Last month, fans said goodbye to Ash and Pikachu as their journey came to a conclusion in the anime. While the wave of nostalgia certainly hit the long-term fanbase, there is something new for fans to look forward to this year. Nintendo announced that Pokémon Stadium will be coming to Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online this month. Pokémon Stadium was first released for the Nintendo 64 back in 2000. The battle arena-style game hosts all the Pokémon from the Kanto Region featured in Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Yellow versions. Pokémon Stadium doesn’t have a main story for players to play through but it has plenty of challenging battles and game modes to try out as seen in Nintendo’s announcement trailer.
In Pokémon Stadium, players will have two modes to play through the game with. Trainers will battle it out in one of the four different cups available to challenge. The Pika Cup, Petit Cup, Poké Cup and Prime Cup are all three-on-three battle against a lineup of trainers each come with their own rules and restrictions. The Gym Leader Castle is the next available game mode to take on. In this challenge, trainers will battle against Kanto’s gym leaders, move on to take on the elite four and the Champion. There is also an option to play battles against friends in the free battle mode. And now with the Nintendo Online Services, players will also be able to battle against their friends online.
In addition to battles, Pokémon Stadium also hosts a variety of mini-games available to play in the Kids Club. Despite the name, this mode still hosts a variety of competitive mini-games to take on such as the challenging memory game Clefairy Says, racing to the highest heights in Magikarp’s Splash or being the first Sandshrew to dig and find water in Dig! Dig! Dig!
Pokémon Stadium will be coming to Nintendo Switch Online on April 12. A subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online+ Expansion Pack is required to play.