Pokémon Stadium series

The Pokémon Stadium series (Japanese: ポケスタシリーズ PokéSta series^[1], or 「ポケモンスタジアム」シリーズ "Pokémon Stadium" series^[2]) is a side series of Pokémon games for the Nintendo 64 released during Generation I and Generation II and compatible with the games of those generations. In the games of this series, players can upload Pokémon from their Game Boy games to battle in 3D in various modes, most notably Stadium Mode, featuring various classes for Trainers to beat, and the Gym Leader Castle, featuring the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champion of the respective generation's games. Players who did not have any core series games could still rent almost all 251 Pokémon at the time in certain modes.

The Pokémon Stadium logo, depicting Blastoise and Charizard

List of games

Gen.	Image	English title	Japanese title	Platform	Release date
Gen.	Image	English title	Japanese title	Platform	Japan	North America	Europe	Australia
I		—	ポケモンスタジアム Pokémon Stadium	Nintendo 64	August 1, 1998	—	—	—
I		Pokémon Stadium	ポケモンスタジアム２ Pokémon Stadium 2		April 30, 1999	February 29, 2000	April 7, 2000	March 23, 2000
II		Pokémon Stadium 2	ポケモンスタジアム金銀 Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver ポケモンスタジアム金銀クリスタルバージョン Pokémon Stadium Gold, Silver, and Crystal Version		December 14, 2000	March 26, 2001	October 10, 2001	2001

Compatibility

Main article: Transfer Pak#Compatibility

Discontinuation

When Generation III was released, many expected a third (fourth in Japan) Stadium game to surface, complete with a Hoenn Gym Leader Castle. Instead, two RPGs were released, Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD, and a separate storage system, Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire. In the most basic sense, the Stadium series had ended. However, the Generation IV game Pokémon Battle Revolution brings back many of the features of the Stadium series, such as Little Cup, the division to rounds and prize Pokémon, but there is neither a Sinnoh Gym Leader Castle, a storage system, nor a mini-game mode.

In the Super Smash Bros. series

A stage based on the Pokémon Stadium games, simply titled Pokémon Stadium, is featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a Melee stage. Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U also feature the Pokémon Stadium series-based Pokémon Stadium 2.

Pokémon Stadium stage
Pokémon Stadium 2 stage

Trivia

These were the first games to color-code types. The colors used in the Pokémon Stadium series were different than those that were introduced during Generation III in the core series Pokémon games (for example, Fire was red, not orange).
In these games, sleep had a maximum duration of 3 turns, as opposed to the handheld games, which had a maximum sleep duration of 7 turns.