Pokémon Stadium 2

:For the stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, see Pokémon Stadium 2 (stage).
:For the game with the Japanese name of Pokémon Stadium 2, see Pokémon Stadium.
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Pokémon Stadium 2 (Japanese: ポケモンスタジアム Pokémon Stadium G&S; the series title ポケモンスタジアム is subtitled as Pocket Monsters' Stadium) is a Pokémon game for the Nintendo 64. It is the sequel to Pokémon Stadium.
Pokémon Stadium 2 allows battling with Generation I and II Pokémon in 3D, featuring several different battle modes. Players can battle with their Pokémon from , , , and by using a Transfer Pak. This game can utilize the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak, but it is not required. The Japanese version also has the capability to use the Mobile System GB from the Japanese version of Pokémon Crystal.
In Japan, it was released for Nintendo 64 on December 14, 2000, the same date as . In North America, Europe, and Australia, it was released in 2001, after the release of Pokémon Crystal in those regions.
It was re-released for Nintendo Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on August 8, 2023. However, this version of the game is unable to connect to the original Game Boy games (or their Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console releases).
==Terminology==
This game is called "Pokémon Stadium 2" in English, as it was the second Pokémon Stadium series game released outside Japan. However, this was the third Japanese game in this series.
For comparison, the earlier game known as Pokémon Stadium in English is titled ポケモンスタジアム２ (Pokémon Stadium 2) in Japan, as it was the second Japanese game in this series.
The Japanese version of Pokémon Stadium 2 is titled ポケモンスタジアム (Pokémon Stadium G&S), in reference to the games .
==Blurb==
Hundreds of Pokémon in Three-mendous 3-D! What's sweeter than victory in a Pokémon battle? Victory in a 3-D arena on the N64! Set your strategy then stand back while your Pokémon battle it out. You can even see the Pokémon you've trained rendered in 3-D and ready for battle!
* Nearly 250 Pokémon! Transfer Pokémon from the Red, Blue, Yellow - even Silver and Gold - versions of Pokémon for Game Boy. Or play with Rental Pokémon from the game.
* See them all in glorious 3-D! Pit , , , and against all-time favorites like , , , and .
* Become the Stadium Champion! Take on 21 Pokémon Trainers in the Gym Leader Castle and try to win it all!
* 12 all-new mini-games! Try to bump the other out of the arena in Topsy-Turvy or charge up more energy than anyone else in Pichu's Power Plant.
==White City==
White City is the home of a large Pokémon Stadium, a state of the art laboratory, a prestigious Pokémon academy and much more.
===Stadium===
Number of Players: One
Pokémon may either be rented or uploaded from an attached game cartridge. Eight Trainers must be defeated in order to win in each cup. The Poké Cup and Challenge Cup have four difficulty levels each.
Little Cup:
* Only unevolved Pokémon that can evolve during Generation II may enter. A total of 86 kinds are eligible.
* Pokémon must be level 5
* and have no effect
Poké Cup:
* Pokémon must be between the levels of 50 and 55.
* The sum of the levels of the three Pokémon chosen to battle must not be more than 155.
* , , , , and cannot enter.
Prime Cup:
* All Pokémon up to level 100 are eligible, opponents all use level 100 Pokémon.
* Unlike the Prime Cup of the previous game, there is only one difficulty level.
Challenge Cup:
* The player's six Pokémon, and all of the opponents' Pokémon, are selected at random from a pool of rentals. (Each opponent's roster still follows a particular theme.)
* There are four different level classes:
** Poké Ball: Level 30
** Great Ball: Level 45
** Ultra Ball: Level 60
** Master Ball: Level 75
===Free Battle===
Number of Players: One to Four
Here players can battle with one to three other people or battle the computer, which is represented by . Two people may battle on a team against the opponent. The Stadium background may be chosen from those already unlocked and players may use customized rulesets created in the options menu.
===Gym Leader Castle===
Number of Players: One
At the Gym Leader Castle, the player can use Pokémon uploaded from a Pokémon Game Boy game or rentals (from the Poké Cup at level 50) to battle the Gym Leaders of Johto and Kanto. The minimum Pokémon level used by the opponents is 50.
Most Gyms have several Trainers; the sole exception on the Johto side is the Olivine Gym, and there are only the leaders to be found on the Kanto side.
====Johto Gym Leader Castle====
Violet Gym:
* Matt
* Falkner
Azalea Gym:
* Chaz
* Min and Lyn
* Bugsy
Goldenrod Gym:
* Lois
* Rita
* Whitney
Ecruteak Gym:
* Holly
* Ty
* Morty
Cianwood Gym:
* Nick
* Chuck
Olivine Gym:
* Jasmine
Team Rocket interruption:
* (♂)
* (♀)
* Executive(♀)
* Executive(♂)
Mahogany Gym:
* Alvin
* Carol
* Pryce
Blackthorn Gym:
* Gloria
* Vince
* Clair
Elite Four:
* Elite Four Will
* Elite Four Koga
* Elite Four Bruno
* Elite Four Karen
* Lance
If the Elite Four segment is cleared using 6 Pokémon from a player's Game Boy cartridge—no rentals must be used—then the player is given the option to teach a single move to one of the Pokémon they used that it could learn at a previous level. Until Generation III's Move Reminder, this was the only way to do this.
====Kanto Gym Leader Castle====
The Kanto side is not available until the Johto side is completed. The eight Kanto Leaders can be defeated in any order, and are fought in the same Gym arenas as the previous game.
Pewter Gym:
* Brock
Cerulean Gym:
* Misty
Vermilion Gym:
* Lt. Surge
Celadon Gym:
* Erika
Fuchsia Gym:
* Janine
Saffron Gym:
* Sabrina
Cinnabar Gym:
* Blaine
Viridian Gym:
* 
After they are all defeated, one last challenge appears:
Silver Cave:
* 
===Game Boy Tower===
Number of Players: One
At the Game Boy Tower, players can play all compatible Pokémon Game Boy games on the Nintendo 64 using the Transfer Pak. This is similar to Nintendo's Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player, except it only plays the compatible Pokémon games.
There are two options: Load Max and Load Little. Load Max makes the gameplay smoother, but takes longer to initially load the Game Boy game.
Like the previous Pokémon Stadium, Doduo and Dodrio Game Boy are unlockable features which speed up gameplay. Doduo Game Boy becomes unlocked for Red, Blue, and Yellow when beating either Gym Leader Castle or all the cups in Round 1, and also for Gold, Silver, and Crystal for meeting this requirement in Round 2. It allows the player to play at twice the speed; however, in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the border will be missing and the screen will have a sepia tone until switching back to normal speed. Dodrio Game Boy is available for Red, Blue, and Yellow when beating both the Gym Leader Castle and all the cups in Round 1, and for Gold, Silver, and Crystal when doing this in Round 2. In Red, Blue, and Yellow, this allows the player to play at quadruple the speed, and in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, it allows the player to play at triple the speed; however, there is still no border, and the screen is grayscale. Also, the Elite Four needs to be beaten in Gold, Silver, and Crystal to be able to use this feature in those games.
===Pokémon Lab===
In this laboratory of Professor Oak, players can do several things:
* Switch game paks to upload data from
* Trade Pokémon between different game paks (requires at least two Transfer Paks and two compatible Pokémon games)
* Check a 3D Pokédex, including a detailed 3D world map of Johto and Kanto
* Move and check items and Pokémon on a PC. This PC can be used to store Pokémon on the Stadium 2 Game Pak.
** Items can be transferred between games of the same generation without issue: Generation I games store items in the Color Case, while Generation II games store items in the Metal Case.
===Pokémon Academy===
Number of Players: One
At Earl's Pokémon Academy, players can learn new battle skills in lectures from Earl, and show them off in various "test" battles, where the object is to defeat an opponent using specific Pokémon that know advantageous moves for the situation at hand. There is also an extensive items, Pokémon, and battling library at the Academy. By inserting into a Transfer Pak, the library is expanded with data pertaining to that game.
===My Room===
Here players can see their room from Gold, Silver, or versions in 3D. As in the games, it can be redecorated freely, however, there must be a Generation II Pokémon game in the Transfer Pak to access it.
===Mini-games===
===VS Rival===
Number of Players: One
After each of the Stadium Cups and the Gym Leader Castle have all been completed 100%, 's lair will appear in White City, where he awaits the player's challenge. He wields , , and , all level 100, and the player may use up to 6 Pokémon (their own or Prime Cup rentals) to try to defeat him.
If victorious, the player is treated to a parade roll of all 251 then-known Pokémon, followed by the credits, which feature photographs of the various Trainers of the combined Gym Leader Castles in battle. Defeating the Rival for the first time awards the player a that knows , and opens up Round 2 of the game (see below). In the Round 2 Rival battle, he uses the same Pokémon, but substantially stronger. Victory in Round 2 awards a that knows .
==Other modes==
These modes are accessed from the main menu:
===Battle Now!===
Number of Players: One to Two
In this mode, one or two players battle with 6 random Pokémon from a small selection, in a standard 3 vs. 3 battle. Both opponents will be very evenly matched. In Round 1, the Pokémon are level 40 and mostly unevolved; in Round 2 they are level 70 and fully evolved. When playing against the CPU (Cal), there are three difficulty levels to choose.
====Round 1====
====Round 2====
===Event Battle===
Number of Players: Two
Here, two players can battle with the rules of one of the Stadium Cups, or use custom rules. Only Pokémon from a Game Boy cartridge are allowed, and it is possible to set special options such as a time limit, making it ideal for tournament play.
Time limits for selecting actions can be set between 10 and 90 seconds; on the other hand, the time limit for the overall match can be set between 5 and 90 minutes. When the time of the match is over the winner is decided with these criteria in the following order: number of remaining Pokémon and sum of the remaining Pokémon Hit Points percentages (in both cases, the player that has the highest number wins). If both players have the same number of remaining Pokémon and Hit Points percentages the match is declared a Draw.
Unlike the Free Battle mode players can't choose the stage, each fight always takes place in the stage of its corresponding format (in the case of Edit Rules, the battles take place in the Free Battle stage with the music of the first three battles of the Poké Cup).
===Mystery Gift===
The girl here will give each Game Boy game pak one gift a day. If the gift is an item, the player must pick it up at the Laboratory or in a Pokémon Center. Using this feature also leaves waiting to battle the player at Viridian City's Trainer House. Note: Mystery Gift must first be activated in the Generation II games. This mode is not available for Generation I versions.
==Round 2==
When the Rival is defeated, Round 2 can be toggled on and off by pressing C-Right on the main menu. As in the previous game, Round 2 challenges the player to battle through the game all over again, against the same opponents, but they have different Pokémon and the difficulty is much higher. Round 2 is differentiated from Round 1 in White City by a sunset background.
==Transfer Pak==
The player may use the Transfer Pak to connect this game with all Generation I and core series games, depending on their language.
The English and European versions of Pokémon Stadium 2 and core series games are compatible with each other. The Japanese version of Pokémon Stadium 2 is only compatible with Japanese core series games. The Korean versions of are incompatible with Pokémon Stadium 2.
==Mobile System GB==
The Japanese version connects to , allowing the player to view saved battles from that game that were performed through the Mobile System GB connection. This feature uses a special stadium called the Mobile Stadium (Japanese: モバイルスタジアム). A similar function is fulfilled by the Vs. Recorder in , .
==Game mechanics changes==
Pokémon Stadium 2 includes 22 changes to game mechanics that were implemented to fix some glitches or to balance the game (some of the changes come from Pokémon Crystal's Story Mode). Below is the complete list of changes:https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/item-clause-gsc-ou-little-cup-middle-cup-poké-cup-and-ubers-resources-discussion.3634609/page-3#post-8891528
*Team Preview is always enforced.
*Dragon Fang replaces Dragon Scale as the item to boost the power of moves by 10%.
*Only items that have an effect in battle can be equipped to the Pokémon. Items like Mails, the Sun Stone, or the Ultra Ball can't be equipped at all (with the exception of the Dragon Scale, which can be equipped despite it no longer boosting the power of Dragon-type moves).
*Item Clause is enforced in all Story Modes and Multiplayer battles of the game, except in Anything Goes and Edit Rules battles where players are free to decide if they want to enforce it or not.
*Players can see the actual HP number of the Pokémon that are fighting.
*Berserk Gene is buffed: the user only gets for 2 to 5 turns instead of 255. If the Pokémon gets Confused for 4 turns, the status is lifted during its Attack phase on turn 5, just as with normal Confusion.
*Metal Powder is nerfed to now only raise the physical Defense and Special Defense of Ditto when it is not .
*When is used by a Pokémon that has less than half of its HP remaining, the move fails instead of raising the Pokémon's Attack by two stages.
*In Little Cup battles, and do zero damage.
* uses a different damage formula. The move has a 40% chance of having a Base Damage of 40; a 30% chance of having a Base Damage of 80; a 10% chance of having a Base Damage of 120, and a 20% chance of healing a quarter of the opponent's HP (unless it has full health, in which case, the move fails).
*In Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal, if or (but not ) misses and the opponent uses after that in the same turn, the user of the One Hit KO move is hit by Counter and faints even if it has full health. In Pokémon Stadium 2's mechanics, if Fissure or Horn Drill miss, Counter fails and does zero damage.
*Stat rollovers never occur; e.g., if a max Attack Level 100 uses , it gets a final Attack value of 999, and subsequent uses of Swords Dance don't do anything.
*If a Burned Pokémon uses a move that raises its Attack, the stat's reduction is ignored, e.g., if a Burned uses once, its Attack stage increases to +1 instead of -1.
*If a Burned Pokémon gets hit by a move that reduces its Attack one stage, the stat is increased, e.g., if a Burned Ursaring is hit with Growl, its Attack stage increases from -2 to -1.
*If a Burned Pokémon gets hit by a move that reduces its Attack two stages, the stat remains the same, e.g., if a Burned Tyranitar is hit with Charm, its Attack stage stays at -2.
*If a Paralyzed Pokémon uses a move that increases its Speed, the stat's reduction is ignored, e.g., if a Paralyzed Raichu uses Agility once, its Speed stage increases to +2 instead of -4.
*If a Paralyzed Pokémon gets hit by an attack that reduces its Speed, the stat is increased, e.g., if a Paralyzed Aerodactyl is hit with Icy Wind, its Speed stage increases from -6 to -1.
*The Sleep status is nerfed: it now lasts 2-4 turns, like in Pokémon Crystal's Battle Tower. On turn 1 the Pokémon never wakes up, on turn 2 it has a 33.3% chance of waking up, on turn 3 it has a 50% chance of waking up, and finally, on turn 4 it is always guaranteed to wake up.
*The Freeze Clause from Pokémon Stadium 1 returns; it is enforced in all game modes and can't be deactivated.
*Sleep Clause is always enforced. This also applies to self-inflicted sleep due to .
*Self KO Clause also returns and is always enforced. If the last Pokémon of a player uses Self-Destruct or Explosion, they lose; on the other hand, Destiny Bond and Perish Song always fail when they're used by the last Pokémon (in the case of Perish Song, the countdown doesn't even take place). 
*Recoil Moves Clause is enforced, but a bit different: if both players have only one Pokémon left and one KOs the other with a Recoil move, the user of the move doesn't take Recoil damage.
==Special Pokémon==
Two Pokémon with unique moves can be obtained and transferred to any Generation II game. 
===Baton Pass Farfetch'd===
This with the special move is obtained by beating the Rival at the end of Round 1. 
===Earthquake Gligar===
This with the special move (which it cannot be taught by TM26 in Generation II) is obtained by beating the Rival at the end of Round 2.
==Staff==
==Trivia==
* Western versions of this game's cartridge were specially colored , referencing the first two games of the generation.
* Pokémon Stadium 2, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Resident Evil 2 are the largest games for the Nintendo 64, each one having a file size of 64 megabytes.
* Unlike the Japanese boxart and manual, the English boxart and manual lack in their lists of compatible games (despite the games being fully compatible), because Stadium 2 was released four months before Crystal internationally.
* Computer-controlled Trainers are capable of generating text boxes with their Trainer icon attached when certain events happen in the middle of a battle, such as using a particular move or receiving a critical hit, to give the impression that they're talking to the player during battle. A similar feature would later be implemented for important Trainers in Generation IV and carry over into Generation V.
* In Nintendo Power's Official Player's Guide, the term "Eeveelution" is mentioned, making this the first time an official Nintendo source acknowledges the fan term. However, it was not used in a game until Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
* Until the announcement of Pokémon Black and White Versions 2, this was the only Pokémon game to have a number in its name outside of Asia.
* Because of the Color Case's ability to transfer items directly between Generation I games without requiring a matching Trainer ID (its predecessor required a matching Trainer ID), it is possible to face Sabrina as the second Gym Leader in , as long as a drink has been transferred in for Saffron City's guards.
* This is the only game in which Red appears without ever using his Pikachu in battle. It does, however, make a cameo appearance during the end credits, battling with 's .
* Two unlockable title screens are available after clearing the Gym Leader Castle, Stadium, and Vs Rival mode. The second title screen features , , , and the Legendary beasts in the background. The third title screen features and .
* There is a glitch which causes non-Japanese Stadium 2 connected with non-Japanese to display the map locations for Japanese Blue instead. For instance, the map in Stadium 2 incorrectly displays as available in the Cerulean Cave in the non-Japanese versions of Pokémon Blue, when in fact Raticate is only available there in the Japanese version of Pokémon Blue.
* have varying back and tail colors based on IVs; this is the only game to feature varying Smeargle patterns.
** Similarly, Eggs that do not contain Shiny Pokémon have slightly varying tints. This can be used to determine whether or not an Egg contains a Shiny Pokémon prior to hatching.Shiny Egg Hue Previewer - Blue Moon Falls
* If the game is left idle on the Options menu for several minutes, a will appear and raise its wings. It will repeatedly do this, teleporting to random spots and rotations around the screen."12 Obscure Unnoticed Details in Pokemon" - BlueBoyPhin - YouTube
* On the Game Pak Check screen, the cartridge in the Nintendo 64 appears to be a copy of Road Rash 64."1 Hour of NEW Pokemon Facts to Fall Asleep to" (08:00) - DidYouKnowGaming - YouTube
* In the internal files for the game under Trainer profile pictures, there are three mugshots for .
* This was the last Pokémon game released for the Nintendo 64, and the only one to not be part of Generation I, falling into Generation II instead.
* Moves that are flagged as illegal by the game are displayed in purple in the battle menu, and its Trainer's name is displayed in purple too. This is purely visual and there are no other consequences on gameplay.
==In other languages==
==References==
==Related articles==
Category:Games
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Category:Nintendo 64 games
de:Pokémon Stadium 2
es:Pokémon Stadium 2
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ja:ポケモンスタジアム金銀
zh:宝可梦竞技场金银