Pokemon Stadium 2 (Nintendo 64 Game)

Titles	Pokémon Stadium 2 ポケモンスタジアム金銀 (Pokémon Stadium Kin Gin)
Platform	Nintendo 64 (512-megabit cartridge), with the N64 Transfer Pak
Developers	Nintendo EAD · HAL Laboratory
Publisher	Nintendo
Director	Takao Shimizu
Producers	Kenji Miki · Tsunekazu Ishihara · Satoru Iwata · Shigeru Miyamoto
Music	Hajime Wakai
Players	1–4
Genre	Turn-based battle / strategy, with mini-games
Pokémon	All 251, from Bulbasaur to Celebi
Released	14 December 2000 (Japan) · 26 March 2001 (North America) · 7 April 2001 (Australia) · 10 October 2001 (Europe)
Re-releases	Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, 8 August 2023 (no Transfer Pak features)
Rating	ESRB E · OFLC G8+
Predecessor	Pokémon Stadium (2000)
Successor	Pokémon Colosseum (GameCube, 2003)
Sales	2.54 million shipped

Overview · Quick Answers · Game Modes · Mini-games · Gym Leader Castle · Transfer Pak · Regional Variations · Glitches · Videos · Trivia · Legacy · Sales & Reviews · Media

Overview

After the remarkable success of the original Pokémon Stadium, Nintendo didn’t keep Pokémon fans waiting long for a sequel, featuring all 251 Pokémon from the first and second generations.

Just like its predecessor, Pokémon Stadium 2 succeeded in bringing the Pokémon into a 3D world, with amazing animations and moves. In fact, the Pokémon graphics were improved, with lots of new move animations, though the backgrounds still looked blurry. Sound-wise, the game once again used the Game Boy-style cries, which disappointed the fans who had hoped, this time, for unique Pokémon voices like those in the animated series (only a Pikachu from Yellow speaks with its anime voice). The style of play was practically the same too, with the game focusing mainly on battles, the goal being to beat all the Stadium Cups and the Gym Leader Castle.

The main differences between the games were the changes to the Stadium Cups: the Pika Cup was removed, the Petit Cup was replaced by the Little Cup, and the Challenge Cup was added. The Gym Leader Castle now includes all the Gym Leaders from the Kanto and Johto regions. Pokémon Stadium 2 also offers new modes like the Pokémon Academy and My Room, along with the option of a female player icon. The Transfer Pak was still the most prominent feature of the game, linking it to both trilogies – the first generation (Red, Blue and Yellow) and the second (Gold, Silver and Crystal) – which lets players transfer, store and trade their Pokémon.

As a strategy game, Pokémon Stadium 2 doesn’t have a storyline; everything revolves around clearing the Stadium and the Gym Leader Castle, reached from the White City hub.

Quick Answers

The questions people ask about Pokémon Stadium 2, answered first and explained further down the page.

How do you unlock Round 2 in Pokémon Stadium 2?

Clear every Stadium cup and division plus the whole Gym Leader Castle in Round 1. The Rival then appears in White City; beat him and Round 2 opens, with tougher teams and a sunset-coloured hub. You also receive a Farfetch’d that knows Baton Pass. Press C-Right on the main menu to swap between rounds. More →

How do you get to battle Red in Pokémon Stadium 2?

Finish the Johto side of the Gym Leader Castle first: eight Gyms, a Team Rocket takeover, the Elite Four and Champion Lance. That opens the Kanto castle, where the eight Kanto Leaders can be taken on in any order. Beat all eight and Red challenges you at Mt. Silver as the final opponent. More →

Is Pokémon Stadium 2 on Nintendo Switch Online?

Yes. It joined the Nintendo 64 library for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on 8 August 2023 and also runs on Switch 2. There is no Transfer Pak support, so the GB Tower, My Room, Mystery Gift and Game Boy imports are missing, and Mewtwo, Lugia and Ho-Oh cannot be used at all. More →

How many mini-games are in Pokémon Stadium 2?

Twelve, from Gutsy Golbat to Eager Eevee, each for four players with computer opponents filling any empty slots. Alongside them sit Mini-Game Champion, a race to collect coins, and two quizzes: a 100-second solo quiz and the four-player Quiz for All. Winning a seven-coin Champion match against three Hard opponents unlocks Very Hard. More →

What is different about the Japanese version of Pokémon Stadium 2?

It is called Pokémon Stadium Kin Gin, launched on the same day as Pokémon Crystal and only reads Japanese Game Boy cartridges. It alone has Mobile Stadium, which loads online battle data from Crystal. The Western releases add longer text boxes, a Pikachu voice clip at start-up and a fix for Lance’s duplicate Quick Claw. More →

How do you unlock the faster GB Tower speeds?

For Red, Blue and Yellow, the Doduo Game Boy (double speed) unlocks after clearing either the Gym Leader Castle or every Round 1 cup, and the Dodrio Game Boy (quadruple speed) after clearing both. Gold, Silver and Crystal need the same feats in Round 2, and Dodrio runs those games at triple speed. More →

Game Modes

Several fun modes are present in the game, each with its own rules and requirements, along with hidden modes that can only be unlocked after completing parts of the game. Most of the battle modes include a Round 2 difficulty, which is unlocked after clearing the game.

• Battle Now: A casual battle mode where the player chooses whether to battle the AI (‘Cal’ from Gold and Silver) or another player. The Pokémon used are level 40, mostly unevolved. Unlocking Round 2 makes the Pokémon level 70 and fully evolved.
• Event Battle: A casual player-versus-player mode in which players can use the Stadium Cup rules or choose specific ones for their battles. Pokémon Stadium 2 added the ‘Rule Edit’ feature, allowing custom rules to be created. This mode also requires both players to plug a Game Boy Pokémon game into their Transfer Pak, since the Pokémon used are those in the Game Boy games’ parties.
• Stadium: The main game mode, in which the player can take part in four player-versus-AI cups. Each cup requires the player to defeat eight trainers, following different sets of rules and difficulties.

1. Little Cup: This replaces the first game’s Petit Cup. It now only lets level 5 unevolved Pokémon that can evolve take part. The moves Dragon Rage and SonicBoom have no effect in the Little Cup.
2. Poké Cup: Only Pokémon between levels 50 and 55 can take part, and Mew, Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh and Celebi are banned. The combined level of the team cannot exceed 155. This cup comes in four difficulties, each named after a Poké Ball (Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball and Master Ball divisions), and defeating all the trainers unlocks the next, harder division, starting from Poké Ball.
3. Prime Cup: All Pokémon, including legendaries, can be used in this cup, up to level 100. All the opponents have level 100 Pokémon, which may include legendary ones. Unlike in the previous game, the Prime Cup no longer comes in four divisions, only one.
4. Challenge Cup: A new cup in Pokémon Stadium 2. It’s different from the other cups, since the player’s Pokémon are random rentals. It also has four difficulty levels, as in the Poké Cup, each setting the Pokémon at a certain level (Poké Ball 30, Great Ball 45, Ultra Ball 60 and Master Ball 75).

• Free Battle: A free-for-all battle mode in which up to four players can battle or team up against each other, using the rules of the different Stadium Cups or custom-made ones.
• Gym Leader Castle: Another mode that changed from the last game. The player battles the Gym Leaders of the Johto region, and in each Gym there are a varying number of trainers to defeat before reaching the Gym Leader. Once the player beats all the Johto Gyms, they face the Elite Four, followed by the Champion, Lance. Defeating Lance unlocks the Kanto region’s Gym Leader Castle, and defeating all the Kanto Gym Leaders unlocks a special last opponent: Red, the protagonist of the first-generation games (see below).
• Mini-games: Twelve mini-games, with four difficulty levels, that can be played alone or against other players. There are also Pokémon quizzes that test the players’ Pokémon knowledge.
• Pokémon Academy: An academy, run by Earl, where the player can learn a lot about the game’s strategies through classroom lectures and tests. It also has a library where players can study different Pokémon, items and moves. It’s a pretty good way for someone new to Pokémon to gain the basic understanding that will help them in battles.
• VS Rival: Clearing all the Stadium Cups and the Gym Leader Castle unlocks the Rival’s lair in White City, where he awaits the player. Defeating the Rival unlocks the Round 2 difficulty of the game, and earns a Farfetch’d that knows Baton Pass.

Mini-games

Mini-game modes and quizzesAs well as picking any of the twelve games for a single round, Mini-Game Champion strings games together until someone collects the target number of coins. 1P Quiz gives one player 100 seconds to answer as many Pokémon questions as possible, with wrong answers costing time, while Quiz for All is a race to ten points in which a wrong answer sits you out of the next question. Connecting a Game Boy game unlocks bonus characters such as Scizor in Clear Cut Challenge and Pikachu in Pichu’s Power Plant.

In depth: the fine print

White City and the two RoundsEvery mode hangs off White City, a hub holding the Stadium, the Gym Leader Castle, Professor Oak’s lab, Earl’s Academy and the GB Tower. Round 1 is the main game. Beating the Rival after completing everything opens Round 2, which repaints the city in sunset colours and reruns the cups, the castle and Battle Now! with different, stronger Pokémon and much tougher opponents; in Battle Now! the random teams jump from level 40 to level 70 and are fully evolved. The Rival also returns for a rematch. C-Right on the main menu switches between the two rounds at any time.

Rental PokémonPlayers without a Transfer Pak can still enjoy everything except the Game Boy features by borrowing rentals. Instead of a separate roster for each cup, as in the first Stadium, there are just three pools: a level 5 set for the Little Cup, a level 50 set and a level 100 set. Rentals come with fixed movesets chosen by the game. Mewtwo, Lugia and Ho-Oh are not in the pools, so the only way to use them is to bring your own across from a Game Boy cartridge.

Battle rules and clausesStadium 2 smooths out several Gold and Silver battle quirks. Team Preview is always on, actual HP numbers are shown, and the Sleep, Freeze and Self-KO Clauses are enforced, so Destiny Bond and Perish Song fail when used by a last Pokémon. Sleep lasts two to four turns, much like Crystal’s Battle Tower, stats can no longer roll over past 999, Belly Drum fails below half HP and the Berserk Gene confuses for a few turns rather than indefinitely. Only items with a battle effect can be held.

Challenge CupThe new Challenge Cup takes team-building away entirely. Each entrant is dealt six random rental Pokémon, picks three for each battle and faces opponents whose random squads follow a theme. There are four classes at fixed levels: Poké Ball at level 30, Great Ball at 45, Ultra Ball at 60 and Master Ball at 75. Because nobody can prepare a team in advance, it rewards broad type knowledge and quick thinking, and the same random-team rules can be applied to Cal in Free Battle.

Earl’s Pokémon AcademyEarl, the teacher who runs the Pokémon Academy in Violet City in Gold and Silver, now presides over a bigger school in White City. He gives a series of lectures on battle skills, each followed by a test battle in which you must win with set Pokémon and moves that suit the situation. The academy library is a reference on Pokémon, moves, items and battling, and inserting Pokémon Crystal adds Crystal-specific entries. It is the nearest thing the game has to a tutorial and a gentle way in for newcomers.

Prize PokémonDefeating the Rival brings a gift for a connected Game Boy game. Beating him in Round 1 and sitting through the credits earns a level 5 Farfetch’d that knows Baton Pass, Agility, Swords Dance and Slash; doing the same in Round 2 earns a level 5 Gligar with Earthquake, Poison Sting, Wing Attack and Counter. Each prize can be claimed only once per save, and both are placed in the lab’s boxes ready to be moved onto a cartridge.

The Gym Leader Castle: Johto, Kanto & Red

Stadium 2’s Gym Leader Castle is twice the size of the first game’s. The Johto run takes in eight Gyms, a Team Rocket takeover, the Elite Four and Champion Lance; beating Lance opens the Kanto castle, whose eight Leaders have no Gym trainers and can be taken on in any order. Beat all eight and Red is waiting at Mt. Silver.

• Farfetch’dRival prize, Round 1
• GligarRival prize, Round 2
• XatuOptions screen
• SmeargleIV colours
• HitmontopTopsy-Turvy
• CelebiPoké Cup ban

Gym Leader Castle rulesThe castle accepts Pokémon of any level from 1 to 100, rentals included, and opponents either sit at level 50 or match your strongest Pokémon. Duplicate species and duplicate held items are not allowed, and the Sleep, Freeze and Self-KO Clauses apply. The Johto run includes Gym trainers, a Team Rocket takeover between Olivine and Mahogany, the Elite Four and Lance, while the Kanto Leaders have no trainers and can be fought in any order. Beating Lance with a team transferred from a Game Boy game lets one Pokémon relearn a move from an earlier level.

Integration with Other Titles

As in the previous game, the Transfer Pak is the most important feature, not only linking Pokémon Stadium 2 to the first-generation trilogy (Red, Blue and Yellow) and the second-generation trilogy (Gold, Silver and Crystal), but also unlocking many new options alongside those from Pokémon Stadium:

• GB Tower: Plays the linked Game Boy Pokémon games on the television – at normal speed at first, then faster once the Doduo and Dodrio modes are unlocked.
• Pokémon Lab: By far the most useful feature of the Transfer Pak. The Lab PC lets the player browse the boxes in their linked Pokémon game, organise their Pokémon and transfer them to Pokémon Stadium 2. It also provides extra boxes the player can use to store Pokémon from the other games. The Pokémon Lab also makes trading between different games possible when they’re inserted in the Transfer Paks of two controllers. Moreover, there’s a Pokédex the player can use to look up every Pokémon in the game and where it can be found on the Johto and Kanto maps.
• Mobile Stadium (Japanese version only): With a Japanese Pokémon Crystal that has used the Mobile System GB plugged into the Transfer Pak, it downloads saved battles from Crystal and lets the player watch them in 3D.
• Mystery Gift: A feature that lets the player send a daily gift to their second-generation Pokémon games by linking them through the Transfer Pak. The gifts range from rare items to decorations.
• My Room: This feature requires a second-generation game in the Transfer Pak. It lets the player view their New Bark Town bedroom in 3D and decorate it with the different items obtained in the Game Boy game.

Regional Variations

Japan’s version arrived more than three months before North America’s and ten months before Europe’s, and it differs in several ways:

• Japan’s version is Pokémon Stadium Kin Gin (Gold Silver), because the Japanese Pokémon Stadium 2 was the 1999 game sold in the West as Pokémon Stadium; the Japanese logo carries a ‘Crystal Version compatible’ tag.
• Mobile Stadium is exclusive to the Japanese version: with a Japanese Crystal cartridge that has used the Mobile System GB, players could load downloaded battle records, such as Nintendo Cup 2000 replays, and watch or fight them in 3D.
• The Japanese version only reads Japanese Game Boy games, while the English and European versions work with each other’s cartridges; Korean Gold and Silver are not compatible with any version. Western releases still recognise the Japan-only Pokémon Green.
• The Western boxes and manuals leave Crystal off the compatibility list because Stadium 2 came out about four months before Crystal outside Japan, even though the game works with it.
• Localised versions play Pikachu’s voice when the game starts, where the Japanese version uses human voices, and they lengthen the in-battle text boxes so trainer portraits no longer spill over.
• In the Japanese Round 2, Lance’s Tyranitar and Feraligatr both hold a Quick Claw, breaking the duplicate-item rule; the Western versions give Feraligatr a Mystic Water.
• The consoles in My Room change by region: a Famicom and Super Famicom in Japan, an NES and SNES (with Super Mario World replacing SimCity) in North America, and an NES with an SNES-branded Super Famicom in the non-English European versions.

Left in the data

• Three decorations never made it into the gift tables: a Tentacool Doll and a Pikachu Bed, apparently meant as Stadium 2 exclusives but left out by oversight, and an Unown Doll whose model was later reused in Pokémon Channel. All three work if hacked into the game or the Game Boy titles, and Carrie has unused lines for each.
• Delibird’s Delivery contains unused presents, including a crushed food can, an Ash doll, a baseball glove and ball, a wooden bat, a toy computer and a potted Christmas tree.
• Pichu mugshots sit among the trainer and Gym Leader portraits, alongside an unused nametag for the GB Tower and an unused background for the quiz menu.
• A low-poly Fearow model is stored with the mini-game models, although Fearow appears in none of the mini-games, and many Pokémon still carry animations left over from the first Stadium’s intro.
• Every trainer has lines for a drawn match, which almost never happens against the computer; they can only be seen by forcing a time limit with a cheat device.

Glitches, exploits and oddities

Most of Stadium 2’s quirks come from its links to the Game Boy games:

Japanese Pokédex data with Western Blue

Connecting an English or European copy of Pokémon Blue makes the lab’s Pokédex read the area data for the Japanese Blue, a different game with its own wild Pokémon tables. As a result the map shows locations that are wrong for the Western cartridge, such as Lickitung in the Safari Zone, Jynx in the Seafoam Islands and Raticate in Cerulean Cave. It only affects the information on screen; the Game Boy game itself is untouched.

Early Sabrina via the Color Case

Because the Color Case can move items between Generation I games, a player can send a drink such as Fresh Water into a fresh Red, Blue or Yellow file long before reaching the Celadon vending machines. Handing it to a thirsty Saffron gate guard opens the city early, letting the player skip several routes and tunnels and challenge Sabrina as their second Gym Leader. The case is also the only legitimate way to multiply once-per-game items such as the Master Ball.

Hidden Game Boy Advance and GameCube presents

In the Japanese version, Delibird’s Delivery was meant to gain two special presents through Mobile Stadium: a prototype silver-and-teal Game Boy Advance and an early GameCube design, replacing the Game Boy and the Nintendo 64. A bug can make them appear without Mobile Stadium at all. It is not known whether Nintendo ever officially distributed either present, so the bug remains the only confirmed way to see them in the Japanese game.

Egg tints give away Shinies

The 3D Egg model is not quite uniform: ordinary Eggs carry faint tints that vary slightly from one Egg to the next, and the difference is enough to tell whether an Egg will hatch into a Shiny Pokémon. Checking an Egg transferred from Gold, Silver or Crystal in Stadium 2 can therefore give the secret away long before it hatches on the Game Boy, something the handheld games themselves never reveal.

Videos & media

Check out these Pokémon Stadium 2 videos, including the official trailer, the intro and a TV commercial.

The official trailer for Pokémon Stadium 2.

The opening ‘cinematic’ video from Pokémon Stadium 2.

A TV commercial for Pokémon Gold & Silver featuring Pokémon Stadium 2.

The Mobile Stadium theme music. This feature was only available in Japan, so the music can’t be heard in the Western versions of the game.

Trivia & facts

• If a Pikachu from Pokémon Yellow is transferred, it says its own name as its cry.
• Clearing every Round 1 cup or the Gym Leader Castle unlocks the Doduo GB Tower, which runs linked games at double speed. Completing both unlocks the Dodrio GB Tower, which runs Red, Blue and Yellow at four times the speed and Gold, Silver and Crystal at three times (the Generation II games need the Round 2 versions of the same feats).
• Clearing the Gym Leader Castle and the Stadium, and beating the Rival, unlock alternative title screens.

• 

  The gold and silver colours of the game’s cartridges are a reference to Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver.

• Electabuzz’s model still has six fingers, as in Pokémon Stadium.
• In Japan the game is called Pokémon Stadium Kin Gin (Gold Silver), because the previous game was released there as Pokémon Stadium 2 – Japan had three Stadium games in all.
• Computer trainers sometimes pop up to address the player during matches.

Further trivia

• At 512 megabits (64 MB), Stadium 2 shares the title of largest Nintendo 64 cartridge with Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Resident Evil 2.
• The cartridge drawn on the Game Pak Check screen looks remarkably like the one for Road Rash 64.
• Nintendo Power’s player’s guide to the game was the first official Nintendo source to use the word ‘Eeveelution’, which the games themselves did not adopt until Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
• Until Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 were announced, it was the only Pokémon game outside Asia with a number in its title.
• It was the last Pokémon game on the Nintendo 64, and the only one of the N64 Pokémon games built around Generation II.
• Moves the game considers illegal for a Pokémon are shown in purple in the battle menu, along with the trainer’s name, but the colouring is purely cosmetic.

Legacy

What came after

• Japanese release as Pokémon Stadium Kin Gin – 14 December 2000. Launched the same day as Pokémon Crystal, with Mobile Stadium support for Crystal’s Mobile System GB data.
• North American release – 26 March 2001. Arrived about four months before Pokémon Crystal, so the box and manual list only Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver.
• Australian release – 7 April 2001. PAL release with an OFLC G8+ rating.
• European release – 10 October 2001. Released in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, compatible with Western Game Boy games.
• Pokémon Colosseum – 21 November 2003 (Japan). The next home-console Pokémon battle game, on GameCube; Stadium 2 was the last Pokémon game on the Nintendo 64.
• Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack – 8 August 2023. Added to the Nintendo 64 library on the same day Pokémon Trading Card Game joined the Game Boy library; no Transfer Pak features.
• Nintendo Switch 2 – 5 June 2025. Playable on Switch 2 from launch through the Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics app.
• Nintendo Classics release in Taiwan – 9 September 2025. Released for the Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics app in Taiwan.

Where to play it today

As of October 2026 the easiest way in is Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, whose Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Classics app runs the game on Switch and Switch 2. That version is rentals only: with no Transfer Pak there is no GB Tower, My Room, Mystery Gift or imported team, and Mewtwo, Lugia and Ho-Oh are unavailable. For the full experience you still need a Nintendo 64, a Transfer Pak and original Game Boy cartridges with working saves.

How it was made

Pokémon Stadium 2 was made by Nintendo under director Takao Shimizu, with Tsutomu Kaneshige as program director; Kenji Miki, Tsunekazu Ishihara, Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto produced it and Hiroshi Yamauchi was executive producer. Nintendo of Europe also credits HAL Laboratory, the studio Iwata had led before moving to Nintendo in 2000. Hajime Wakai composed the score, Junichi Masuda is credited for the original Game Boy music, Ken Sugimori for the original character designs and Ikue Otani for Pikachu’s voice. Once referred to as Pokémon Stadium 3, the project was being called Pokémon Stadium Gold/Silver by July 2000 and was shown at Nintendo Space World that August. In October 2000 Nintendo fixed the Japanese launch for 14 December, the same day as Pokémon Crystal, announced official tournaments and set the North American date, and the game was backed by a reported US$7 million marketing budget.

Pokémon Stadium 2 elsewhere

Gold and Silver TV advertisingNintendo promoted Stadium 2 alongside Pokémon Gold and Silver, selling the N64 game as the place to see the new Johto Pokémon from your Game Boy battle in full 3D. The joint commercial, part of a wider franchise push that also took in Pokémon the Movie 2000, is among the videos on this page.

Nintendo Cup 2000Japan’s official tournament for Gold, Silver and Crystal ran from 3 November 2000 to 14 January 2001. Replays of its battles could be bought for 10 to 20 yen each through Crystal’s Mobile System GB and then watched, or fought, in 3D through Stadium 2’s Mobile Stadium. Outside Japan the same rule set was known as the Poké Cup.

Pokémon ChannelThe Unown Doll decoration, cut from Stadium 2’s gift tables before release, did not go to waste: its model resurfaced in Pokémon Channel on the GameCube in 2003, a game built around collecting Pokémon dolls and decorating Pikachu’s room, so the scrapped Stadium 2 gift finally found a home.

Sales & reviews

Sales figures

Although many people were waiting for its release, Pokémon Stadium 2 didn’t sell as well as its predecessor. Even so, it shipped about 2.5 million copies and was reported as one of the ten best-selling games of 2001.

The exact figure is 2.54 million units shipped (CESA Games White Paper, 2021), which makes it the 18th best-selling Nintendo 64 game.

• 2.54mshipped
• 251Pokémon in 3D
• 12mini-games
• 64 MBcartridge

Review scores

Like the previous game, Pokémon Stadium 2 won the approval of a good majority of critics, who were genuinely astonished by the 3D Pokémon and the fluid animation of their moves. Yet again, many admitted they had hoped for unique Pokémon voices like those in the animated series, and were disappointed once more by the generic sounds. Very likely the reason those sounds weren’t included was the limited space on N64 cartridges (64 MB, or 512 megabits, at most) – had the game been on CD or DVD, things might have been rather different.

• The game still managed high scores from reviewers, with IGN’s Chris Carle scoring it a strong 7.5 out of 10 and saying “The battle system, which dominates game play, is easy to follow, as it mirrors the Game Boy skirmishes any Pokefan is well-versed in. However, even if you have never explored the world of Pokémon, everything about Stadium 2 is user-friendly”.
• GameSpot’s Gerald Villoria also gave the game a high score of 7.2 out of 10, writing “If battle is the heart of the Stadium series, the graphics are clearly the body. The 249 Pokémon available in Stadium 2 are rendered in full 3D, complete with a proper repertoire of over-the-top attack effects. The characters are large, nicely rendered, and faithfully represent what you would expect of the cartoon and handheld’s newest stars. The techniques are each accompanied by a brief animation, such as an onscreen sandstorm, a colorful shower of light, impressive chrome effects, and the like”.
• As for Nintendo Power, it gave Pokémon Stadium 2 a score of 4 out of 5 stars.

Critics broadly agreed that Stadium 2 was a clear step up from the first game, with every Pokémon from both generations, sharper models and a far richer set of extras, but most added that its value depended on owning a Transfer Pak and the Game Boy games. Without them, reviewers found the rental-driven battling thin and repetitive. The 3D models and showy move effects drew praise, while the soundtrack and the reliance on Game Boy-style cries came in for criticism. Earl’s Academy was singled out as a clever way to teach newcomers, and the mini-games were seen as fun if slight party fare. Japanese magazines were warmer than most Western outlets, and aggregate scores settled in the mid to high seventies.

Awards and honours:

Media & artwork

• Official artwork gallery from Pokémon Stadium 2 – artwork of prominent Pokémon models
• Box art from Pokémon Stadium 2, including several regional variations
• Screenshots from Pokémon Stadium 2

Further reading

More Nintendo 64 and Generation II links on the site: