Stadium Cup

A Stadium Cup is one of the four competitions in Stadium Mode of Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2. Though there are only four in each game, there are six total.

Each Cup has different rules and regulations on things such as levels of the entered Pokémon, moves used, items held, and even the species of the entered Pokémon.

All of the cups have the same basic rules:

  • The player must enter with six Pokémon. All Pokémon must be different and hold different items. With the exception of the Challenge Cup, the player may select Pokémon from their game pak or rental Pokémon.
  • The player must select three Pokémon to battle. If the match is won and none of the player's Pokémon faint, a Continue is received.
  • Eight Trainers must be beaten in a row to win the Cup. If a player loses a battle, a Continue may be used to re-challenge the last opponent.
  • No two Pokémon can be asleep at the same time. (Pokémon that are put to sleep due to Rest count.)
  • No two Pokémon can be frozen at the same time.
  • If the player's last Pokémon uses Selfdestruct or Explosion, then the player loses even if the opponent's last Pokémon faints. Perish Song and Destiny Bond also fail when used by the last Pokémon.

Most of the cups in Pokémon Stadium were based on Pokémon Yellow's Cable Club. The Petit, Poké, and Pika Cups were first introduced in Yellow's Colosseum 2, while the Prime Cup was based on the free battle rules of normal link cable battles.

Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium 2

Generation IV equivalents

In Generation IV, there are four rule sets at the Pokémon Communication Club Colosseum which are very similar to the rules of four Stadium Cups of Generation I and Generation II. They are:

Stadium Cup Generation IV equivalent
Anything Goes / Prime Cup No restrictions
Poké Cup Standard Cup
Petit Cup Fancy Cup
Little Cup Little Cup


Features of the Stadium series
Stadium Cups: Pika CupPetit CupPoké Cup
Prime CupLittle CupChallenge Cup
Modes: Stadium ModeBattle Mode
Other: Gym Leader CastleWhite City
Earl's Pokémon AcademyGame Boy TowerKids Club
Mobile StadiumMystery GiftPokémon LabVictory Palace


  This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.