Pokemon Stadium Deserves A Remake. Here's Why

Pokemon remakes are popular, and with the upcoming release of New Pokemon Snap, it's time to look at other console Pokemon games that could use a remake. Pokemon Stadium, a fan favorite from the Nintendo 64, is the perfect answer.

Pokemon isn't a stranger to remakes, and with the Let's Go games, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, and New Pokemon Snap, it seems that Game Freak wants to leverage the popularity of these older games with a new generation of fans.

Essentially, Pokemon Stadium took the regular Pokemon battling formula and overhauled it with 3D visuals. The game was released in 2000 in the West, and it was one of the first console Pokemon games.

The game includes all 151 original Pokemon, and players are able to create teams and challenge a variety of different battle leagues to test their new team. While battling was the main point of the game, there were also fun minigames.

Battling has been a core part of Pokemon games since the very beginning, and it's a system that's remained fairly constant since the original games, adding a few new wrinkles over time. New Pokemon games are often criticized because they're too easy, and fans have been looking at trying to find unique ways to make the games more challenging for themselves.

If that's not enough, Pokemon Showdown, a fan-created battle simulation game on PC, has further proven how much players love battling. Even though this game is not affiliated with Nintendo in any way, it has drawn in over a million players monthly, according to Kotaku.

However, because Showdown is a fan-made game, many players don't know about it. A Pokemon Stadium remake, boasting the kind of advertising campaign that would normally come with a major Nintendo release, could bring in tons of revenue for Nintendo. It would also give many fans a new way to experience the Pokemon universe.

Back in 2014, Game Freak developers argued that there was no reason to make another Pokemon Stadium game, because there wasn't anything new to really add. After Pokemon Stadium 2, the developers couldn't justify creating another version of the game just to add more 3D models of the Pokemon.

Pokemon Stadium 2 released in 2001, and there have been six new generations of Pokemon games since then. All of that story-based content, plus new battling techniques like EX, Mega Evolutions, and Dynamaxing, seems like it would be enough to make a new Stadium game worthwhile.

On top of that, many new Pokemon fans likely haven't had a chance to play the original Pokemon Stadium. It has been two decades since the last entry in the spin-off series. With New Pokemon Snap on the way, it would seem like enough time has passed to give a new generation a crack at this N64 classic.