Pokemon stadium is a good game to play when you want a quick blast at something.
(Please note that even though I mention the compatibility features with the GameBoy poke' titles, they are far from necessary to enjoy Stadium. Unlike Battle Revolution...)
Game play wise there is quite a few modes to pick from. The main attraction is Stadium mode which offers four cups for you to compete in. You can select six pokemon, however if you have Red/Blue/Yellow attached, you can use some of your Pokemon from that. However there are level restrictions, so you will probably end up using a lot of rental Pokemon. The Rental Pokemon are pretty strong though, you can select 149 of the 151.
Right so four cups? What's the difference? Poke' Cup appears to be the official main cup. It allows pokemon between levels 50 and 55 to be entered. There are four difficulty settings for this cup. Prime Cup also has four difficulty settings and will allow any Pokemon of any level to be entered. However since your opponent will be using level 100s you'll probably use rental Pokemon for this. Petit cup is for un evolved Pokemon level 25 - 30. And Pika cup has all pokemon between levels 15 and 20. The same Pokemon have slightly different attack combinations for all of the cups, so this helps to add some variety.
The cups work like this. there are eight rounds in total. You pick three Pokemon for each round and battle it out, like you would in the GameBoy titles. Four attacks per Pokemon. Issue the commands and see if you have the strength and strategy to come on top. This is pretty fun, but a bit cheap sometimes as your openents may have some attacks which will be deadly. Example... Lt Surge's Raichu with Surf - ground Pokemon won't be the best choice.
Another mode is the gym leader challenge mode, where you challenge the eight gym leaders of Kanto and the elite four. Rental Pokemon you are provided with are at level 50. You opponents will have all their Pokemon at the same level as your highest. So it is a bad idea to use a level 70 MewTwo from your GameBoy card and then only use level 50 rental Pokemon. There will be three trainers in each gym and then you will face the gym leader. But this mode plays more or less the same as the standard stadium mode, but it's a welcome addition.
Free Battle is best used for two player. You and a friend can pick a team of six Pokemon and battle out to see who comes out on top. You can chose weather or not to play by the rules of the stadium cups. Playing this mode solo can be fun to see if you can take out your own Pokemon from the GameBoy titles with rentals. It can also help you get some practice in.
You can play through Red/Blue/Yellow on GameBoy tower mode which just emulates the game. Pretty handy when you have no batteries for your GameBoy.
If you fancy a break from battling, there is a Kids Club mini game mode. This features nine mini games and you can either chose to have a quick blast on the game of your choice or see "who's the best." Basically in that mode your goal is to collect a set amount of stars, which you are awarded for coming firts in the mini games. We have...
Run Rattata, where you mash A to make Rattata run and leap over hurdles as you aim to be first to the goal.
A mini game where you must make Magikarp jump to hit a button on a counter. Whoever hits the counter most is the winner.
Sushi-Go-Round where you make Likitung each sushi. You run around eating differant sushi meals. Some meals are worth more points than others. Most points wins.
Clefairy says which is just a "remember this button sequence" game
Dig Dig Dig where you mash L and R alternately to make Sandshrew dig. First player to hit water wins.
Hoop Hurl. Where you goal is to fling Ekans around as many Diglitt as possible.
A game where you need to make Matapod or Kakuna use harden to protect themselves from rocks. Getting hit will reduce your energy gauge and so will using harden. Winner is the last one standing
A game with Drowzee where you have to push A when the pendulim hits an arrow.
A game with Pikachu and Voltorb where you have to mash either A or B to fill up your energy meter. First one to fill it up wins.
Graphically the Pokemon look impressive and most of the animations are fun to watch. The music is good for the most part. Notably a fair amount of tunes are remixes from the GameBoy games.
Pokemon Stadium is a good game to play when you only feel like playing something for 20 minutes or so. The game play is fun - but becomes boring after a while. The animations are fun to watch and the mini games provide a nice break from all the fighting. If you see this, go try it. This is everything Battle Revolution could of, and should of have been