Pokémon Stadium comes to Switch Online Expansion Pack this month

Stefan L 04/04/23 Comments Closed

Nintendo has announced that the classic N64 game Pokémon Stadium is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack library this month on 12th April.

Pokémon Stadium was a big hit for the N64 when it originally released in 1999, taking the massively popular original collection of 151 Pokémon and rendering them in full 3D for particularly dynamic-looking battles that weren’t possible with the early games’ sprite graphics.

The focus here is entirely on battles with no role-playing elements. You have a tournament of 4 cups to progress through, as well as the Gym Leader Castle, Elite Four and finally the Champion. While you can have a party of 6 Pokémon, you can only pick three of them to fight in a given battle, adding a slightly deeper tactical element to the game.

One caveat to remember is that you cannot import Pokémon unlocked through the Game Boy Pokémon games, meaning you’ll have to use rental Pokémon. Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow are not currently available as part of the Game Boy game library available on Switch Online, but if and when Nintendo do add these games, it’s entirely possible that they could implement a cross-emulator import feature. Will they? Who knows, but the possibility is there.

What Switch Online does add is support for online multiplayer, both in battles for up to four players, and then a bunch of mini-games. These include:

Clefairy Says
Dig! Dig! Dig!
Ekans’ Hoop Hurl
Magikarp’s Splash
Rock Harden
Run, Rattata, Run
Snore War
Sushi Go-Round
Thundering Dynamo

As with all N64 games on Switch Online, they are only accessible to subscribers of the higher-priced Expansion Pack tier. This also gives access to the Mega Drive and Game Boy Advance game libraries.

The current lineup for N64 games is: