The purpose of this game is clear. Back when the only way to play Pokémon was on a tiny, black and white screen where the sprites barely resembled the Pokémon they were trying to portray, Pokémon Stadium came along and said “Bring your battles to full 3D on the TV". 3D wouldn't even be introduced in the mainline games until generation 6, way over 10 years later. Basically if you wanted to battle with friends back in the day, doing it via Pokémon Stadium was THE way to play.
Along with that, it helps boost the original games by having a built-in gameboy player, allowing you to play the actual games on the TV, complete with unlockable speed boosting options. And all those pesky Pokémon you needed to trade with friends to complete your Pokédex, like the multiple Eeveelutions, the fossils and starters? Well they're now rewards you can obtain in this game, meaning this was a great way to complete the dex without relying on finding people willing to give away their one-of-a-kind Pokémon in their own game.
While this game fixes some of the battle glitches from the OG games, the game is still let back somewhat by the fact it still has many of the antique game play mechanics that disappeared immediately after gen 1.
The games full potential was definitely tied to owning the original Red/Blue/Yellow games and having the transfer pack (which I believe came bundled with the game?), but it still offers something for brand newcomers who want to catch up on pieces of Pokémons history. The game has two separate single player modes. The first is Gym Leader Castle, which is essentially just fighting 3 random trainers, then a gym leader from the game. Do this 8 times for each leader, and then beat the elite 4.
The other mode is the stadium, which consists of 4 different rulesets. Unfortunately the idea sounds great, but they differ so little. The Poké Cup and Prime Cup literally only differ by one having level 50 Pokémon and one having level 100 Pokémon. There's a cup that only includes un-evolved Pokémon, which is a neat idea, and then the last cup sets all the Pokémon to level 15, which sounds like another variation of the first 2 cups, but this means you can't use Pokémon that evolve at a higher level. Although Pokémon that evolve via stones or trades can be used, since you could get them in-game at level 15. It's kind of like an in-between of the petite cup and the prime/Poké cup in that regard. Some lines can only use their first forms, while some let you use strong Pokémon like Alakazam. Unfortunately that does also make it the least balanced.
My main issue with the whole stadium thing is that the Poké and Prime cups have 4 levels of difficulty, and they can't be skipped. That means you have to go through a total of 8 rounds just to complete two of the cups, which is made worse by the fact that the easier difficulties are SO easy that getting through them is a mindless slog.
There are no 6v6 battles outside of free play mode. In fact the only time in “story mode” you can use all 6 team members is against Mewtwo in a 6v1. While 6v6 in every single battle may have caused the game to drag far more, it should have at least been a thing during the champion battle in Gym Leader tower to mimic the real game. And maybe make it one of the rulesets in the stadium, to help differ the Prime and Poké cups.
Lastly there's the minigames, which many would say are the best part of the Stadium games. I love the idea of using Pokémons unique characteristics in ways outside of battling. Like using Ekans and Diglet as a ring toss game, or using Lickitung in a sushi eating game. It's so rare to get to directly control Pokémon in games, so these minigames add a great way to do that.
Along with that, it helps boost the original games by having a built-in gameboy player, allowing you to play the actual games on the TV, complete with unlockable speed boosting options. And all those pesky Pokémon you needed to trade with friends to complete your Pokédex, like the multiple Eeveelutions, the fossils and starters? Well they're now rewards you can obtain in this game, meaning this was a great way to complete the dex without relying on finding people willing to give away their one-of-a-kind Pokémon in their own game.
While this game fixes some of the battle glitches from the OG games, the game is still let back somewhat by the fact it still has many of the antique game play mechanics that disappeared immediately after gen 1.
The games full potential was definitely tied to owning the original Red/Blue/Yellow games and having the transfer pack (which I believe came bundled with the game?), but it still offers something for brand newcomers who want to catch up on pieces of Pokémons history. The game has two separate single player modes. The first is Gym Leader Castle, which is essentially just fighting 3 random trainers, then a gym leader from the game. Do this 8 times for each leader, and then beat the elite 4.
The other mode is the stadium, which consists of 4 different rulesets. Unfortunately the idea sounds great, but they differ so little. The Poké Cup and Prime Cup literally only differ by one having level 50 Pokémon and one having level 100 Pokémon. There's a cup that only includes un-evolved Pokémon, which is a neat idea, and then the last cup sets all the Pokémon to level 15, which sounds like another variation of the first 2 cups, but this means you can't use Pokémon that evolve at a higher level. Although Pokémon that evolve via stones or trades can be used, since you could get them in-game at level 15. It's kind of like an in-between of the petite cup and the prime/Poké cup in that regard. Some lines can only use their first forms, while some let you use strong Pokémon like Alakazam. Unfortunately that does also make it the least balanced.
My main issue with the whole stadium thing is that the Poké and Prime cups have 4 levels of difficulty, and they can't be skipped. That means you have to go through a total of 8 rounds just to complete two of the cups, which is made worse by the fact that the easier difficulties are SO easy that getting through them is a mindless slog.
There are no 6v6 battles outside of free play mode. In fact the only time in “story mode” you can use all 6 team members is against Mewtwo in a 6v1. While 6v6 in every single battle may have caused the game to drag far more, it should have at least been a thing during the champion battle in Gym Leader tower to mimic the real game. And maybe make it one of the rulesets in the stadium, to help differ the Prime and Poké cups.
Lastly there's the minigames, which many would say are the best part of the Stadium games. I love the idea of using Pokémons unique characteristics in ways outside of battling. Like using Ekans and Diglet as a ring toss game, or using Lickitung in a sushi eating game. It's so rare to get to directly control Pokémon in games, so these minigames add a great way to do that.