Pokemon Stadium World of Chaos Game

It's that time of year again. You know the one: the one where the next main-series Pokémon game hasn't quite arrived yet but the hype surrounding it- which has been rolling around thick and heavy in the air like a sort of exciting mustard gas (only without all of that lung damage and horrific death) - has most definitely been around for quite some time now. But since we (and no-one else for that matter) cannot provide you with the new Pokémon Omega Ruby nor the Alpha Sapphire games, we're going to have to go with the next-best thing for the moment: Pokémon Stadium: World of Chaos. It's quite reminiscent of many of the previous Pokémon titles and has some nostalgia that spans multiple platforms, so what's this next Pokémon related next-big-thing of the flash world?

'Mon the Poké

You'll have to put down your 3DS or regular DS for a minute to pay some attention to Pokémon Stadium: World of Chaos (don't worry: it's completely worth the distraction). After beginning the game, you're most likely to begin with Tournament Mode which has you name your character, customise his/her features and then choosing your starting Pokémon with which you are going to battle. After choosing your Pokémon, you are thrust into a highly familiar environment that instead involving traipsing around massive worlds with your main character simply entails straight-up battling and nothing else.

And the battles are warmly reminiscent of the Pokémon games of yore, providing you with starting Pokémon ranging from Litwick to Solrock to Scraggy and Gabite, as well as some truly old-school offerings like Magnemite and Pidgeotto, members of the original (and obviously best) 151.

Further memories of the Pokémon should be evoked by the game's significantly pixelated appearance, a trend that is becoming quite common in flash games these days but which only works in a handful of contexts, the Pokémon world being one of them. It's like you're picking up a GameBoy Colour for the first time and doing battle, or experiencing a sister-world to the incredibly popular Pokémon Tower Defense 2 game.

Protecting the World from Devastation, Leading the World to Procrastination

If you're wondering how loyal this game is to the mechanics of Pokémon, the answer is extremely, bordering on the identical. Each Pokémon has a certain type that is one/two of the many that make the Pokémon world so enjoyable. From Grass to Rock and Fire to Ice, these types dictate the amount of damage one will take or resist during battle, and the usual advantages/disadvantages apply: Fire owns Ice, Grass slaughters Water, Flying owns Ground. The moveset of each Pokémon is also accurate, as are their individual abilities that also help them in battle.

Once you've chosen  six Pokémon for your tournament (try to have a spread of different types for maximum effectiveness in the long term), you will be pitted against opponents and asked to select three Pokémon from your team to go against theirs, with the opponent's choices being made available for your perusal so you can choose types wisely, preferably ones that will dominate the opposition.

Once you're done with the tournament battles, you can also involve yourself in the mini-games which act as quite the pleasant distraction from the relentless battling this game would otherwise have you doing exclusively. The mini-games involve things like racing flying Pokémon, a dancing game, a Tetris-like offering and a water-based one where you have to rescue swimmers. The controls are stated before each game but usually involve the directional arrows/WASD keys, unlike the main tournament battles where mouse is king.

Ubiquitous and Magnificent

So what should you make of Pokémon Stadium: World of Chaos? Well, it's no Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but the battles are incredibly fun, minigames a welcome distraction, and the graphics/music very loyal to old-school Pokémon titles. The design of the game could have been given more thought, with the main shortfall being that you cannot exit the minigames at will, meaning you have to complete them/fail them before being allowed to return to the main menu. A small price to pay for Pokémon greatness, however, so what are you waiting for? It's time to battle, people!

85/100

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