Pocket Monsters Stadium 2 Complete Game FAQ

Pocket Monsters Stadium 2 FAQ:

Q: What is this game? It says 2 but this looks like Stadium 1?
A: The answer is in the title, Pocket Monsters Stadium 2. It is the Japanese equivalent of Pokemon Stadium 1. As Japan had a Pocket Monsters Stadium that never released internationally, this is the sequel and referred to as such. Short table to explain in case you still don't get it:
				Japanese name		|   English name:
Game 1: Pocket Monsters Stadium		|	Unreleased (Sometimes referred to as Pokemon Stadium 0)
Game 2: Pocket Monsters Stadium 2	|	Pokemon Stadium
Game 3: Pocket Monsters Stadium: GS	|	Pokemon Stadium 2

As such, please refer to this game as Pocket Monsters Stadium 2 (or PMS2), as that is the best easy to describe label (e.g. Pokemon Stadium 1 JP is awful, could refer to more than one thing)
Also note, the rentals/cups in the third stadium game are exactly the same between the releases, and so JP is no different there, and as such there's no point playing that one in JP. So it'll just be this one.

Q: What is this category?
A: This is the Complete the Game. Essentially I finish the Gym Leader Castle, then do all 12 Stadium Cups (4x Prime Cup, Petit Cup, Pika Cup, '97 Cup, '98 Cup, 4x '99 Cup) and then the Mewtwo fight. That then unlocks Round 2, and I do it all again. And yes, it takes about a whole day to do this.

Q: So why are you playing in Japanese?
A: Because it's different. The rentals are totally different with their moves, so the Pokes and strats used are completely different. The cups in the stadium are also different, and there's even a different amount of them! As such it's not like I'm playing in Japanese because it's got faster text, it's a different game. And it's in fact even longer...

Q: So the cups are different. How are they different?
A: So first off, there are 10 cups in English, and 12 in Japanese. They are as follows:
	English Cups				|	Japanese Cups
Prime Cup (L100) Poke Ball		|	Prime Cup (L100) Poke Ball
Prime Cup (L100) Great Ball		|	Prime Cup (L100) Great Ball
Prime Cup (L100) Ultra Ball		|	Prime Cup (L100) Ultra Ball
Prime Cup (L100) Master Ball	|	Prime Cup (L100) Master Ball
Pika Cup (L15-20)				|	Pika Cup (L15-20)
Petit Cup (L25-30, babies)		|	Petit Cup (L25-30, babies)
Poke Cup (L50-55) Poke Ball		|	'99 Cup (L50, no 'competitive' mons) Poke Ball
Poke Cup (L50-55) Great Ball	|	'99 Cup (L50, no 'competitive' mons) Great Ball
Poke Cup (L50-55) Ultra Ball	|	'99 Cup (L50, no 'competitive' mons) Ultra Ball
Poke Cup (L50-55) Master Ball	|	'99 Cup (L50, no 'competitive' mons) Master Ball
(None)							|	'98 Cup (L30, only 'competitive' mons)
(None)							| 	'97 Cup (L50-55)

Q: So the rentals are different. Are the always different? Are they better or worse in JP compared to English?
A: The rentals are identical for Prime Cup, and Mewtwo fight. In every other cup, and Gym Leader Castle, they are different. This means even though above it appears 6 cups are the same, really only the 4 Prime Cup ones are, as Petit/Pika have different rentals to choose from.

As far as being better or worse, they are almost always worse in Japanese. There are some better options here and there. For example Snorlax is better in Japanese in like every cup, because he has Self-Destruct. In Pika Cup, Starmie has Surf instead of Bubblebeam and turns from a good rental to a great one. But overall they become worse, things like not having Ice Beam on Articuno for Gym Leader Castle, or Ice Beam on Lapras for Pika Cup, make more of a difference.


Q: So what are these cups I've never heard of? '97, '98, '99?
A: They are based on the "official" rules at the times in Japan, stand for 1997 Nintendo Cup, etc. '97 and '98 cups are also in the first game, Pocket Monsters Stadium. Back in that game, there were only 42 Pokemon, that were seen as the "competitive" pokes (plus Pikachu), and serve the crux for the rules for '99.

'97 Cup rules: Level 50-55, total level must not exceed 155. Is essentially the same as Poke Cup, but because there's only 1 level, the trainers are very different, as are the rentals.

'98 Cup rules: Level 1-30. Only 42 Pokemon can be used. They are: Beedrill, Fearow, Pikachu, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Dugtrio, Primeape, Arcanine, Alakazam, Machamp, Golem, Magneton, Cloyster, Gengar, Onix, Hypno, Electrode, Exeggutor, Chansey, Kangaskhan, Starmie, Scyther, Jynx, Pinsir, Tauros, Gyarados, Lapras, Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Aerodactyl, Snorlax.

'99 Cup rules: Level 1-50. While the full roster is available, Pokemon that were used by competitors in previous tournaments were banned. Think of it as an early days "UU" ruleset. Banned Pokemon: Venusaur, Dugtrio, Alakazam, Golem, Magneton, Gengar, Hypno, Electrode, Exeggutor, Chansey, Kangaskhan, Starmie, Jynx, Tauros, Gyarados, Lapras, Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Aerodactyl, Snorlax, Articuno, Zapdos, Dragonite, Mewtwo, Mew.

Q: I'm too lazy to read through that, but would those Pokemon be considered good in Gen 1 competitive nowadays?
A: Yes and no. A lot of the staples are there in '98 and banned in '99 (Tauros, Snorlax, Exeggutor, Jynx, Starmie, Chansey, etc), and some aren't in '98 cup just because you can't get them as low as Level 30. But there are some exceptions (Like why the fuck is Ditto banned?)

Notable exceptions allowed in '99 Cup: Slowbro, Rhydon, Cloyster, Persian.
In general though, since just about every Electric type is banned, Bulky Waters are extremely difficult to kill in this cup.

Q: Why are you using <pokemon>? Why not <other pokemon>?
A: Because the restrictions in running this game involve only using rental Pokemon (as otherwise it would be incredibly easy and not at all challenging). A lot of the times the lower evolved Pokemon have better moves (e.g. Abra has Psychic, Alakazam has Confusion), so they end up being better options.

Q: Why does that gym leader have a Pokemon that isn't of their type??
A: Because if every leader had only their type, all these fights would be easy. Though some of them actually do do that in Round 1 in Stadium 1 R1 is actually fairly easy, and there are less Pokemon to choose between. But this is Round 2, so full balls to the walls.

Q: Why is that Pokemon coloured differently?
A: Giving Pokemon nicknames in the Stadium games changes their colouration, so you can see some cool and different looking Pokes.

Q: Why do you reset after completing a cup?
A: This is just to skip the small cutscene that shows all the Pokes you used in the cup. Saves just a few seconds each time it's used. It isn't used on the Poke/Great/Ultra Cup levels, as they do not show the pokes, and just give you the cup straight away.

Q: How are you going to play for 24 hours straight?? Don't you need to eat and shit??
A: I got some snacks. It ain't too hard to not use the bathroom for 24 hours, especially if you aren't drinking too much. I've done this whole thing before, it honestly takes no extra effort in that regard. Focused on the game, so I just get it done.

Q: What is the record?
A: No one has done a run of this yet. So, whatever I get.

Q: So what's your estimate then?
A: Given my time in English was just over 20 hours, and this game has 4 more cups to complete, along with harder difficulty, I would say ~25 hours is a decent estimate. But it can obviously go a bit better or a lot worse depending on how my luck goes.

Q: Why is there splits for some times but not others? Has a run been done before?
A: I had done 2 attempts before, but not completed either. The first run I stopped because I was sick, the second run got stopped because there was a blackout. I'm comparing against one of those until the point it stopped.

Q: Does this game have the Gen 1 1/256 miss?
A: No, it does not. Stadium changed a few mechanics from the handheld Gen 1 games (for example, switching after Wrap/Fire Spin means the other Pokemon won't attack, so you don't get stuck forever, Hyper Beam needs recharge), and the removal of the 1/256 is one of them.

Crit mechanics are slightly different. See this spreadsheet for specifics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lab4RC9Ngt3x1Eb7qOMYvLtqhKIekOVPmv4eaiyc4nY

Q: What does "Round 2" or "Round 1" mean in this game?
A: This game repeats itself over, after you beat Round 1 of the game you unlock Round 2. Round 2 gives the opponent different pokes, with different moves, and better stats. It is in general, much much harder.

Q: What is the hardest fight in this run?
A: Fisher, the last fight of Pika Cup Round 2. And yes, he's even harder in this version! Quite substantially so too. Not having Lapras to take on Dragonair means you specifically *need* an extra turn to go your way (Wrap miss, crit Ice Beam, or fully para), otherwise you lose even with a good team. It's...awful.