The very first Pokémon Stadium was released only in Japan, on August 1st, 1998, for the Nintendo 64. Fans often call it “Pokémon Stadium 0” to tell it apart from its sequel, which we know in Europe as Pokémon Stadium. It featured only forty playable Pokémon. Here is its fact sheet.

The Japanese cover.
Japanese titlePokémon Stadium (subtitled Pocket Monsters’ Stadium)
PlatformNintendo 64
Japan releaseAugust 1st, 1998
Europe releaseNone
DevelopersNintendo, HAL Laboratory
PublisherNintendo
GenreBattle simulation
Players1 to 4
Playable Pokémon40 according to Bulbapedia, 42 according to Poképédia
AccessoryTransfer Pak
Compatible gamesPokémon Red and Green, then Blue

A game planned for the 64DD

The game was originally intended for the Nintendo 64DD, the console’s disk drive. Faced with delays and the failure of that peripheral, it was released on cartridge with reduced content: only forty Pokémon are playable, chosen from among the most used in tournaments. The other 111 Pokémon can still be viewed in 3D in the Pokédex, but cannot battle. An expansion disk, which was supposed to add them, never came out.

During development, Satoru Iwata studied the battle logic of Red and Green himself in order to reproduce it, for lack of documentation from GAME FREAK, as he recounted in an “Iwata Asks.”

The series’ names

Since this first game was never released outside Japan, the numbering differs:

JapanEurope and North America
Pokémon Stadium (1998)Not released
Pokémon Stadium 2 (1999)Pokémon Stadium (2000)
Pokémon Stadium Gold and Silver (2000)Pokémon Stadium 2 (2001)

Trivia

  • It is the first Pokémon game released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan.
  • It is the only Japanese Stadium game where Pikachu can learn Surf: just win the Master Ball division of the L1-30 tournament with a Pikachu on your team.
  • Pikachu is the only playable Pokémon able to evolve; yet Raichu is not available.
  • It is the first game where the Pokédex can sort Pokémon by name.
Pikachu.
Raichu.