Pokemon Stadium Bug Quietly Fixed by Nintendo

Pokemon Stadium released on Nintendo Switch Online last month, making the N64 game available for the first time since its release back in 2000. Some compromises had to be made to make the game playable on Switch, and players can only access “rental” Pokemon that have been programmed into in the game. Unfortunately, a bug was claiming that some movesets from the rental Pokemon weren’t actually legal. That wouldn’t have made any sense since these are all Pokemon that haven’t been altered by players, but it seems the issue has now been resolved via an update from Nintendo. 

The change was discovered by Serebii.net’s Joe Merrick. Readers can find Merrick’s explanation in the Tweet embedded below.

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When Pokemon Stadium first released on Nintendo 64, one of the game’s biggest hooks was that it allowed players to use their Pokemon from Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow in 3D battles using a special Transfer Pak peripheral. Players that didn’t have one of the Game Boy games would have to use rental Pokemon instead. If a player tried to use a Pokemon in the game that had been tampered with through a glitch or through a cheat device like Game Shark, the game would designate those moves as “illegal,” preventing their use. Pokemon Stadium on Nintendo Switch has no way of importing Pokemon from past games (at least not currently), so rental Pokemon are the only option available.

That said, there has been speculation this could change at some point in a future update! Nintendo Switch Online added Game Boy games earlier this year, though the original Pokemon games have yet to be announced. Given the massive popularity of the series, it seems like just a matter of time before Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow are added to the service. If that does happen, Pokemon fans will assuredly want to see compatibility added to Pokemon Stadium, but fans will just have to settle for rental Pokemon in the meantime!

Did you notice this update to Pokemon Stadium? Are you still hoping to see Game Boy compatibility? Letusknowinthe commentsor share your thoughtsdirectly on TwitterandonHiveat @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!