After taking February and March off, another 64-bit game is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service. That's right, on April 12th, Expansion Pack subscribers will have access to the Nintendo 64 classic – Pokémon Stadium. That's cool and all, but is this game worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, Incite Video Gaming and more classic magazines to see what the critics said back when this game first came out. Get that transfer pack warmed up and grab the nearest trainer, because this is another Pokémon-filled episode of the Nintendo Switch Online Review Crew!


I want to take you back to the year 2000, a time when the world had a bad case of Pokémon fever. With the Game Boy versions flying off of store shelves, a lot of loyal fans were excited about the prospect of a big console role-playing game on the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, what they got instead was Pokémon Stadium, a game that hoped seeing your favorite pocket monsters battle in 3D would be enough of a draw. Sure, it might be the fully-realized RPG many had hoped for, but you could transfer the Pokémon characters you caught on the Game Boy and it was loaded with mini-games and a mode that let you go head-to-head with other trainers. Was that enough to overcome the initial disappointment?

When it came to Electronic Gaming Monthly, the answer was largely no. With an average score of 6.5 out of 10, none of the EGM critics were all that impressed with Pokémon Stadium. Crispin complained that “there's not much of a game here at all. You upload monsters. You watch them fight. You win tournaments. That's it.” He liked that you got to take in your full-blown Pokedex, “but it's just not enough.” Che liked it a bit more than Crispin, but still complained that the “battle system is extremely limited. Mini-games, being able to browse through your Pokémon, take their picture, play the Game Boy game on the big screen – these are nice diversions, but there's no point to this game. It's merely a game set within the world of the Game Boy games. But hey, who's listening to me?”

Not the rest of the critics, that's for sure. While EGM was low on the game, the rest of the magazines were surprisingly consistent. Game Informer ended up giving Pokémon Stadium an 8 out of 10 back in their 84th issue. That's perfectly in line with Incite Video Gaming, which loved seeing “Pokémon in 3D color” and praised the adorable mini-games. That said, they were a bit concerned over cuteness overload and not being able to access items outside of the Game Boy game area. They gave it 4 stars out of 5.

In case you're wondering, the two highest scores came from Nintendo Power and GamePro. For their part, Nintendo Power gave the game an 8.8 out of 10, with Jennifer concluding that “I loved the gallery feature, and the hidden secret features are very cool.” The editors liked seeing the Pokémon characters in 3D, though complained that “the announcer gets tiresome and the music and sound effects are nothing special.”

GamePro, on the other hand, gave Pokémon Stadium the highest marks, with a stellar 4.5 out of 5. “While the novelty of full-color, full 3D melee combat does wear off in time, there's enough packed into this Stadium – such as the mini-games and excellent management utilities – to keep Pokefans coming back for more.” Was that true a quarter century ago? Maybe. It seems like there's a variety of opinions when it comes to that question. However, I'm not so sure that will be the case in 2023. This seems like the kind of thing that is for nostalgia only, but you can let me know if I'm wrong in the comments.