Five Kids Club mini-games are played on speed or skill: Magikarp‘s Splash, Run, Rattata, Run!, Dig! Dig! Dig!, Sushi-Go-Round and Ekans’ Hoop Hurl. They are the most immediate, and the toughest on controllers: several require you to mash a button for the whole game. Rules, controls and tips.
Magikarp’s Splash
The idea: four Magikarp stranded on dry land jump to hit the counter at the top of the screen. Each hit scores a point.
Winning: the Magikarp that hit the counter the most times before time runs out wins.
Controls: A to jump.
- Hold A for a higher jump: a quick tap is not enough to reach the counter.
- Press again as soon as Magikarp touches the ground to chain jumps with no downtime.
Run, Rattata, Run!
The idea: four Rattata run on parallel treadmills. The faster you press, the faster your Rattata goes. Hurdles appear at regular intervals: you have to jump at the right moment, or Rattata trips and loses precious seconds.
Winning: the first to cross the finish line wins.
Controls: A to run, Control Pad to jump.
- Keep your left thumb on the pad while your right hand mashes A: you will not have time to change position.
- Jump a little before the hurdle: a jump that comes too late makes Rattata fall.
Dig! Dig! Dig!
The idea: four Sandshrew each dig their own well in search of an underground water source.
Winning: the first to reach the spring, which then bursts out as a geyser, wins.
Controls: L and R in alternation.
- Rhythm matters more than force: a steady L, R, L, R is more effective than messy button presses.
- Hold the Nintendo 64 controller by its outer grips, with your index fingers on the triggers, to find a comfortable rhythm.
Sushi-Go-Round
The idea: four Lickitung move around a sushi conveyor belt and grab the dishes with their tongues. Each dish has a price, and eating the same type of sushi several times in a row applies a multiplier. The cheapest dish, the wasabi, is a trap: it sends Lickitung scurrying off, out of your control for a while.
Winning: the Lickitung with the highest bill when time runs out wins.
Controls: stick to move, A to eat.
Dish values, from the most expensive to the wasabi: 1,000, 600, 350, 250, 200, 150, 50 and 20.
- Aim for the most expensive dishes, but keep the multiplier in mind: chaining three identical mid-value dishes can earn more than a single expensive dish on its own.
- Avoid the wasabi at all costs: the seconds lost cost far more than the 20 points it earns.
- It is the only time money comes up in the Stadium games.
Ekans’ Hoop Hurl
The idea: a mix of ring toss and whack-a-mole. Diglett pop up at random from nine holes. Each player throws an Ekans coiled into a ring to circle a Diglett. Some colored or golden Diglett are worth more points.
Winning: the best score after sixty seconds wins.
Controls: Control Pad to aim; move the stick from bottom to top to throw. The strength of the motion sets the distance: a small flick sends the Ekans toward the nearest holes, a wide motion toward the back.
- It is the only mini-game where the starting position matters: the four Ekans are lined up at the bottom of the screen, and each one sees the holes from a different angle.
- Practice your stick control on the three rows of holes before aiming for the golden Diglett.
The other mini-games
Clefairy Says, Snore War, Rock Harden and Thundering Dynamo are covered in the timing and memory mini-games.
