stadium'' games and ''Battle Revolution'' provide examples of:

** This generation got the ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Colosseum]]'' [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness duology]] instead of new ''Stadium'' games. While they did include some elements of the ''Stadium'' titles, mainly the ability to wage battles between the mainline [[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance GBA]] games (''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonEmerald Emerald]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen FireRed and LeafGreen]]'') on the television, their main draw was the fact that these were full-fledged home console [=RPGs=]: something that the mainline series wouldn't deliver until the end of Gen VII with ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee''. As such, much of the utility found in the ''Stadium'' games were put into ''Pokémon Box'', while tournament modes were nonexistent.

!!These games include examples of:

** 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 GameBreaker 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.
** Rentals, especially in ''Stadium 2''. Rentals are awesome if you don't have the Transfer Pak needed to use your own Pokémon, but there's a reason why beating the game with them is seen as a SelfImposedChallenge. Many of fully-evolved rental Pokémon boast less [=DVs and Stat Exp=] than unevolved/weaker Pokémon and outright inferior moves. Good luck beating anyone with a minimum stats Tyranitar whose only offensive moves are Bite and Mud Slap.

** The Mewtwo who serves as the FinalBoss of the first ''Stadium'' game ([[NoExportForYou or second, if you're Japanese]]) 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.

* TheComputerShallTauntYou: Pokémon Stadium 2 (or Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver) has the AI trainers mock or gloat whenever they manage to pull off their defined strategy, land a critical hit, defeat a Pokémon in a single move, and win the battle.
* ConfusionFu: Metronome teams, which are a very common strategy of the Jugglers in many rounds. The Gamblers also uses this strategy in other Prime Cup rounds, whenever they are not using that ''other'' [[OneHitKO strategy]].

* CriticalHitClass: The Tamer's favorite tactic, as the most common of his CripplingOverspecialization strategies. Giovanni's Persian is a particularly nasty example.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''Stadium'' was created before many of the changes from ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' were introduced. This means that types aren't the same as in post-Gen 1 titles and that some moves work differently. For example, "Bite" is a Normal type move instead of a Dark type move.
* DoubleKnockout: Averted; Destiny Bond (if the user faints, so does the foe) and Perish Song (both the user and opponent faint after three turns if they don't switch out) fail when the user is the only pokemon left on their team, while a trainer that uses a suicide move on their last Pokémon automatically loses (even if they KO the foe's last Pokémon with it). Then with recoil moves it's the reverse; if both teams are down to their last pokemon and the user [=KOs=] the opponent, the user will not take recoil damage and their team will win, even if the recoil damage would have KO'd the user.
* DramaQueen: Most Pokémon take a few seconds to go through their fainting animation, rather than just collapse. Especially noticeable when compared to animations in ''X'' and ''Y''.

** If you import your starting Pikachu from Yellow to the ''Stadium'' games, it has Ikue Otani's voice acting like in [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the Anime]] (and the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series), rather than using the standard cry.

** When playing Stadium 1 with your own game connected and using your own team, if you clear the Prime Cup's Master Ball rank in Round 2 while using Pikachu on your chosen team for every single battle and done so without losing a single battle, you will be given an opportunity to teach your Pikachu Surf. When Pikachu uses Surf in the game, it will [[SurferDude use a surfboard]] in the move animation, while its evolved form Raichu will ride on its tail. In ''Pokémon Yellow'', the overworld Surfing sprite will change to Pikachu on a surfboard. andIt will also allow the player to play an ''VideoGame/ExciteBike'' clone called "Pikachu's Beach" in a house south of Fuschia City. As a CallBack to this, in ''Battle Revolution'', Surfing Pikachu can be unlocked as a Mystery Gift by completing the game.
** In Stadium 1 if you actually go through the effort to get all 151 pokemon into the Hall Of Fame (which entails having the pokemon on your team when you beat the Elite Four + Champion or clear the final rank of any Cup) you'll be given a Psyduck with the move Amnesia, which was a busted boosting move in Gen 1 that raised a pokemon's Special by 100% with each use, and which Psyduck normally couldn't learn. Since you can never get a Rental Mewtwo, doing this does require having your own game to use your own Mewtwo, but then you wouldn't be able to do anything with this gift anyway if you didn't have your own game.
** In Stadium 1 you can unlock a Rental Mew for the Prime Cup when you're playing Round 2. Stadium 2 also gives you access to a Rental Mew and Celebi for its Prime Cup in Round 2, but like [=PS2=] does with its other strong Rentals they have poor movesets and terrible stats (having the absolute minimum stats they can have in fact), making them resoundingly not worth it even if you're insane enough to try tackling its Round 2 with Rentals.
* UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}}: The GB Tower in the first two games is essentially a Super Game Boy that uses the Transfer Pak to read your game save. Naturally it only works with Pokémon games, but it does allow you to quickly access ingame features, training and such. Completing certain goals will even unlock the ability to speed up the emulation.
* {{Expy}}: The male protagonist from ''Stadium'' looks a lot like Red's classic design except with a "P" sign on his hat and brown hair. The female protagonist introduced in ''Stadium 2'' looks a lot like Kris from ''Pokémon Crystal'' except with brown hair and different clothes.

** [[TheDreaded Mewtwo]] in ''Stadium'' 1. Yes, just Mewtwo, and you get to use up to 6 Pokémon in Anything Goes rules to ''try'' and take it out. This more than anything illustrates [[GameBreaker Mewtwo's standing in Gen I]]. And if that isn't hard enough for you, in round 2 [[OhCrap it has maximum stats]] [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale and uses Amnesia]].
** [[TheRival Silver]] in ''Stadium 2'' ups the ante, on paper, by throwing in [[BlowYouAway Lugia]] and [[KillItWithFire Ho-oh]] with Mewtwo. Unfortunately, the former two have shared weaknesses, the latter was (mercifully) nerfed, and it's still 6 against 3. There's plenty of room for [[SelfImposedChallenge Self-Imposed Challenges]], though.
* FlawlessVictory: When competing in a Cup, completing a match without losing a Pokémon gives you a continue. Building them up in the early easier matches is quite helpful, as you'll probably need them in the later harder matches at some point, especially if you just get screwed over by bad luck at any point. This doesn't apply to the Gym Leader castle though, you are not given continues nor anything for beating opponents without losing a pokemon, so you must clear each Gym in one go.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Some water Pokémon summoned into battle fall into this, especially the fish-like ones, who float aboveground as if they were in an aquarium (except, of course, for [[JokeCharacter Magikarp]]...).

** Since ''Stadium 1'' and ''2'' lack any auto-leveling mechanic for its various Cups, instead having strict level requirements, if you want to actually use your own Pokémon, you'll have to grind your team in the mainline games to those specific levels. In particular, the Prime Cup in both games technically allow Pokémon of any level to join... but since all opponents will be at level 100, you're essentially required to grind your team to at least the 90s.[[note]]For reference, most player beat the Gen I games with a team in the late 40s-50s, while Gen II will have you in the 60s-70s if you played enough to beat BonusBoss Red.[[/note]] Gym Leader Castle ''does'' scale to an extent, but the minimum is still Level 50 and it will scale to the highest-level Pokémon on your team, you'll still have to grind any lower-leveled team members so they're up to par.
*** ''Battle Revolution'' averts this, autoleveling all transferred Pokémon above Level 50 cap down to it.
** For your Pokémon to be better or at least as good as the Rentals, they'll need a good amount of stat experience (Gen 1/2's equivalent of the EV system). Any Pokémon you played through most of the game with should have sufficient Stat EXP to outclass the Rentals and be competitive with the opponents, with any Pokémon you grinded up to level 100 without abusing a mass of glitched/cheated Rare Candies will definitely have enough Stat EXP to be outright stronger than most opponents even without having good [=DVs=][[note]]Gen 1/2's equivalent of [=IVs=], an inherent random number assigned to each stat upon the Pokémon's generation that granted an additional boost to each stat.[[/note]] If you want to train up a new Pokémon to use in the Stadium games, though, you'll have to make sure to grind out the Stat EXP by actually fighting Pokémon instead of just getting their level up as fast as possible, or you'll be disadvantaged. Yes, you can use vitamins that boost Stat EXP to pick up the slack, but with how expensive they are, you'll have needed to grind out a lot of money (or, in the Gen 1 games, abuse the infamous Missingno. glitch to get mass duplicates of the vitamins).
*** In ''Battle Revolution'', even though it has the modern EV system that has a considerably overall lesser effect on stats than the Gen 1/2 Stat EXP system (with there now existing an overall limit that limits the overall additional stats you can gain to less than a third of what you could get with the Stat EXP system), you'll be disadvantaged if you don't make sure your Pokémon's [=EVs=] are maxed out and well-distributed, though the existence of EV-boosting held items aid with this.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "Questionable" animations of some Pokémon, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh8GowiJe4Q Flareon's]] [[{{Mooning}} butt-shaking taunt]] (which is even more risque if animal psychology is applied) when idle and Nidoqueen's [[FanService body-swaying taunt]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7hQY-4anc Magnemite's]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaP2auFHHhk Magneton's]] fainting animation, where they go into a spasm then [[CriticalExistenceFailure fall apart]]. As noted above, Nidoqueen's animation is, in fact, a {{Bowdlerize}}d version of her [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdgxjwN6dV1r3w0j4.gif original Japanese animation]].
* GoodThingYouCanHeal: The Scientist in the Prime Cup sometimes specializes in moves like Recover, Rest, and Leech Seed. He is fairly tame in round 1 Great Ball, with some minor annoyances like Porygon, though Reflect Chansey can be a right pain, but in Round 2 Prime Cup Ultra ball, he is possibly the most annoying enemy, as he has Starmie, Alakazam, and Porygon with Recover, Chansey with Softboiled, Snorlax with Rest, and Exeggutor with Leech Seed, all with buffed stats and Pokémon compared to Round 1.
* GroundPunch: This is how Earthquake is animated for some pokemon: the user punches the ground and ripples travel out to break the ground under everyone else.
* GuideDangIt: Generation II added held items that will give Pokémon certain advantages via increasing the power of an attack or healing the user. The problem is that while most items are easily obtainable in the Gen 2 games, some items are only obtainable through other games or random luck. Items like Bright Powder, Twisted Spoon and Polkadot Bow, are only obtainable via trading certain Pokémon from the generation I games over to the generation II games (the legendary birds and Mewtwo have Bright Powder when traded, wild Kadabra from Yellow have a Twisted Spoon, and Jigglypuff has a Polkadot Bow). Items like Scope Lens and Miracle Berry are only obtainable via the mystery gift from Stadium 2 and aren't very common.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: The Old Man/Gentleman from the first game's Poke Cup really loves the Dragonite Family, and will always use Dragonair in the Great Ball division, and Dragonite in the Ultra Ball division, but may alternate with another level 55 in the Master Ball. In the Petit Cup, one of the Pokemaniac's strongest pokemon is a Dratini. Strangely subverted with Lance in Round 1, who only uses Dragonair (Probably due to not evolving at level 50, though ''Stadium 2'' plays it straight) and averted with Lance in Round 2, at least with the genuine typing.

* LevelScaling: In Stadium 1 and 2, all opponents in Gym Leader Castle have all their pokemon at level 50 by default. If you're using your own pokemon, Gym Leader Castle allows the use of pokemon of any level, but if you use any over level 50, all of the opponents' pokemon will be scaled up to match the level of your highest levelled pokemon, preventing you from getting an advantage by overlevelling. This doesn't work in reverse however, if you use an entire team below level 50 the opposing pokemon will remain at level 50. This doesn't apply in either game's Stadium mode, as instead of having level scaling the various Cups have strict level ranges pokemon must be within to be eligible, or in the case of the Prime Cup in both games which also allows pokemon of any level, all opposing pokemon are at level 100 already by default.
** Battle Revolution doesn't do either of those two methods to prevent the player out-levelling the opponents, instead any transferred pokemon over level 50 are scaled down to level 50, while all opponents' pokemon are at level 50, making it much more convenient for players to use their own pokemon.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: In Stadium 2, whenever a pokemon is sent out in battle at any point, it is accompanied by a long extravagant animation of closing up on the pokeball as it lands on the ground, and then the pokeball ''slowly'' opening in a gradually blinding flash until the pokemon is finally revealed, whereas in the first Stadium and every other Pokemon game the ball itself is not focused on and the pokemon just pops out nigh-instantly. This was probably done to mask the game loading the pokemon's model and it's nice to look at the first time around, but since it takes a few seconds each time and the animation is needlessly dramatic, it gets tiring real fast, especially if a battle involves a lot of switching.

** Because of the time capsule that lets you trade Gen 1 Pokémon from Gen 2 games back to the Gen I games, you can have a Pokémon that knows moves it learns in the Gen 2 games that it normally couldn't learn in the Gen 1 games (as the time capsule's only restriction is you can't trade back Gen 1 Pokémon with Gen 2 moves, all Gen 1 moves were fair game), which can give you a significant advatage over the opponents in the first Stadium as it doesn't do anything to prevent you from using pokemon with "cheated moves". Some particularly notorious examples of these "tradeback moves" you can get to abuse in the first Stadium include Alakazam with the elemental punches (which were all special-based at this time, thus would run off its monstrous Special), Persian with Hypnosis (which has it usurp Gengar as the fastest sleep-inducing in Gen 1), and Snorlax with Lovely Kiss (which is considered so broken that it's one of the main reasons that Gen 1's competitive community never accepted tradeback moves into their rules).
** The Pika Cup technically allows any pokemon besides Mewtwo and Mew to be used, given that you can obtain it by level 20, the highest level allowed in the Cup. This level restriction normally bars you from using many pokemon who just can't be obtained in any of the Gen 1 games below level 21 (barring glitches or cheating that is). However if you utilize tradebacks with the Gen 2 games, you can legitimately get the vast majority of pokemon by level 20 and those that you could already get at even lower levels than available in the Gen 1 games, whether it be through finding evolved pokemon in those games at lower levels than they normally evolve by, exploiting ingame trades, or utilizing breeding, which will get you any breedable pokemon in its lowest evolution stage at level 5. With tradebacks, there's only 11 pokemon of the technically elgible that you just can't legitimately obtain below level 21 [[note]]Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pidgeot, Graveler, Omastar, Kabutops, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Dragonite[[/note]]. Additionally through tradebacks from Gen 2 games you can utilize [=TMs=], breeding, and move tutors in the Gen 2 games to get you valuable moves for this Cup that your pokemon normally can only learn in the Gen 1 games at levels beyond level 20 (such as Flamethrower or Fire Spin for the Fire Types and Razor Leaf for the Grass types). Exploiting this will give you a massive advantage, as your opponents are mostly designed around the availibility limitations of the Gen 1 games.
** Some trainers have Pokémon that all know a TM move that can only be obtained once, but this isn't cheating as they can/could've possibly gotten the TM moves that can be taught once from another game since generation II allowed you to trade Pokémon with them holding items, including [=TM=]s.

** Generation II was the generation that introduced hold items, including the Scope Lens and the Miracle Berry, items that can only be obtained via the Mystery Gift system, which can be used if the player has a transfer pak, ''Stadium 2'' and a Generation II game. The problem is that those two items and others are hard to obtain because the chances of getting said items are lower than the much more common items like berries that can be found on any tree.
** In Battle Revolution's Courtyard Colosseum the Fog effect can randomly occur in any battle, where then 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 but 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 since that's all Defog does in this Gen, it's [[UselessUsefulSpell useless everywhere else]] and using it will give the opponent a free move unimpeded by the Fog, putting you at a disadvantage.
** Whenever you fight an opponent whose strategy relies on boosting evasion with moves like Double Team, if you're not able to act before them and OHKO them before they can start boosting their evasion. Using such moves can result in you still hitting them and thus the opponent just wasting their turns, or you never hitting them again and then losing because you just got unlucky. Competitive Pokemon play bans these moves for good reason to avoid people turning matches into pure RNG, but you'll have no such mercy in these games. You have to use the available never-miss attacks to avert this, but as mentioned in the prior paragraph this just weakens your pokemon for all the other battles. From Pokemon Stadium 2 onward you can also use moves like Foresight that removes the opponent's evasion boosts, but since these are useless 99% the rest of the time you're severely handicapping your pokemon for the rest of the battles.
** Whenever you fight an opponent who uses OHKO moves, which when used will turn the match into a pure RNG roll of the opponent wasting their turn 70% of the time or [=OHKOing=] your pokemon regardless of all other factors (besides type immunity) 30% of the time. In Gen 1 if OHKO moves could work or not was determined by a Pokemon's Speed, with OHKO moves only working if the opponent was slower than the user, so in Stadium 1 you can counter OHKO users by simply using faster pokemon. From Gen 2 onward though if OHKO moves can work or not is determined by level instead, and since the only time you can have pokemon higher levelled than the opponent is in Stadium 2's Poke Cup, the vast majority of the time you won't be able to prevent OHKO moves from working unless your pokemon is immune to the OHKO's move typing (e.g. Horn Drill and Guillotine can't hit Ghosts and Fissure can't hit Flying pokemon, but if it's Sheer Cold in the post-Gen 2 games then there's no possible answer at all).
** The player can rely on boosting evasion and raw OHKO moves to turn matches into this. Inconsistent luck-based strategies are a losing strategy most of the time though as the Cups requires the player to win eight battles with minimal if any losses and GLC requires being several opponents at a time without losing at all. But for tough one-off battles like the Kanto Gym Leaders in Stadium 2's GLC, the Mewtwo battle in Stadium 1, and the Silver battle in Stadium 2 this can be a viable strat to eventually cheese out a win if the player is struggling to do so with conventional strats.

* {{Nerf}}: Stadium 1 made some changes that nerfed some mechanics and moves from Gen 1:
** Besides Sleep Clause being introduced to prevent players from just putting their opponent's entire team to sleep, the maximum duration for sleep was also reduced from a crippling seven turns to a manageable three turns. This makes the Sleep status a lot less broken but waking up still takes a turn, so faster pokemon can still perpetually keep their opponent asleep without retaliation.
** When a pokemon caught in a trapping move is switched out, the move automatically ends and the new pokemon switched in does not get hit. Besides making it completely safe to switch out during these moves, this also means you will take a lot less damage from stalling out their power points and fishing for a miss when all your available pokemon are slower than the opposing trapper.
** The critical hit ratio has been modified, and while it's still tied to a pokemon's base Speed stat the difference between slower and faster pokemon has been made less extreme. It works out to pokemon with a base Speed slower than around 75ish have a higher critical hit rate, but pokemon faster than 75ish had their crit rate nerfed, with the fastest pokemon losing over 5% on their crit rate.
** When a paralyzed or burned pokemon uses a move that increases their Speed or Attack respectively, the Speed loss from Paralysis and Attack loss from Burn is no longer nullified.
** Hyper Beam no longer skips its recharge turn when it [=KOs=] the opponent, breaks a Substitute, or missses, turning the move from a borderline GameBreaker to firmly AwesomeButImpractical.
** Bide can no longer hit pokemon during the semi-invulnerable phases of Dig and Fly.
* NintendoHard: For both ''Stadium'' and ''Stadium 2'', which are considered to be the hardest Pokémon games in the series, easily surpassing future Battle Tower or other simulations in terms of difficulty, especially in Round 2. Alongside the aformentioned 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 pokemon when you KO the opponent's pokemon, so players have to actually think about safe switch-ins), many enemies utilize various advanced strategies and type coverage, and the opposing pokemon here will actually have [=EVs=] to make their stats stronger unlike the mainline games where they never have any outside the various Battle Faculties. Additionally as you progress in the game opposing trainers won’t just use a complete team of their specialty type with no coverage, mixing in pokemon of various other types to cover their weaknesses, preventing you from just using a pokemon with a type advantage to mindlessly sweep their team. 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 even better movesets. If you don't have a Transfer Pak or your own Gen 1/2 Pokemon game, you will have to settle for using Rentals, that are often inferior to many enemies (especially in Stadium 2 where the Rentals are much worse). Then even if you do have your own Pokemon game and a Transfer Pak, using your own pokemon is still cumbersome with the Cup's strict level requirements and lack of any auto-levelling mechanic, with ForcedLevelGrinding being required if you want to use them (especially in the Prime Cup where all opponents will be at level 100). 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 those that counter yours, and it's not really possible to counter everything with just three mons.

** The game highlights moves a Pokémon aren't able to learn in pink, and when that pokemon with "illegal moves" is in battle their trainer's name will be highlighted in pink. This becomes most obvious in Stadium 1 if you're using "tradeback moves" from Generation 2, where Pokemon can learn Gen 1 moves in the Gen 2 games that they couldn't in any of the Gen 1 games, so it'll use the pink highlights even if the Pokemon is, in fact, completely legit. Fortunately, this doesn't actually affect your ability to battle and all wins obtained with that pokemon will be counted.
** ''Battle Revolution'' prevents the uploading of anything it reads as hacked-it turns the hack into a bad egg. Potentially annoying if it's legit but has a special event move that makes the game think it's hacked.

* ObviousRulePatch: These games introduced the standard clauses that typically get used in any "competitive" environment (in game or in versus battles). These include the Sleep clause (only one Pokémon a team can be asleep outside of self-inflicted sleep, such as with the Rest move), the Freeze clause (same as Sleep clause but with [[HarmlessFreezing frozen solid]]), the Uber clause (which in Stadium 1 banned Mewtwo and Mew in most of its Cups, and Stadium 2 added Ho-oh, Lugia and Celebi to that banlist for most cups), and the Double KO clause (see double KO). Without these, battles could get degenerate and prominent strategies could rely on people trying to sleep the opponent's entire team first, and 1-on-1 scenarios being decided by whose pokemon had Explosion/Selfdestruct. ''Pokémon Battle Revolution'' didn't ban any pokemon in any of its Colosseums besides the Sunny Park Colosseum's Little Cup (which banned all evolved pokemon and single-stage pokemon), though ubers were banned in online play for a while due to a glitch.
** Stadium 2's and Battle Revolution's Little Cup will have the moves Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom always fail if they're used. Since pokemon are all level 5 in these Cups and only unevolved pokemon are legal at that, the vast majority of pokemon in these Cups can have barely more than 20 HP at max and only Chansey can have more than 40 HP, so these moves that [[FixedDamageAttack always deal 40 and 20 damage respectively]] would be obviously [[GameBreaker game breaking]] when they'll OHKO or 2HKO every usable pokemon regardless of stats and typing, necessitating their ban to prevent Little Cup matches from devolving into who has the faster Dragon Rage users.
* OffModel: ''Pokémon Stadium'' introduced 3D models for the first 251 Pokémon. Given the Nintendo 64's hardware limitations, most looked good for the time, though some still looked off model even then (such as Eevee with its ugly face and soul-less eyes that resembled nothing how Eevee was supposed to look). However, these models continued to be used from ''Colosseum'' up through ''Battle Revolution'', which caused the lower-res textures and lower-polygon models of the first 251 (more so the Gen 1 pokemon who had even lower quality models) to stick out against the better-constructed Pokémon models from the third and fourth generations (probably most noticeable with Charizard's paper-thin wings).
** It's worth noting that some Pokemon aged remarkably well, such as Weezing, while others look remarkably atrocious such as Golduck. Thankfully, some of the older Pokemon 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, are still stuck with their N64 models.

** The games are all very difficult without one of the handheld games, as the rental Pokémon usually have very poor movesets and subpar stats. Using a handheld game makes each game much easier.
** There's also a few {{Secret Character}}s in ''Pokémon Stadium 2'''s minigames that are unlocked if the player has a certain Pokémon in their party or box.

** In Stadium 2 if the player connects a copy of Pokemon Crystal to it, it'll expand the Academy's information database to include info particular to Crystal, such as the various moveset changes that Crystal made.
** Each of the Stadiums and Battle Revolution will give you various gift pokemon and items to transfer over to the mainline Pokemon games upon achieving certain accomplishments (or in Revolution's case, buying the items from its ingame shop with the ingame currency you win). For example in Stadium 1, whenenver you beat the Elite Four and Champion Blue in Gym Leader Castle you're randomly given one of Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Omanyte, Kabuto, or Eevee, all pokemon you can normally only obtain one of per file in the Gen 1 games and who lock you out from ever obtaining their counterparts (or in the case of Eevee the rest of its evolutions once you evolve it) without trading.

* SaveGameLimits: While the Nintendo 64 games only have one save file that accommodates all your games, ''Battle Revolution'' has four save slots, each one synced to one DS game. Which means that if you own all five games in Generation IV, one will miss out on playing PBR.
* SequelDifficultyDrop: In Battle Revolution none of the cups besides Little Cup bars you from using Ubers, so you can just stomp through most of the ranks before opponents start using Ubers themselves in the highest ranks. Additionally for some reason the AI just completely forgot in this game that switching your pokemon out is an option, despite the AI taking full advantage of switching back in the N64 Stadium games.
* SequelDifficultySpike: The first game can be manageably beaten by using only Rentals, as while they were significantly weaker than what you could build up in the Pokemon games, they still had decent stats and usable movesets. Additionally the Rentals would have different movesets for each Cup and Gym Leader Castle.[[note]]For instance, Slowbro knows Psychic/Surf/Withdraw/Disable for Poké Cup and Surf/Dig/Headbutt/Disable for Gym Leader Castle[[/note]] However the second game makes the Rentals a lot worse, as the stronger pokemon have worse stats and were intentionally given awful movesets with outright inferior moves (for example the rental Feraligatr has '''''Water Gun''''' as its STAB move), or in some cases like the Legendary Birds, would be given one really strong but inaccurate move and then three useless ones (for example the rental Zapdos has Thunder but then had Detect, Rock Smash, and Flash). So if you're using Rentals in Stadium 2, you have to pick between weak pokemon with good moves or strong pokemon with awful moves, which either choice is going to put you at a massive disadvantage when fighting opponents using stronger pokemon with good movesets. Plus almost every Pokémon shares the same moveset among battle game modes, be it Stadium Cup or Gym Leader castle, with the only exceptions being in Prime Cup/Anything Goes, where 16 Rental Pokémon will have different movesets when used in Prime Cup / Anything Goes[[note]] (Golduck, Primeape, Hitmonlee, Tauros, Articuno, Dragonair, Dragonite, Croconaw, Quagsire, Girafarig, Gligar, Heracross, Sneasel, Miltank and Suicune, plus Rental Pikachu will know Surf if used in Prime Cup R-2, bringing the count to 17.)[[/note]]. The only other exceptions are Challenge Cup, where every team and moveset you get is random, and Little Cup.
** In addition to Rental Pokemon being a lot worse, opponents in Stadium 2 are also considerably harder right from the getgo, with more varied and better teams, having better moves with better type coverage, better strategies, held items introducing more elements of strategy and more potential to be screwed over by luck with luck-based items, and with it being Gen 2 there's less blatant inbalances for the player to exploit. Getting through this game with full grown teams that have good movesets and maxed out [=EVs=] is hard, especially getting through the even harder Round 2, trying to do it with Rental pokemon will be near impossible without some damn good (and cheesy) strategies. The Prima guide for the game outright states that the rentals for the Round 2 Master Cup cannot match the power of the pokemon in the cup; and that half the mons they selected took out the pokemon with them ala Destiny Bond (which ended up being the prominent strategy for Rental-only speedruns; use a decent pokemon or two that snuck through with good moves like Fearow and then fill the rest of your team up with Destiny Bond users, Counter/Mirror Coat users, and exploding pokemon).

** The same can be said for the animation as well. All the original Kanto and Johto pokemon 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 pokemon of later generations.

* SurferDude: If a Pikachu knows Surf (which is obtainable in each of the games), a special animation will play if it uses the move, which consists of it riding a wave on a surfboard. If Raichu uses Surf it has the same animation, except it surfs on its tail instead of a surfboard.
* TrashTalk: Almost all of the ''Stadium 2'' opponents will taunt you in some way, shape, or form. (The biggest exception being [[TheVoiceless Red]].)
* TriumphantReprise: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x7VfDaKjRg final boss theme]] from Revolution is an orchestral variant of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr40ME-xK-k Gateway Colosseum]], the first arena in the game.

* UnwinnableByDesign: In Stadium 2's Pokemon Academy, you are put into test battles where you're given six preset pokemon and must select three for the battle, with three of them being the intended correct choice and having the moves to counter your opponent's strategy as covered in the course. The other three mons you're given are ill-suited for the task and often cannot win you the battle, while even if you do somehow manage to win after picking any of the wrong mons, Earl will fail you anyway and require you to [[ButThouMust redo the battle with the intended mons to pass]].
* UnwinnableByMistake: The Challenge Cup of ''Stadium 2'' is a good example of this. If your randomly selected team is filled with Pokemon with a crap moveset and/or matched up disadvantageously against your opponent, odds are you'll be biting the dust pretty quickly... unless, you were lucky enough to receive a continue.

* WarmupBoss: Brock, the first Gym leader in Stadium 1, where the only fully-evolved pokemon on his team is a lowly Onix that's barely stronger than first stage pokemon, 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 pokemon will sweep his entire team with ease no matter what he picks, and if he can somehow hax one of your mons down, he'll have no chance against a full team of Water pokemon. Rentals or not, everyone should stomp Brock their first try, and then be brought into a false sense of security before the difficulty ramps up severely after Brock.
** Faulkner, the first Gym Leader in Stadium 2, isn't quite as pathetic as Brock, since his team actually consists entirely of fully-evolved pokemeon. 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 pokemon 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's Drill Peck, the only remotely decent pokemon on his team. 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 [[SequelDifficultySpike 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 advantage a lot less viable]].
** The first trainer in a Cup is usually really easy, as they use weak or even unevolved pokemon, pokemon that are all a single easily-countered type, and/or outright useless pokemon. They're there to essentially guarantee players will get at least one continue for the rest of the Cup.
* 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 pokemon 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 Surf 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.
** In ''Stadium 2'''s Johto Gym Leader Castle, Jasmine of the Olivine Gym serves as the wake-up call. She will switch out her Pokémon to get the advantage on you, and her team is more varied compared to previous trainers and Gym Leaders. If you plan/react wrongly to Jasmine's switching, she will have the advantage and can defeat you. Though if you anticipate and react to her switching correctly, she can be pretty easy especially if you exploit her team's weaknesses. Jasmine basically reminds you that your future opponents can switch their Pokémon on you to give themselves the advantage over you.
* 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 pokemon 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 fully 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 pokemon in the first game could still have good or at least moderate moves, which is a big reason why Stadium 2 is [[SequelDifficultySpike significantly harder]] with rental pokemon.

* ForcedLevelGrinding: Since ''Stadium 1'' and ''2'' lack any auto-leveling mechanic for its various Cups, instead having strict level requirements, if you want to actually use your own Pokémon, you'll have to grind your team in the mainline games to those specific levels. In particular, the Prime Cup in both games technically allow Pokémon of any level to join... but since all opponents will be at level 100, you're essentially required to grind your team to at least the 90s.[[note]]For reference, most player beat the Gen I games with a team in the late 40s-50s, while Gen II will have you in the 60s-70s if you played enough to beat BonusBoss Red.[[/note]] Gym Leader Castle ''does'' scale to an extent, but the minimum is still Level 50 and it will scale to the highest-level Pokémon on your team, you'll still have to grind any lower-leveled team members so they're up to par.

** The first ''Pokémon Stadium'' has the Hall Of Fame, which lists any Pokémon that was on the player's team when beating the final division of a Stadium Cup or the Rival in the Gym Leader Castle. Getting all 151 species of Pokémon into the Hall Of Fame gets you a Lvl. 15 Psyduck with Amnesia[[note]]a move it otherwise can't learn normally in the Gen 1 games[[/note]] to transfer to Red/Blue/Yellow. That said, it's impossibly to do this without connecting your own copy of the game, as Mewtwo isn't available as a Rental, thus requiring you to use your own.
** While ''Pokémon Stadium'' simply requires you to completing the Gym Leader Castle to unlock [[HarderThanHard Round 2]], the second game requires you to beat the Gym Leader Castle and each Stadium Cup, at which point you can challenge your rival; beating him unlocks the harder difficulty and a Lvl. 5 Farfetch'd with the move Baton Pass. Beating everything again in Round 2 will net you a Lvl. 5 Gligar with the move Earthquake.

** The Lass is known as one of the weakest trainer classes, being a trainer class typically encountered at the beginning of the game with Bug Catchers and Youngsters. In Stadium 1 however a Lass is the opponent you face in the semi-finals of both the Petit Cup and Pika Cup in both Rounds, and her difficulty merits her placement as she'll have some of the toughest teams in those Cups.
** The Fishermen are typically a mid tier class with rather weak fish-based teams, but in Stadium 1 a Fisher is the final opponent in both rounds of the Pika Cup, and in the first Round he has a team that is only partially Water-based, which includes a Dragon Rage-abusing Dragonair (where the level restrictions of these Cups means it'll 2HKO about everything), and in Round 2 he has a full diverse team, including a notoriously broken level 20 Alakazam that is near-impossible for the Rentals to defeat.
** Lt. Surge in the mainline games is a notoriously easy Gym Leader in all his appearances even by the series' easy Gym Leader standards, but in Stadium 1 he becomes an infamous WakeUpCallBoss that introduces first time players to the harsh reality that trainers will cover their weaknesses in this game, with his Surfing Raichu and Pikachu having haplessly swept away countless mono-Ground teams people went into his gym with.
** 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 they perpetually suffered from with significantly more diverse teams and packing a lot more coverage moves to avoid being so easily countered. This is especially so in Stadium 2 with its SequelDifficultySpike.

* ArtificialBrilliance: One of the primary reasons why the Stadium games are a lot harder than the mainline Pokemon games. Whereas the handheld games are infamous for quite bad AI, including the Gen 1 AI having outright AIRoulette, and the AI in the modern Gen games still not knowing that switching your pokemon is an option, the AI here can very much utilize complicated strategies, can make accurate predictions with switches on the Player's part, and will switch out themselves when faced with an unfavorable matchup. The player will not just be able to send out a pokemon with a type advantage and blindly click the super-effective move to win. It's also one of the main reasons why the Stadium games are fondly-remembered among the more diehard fans that enjoyed the challenge, who malign the fact that the modern Pokemon games still haven't replicated Stadium's far more advanced AI.
* ArtificialStupidity: In the second game any Pokemon that knows Dynamic Punch will repeat this move until it hits once before using its other moves even if you have a [[NoSell ghost type]] out. Chuck is especially bad because each of his Pokemon knows this move making it nearly impossible to lose if you brought something like [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Gengar]].
** In Battle Revolution, the AI will just never switch out their pokemon at all no matter how bad the matchup is, despite being fully capable of doing so in the Stadium games. This is a big reason why Battle Revolution is considerably easier than its predecessor despite the added complexities and better balance Gen 4 brought.
** In Stadium 1 if the AI uses a status move to inflict your pokemon with the Poison or Paralysis status and then you heal the status with Rest or Haze, the AI will not attempt to inflict the status again unless they run out of PP for their other moves and so have no other options.
* AwesomeButImpractical: In Gen 1 you could skip the recharge turn of Hyper Beam if you KO'd the opponent with it, making it quite practical to use to finish off opponents and is on the verge of being [[GameBreaker broken]] when used by strong Normal types that got STAB off it. Stadium 1 however fixed that and the recharge turn is unavoidable, making it impractical much of the time outside of last pokemon situations. It additionally now suffers the recharge turn if it misses unlike in the mainline games, making misses with the move especially devestating.
** If you're using Rentals, Stadium 2 enforces this with much of its strong fully-evolved pokemon, where they're given less [=DVs and Stat Exp=] than unevolved/weaker pokemon and outright inferior moves. This is most blatant in the legendary pokemon and the pseudo-legendary Tyranitar and Dragonite, with them having the absolute minimum stats they can have with 0 [=DVs=] for all their stats and no Stat EXP, on top of having some really pitiful movesets. Good luck beating anyone with a minimum stats Tyranitar whose only offensive moves are Bite and Mud Slap. Stadium 1 still generally gave fully-evolved and stronger Rental pokemon worse moves, but their movesets were usually usable and their stats weren't gimped, mostly averting this in that game.
** 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, the player is going to need consistent stratgies to win so many battles in a row, and the RNG will invariably work against them over so many battles if their strategy relies on hitting with 30% accurate moves. However since the player can only take one loss (in GLC) or a very limited amount of losses depending on how many continues they have (in Cups), opponent 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.
** Whenever you use strong coverage moves with pokemon who don't have the Attack or Special Attack to make much use of them. Sure a Hitmonchan with all the Elemental Punches looks cool and can hit a ton of pokemon super effectively, but when all those moves were special-based before Gen 4 and it's coming off a pitiful 35 base Special Attack, your Hitmonchan is going to be barely hurting opponents with them even when doubled from being super effective. Earl's Academy in Stadium 2 has a lesson warning players about this, telling them how even if a move is super effective it doesn't mean it'll do more damage than the pokemon's typical moves if their corresponding stat is lacking.

* ButThouMust: In Stadium 2's Pokemon Academy, there are the test battles you must complete to pass each course, and in these test battles you're put into situations where to win you must utilize specific preset pokemon you're given with the intended strategy covered in the course, with the other pokemon you're given being ill-suited for countering your opponent. Though difficult to do, it is still possible to win these test battles without using the intended pokemon, and if you do win using any of the pokemon you weren't supposed to pick, you are not credited for the win and will fail the test, requiring you to retake the course and redo the test battle with the intended pokemon to pass.

** Several trainers will have moves that are impossible for their pokemon to learn. For example, a Juggler in Koga's Gym in the first ''Stadium'' has a Slowbro that knows Metronome, which it cannot learn legitimately under any circumstances. When pokemon in battle know moves they shouldn't be able to know, their trainer's name will be highlighted pink.

* TheComputerShallTauntYou: Pokémon Stadium 2 (or Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver) is the first Pokémon game in the series that began the trend of having your opponents mock/taunt you if you ended up losing to anyone.

* ForcedLevelGrinding: Since Stadium 1 and 2 lack any autolevelling mechanic for its various Cups and instead have strict level requirements, if you want to actually use your own pokemon you'll have to grind your team in the mainline games to specific levels to be able to use them at all. In particular the Prime Cup in both games technically allow pokemon of any level to join but all opponents will be at level 100, meaning you're essentially required to grind your team all the way up to level 100 or at least near it to have a real chance at completing it in all the ranks with your own team (which for reference in the Gen 1 games your team will typically be in the late 40s to 50s when you beat it and in the Gen 2 games your team will typically be in the late 30s to 40s when you beat the Elite Four for the first time, in the 60s to 70s if you played enough to beat Red). Then Gym Leader Castle have opponents at level 50 and you're technically allowed to use pokemon of any level here too, but if you use any pokemon over level 50 all the opponents will scale to their level, so you'll have to grind your whole team to the same exact level to not be at a disadvantage (which if you weren't particularly attentive about keeping a team of six pokemon near-balanced in their level, can take a while to get everyone up to your highest levelled mon). Battle Revolution thankfully averts this bit of frustration for players, as it just autolevels all transferred pokemon above level 50 down to level 50.
** In Stadium 1/2 for your pokemon to be good or at least be better statistically than the Rentals, they'll need a good amount of stat experience (Gen 1/2's equivalent of the EV system). Any pokemon you played through most of the game with should have sufficient Stat EXP to outclass the Rentals and be competitive with the opponents, and any pokemon you grinded up to level 100 without abusing a mass of glitched/cheated Rare Candies will have enough Stat EXP to be outright stronger than most opponents even without having good [=DVs=] (Gen 1/2's equivalent of [=IVs=], an inherent random number assigned to each stat upon the pokemon's generation that granted an additional boost to each stat). If you want to train up a new pokemon though to use in the Stadium games, you'll have to make sure to grind out the Stat EXP instead of just getting their level up as fast as possible or you'll be disadvantaged (which will entail [=KOing=] hundreds to over a thousand Pokemon). Using the vitamins that boost Stat EXP will help a lot and can get you much of the way to making your pokemon competitive, but with how expensive they are you'll have had needed to grinded out a lot of money (or in the Gen 1 games abuse the infamous Missingno glitch to get mass duplicates of the vitamins). In Battle Revolution, even though it has the modern EV system that has a considerably overall lesser effect on stats than the Gen 1/2 Stat EXP system (with there now existing an overall limit that limits the overall additional stats you can gain to less than a third of what you could get with the Stat EXP system), you'll be disadvantaged if you don't make sure your pokemon's [=EVs=] are maxed out (and well-distributed if you really want to optimize), though it's much faster and simpler to train your [=EVs=] in the Gen 4 games, especially if you obtained the EV-boosting held items.

Following ''Battle Revolution'', the ''Stadium'' series of games met its end. [[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. The UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS brought the ''Pokemon Bank'' storage utility, while the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch would follow that up with ''Pokemon Home''. With both main functions of the ''Stadium'' series now covered by the mainline installments and other applications, Game Freak's Junichi Masuda has openly stated that they [[https://www.usgamer.net/articles/no-new-pokemon-stadium would need a new idea to justify returning to the sub-series]].

* HundredPercentCompletion: In the first two Stadiums completing Gym Leader Castle and every rank on each Cup unlocks you the Round 2 hard mode and completing Round 2 fully unlocks you the Dodrio Game Boy Tower that lets you play the mainline games at triple speed. There's additionally the Hall Of Fame in the first Stadium that has a spot for each pokemon, and any pokemon on the team you use to beat the Elite Four + Champion in GLC or the final rank of any Cup will be enshrined and get you their statue there, while getting every pokemon into the Hall Of Fame also gets you a Psyduck with Amnesia, a move it otherwise can't learn in the Gen 1 games. Unfortunately getting the Hall Of Fame completely filled up and thus getting 100% completion is impossible without connecting with your own Pokemon game, as Mewtwo will never be available as a Rental and thus you must use your own Mewtwo.

Following ''Battle Revolution'', the ''Stadium'' series of games met its end. [[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. Generation VI also brought the ''Pokemon Bank'' storage utility, for use with all ''Pokémon'' games going forward. With both main functions of the ''Stadium'' series now covered by the mainline installments and other applications, Game Freak's Junichi Masuda has openly stated that they [[https://www.usgamer.net/articles/no-new-pokemon-stadium would need a new idea to justify returning to the sub-series]].

* TriumphantReprise: the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x7VfDaKjRg final boss theme]] from Revolution is an orchestral variant of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr40ME-xK-k Gateway Colosseum]], the first arena in the game.

** Faulkner, the first Gym Leader in Stadium 2, isn't quite as pathetic as Brock, since his team actually consists entirely of fully-evolved pokemeon. 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 pokemon will sweep him with easse. 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's Drill Peck, the only remotely decent pokemon on his team. 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 [[SequelDifficultySpike 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 advantage a lot less viable]].

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: These games have a notorious reputation for this, and while claims of the AI having rigged RNG advantages are just a myth, there are some legitimate instances of the AI having stuff the player couldn't have without glitches or cheating:

** In Battle Revolution, the AI will just never switch out their pokemon at all no matter how bad the matchup is, despite being fully capable of doing so in the Stadium games.

** 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, the player is going to need consistent stratgies to win so many battles in a row, and the RNG will invariably work against them over so many battles if their strategy relies on hitting with 30% accurate moves. However since the player can only take one loss (in GLC) or a very limited amount of losses (in Cups), opponent 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.

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

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The games are quite notorious for this. To wit:

** Chance is ''very'' strongly stacked in the AI's favor; for example, should their Pokémon use evasion-increasing moves like Agility or Double Team, it becomes almost impossible to land a hit, and low-accuracy moves almost always hit when launched by them, but rarely when used by the player.

** Stadium 2 also caught most Western players by surprise by including opponents with the Crystal tutor moves (old gen I TM moves Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, as well as never before teachable Flamethrower). Seeing Stadium 2 was released a few months before Crystal in the west, the increased distribution of said moves was something only the computer had access to.

** Completing the Master Cup in the original with a Pikachu in your party will give the player an opportunity to make Pikachu learn Surf. When Pikachu uses Surf in the game, it will [[SurferDude use a surfboard]] in the move animation, while its evolved form Raichu will ride on its tail. In ''Pokémon Yellow'', the overworld Surfing sprite will change to Pikachu on a surfboard. It will also allow the player to play an ''VideoGame/ExciteBike'' clone called "Pikachu's Beach" in a house south of Fuschia City. As a CallBack to this, in ''Battle Revolution'', Surfing Pikachu can be unlocked as a Mystery Gift by completing the game.

The ''[[VideoGame/PokemonStadium Stadium]]'' games are quite notorious for this:

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard/PokemonStadium Has its own page]].

* NoPronunciationGuide:

* 100%Completion: In the first two Stadiums completing Gym Leader Castle and every rank on each Cup unlocks you the Round 2 hard mode and completing Round 2 fully unlocks you the Dodrio Game Boy Tower that lets you play the mainline games at triple speed. There's additionally the Hall Of Fame in the first Stadium that has a spot for each pokemon, and any pokemon on the team you use to beat the Elite Four + Champion in GLC or the final rank of any Cup will be enshrined and get you their statue there, while getting every pokemon into the Hall Of Fame also gets you a Psyduck with Amnesia, a move it otherwise can't learn in the Gen 1 games. Unfortunately getting the Hall Of Fame completely filled up and thus getting 100% completion is impossible without connecting with your own Pokemon game, as Mewtwo will never be available as a Rental and thus you must use your own Mewtwo.

** In Stadium 1/2 for your pokemon to be good or at least be better statistically than the Rentals, they'll need a good amount of stat experience (Gen 1/2's equivalent of the EV system). Any pokemon you played through most of the game with should have sufficient Stat EXP to outclass the Rentals and be competitive with the opponents, and any pokemon you grinded up to level 100 without abusing a mass of glitched/cheated Rare Candies will have enough Stat EXP to be outright stronger than most opponents even without having good [=DVs=] (Gen 1/2's equivalent of [=IVs=], an inherent random number assigned to each stat upon the pokemon's generation that granted an additional boost to each stat). If you want to train up a new pokemon though to use in the Stadium games, you'll have to make sure to grind out the Stat EXP instead of just getting their level up as fast as possible or you'll be disadvantaged (which will entail [=KOing=] hundreds to over a thousand Pokemon). Using the vitamins that boost Stat EXP will help a lot and can get you much of the way to making your pokemon competitive, but with how expensive they are you'll have had needed to grinded out a lot of money (or in the Gen 1 games abuse the infamous Missingno glitch to get a mass of items to sell for nigh-infinite money). In Battle Revolution, even though it has the modern EV system that has a considerably overall lesser effect on stats than the Gen 1/2 Stat EXP system (with there now existing an overall limit that limits the overall additional stats you can gain to less than a third of what you could get with the Stat EXP system), you'll be disadvantaged if you don't make sure your pokemon's [=EVs=] are maxed out (and well-distributed if you really want to optimize), though it's much faster and simpler to train your [=EVs=] in the Gen 4 games, especially if you obtained the EV-boosting held items.

* GuideDangIt: Generation II added held items that will give Pokémon certain advantages via increasing the power of an attack or healing the user. The problem is that while most items are easily obtainable in the Gen 2 games, some items are only obtainable through other games or random luck. Items like Bright Powder, Twisted Spoon and Polkadot Bow, are only obtainable via trading certain Pokémon from the generation I games over to the generation II games (the legendary birds and Mewtwo have Bright Powder when traded, wild Kadabra from Yellow have a Twisted Spoon, and Jigglypuff has a Polkadot Bow.) Items like Scope Lens and Miracle Berry are only obtainable via the mystery gift from Stadium 2 and aren't very common.

* {{Irony}}: For all the underleveled, illegally obtainable fully evolved pokemon in Pika Cup, such as Dugtrio, Electrode, Tentacruel, Muk, Golem, Machamp, Dragonair, Dewgong, as well as the Dragon Rage users in such a low level setting, the most powerful, insurmountably difficult, and mercilessly destructive enemy pokemon you fight in Pika Cup is not only legally obtainable, but one of the easiest pokemon to acquire; a Level 20 Alakazam with Psychic and Thunder Wave. While some of the "illegally obtained" pokemon can be challenging for rentals, the Level 20 Alakazam is the only pokemon in the entire cup that is ''genuinely impossible to beat'' with Rental Pokemon barring miraculous freeze hax that you'll only have one chance at pulling off or else you die or getting lucky with the strongest rentals like Starmie. The guides even recommends the player to just use the transfer pack, or pray that you face the level 20 Dragonair instead.

* LevelScaling: In Stadium 1 and 2, all opponents in Gym Leader Castle have all their pokemon at level 50 by default. If you're using your own pokemon, Gym Leader Castle allows the use of pokemon of any level, but if you use any over level 50, all of the opponents' pokemon will be scaled up to match the level of your highest levelled pokemon, preventing you from getting an advantage by overlevelling. This doesn't work in reverse however, if you use an entire team below level 50 the opposing pokemon will remain at level 50. This doesn't apply in either game's Stadium mode, as instead of having level scaling the various Cups have strict level ranges pokemon must be within to be elgible, or in the case of the Prime Cup in both games which also allows pokemon of any level, all opposing pokemon are at level 100 already by default.

** Stadium 2's and Battle Revolution's Little Cup will have the moves Dragon Rage and Sonic Boom always fail if they're used. Since pokemon are all level 5 in these Cups and only unevolved pokemon are legal at that, the vast majority of pokemon in these Cups can have barely more than 20 HP at max and only Chansey can have more than 40 HP, so these moves that [[FixedDamageAttack always deal 40 and 20 damage respectively]] would be obviously [[GameBreaker game breaking]] when they'll OHKO or 2HKO every usable pokemon regardless of stats and typing, neccesitating their ban.

* AwesomeButImpractical: In Gen 1 you could skip the recharge turn of Hyper Beam if you KO'd the opponent with it, making it quite practical to use to finish off opponents and is on the verge of being [[GameBreaker broken]] when used by strong Normal types that got STAB off it. Stadium 1 however fixed that and the recharge turn is unavoidable, making it impractical much of the time outside of last pokemon situations.

** The game highlights moves a Pokémon shouldn't learn in pink. This becomes most obvious in Generation 1, when trading from Generation 2, where Pokemon can learn moves they can't in earlier games, so it'll use the pink highlights even if the Pokemon is, in fact, completely legit. Fortunately, this doesn't actually affect your ability to battle.

** Stadium 2 pulled a dirty trick or two. Some movesets were at the time impossible (a psychic having Haze and Mirror Coat on his Blastoise, impossible to breed both onto at the time) but some were not at first. Stadium 2 came out before Crystal but around the time of GS. Crystal was also the introduction of the move tutor who taught flamethrower, thunderbolt, and ice beam in Celadon City. Naturally, as Stadium 2 was made with Crystal in mind, a lot of trainers had pokemon with those movesets that normally didn't learn them in their level up pools. It was particularly notable anytime in round 2 when you faced off against one of the legendary beasts, but it also had the Pokemaniac in the final round of the round 2 pokemon cup with an Extreme Speed Dragonite (only obtained from the dragon's den).

* 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 pokemon 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 Surf 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 are going to have to deal with trainers covering their weaknesses and having access to good coverage moves from that point forward.

* WakeUpCallBoss: In ''Stadium 2'''s Johto Gym Leader Castle, Jasmine of the Olivine Gym serves as the wake-up call. She will switch out her Pokémon to get the advantage on you, and her team is more varied compared to previous trainers and Gym Leaders. If you plan/react wrongly to Jasmine's switching, she will have the advantage and can defeat you. Though if you anticipate and react to her switching correctly, she can be pretty easy especially if you exploit her team's weaknesses. Jasmine basically reminds you that your future opponents can switch their Pokémon on you to give themselves the advantage over you.

* BookEnds: The first colosseum in ''Pokémon Battle Revolution'', Gateway Colosseum has its theme remixed into both the theme of the final colosseum, Stargazer Colosseum as well as the theme for its colosseum master, Mysterial.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: The point of the series is for these to be a home console battle-focused extension of the mainline Pokemon games for you to use your own teams in far greater challenges than the mainline games offer. Stadium 1 and 2 do have a Rental Pokemon system that allows you to play them without already having a mainline game, but it is very difficult to tackle many of the challenges and especially the Round 2 content with just rental Pokemon due to them having suboptimal to awful move sets and poor stats (and it's flatout near impossible in Stadium 2 with its even greater challenge and even worse Rentals), thus you're encouraged to bring your own Pokemon that you raised yourself in another game.
* ButThouMust: In Stadium 2's Pokemon Academy, there are the test battles you must complete to pass each course, and in these test battles you're put into situations where to win you must utilize specific pokemon you're given with the intended strategy covered in the course, with the other pokemon you're given being ill-suited for countering your opponent. Though difficult to do, it is still possible to win these test battles without using the intended pokemon, and if you do win using any of the pokemon you weren't supposed to pick, you are not credited for the win and will fail the test, requiring you to retake the course and redo the test battle with the intended pokemon to pass.