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In December of 2000, Japan got to see their new mythical creatures fight on the big screen in 3D with the release of Pokemon Stadium: Gold and Silver. We would later receive this early 2001 released as Pokemon Stadium 2. If you're familiar with Pokemon Stadium (which Japan called Pokemon Stadium 2 as they had a...slightly more primitive prequel beforehand, though it did have some unique cups and fights exclusive to it!), this is essentially that but with Gen 2 mechanics, brutal difficulty and all.
I'm FlamingRok, and we'll be completing at least Round 1 with only the rental Pokemon given by the game. I am considering Round 2, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Rental Pokemon?
These are Pokemon given as options for those who don't have a cartridge to transfer Pokemon from, and are generally subpar to just bad, whether it's stats, moves, or both. It's still possible to play the game with rentals, but it's very clear that you were encouraged to transfer your own team over. Alongside this, not all 251 Pokemon are offered, mainly the big boy legendary Pokemon are not available.
I also will be giving my thoughts on each of these rentals, and for Gen 1 Pokemon in specific, I'll talk about how they were back in Stadium 1 and say whether I think they're better, worse, different.
Why are you qualified for this difficult game?
I'm not. My competitive Pokemon experience is at a minimum. But I'm very stubborn and obsessive over stupid shit like this, so here we are.
Audience Participation?
At various points in the game (mostly early game, but there is later on where this once again will become viable), I will have polls up with teams I have ideas for that may make for fun updates. There will also be an additional option for any Pokemon you may want to see. Depending on the situation, I will likely be able to show off at least one Pokemon from that evolution line, if maybe not the exact Pokemon due to circumstances and how usable that rental is.
Spoiler Policies?
Go nuts. This game is 20 years old, there's plenty of videos and information about the game available, whatever. Trying to constrain it all will just become awkward, so if you want to talk about something I haven't covered yet, sure thing.
Format?
Screenshot. It's Pokemon. If you really want to see the animations, as mentioned before there's plenty of videos online, I would not be adding anything by piling more onto the pool.
Other
Critiques are always welcome, both in terms of my gameplay, Gen 2, etc, but let's try and keep it a generally positive environment shall we? At the end of the day, this is a children's franchise that adults can also enjoy, we don't need to say how shit Pokemon is to other monster collecting games and whatnot. Going a little off the rails is fine, but let's keep it so we can still put the cart back on the track.
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Update 1: It's getting primed for action!
The first place we'll be going to will be the Gym Leader Castle, the "story mode" of Stadium 2, and the only other place we'll need to head to in order to complete the game is the very centre, which holds all the Stadium Cups. We'll cover which cups are in the stadium soon, but the other facilities are (in counter-clockwise order starting from the castle) the Pokemon Lab (used for storing Pokemon and items on Stadium 2), Home (to view your room from the cartridge games in 3D! Wow!), GB Tower (emulates the cartridge with unlockable speed options), Earl's Pokemon Academy (teaches Pokemon mechanics, from basics to actually some interesting advanced interactions, we'll view these in an update eventually), Free Battle (lets you and your friends or a computer battle with chosen teams), and of course, the Minigames.
So without further ado, let's go take on our first Gym Leader, shall we?
Little less sinister than what Stadium 1's Castle looked like, huh?
So because of the fact that there are now 251 Pokemon, they needed to add in easier ways to navigate to your favourite Pokemon you want to use, so now there's three sorting options; Alphabetical, Old Pokedex, and the Pokedex no one uses (New Pokedex)! It's a nice quality of life feature, as well as a C-Button scroll bar since there are quite a few more Pokemon than before.
Voltorb is interesting compared to Stadium 1 Rentals. It has the lower accuracy of Thunder, but in return gets Rain Dance to ensure those Thunders will hit, Self-Destruct which is actually stronger than Gen 1’s Explosion, and Mirror Coat, a move that lets it gimmick past special mons and then explode. I’d say Voltorb in Stadium 2 is better than in Stadium 1, but the lower accuracy of Thunder does hurt if it isn’t given the opportunity to set up Rain Dance.
Qwilfish gets two STAB moves! That’s better than most rentals, and to compensate for its lower Special Attack it knows Hydro Pump. Sludge Bomb off of 126 Attack is extremely strong, and if you’re relying on luck, Minimize is fine too! It’s odd to think that Qwilfish is one of the better rentals in the game, but here we are.
Jigglypuff technically has a better moveset in Stadium 1...but Psychic on a Pokemon with 53 Special isn’t going to accomplish a single thing. Of course, that’s not to say Defense Curl+Rollout is enough to make up for Jigglypuff’s awful damage output, because it really isn’t. The two are comparable to each other; pretty bad. At least Body Slam paralysis is good and it’s somewhat bulky!
Gastly is comparable to Stadium 1 as it is in Stadium 2: it hits harder with Psychic and technically has an option for Psychic types with Shadow Ball. It’s a shame Shadow Ball is Physical, and instead of Explosion, it gets Curse, which on something as frail as Gastly isn’t great as the opponent can just swap out. Still, the upsides are hard to ignore.
Forretress...man I wish I had more positive to say. Its defense is insane, it’s a very rare user of Spikes, and since Sandstorm deals 1/8th of max HP in Gen 2, it could be believed it’s useful as a staller. Against certain teams it might be enough with Rollout growing in power and Strength as an...okay neutral move? Unfortunately most Fire types to threaten with Rollout are faster and will OHKO, and Strength is fine but nothing exceptional.
Koffing loses coverage in exchange for Sludge Bomb, so it’s immediately more useful as it kept the move it cared about in Fire Blast. Toxic is good for Pokemon it knows it can’t take out quickly, and Explosion off of this beast will hurt. There’s just no contest: Koffing in Stadium 2 is much better than in Stadium 1, and that’s without factoring in the better stats between the latter to the former.
And with that, Team Orb is ready to roll! In addition, we're allowed to equip items to Pokemon now since this is using Gen 2 mechanics. I'll be doing that next update, but for this update, itemless will be fine.
A cute little touch is that they give each trainer an opening quote. Matt's team isn't anything super impressive to write about, but it is our first battle, so it'll be expanded on a bit more. I decide on bringing Gastly, Qwilfish, and Koffing, if only because sweeping the first trainer with Voltorb wouldn't exactly be interesting. Just like in Stadium 1, despite bringing a full team of 6, you only choose 3 Pokemon to battle with.
Luckily for me, they decided to lead Natu. This would potentially be threatening...if it's only damaging move wasn't Peck.
Shadow Ball off of Gastly's pitiful Attack isn't great...
...but it does more than enough to Natu, especially compared to Peck's damage.
Out comes Spearow next, which has a slightly better chance of being a threat at least. I attempt to confuse it to buy me some time.
It of course not only doesn't work out for me, it even potentially backfires on me! Wonderful.
I decide "fuck this" and luckily break through confusion to Curse.
Good to see my Confuse Ray did absolutely nothing, and now Spearow's actually decently strong. +1 Attack could definitely put the hurt on my team!
It's a real shame between Curse and Psychic, Spearow can't really pull off anything, especially when its only other move that can try and hurt me is Fly.
Can't fly away from a curse.
Pidgey manages to tank a Psychic decently for being a Pidgey, before taking off into the skies.
Thanks to Gastly's paper thin Defense, it finally goes down.
Shame Pidgey can do nothing more but tickle Koffing.
It valiantly pulls off a Quick Attack before Sludge Bomb finishes it off.
For the record, Voltorb would've finished this in about four turns, but I wanted to have some fun before Falkner.
Yeah, "raised". Each trainer also has a post-battle quote, whether they won or lost, and a unique one if you decide to forfeit the match! There's technically quotes for a "draw" but there are no conditions that can actually trigger one, and even if that condition were to be met, it'd count as a loss for the player.
Falkner on the other hand has a much more formidable team of birds. Fearow is a powerhouse, Togetic has an impressive amount of coverage, and Noctowl is pretty bulky. Fortunately, Pidgeot is guaranteed to come to this fight, so I won't ever need to take on all three of these threats at once. I bring Voltorb, Forretress, and Jigglypuff. If Togetic doesn't come to party, Forretress can effectively wall out anything else Falkner has, and when else am I going to use Jigglypuff?
Ah, Fearow. Well to be honest, since we were leading Voltorb, it didn't matter what Falkner led with. And it's very important it was Voltorb who came along.
Why you may ask?
Oh, no reason. Other than Mud-Slap otherwise being very obnoxious to deal with. But remember when I said that Thunder in the rain ignores Thunder's accuracy?
That includes stat drops. It just becomes a never missing 120 power Electric move. Luckily for me, Fearow was taken out in one hit, which is actually a range!
Noctowl isn't exactly strong, but it's certainly bulky. Bulky enough that there's a chance to survive two Thunders and tell the tale in fact.
That won't be the case this time. Unfortunately, the paralysis didn't come into effect for me, so Noctowl gets to tack on another Mud-Slap.
One more is enough to seal the deal. All that's left is Pidgeot.
So how did I know Pidgeot would be last, or even coming to the fight at all? All Gym Leaders, E4 and Champion have a signature Pokemon that they're guaranteed to bring to the fight, and in Falkner's case, it's Pidgeot. Sometimes this changes between Round 1 and 2, but for now, Falkner will always bring Pidgeot, even if he doesn't lead with it. This is extremely good knowledge to have against future major fights for reasons you might be able to guess.
Anyways, one more Thunder drops down, but now unfortunately the rain has died down, so those Mud-Slaps will finally catch up to us. After taking a Mud-Slap and Quick Attack, I go for it...
...and as expected, Voltorb can't quite complete the sweep. Turns out Thunder with -3 Accuracy on top of a base 70% accuracy are pretty bad odds!
Pidgeot ensures we won't get another chance with one more Quick Attack.
Well all Jigglypuff needs to do now is hit one Body Slam and we've won, so I feel confident in doing just that-
Rude.
Ruder.
Rudest.
Pidgeot flew up into the sky again so I decide I should at least set up a Defense Curl while I can't do anything and it was most certainly not an excuse to show off Orbblypuff.
Third time's the charm, and Jigglypuff is able to seal the deal.
To be completely honest, we were never really in danger once Voltorb did most of the heavy lifting, as Forretress would've ensured Pidgeot lost with Sandstorm. There wasn't really any risk in sending in Jigglypuff either though, so why not let the puffball have some time in the spotlight?
And with that, there's our first badge! And with that, I've got a [insert link here]poll[/url] voting onto whether we should continue Gym Leader Castle or Visit the Stadium, alongside a number of teams I can bring to either option. In that poll also is a form in case you want to see a Pokemon represented! We're early game, we have flexibility at the moment.