Other Tiers Pokemon Stadium Rental Metagames Hub

[Theorymon]

Introduction​

Pokemon Stadium will be coming to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion. And with it, an age old question has once again come into the limelight...

What Rentals do I use to kick my friend's butt?

This age old question has a new twist though, because if it works like any other NSO game, it'll have online play added to it! Finally, no more having to deal with the lame 3rd party controller, just use your Switch!

However, resources for Rental Pokemon on the internet are pretty bad. You got Serebii with its various typos and some very wrong movesets, obscure datamines that you have you search through Speed Running websites to find, and ancient reddit posts. And it gets worse: There are actually 3 different Gen 1 Stadium Games! I'm not joking, it turns out that the Japanese version of the international Pokemon Stadium.. has a mostly DIFFERENT set of rental Pokemon, and 3 different cups that represent the Nintendo Cups instead of Poke Cup!

This thread aims to change the lack of resources on the. With this thread, we'll list and discuss what the good Rental Pokemon are for each of the MANY Gen 1 Rental Formats!

Also, before you read on, I highly suggest you read May's excellent article on Stadium Mechanics. Pokemon Stadium is NOT the same mechanically as stock gen 1!

Major Differences From Other RBY Metagames​

- Every Pokemon has a movepool with a grand total of 4 moves. This could even lead to some of these metagames getting "solved!" This also makes it pretty easy to put a team together though, just pick the mons!

- To add to the much firmer knowledge of your opponent's Pokemon: you got team preview for every format! This also means that you don't have a dedicated lead for your team.

- Rental Pokemon do not have PP Ups, making stuff like Blizzard and Fire Blast especially risky to waste.

- Don't be totally reliant on what a Pokemon's Base Stats are. Because Pokemon don't have maximum stats and all have different Stat EXP investment from each other, Pokemon may have surprising stat advantages over each other! For example, Haunter outspeeds Zapdos in Poke Cup, while Poliwhirl outspeeds Zapdos in Prime Cup only.

- As a general rule: all of these rental formats are MUCH more frail and faster paced than other RBY metagames. Even for the 6v6 formats, the lack of much in the way of stat exp investment makes Pokemon pretty fragile. You can especially see this in Chansey, who gets 2HKOed by far more physical moves than you may be used to, like Exeggutor's Egg Bomb in Poke Cup!

- All the metagames have both Sleep Clause and Freeze Clause. Sleep Clause works differently too: Rest actually activates it, meaning you can say, make Chansey go to Sleep so all sleeping moves fail while its taking a nap!

- Unlike regular RBY, you won't be allowed to explode with your last Pokemon, so you can't tie that way.

The Stats Situation​

Pokemon Showdown's Damage calculator is unfortunately a poor fit for calculating damage, since these Pokemon do not have maximum stats. For these metagames, use the good old Marble Palace Damage Calculator. It's not quite as convenient, but it seems to be mostly accurate. Also, every Rental Pokemon in the OP will have their raw stats on Pokemon Stadium in this thread, so that part will be easy.

Metagame Covering Status

We'll be covering all the formats at some point. Here's the "status" of al of them!​

Poke Cup - "Conversation Starters" done for multiple Pokemon, Speed Tiers up

Nintendo Cup 97 - Speed Tiers up, interesting Pokemon listed

Prime Cup - Nothing up yet

Petit Cup - Nothing up yet

Pika Cup (both International and Japan) - Nothing up yet

Nintendo Cup 98 - Nothing up yet

Nintendo Cup 99 - Nothing up yet

Pokemon Stadium "Zero" Rentals (both level 30 and 50) - Nothing up yet

If you would like to look at ALL the rentals for everything, fret not! The Pokemon Stadium Speedrun Discord has this handy spreadsheet, that has rentals for every Pokemon in the ENTIRE Pokemon Stadium series! Just note that you can't use Gym Tower rentals against players.

Free For All / Poke Cup

Ruleset​

- All Pokemon are level 50.

- Unlike any other format, in addition to being played in 3v3 like the rest, the "Free For All" mode actually pulls from this cup, meaning it's the only format that can be played in 6v6!

- Mewtwo and Mew are not available.

- This ruleset is only in the International versions of Pokemon Stadium. The Japanese version, Pocket Monsters Stadium 2, actually has 3 different formats based off of the Nintendo Cup in its place, and they all have different rentals!

Speed Tiers​

While these Pokemon are unlikely to be very good, any Pokemon with a OHKO move will be in Red, since OHKO moves are based off the Speed stat!

Poke Cup Speed Tiers ​

Speed Stat	Pokemon
163	Electrode
152	Jolteon Aerodactly
138	Persian
137	Starmie
132	Gengar Tauros
130	Kadabra
128	Electabuzz
127	Rapidash
122	Abra Poliwag Meowth Raticate
120	Haunter Jynx
117	Zapdos
115	Poliwhirl Ponyta
113	Staryu
107	Moltres Nidoking Pinsir
103	Arbok
102	Articuno Kabutops
97	Kingler
95	Dragonair Onix
91	Poliwrath
82	Lapras
77	Omastar
73	Exeggutor
72	Chansey
60	Graveler
52	Snorlax
50	Rhyhorn
48	Geodude
43	Slowpoke

Some good or interesting looking Pokemon at a glance

Let's take a look at some Pokemon that might be useful! I'll also post their raw stats here too! The "IVs" and "EVs" on these sets make it so you can paste them into Pokemon Showdown, and challenge your friends with accurate rental sets! They are NOT the actual stuff RBY uses, as those have a pretty different stat system.

Just remember, these are conversation starters, rather than some epic guide on how to play, because I'm pretty sure no one has taken rental formats seriously!

The big list of Pokemon and descriptions

Fast Offensive Pokemon


Kadabra

Raw Stats: 121 HP / 60 Attack / 56 Defense / 146 Special / 130 Spe

Kadabra
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 40 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
- Psychic
- Counter
- Recover
- Dig

Alakazam has an AWFUL moveset, but fret not: Kadabra is not only fast, but it's got one of the highest special stats in the format! And unlike most, it's got a great STAB to use them with! The real big thing here though is Recover: Rentals REALLY tend to avoid recovery moves on the good Pokemon, so this might help keep Kadabra alive against special threats for a while! It also gives Kadabra more of a chance to use Counter against Normal Attacks it actually has a shot of surviving, like Exeggutor's Egg Bomb.

Unfortunately though, It's Defense is laughable even if Counter is cool, as in "Persian and Tauros literally OHKO this" kind of paper thin, so DO NOT keep this in on a physical attacker that isn't ready to get KOed!


Persian

Raw Stats: 143 HP / 94 Attack / 84 Defense / 88 Special / 138 Speed

Persian
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 24 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Def / 24 SpA / 252 SpD / 24 Spe
- Slash
- Bubble Beam
- Mimic
- Growl

Even with the critical hit mechanic changes in Stadium, Persian crits with Slash 99% of the time, which makes the Attack stat a bit misleading. Like we saw earlier, it even has a chance to 2HKO Zapdos! It even goes as far as OHKOing Kadabra, and nearly OHKOing Chansey! So this could end up being a major late game cleaner. The crown jewel though is Bubble Beam. Turns out, the Rock / Ground types this time are so specially frail, that ALL of them have a good chance of getting OHKOed by it!

Gengar and Haunter actually look good though so Persian is not impossible to wall, and pretty much any decently powered STAB will 2HKO it, so maybe Persian will stick to late game and preying on Kadabras and Chanseys with a bit of chip.



Tauros

Raw Stats: 151 HP / 121 Attack / 116 Defense / 91 Special / 132 Speed

Tauros
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Double-Edge
- Fire Blast
- Tail Whip
- Bide

The classic king of gen 1 did not get treated the best here: The Rock-types take Fire Blast pretty well, and Gengar and Haunter can come in a few times too, with even a critical hit only 3HKOing them. The rental really messed with its coverage, and Double-Edge doesn't even hit as hard as Persian's 99% chance to crit Slash.

It's not all bad news though: its far more physically bulky than Persian, and Tauros still gets the key OHKO on Kadabra with Double-Edge! Also, with Fire Blast's burn chance, you DO have a shot of burning those annoying Rock-types. It's possible that Tauros might be something you want to run with Persian on Normal spam teams in 6v6.


Jolteon

Raw Stats: 141 HP / 86 Attack / 81 Defense / 131 Special / 152 Speed

Jolteon
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Pin Missile
- Toxic
- Sand Attack

Jolteon's got super speed on the menu here, being the 2nd fastest Pokemon around! It's a shame it doesn't get Thunder Wave, but otherwise, this is likely to be a threat once you take down those disgusting Ground-types. Pin Missile also means unlike other Electric-types, you can do some good chip damage against Exeggutors! It could also mess with Kadabra if you get lucky with the hits. Note though that Thunderbolt is actually more powerful than 2 hits on Kadabra!



Meowth

Raw Stats: 127 HP / 76 Attack / 67 Defense / 72 Special / 122 Speed

Meowth
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Slash
- Thunderbolt
- Swift
- Double Team

Meowth is almost entirely outclassed by Persian... but if you're playing in 6v6, maybe that means you can get away with BOTH of them! Because a lot of first stage Pokemon have really juiced up stat exp, Meowth actually still 3HKOs Zapdos with Slash! Now the real issue is, why use Meowth over the bulkier and harder hitting Tauros? I may have an answer: because with Thunderbolt, you do much more chip damage to Omastar, one of Persian's best non Ghost-type checks! It's only a 4HKO, sure, but Persian is just not gonna sweep when Omastar is around. Swift is also neat in case Chansey gets out of control with evasion boosts, you might be able to mess with them while they're sleeping. Persian + Tauros is probably the safer option, especially if Omastar does not catch on, but I wonder if you can get away with all three...

The Rock / Ground Family

The classic Rhydon versus Golem debate raged on for over 20 years... and has 0 bearing here, because those two have AWFUL rental movesets! Instead, we'll have to delve further into the barrel...


Rhyhorn

Raw Stats: 161 HP / 110 Attack / 121 Defense / 56 Special / 50 Speed

Rhyhorn
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 44 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 44 Spe
- Earthquake
- Body Slam
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast

Turns out, the rental Rhyhorn is SO close to having the best Rhydon moveset (shame about a lack of Substitute). Rhyhorn doesn't have the best stats of the usable Rock / Grounds, but it's the only one that gets Body Slam, great for paralysis fishing when you scare out Zapdos! It actually hits pretty hard too, with Chansey taking 73-85% from Earthquake, and Zapdos taking 56-68% from Rock Slide! Just note that Rhyhorn's Special is pretty awful, and its even slower than Snorlax!


Graveler

Raw Stats: 136 HP / 120 Attack / 141 Defense / 71 Special / 60 Speed

Graveler
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 44 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 44 Spe
- Earthquake
- Seismic Toss
- Strength
- Self-Destruct

Graveler has better overall stats than Rhyhorn, in bulk, offense, AND Speed! It's even got Self-destruct! So why isn't it the clear choice? Unfortunately, Graveler doesn't have a Rock-type STAB, which means not only can Zapdos just try to mess with you with Flash with less risk... but you don't even beat Moltres, since Fire Blast still 2HKOs Graveler! Still, it may be a worthy choice over Rhyhorn because besides blowing up, Seismic Toss is neat for consistent damage. It would be funny if it fell to the same fate Golem in OU did though...


Geodude

Raw Stats: 124 HP / 109 Attack / 128 Defense / 59 Special / 48 Speed

Geodude
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 72 HP / 72 Atk / 64 Def / 72 SpA / 252 SpD / 64 Spe
- Earthquake
- Seismic Toss
- Rock Slide
- Explosion

Geodude?! It's sorta like a midway between Rhyhorn and Graveler with this moveset, having an even more powerful BOOM than Graveler and the Seismic Toss, while having a Rock Slide that's almost as powerful as Rhyhorns! However, note that Geodude's Special stat is so pathetic that Kadabra straight up OHKOs it, and it being slower than any of the other Rock-types is problematic. It's lower physical bulk means there is a chance Snorlax can 3HKO with Mega Punch too, and Geodude is even slower than Snorlax. It might be best to just stick with the other two unless you want an extra rock to blow up.


Onix

Raw Stats: 116 HP / 70 Attack / 186 Defense / 56 Special / 95 Speed

Onix
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 40 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Strength
- Explosion

Onix is the fastest of the Rock / Ground types and has a pretty good moveset. However... that Attack stat is pathetic. As in, "can actually fail to 2HKO Chansey with Earthquake" kind of bad, which is honestly an achievement! It can even fail to 2HKO Graveler and Zapdos, like what on earth... I'm not sure this is really worth using, but I figured it might be funny to highlight Onix's failings.

Switch-Ins for Offensive Normal Types


Gengar

Raw Stats: 136 HP / 86 Attack / 81 Defense / 151 Special / 132 Speed

Gengar
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Night Shade
- Hypnosis
- Confuse Ray

Here it is, the best check to Persian in the game! Thanks to it having the highest Special stat of any rental Pokemon besides Alakazam (who sucks anyways), Persian's Bubble Beam might as well be styrofoam peanuts. Sadly, it doesn't quite get to take advantage of the huge Special stat offensively due to the lack of a STAB, but Night Shade 3HKOs a ton of stuff anyways so you got consistent damage.

Gengar is also the fastest sleeper but... Sleep is not as good as you may expect in Stadium formats. It not only lasts 0-3 turns, but Rest actually activates Sleep Clause! It might be better in 3v3 versions of this format though... Oh, and if you're really in a bind, you can always roll the dice with Confuse Ray!


Haunter

Raw Stats: 126 HP / 75 Attack / 71 Defense / 141 Special / 120 Speed

Haunter
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 56 HP / 44 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
- Mega Drain
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Confuse Ray

Haunter actually makes use of its Special stat offensively! Thanks to the juiced up Stat EXP, it also actually outspeeds Zapdos, though not Kadabra sadly. Anyways, Mega Drain is very cool here, doing 97% min to Rhyhorn and 91% min to Graveler... so even a bit of chip damage will do them in! Psychic can actually 2HKO Gengar too (it does 48% min), so Haunter hilariously tends to do pretty good against its evolution!

Of course the really strong Special stuff like Kadabra, Zapdos, and Chansey can wall this, but Explosion just so happens to KO any Kadabra or Chansey that thinks that can switch right in! Zapdos still takes 58% minimum, so maybe not the most amazing trade, but it could come in handy.


Omastar

Raw Stats: 146 HP / 81 Attack / 146 Defense / 136 Special / 77 Speed

Omastar
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Hydro Pump
- Submission
- Spike Cannon
- Withdraw

So Omastar isn't as good of a check to Persian and Tauros since Normal-type damage adds up, especially with how slow Omastar is... but it hits WAY harder than the Ghost-types thanks to that powerful STAB Hydro Pump! It's got another very funny trick too: Submission actually does 58-68% to Chansey! Note Thunder will also 2HKO Omastar (dealing 58-69%, HA 1 more %!), so staying in isn't a totally safe idea.

Bulky Rest Pokemon

Rest might not be the best recovery move, but in Pokemon Stadium, it does at least activate Sleep Clause, so not all is lost!


Chansey

Raw Stats: 326 HP / 26 Attack / 26 Defense / 126 Special / 72 Speed

Chansey
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Thunder
- Fire Blast
- Minimize
- Rest

This is really not Chansey's ideal form, Rest is such a downgrade from Softboiled... but still, nothing comes close to soaking up Special hits as well as Chansey! Thunder and Fire Blast's inaccuracy stings... but it at least means it's not all that passive while being awake. Fire Blast's low PP can be concerning too, since you'll want to at least do some ok damage against the Rock-types with it (and maybe fish for a burn), but once that PP is gone, even Geodude is going to wall you!

Minimize is cool at least, and Rest, while making Chansey extremely passive and easy to take advantage of, you can burn Rest turns against special threats probably, and it DOES actually activate Sleep Clause! One last thing... Chansey is insanely physical frail due to the minimal stat exp it got. As in, weird stuff like Omastar and Exeggutor can actually 2HKO it!


Snorlax

Raw Stats: 236 HP / 131 Attack / 86 Defense / 86 Special / 52 Speed

Snorlax
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Mega Kick
- Rock Slide
- Metronome
- Rest

Snorlax might actually be the most powerful physical attacker around with rentals. I know Mega Kick's accuracy is a shame, but it actually 2HKOes Zapdos and OHKOes Kadabra, so that's probably the strongest non explosion physical attack in this format! All this power comes at a cost though... powerful stuff is usually going to 3HKO Snorlax, like Zapdos, Jolteon, and Kadabra. Sure, Snorlax can win these battles, but that means it might be only able to take down one foe when Mega Kick's shaky RNG is in your favor, and it means burning off Rest turns is not going to be a fun time. Also, sadly, Rhyhorn and Graveler will avoid 3HKOs barring some crazy Metronome call. So maybe we should think of Snorlax as less of a bulky check, and more of a risky wallbreaker once the rocks are cracked!

Paralysis Spreaders



Zapdos

Raw Stats: 162 HP / 107 Attack / 102 Defense / 142 Special / 117 Speed

Zapdos
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 96 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Sky Attack
- Thunder Wave
- Flash

This is a trend in stadium rentals: The legendary birds get some SERIOUS nerfs to their stats, straight up having a 0 in every DV despite some stat EXP! That being said... Zapdos still has pretty good stats anyways! It's got a crazy high Special stat, and its funnily enough, one of the bulkiest good user of Thunder Wave! Sky Attack is sort of a bummer though, now you'll have to add "Exeggutor coming in to Stun Spore" to Zapdos's list of things to deal with, like the Rock / Ground types.


Exeggutor

Raw Stats: 168 HP / 113 Attack / 103 Defense / 143 Special / 73 Speed

Exeggutor
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 104 HP / 104 Atk / 104 Def / 104 SpA / 252 SpD / 104 Spe
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 Spe
- Mega Drain
- Stun Spore
- Leech Seed
- Egg Bomb

Speaking of Exeggutor, it got a pretty similar treatment to Zapdos in terms of stats. That's OK though, because what we have here is a pretty great paralysis spreader that does NOT fear Earthquake! Note that Rock Slide from Graveler does have a shot of 3HKOing though. Anyways, the weird thing here is Egg Bomb... it might seem like a joke move, but it hilariously actually does massive damage to Chansey and Kadabra: Kadabra takes 63-74%, and Chansey takes 50-59%! Just note though, Egg Bomb does not have good accuracy, a healthy Kadabra can destroy you with Counter, and Chansey does 2HKO Exeggutor with Fire Blast.


Abra

Raw Stats: 112 HP / 51 Attack / 47 Defense / 137 Special / 122 Speed

Abra
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave

Thanks to some big stat exp investment, Abra hits pretty hard for a paralysis spreader, with even Zapdos getting 3HKOed and even outspeeding that and Haunter! However, Abra is a new level of frail, since Zapdos will 2HKO it with Thundebolt due to that awful HP stat! Still, Abra is hard to actually OHKO with a Special Attack, so maybe it could be effective when coming in after a KO and then cleaning up late game. It's also got Reflect, which could ruin stuff like a Graveler late game by avoiding a OHKO.


Electabuzz

Raw Stats: 143 HP / 107 Attack / 81 Defense / 108 Special / 128 Speed

Electabuzz
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 24 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Def / 28 SpA / 252 SpD / 28 Spe
- Thunder Punch
- Mega Punch
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave

Electabuzz could be a potentially interesting paralysis spreader, being the 2nd fastest one in the game. Unlike Electrode though, it'll 3HKO Graveler and Rhyhorn switch-ins with Psychic, and its weirdly ok Attack stat means Mega Punch actually 2HKOs Kadabra and 3HKOs Chansey. It's a shame its stuck with Thunder Punch though, you don't even 2HKO Persian with that!


Dragonair

Raw Stats: 142 HP / 109 Attack / 91 Defense / 96 Special / 95 Speed

Dragonair
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 44 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
- Hyper Beam
- Swift
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave

Dragonair's stats don't scream awesome, but what's funny is that a lot of rental sets don't really have good coverage for Dragon-types, which could give Dragonair a chance to come out and shoot a Thunder Wave. Thanks to Ice Beam, you'll 2HKO any Rock / Grounds before they 2HKO you, so that's not a safe response! One last parlor trick Dragonair has: Swift puts Chansey right into Hyper Beam's KO range! Shame that this being Stadium means you'll have to deal with the recharge though. If you don't want to risk Hyper Beam, remember that Chansey will be 3HKOed by Swift if it crits even once, so Dragonair is fully capable of taking on a Resting Chansey!

Set-up Pokemon

Rentals generally do NOT like giving good set-up moves, so these might be rather niche.


Raticate

Raw Stats: 136 HP / 106 Attack / 86 Defense / 76 Special / 122 Speed

Raticate
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 44 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
- Hyper Fang
- Hyper Beam
- Focus Energy
- Thunder

If you like rolling some dice (of course you do, you're playing Pokemon!), then Raticate offers an interesting deal: with Pokemon Stadium fixing Focus Energy... Raticate will have a 65% chance of landing a critical hit after using it! This isn't amazingly reliable in terms of sweeping, but it does make Raticate very difficult to actually wall. For example, a critical hit Hyper Fang OHKOes Chansey, and anything that doesn't resist will get 2HKOed (unless its Snorlax). Critical Thunder does pretty good chip damage to Ghost-types too, so taking down weakened Gengar and Haunter isn't out of the question.

If you really don't care about Raticate's life though... Critical Hit Hyper Beams will literally OHKO any neutral hit except Snorlax! Even Rock-types sweat taking it, with it dealing 44-52% to Graveler and Rhyhorn! I'm not sure if Raticate will be worth the risk of not landing a critical hit, but the fact that it DOES outspeed Zapdos while doing it means you'll need to respect it at team preview I think!


Poliwag

Raw Stats: 127 HP / 81 Attack / 72 Defense / 72 Special / 122 Speed

Poliwag
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Body Slam
- Blizzard
- Surf
- Amnesia

Haha wow, Poliwag gets Amnesia AND outspeeds Zapdos! That may seem incredible but... Poliwag is actually so frail that Zapdos can potentially KO it through Amnesia anyways, though at least Zapdos takes 58-68% from boosted Blizzard. The idea of a Poliwag sweep sounds pretty funny, but note that it only reaches 144 Special after boosting... which is around the same level of the best Special Pokemon unboosted anyways! So I'm not really sure Poliwag is worth it beyond memeing someone with its coverage and just the sheer audacity of Amnesia.


Slowpoke

Raw Stats: 174 HP / 94 Attack / 93 Defense / 69 Special / 43 Speed

Slowpoke
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 72 HP / 72 Atk / 64 Def / 72 SpA / 252 SpD / 64 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Amnesia

Slowpoke is the other Amensia mon and has an even lower Special Attack... but at least Slowpoke has Thunder Wave, so if it forces out say, Rhyhorn, it'll likely get a good paralysis in. Slowpoke itself probably won't sweep without some HEAVY paraysis support though, and it's not like this is Tobybro...


Kabutops

Raw Stats: 136 HP / 136 Attack / 126 Defense / 91 Special / 102 Speed

Kabutops
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Surf
- Swords Dance
- Mega Kick
- Submission

Kabutops is a threat in... sorry, wron format! Anyways, it's either this or... Fly Charizard. I'm skeptical of Kabutops because frankly, it gets outsped by so many dangerous Special Attackers like Zapdos and Kadabra, and it relies on the shakey Mega Kick to pick them off. However, I have to admit that it might do well against Persian and Tauros which is cool, and STAB Surf means the Rock / Grounds want nothing to do with Kabutops. Maybe this is worth trying out with some para spam?

Partial Trapping

While it's true that trapping moves did get nerfed in Pokemon Stadium, with the turn ending when the foe switches (aka, you won't automatically use the trapping move on the switch-in), the massively limited movepools, yet bountiful amount of paralysis spreaders might make these Pokemon relevant.


Rapidash

Raw Stats: 141 HP / 121 Attack / 91 Defense / 101 Special / 127 Speed

Rapidash
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Fire Blast
- Stomp
- Toxic
- Fire Spin

Enigami brought up Rapidash as having a pretty interesting toolkit. Beyond being a really fast user of Fire Blast (outspeeding Jynx is pretty unique), Fire Spin and the pretty rare Toxic can do a LOT of slow chip damage, which helps considering how frail this format is compared to your usual RBY stuff. This can also come in handy against mirrors that can cause some intense PP stall wars, like Kadabra versus Kadabra. Stomp is actually neat too, since you'll likely want to consider paralysis support for partial trapping anyways, so you can try to paraflinch stuff like Kadabra too!


Arbok

Raw Stats: 138 HP / 109 Attack / 93 Defense / 88 Special / 103 Speed

Arbok
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 24 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Def / 24 SpA / 252 SpD / 24 Spe
- Glare
- Wrap
- Dig
- Strength

Woah, a trapper that provides its own paralysis! Glare is not the god-level move here that it was in later generations, but any paralysis spreading is welcome. Something that helps Arbok is that a lot of Pokemon are missing Ground coverage, so it'll likely be much harder to KO, leaving it possible to whittle down weakened, paralyzed teams in the late game!

Other Stuff Not Currently Categorized


Articuno

Raw Stats: 162 HP / 102 Attack / 117 Defense / 142 Special / 102 Speed

Articuno
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 96 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Sky Attack
- Razor Wind
- Substitute

Oh finally, some STAB Ice Beam! Despite the stat nerfs, Articuno still hits plenty hard, and might be a good choice for trying to fish for some freezes. Something that might really help Articuno though, is Starmie's awful moveset not having Recover, and Chansey being much easier to break past, so that's a lot of problems out of the way! Substitute is a pretty rare bonus too: perfect for any particularly crazy Exeggutor that stays in to try and Stun Spore, since Pokemon Stadium fixed Substitute to actually block status!


Lapras

Raw Stats: 206 HP / 106 Attack / 101 Defense / 116 Special / 82 Speed

Lapras
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Solar Beam
- Body Slam
- Sing

So compared to Articuno, Lapras does not get nuked by Rock moves, which might make it worth it, plus Lapras owns Articuno itself pretty hard. Just like Articuno, I think Lapras likes that some of the stuff it HATED got taken down a peg, and unlike Blizzard in OU, Ice Beam will always OHKO all the Rock / Grounds! It's got another neat trick too: Body Slam 3HKOs Chansey, so if that's someone's only response to Lapras, you might be able to force it to Rest pretty quickly!


Jynx

Raw Stats: 146 HP / 75 Attack / 61 Defense / 121 Special / 120 Speed

Jynx
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 48 HP / 44 Atk / 48 Def / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 40 Spe
- Ice Punch
- Mega Punch
- Psychic
- Lovely Kiss

Jynx happens to speed tie with Haunter, so that means its an Ice-type that outspeeds Zapdos! Ice Punch is a shame though, since it doesn't always 2HKO Zapdos. Lovely Kiss might get you some cheesy wins if you don't get that accursed 0 turn Sleep, especially if you use this in the 3v3 mode.



Moltres

Raw Stats: 162 HP / 117 Attack / 107 Defense / 142 Special / 107 Speed

Moltres
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 96 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 Spe
- Fire Blast
- Fly
- Swift
- Substitute

Fire Blast is one hell of a strong Special Attack, actually 2HKOing even Rhyhorn and Graveler! As strong as it is though, you might want to save Moltres for late game, because 5 PP is not a whole lot. Few things sound worse than a Chansey just soaking up all your Fire Blasts, and being stuck with Fly and Swift! Also, Substitute might be quite useful against Exeggutor: those nerfed stats actually mean Exeggutor can survive Fire Blast, so you'll want to avoid the paralysis.


Poliwrath

Raw Stats: 166 HP / 106 Attack / 116 Defense / 91 Special / 92 Speed

Poliwrath
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 8 Atk / 8 Def / 8 SpA / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
- Hypnosis
- Submission
- Counter
- Hydro Pump

Counter on something with Poliwrath's bulk is pretty neat. While Submission already 2HKOs Persian and Tauros, you can use Counter due to their lack of good coverage moves against Poliwrath, to save yourself from some recoil! Submission also straight up OHKOes Chansey, which is very cool for a Water-type.

Pocket Monsters Stadium 2 Free For All / Nintendo Cup 97
​

Ruleset

- All Pokemon are level 50.

- Just like Poke Cup, in addition to being played in 3v3 like the rest, the "Free For All" mode actually pulls from this cup, meaning it's the one of two Gen 1 Rental formats that can be played in 6v6!

- Mewtwo and Mew are not available.

- This ruleset is only in the the Japanese Pocket Monsters Stadium 2. While it might be identical to Poke Cup in terms of rules... the rentals are TOTALLY different! So get prepared, this is a vastly different metagame!

- Unlike Poke Cup, Nintendo Cup 97 Rentals ALL have the same Stat EXP investment! It's still not a lot, so still expect a fairly fast paced metagame.

- Finally... these movesets are TOTALLY different than Poke Cup, so get prepared for a very different metagame!

Speed Tiers

Any Pokemon with a OHKO move will be in Red, since OHKO moves are based off the Speed stat! Also remember, NOT ALL of the Pokemon on here are viable!

Nintendo Cup 97 Rental Speed Tiers ​

Speed Stat	Pokemon
172	Electrode
162	Jolteon Aerodactly
152	Alakazam
147	Starmie Persian
142	Gengar Tauros
137	Kadabra Rapidash
132	Tentacruel
127	Haunter Jynx
122	Moltres Meowth
117	Articuno
112	Dragonite Arbok
102	Cloyster
87	Exeggutor
77	Golem
72	RhydonPorygon
67	Graveler
62	Snorlax
57	Rhyhorn
52	Geodude

Some good or interesting looking Pokemon at a glance

I haven't personally seriously analyzed these Pokemon yet, but here's some stuff that popped out to me. Feel free to discuss them before I get to them, or suggest some Pokemon to be added!

Nintendo Cup 97 Interesting Rentals

Pokemon With Recovery


Starmie

Raw Stats: 147 HP / 106 Attack / 117 Defense / 132 Special / 147 Speed

Starmie
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Recover
- Psywave


Kadabra

Raw Stats: 127 HP / 66 Attack / 62 Defense / 152 Special / 137 Speed

Kadabra
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Psybeam
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
- Seismic Toss


Alakazam

Raw Stats: 142 HP / 81 Attack / 77 Defense / 167 Special / 152 Speed

Alakazam
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Psybeam
- Recover
- Kinesis
- Dig


Porygon

Raw Stats: 152 HP / 91 Attack / 102 Defense / 107 Special / 72 Speed

Porygon
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Conversion
- Double-Edge
- Recover
- Thunder Wave


Tauros

Raw Stats: 162 HP / 131 Attack / 127 Defense / 102 Special / 142 Speed

Tauros
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Stomp
- Rest
- Fissure
- Rage

Cleaners / Sweepers


Persian

Raw Stats: 152 HP / 101 Attack / 92 Defense / 97 Special / 147 Speed

Persian
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Double Team
- Pay Day
- Slash


Jolteon

Raw Stats: 152 HP / 96 Attack / 92 Defense / 142 Special / 162 Speed

Jolteon
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Toxic
- Pin Missile
- Double-Edge



Meowth

Raw Stats: 127 / 76 Attack / 67 Defense / 72 Special / 122 Speed

Meowth
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Slash
- Thunder
- Bubble Beam
- Mimic

Ghosts


Gengar

Raw Stats: 147 HP / 96 Attack / 92 Defense / 162 Special / 142 Speed

Gengar
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Confuse Ray
- Night Shade
- Selfdestruct
- Metronome


Haunter

Raw Stats: 132 HP / 81 Attack / 77 Defense / 147 Special / 127 Speed

Haunter
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Mega Drain
- Thunderbolt
- Mimic
- Psychic

Rock Types


Graveler

Raw Stats: 142 HP / 126 Attack / 147 Defense / 77 Special / 67 Speed

Graveler
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Selfdestruct
- Earthquake
- Seismic Toss
- Metronome


Rhydon

Raw Stats: 192 HP / 161 Attack / 152 Defense / 77 Special / 72 Speed

Rhydon
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Horn Drill
- Dig
- Bubble Beam
- Earthquake


Rhyhorn

Raw Stats: 167 HP / 116 Attack / 127 Defense / 62 Special / 57 Speed

Rhyhorn
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Thunder
- Fire Blast


Geodude

Raw Stats: 127 HP / 111 Attack / 132 Defense / 62 Special / 52 Speed

Geodude
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Take Down
- Strength
- Rock Slide
- Explosion


Golem

Raw Stats: 167 HP / 141 Attack / 162 Defense / 87 Special / 77 Speed

Golem
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Rock Throw
- Mega Punch
- Dig
- Selfdestruct

Other Paralysis Spreaders


Dragonite

Raw Stats: 178 HP / 165 Attack / 127 Defense / 132 Special / 112 Speed

Dragonite
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Thunder Wave
- Surf
- Hyper Beam
- Dragon Rage



Arbok

Raw Stats: 147 HP / 116 Attack / 101 Defense / 97 Special / 112 Speed

Arbok
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Glare
- Wrap
- Earthquake
- Dig

Partial Trappers


Moltres

Raw Stats: 177 HP / 131 Attack / 122 Defense / 157 Special / 122 Speed

Moltres
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Fire Spin
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam
- Fly



Cloyster

Raw Stats: 137 HP / 126 Attack / 212 Defense / 117 Special / 102 Speed

Cloyster
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Clamp
- Selfdestruct
- Spike Cannon
- Ice Beam



Rapidash

Raw Stats: 152 HP / 131 Attack / 102 Defense / 112 Special / 137 Speed

Rapidash
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Stomp
- Fire Blast
- Toxic
- Fire Spin


Tentacruel

Raw Stats: 167 HP / 101 Attack / 97 Defense / 152 Special / 132 Speed

Tentacruel
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Wrap
- Toxic
- Hydro Pump
- Cut

Other Pokemon That Might Be Interesting


Exeggutor

Raw Stats: 182 HP / 126 Attack / 117 Defense / 157 Special / 87 Speed

Exeggutor
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Selfdestruct
- Psychic
- Toxic


Articuno

Raw Stats: 177 HP / 116 Attack / 132 Defense / 157 Special / 117 Speed

Articuno
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Peck
- Bubble Beam



Jynx

Raw Stats: 152 HP / 81 Attack / 67 Defense / 127 Special / 127 Speed

Jynx
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Lovely Kiss
- Ice Punch
- Psychic
- Bubble Beam


Snorlax

Raw Stats: 247 HP / 141 Attack / 97 Defense / 97 Special / 62 Speed

Snorlax
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Amnesia
- Body Slam
- Metronome
- Selfdestruct

RIP CHANSEY AND ZAPDOS


Chansey

Raw Stats: 337 HP / 36 Attack / 37 Defense / 137 Special / 82 Speed

Chansey
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Sing
- Minimize
- Double-Edge
- Reflect


Zapdos

Raw Stats: 177 HP / 121 Attack / 117 Defense / 157 Special / 132 Speed

Zapdos
Ability: No Ability
Level: 50
EVs: 96 HP / 88 Atk / 96 Def / 96 SpA / 252 SpD / 96 Spe
- Toxic
- Thundershock
- Thunder Wave
- Fly

 

[Theorymon]

This post will hold some extra metagames, most likely Prime Cup and the other Nintendo Cup formats! For now this is just reserved though.

 

[Theorymon]

Another reserved post. This thread will eventually cover 9 meta games after all! This is the last reserved post though, so you can post away now!

 

[The Faz]

Hooray! Stadium Rentals! Niiice. The road to here was a bit bumpy but we got here hah; I remember Celebii listing Kabuto with having the move "Lizzard" in its moveset; good memories.

That aside... what do we do about evasion moves? For example, ENG Poke Cup Chansey has Thunder, Fire Blast, Minimize and Rest. That's a pretty toxic set, specially with how hard Chansey hits back physical attackers. Are we banning rentals with evasion moves in them, banning you from clicking them in battle or leaving them as is?

That aside, what is everyone thinking in regards to Chansey regardless of the evasion? Is Chansey still great? From what I'm seeing basically every special attacker has at least one physical attack option to hit Chansey with; in Poke Cup we have Mega Punch Electabuzz/Jynx, Bite Gyarados, Submission Omastar, Dragonair Swift/Hyper Beam, etc. Is a Softboiled-less Chansey that has to rely on Rest for healing and 2 moves with less than 100% accuracy (thunder and fblast) that good in a meta where its main attribute - bypassing special attackers - isn't so true anymore?

 

[Theorymon]

Hooray! Stadium Rentals! Niiice. The road to here was a bit bumpy but we got here hah; I remember Celebii listing Kabuto with having the move "Lizzard" in its moveset; good memories.

That aside... what do we do about evasion moves? For example, ENG Poke Cup Chansey has Thunder, Fire Blast, Minimize and Rest. That's a pretty toxic set, specially with how hard Chansey hits back physical attackers. Are we banning rentals with evasion moves in them, banning you from clicking them in battle or leaving them as is?

That aside, what is everyone thinking in regards to Chansey regardless of the evasion? Is Chansey still great? From what I'm seeing basically every special attacker has at least one physical attack option to hit Chansey with; in Poke Cup we have Mega Punch Electabuzz/Jynx, Bite Gyarados, Submission Omastar, Dragonair Swift/Hyper Beam, etc. Is a Softboiled-less Chansey that has to rely on Rest for healing and 2 moves with less than 100% accuracy (thunder and fblast) that good in a meta where its main attribute - bypassing special attackers - isn't so true anymore?

For Evasion, I'm honestly not 100% sure yet. The purist inside of me says "we should only let the Nintendo 64 decide the rules" since these are technically formats made by HAL and Gamefreak, but in practice I know I would not personally mind adhering to "gentlemen's agreements" with some friends if they hate it. In a serious tournament situation... I would personally prefer not being allowed to use them rather than banning the Pokemon, because quite a few good Pokemon just randomly have Double Team, like Nintendo Cup 97 Persian.

I'm not sure about Chansey itself yet either. I think Kadabra is the easier to use special absorber considering Recover, but its also very vulnerable to paralysis making it easily revenge killed by any physical attacker, and has even MORE embaressing physical calcs, even if it's probably a much better Pokemon than Chansey. At the very least, despite the inaccuracies of its moves, they do hit pretty hard. Still I have been thinking similar thoughts to you: it feels like there's a LOT of specially based Pokemon that have some sort of "trick" against Chansey.



Oh yeah one more thing that's been on my mind... I know Alakazam in Poke Cup has a notoriously atrocious moveset, with Psybeam literally making it weaker than Kadabra and Abra... but I did notice something interesting about it! It's faster than Persian. Unlike Jolteon and Electrode, Alakazam can seriously damage the Rock-types, doing 60-71% to Graveler with Psybeam! It also happens to survive Persian's Slash, while you have a shot of actually 2HKOing Persian (especially if you crit, considering that nice 19% crit rate). To be clear, I would never use it in PLACE of Kadabra, because Kadabra's power and recover is gonna make it better 100% of the time. But maybe Alakazam has a niche as a late game cleaner... I might give it a try!

I think where the debate is really interesting is Nintendo Cup 97. Here, Kadabra is also cursed to have Psybeam, and BOTH of them have Recover. At first this might seem like a world where Alakazam outclasses Kadabra... but Kadabra has Thunder Wave, which is a HUGE move to have, plus Seismic Toss which could come in handy. I guess it could be team dependent, since both do have a good special stat and recover in a world where Chansey is basically unusable lol.

By the way, I got the OK to upload sets to the dex! So I'll be doing that tonight and tomorrow, which will mean we have a far better resource for rental stuff than like, 99% of the internet lol. I'll also knock out a few more speed tiers / pokemon lists to look at tonight, stay tuned!

 

[The Faz]

Okay... I have a very serious question.

What about PP Ups? It seems not every move has maxed out PP and that can be a pretty big deal. Blizzard having 5 PP rather than 8 PP can really come up. Is Pokemon Showdown capable of reducing the PP of moves? If no that's a pretty big change to the meta that needs addressing.

PP concern asides, here's some cool mons:

Cool mons

Blastoise 155 HP / 104 ATK / 121 DEF / 100 Speed / 106 Special
Hydro Pump / Skull Bash / Seismic Toss / Withdraw

Has some big and nice stats on top of Hydro Pump. Could deal some damage while acting defensive; having Withdraw also isn't terrible, depending on the endgame. Seismic Toss also is nice.

Ditto 135 HP / 80 on all other stats
Okay - here's a crazy idea. With the reduced PPs and very limited movepools could you theoretically make a PP stall team whose goal is to PP stall all of the opponent's good moves then bring in Ditto to clean up? If Ditto itself isn't the solution maybe you could instead use...

Cloyster 123 HP / 113 ATK / 198 DEF / 88 SPEED / 103 Special
Clamp / Spike Cannon / Ice Beam / Supersonic
If you can drain the opponent's PP on their special attacks then Cloyster looks pretty devasting and basically unoutable, no? Another thing that helps a lot is, as mentioned in the main post, paralysis spreading is fast and easy on this tier, with multiple spreaders; Cloyster's Clamp could do a pretty good number on the opponent's health if they're paralyzed. 103 Special STAB Ice Beam isn't too shabby either, and 113 ATK Spike Cannon is, workable, for going against Kadabra and Chansey'

 

[Enigami]

Evasion probably isn't a huge deal, there are decent Pokemon with Swift that can break Chansey and Chansey might have trouble building up evasion boosts in the first place. Chansey also has far lower physical bulk overall compared to OU Chansey. Luckily, OHKO moves are also mostly on mediocre Pokemon that are outsped by the best Pokemon available, which are immune to OHKO moves as long as they are faster. Only possible concern is Agility + Horn Drill Ponyta, which once set up turns the game into a pure RNG fest of "how many Pokemon will Ponyta take down before it dies?". I think those moves can be left alone unless they get shown to really become huge problems.

Theorymon is correct, Alakazam has a lot going for it with its Speed and enough physical bulk to tank a Slash from Persian. With Abra's access to Thunder Wave and Kadabra having the extremely coveted Recover, it seems the entire Alakazam line will be contenders in this metagame.

Showdown can certainly disable PP Ups, Trump Card in later gens defaults to no PP Ups since competitively you want as little PP as you can get on it.

Everything is so frail with Rental mons only, I don't think spending a turn on Withdraw on a Rest-less Blastoise will ever be worth it, and Ditto is going to be bad since it has to take a turn to turn into an inferior copy of whatever is in front of it. Cloyster might be OK, its beefy Defense could be useful against heavy hitters like Persian and Clamp could be very scary for paralyze teams.

Overview of Poke Cup/Anything Goes Rental Pokemon

Persian has Slash and BubbleBeam, Kadabra has Psychic, Counter and Recover. Both have the Speed, power and move pool to be huge meta threats.

Not only do Haunter & Gengar have decent moves, but more importantly they're a team's best defense against Persian since they are immune to Slash and take little from BubbleBeam, while Jynx has its OU move set mostly intact. All three should be finding their way on many teams.

Raticate, Meowth and Tauros are all hard hitting physical attackers, but due to lacking Water, Ice or Ground coverage, they are resisted by the Rock/Grounds. Of those, Geodude and Graveler are probably the best as they have functional sets including Explosion/Selfdestruct. Exeggutor and Abra are Psychic resists with paralysis inducing moves, making them decent checks to Kadabra, but suffer a bit from Exeggutor lacking strong attacks and Abra being extremely brittle. Electrode, Electaubuzz and Jolteon are all fast Thunder Wave users, and probably atleast one of them will make their way on to teams. Chansey is a Special wall as usual, albeit with Rest instead of Softboiled alongside Minimize to become a dodgy tank. Probably will be OK, but Defense is so low even mediocre physical hits will hit Chansey hard. Omastar and Kabutops are alternative Persian checks that tank the Slash/BubbleBeam combo well, with Omastar having big damage Hydro Pumps and Kabutops having rare setup in Swords Dance. Legendary birds do as they usually do, threatening big STAB damage, differing a bit in that Zapdos gets Thunder Wave while Articuno and Moltres get the status blocking Substitute. Dragonair benefits immensely from everything having fixed sets and often lacking Ice coverage that is so common in RBY, giving it room to take advantage of Dragon-typing's resists while dishing out damage and crippling Pokemon with Thunder Wave. Dragonair also 4HKOs Chansey with the evasion ignoring Swift, giving a bit of insurance that no matter how many Evasion boosts Chansey builds up, Dragonair should eventually bust through it with a critical hit.

Arbok and Rapidash are both partial trappers, with Arbok having Glare to cripple Pokemon and beat them with Wrap and Rapidash outspeeding many Pokemon and trapping them with Fire Spin, both of which could be quite potent in a meta where bulk is noticeably lower. Clefable brings Sing and Minimize to the table, making it a possible threat as a sleep inducing dodge tank that can set up safely after putting something to sleep. Poliwhirl and Poliwrath both get Hypnosis and some strong moves to go with them, making them possibly good as sleep inducing brawlers. Rhyhorn has almost an almost picturesque set for a Rock/Ground, but is a bit lacking in stats and/or booms and is likely to be overshadowed by them. Alakazam may have the worst movepool of its line, but its stats are what makes it shine: it outspeeds Persian and survives a hit from Slash. Couple that with a Tri Attack that can threaten a paralyzed Kadabra, and you have a rather dangerous sweeper on your hands once the opposing Psychic resists are crippled. Gyarados and Lapras are both bulky Waters with solid movepools, and are likely to do work on any teams they're on. Omanyte is mostly a worse Omastar, but Omanyte gets Ice coverage and Omastar does not, which may be valued on some teams. Aerodactyl's move pool is mostly mediocre, but it does come with one of the highest Speed stats in the game alongside Dragon Rage, reliably doing a not insignificant 40 damage in the meta and generally revenge killing weakened Pokemon reliably. Slowpoke, Slowbro, Drowzee and Hypno are all slow bulky Psychic resists with decent moves, any of which could thrive depending on the meta that develops. Staryu is the only other Pokemon with instant recovery, but its stats are pitiful to the point of being 2HKO'd by many things. Will be extremely dependent on the metagame to succeed. Starmie is similar to Alakazam in being a speedy Psychic-type Special Attacker, but unfortunately it is slower than Persian which might ruin its chances to shine in this metagame. Still, it gets Swift and 4HKOs Chansey, so it can always be handy as a Chansey answer. Snorlax hits really hard with Mega Kick and can use Rest to block Sleep by activating Sleep Clause, but might have trouble actually waking up due to its reduced bulk.

Gonna go more briefly over the next set. Charizard has Swords Dance, usable attacks and outspeeds Jynx. Ninetales also outspeeds Jynx, has Fire Blast for STAB, and Confuse Ray to cheese slower Pokemon. Wartortle and Dewgong have Rest and Water/Ice/Normal coverage. Blastoise and Tentacruel have nuclear Hydro Pumps. Paras has a great move pool (particularly with Stadium granting it a decent Slash crit rate) and 4x Earthquake resistance along with Spore, if Graveler is common it could have a place on teams. Poliwag sadly does not get Hypnosis, but it does have Speed and Amnesia to potentially snowball into a serious threat if given a free turn. Ponyta mostly has 1 thing: gambling on AgiliDrill. Select Agility if you're slower than the target, otherwise select Horn Drill over and over and hope you hit. Cloyster is a defensive tank that can abuse slower Pokemon with Clamp.

In the Sliver of Hope section, it's mostly boomers, sleepers, paralyzers and attackers with some unique traits, though there's a couple exceptions. Pidgey has Toxic, Sand Attack and Fly, which together could lead to some cheesy Toxic stalling tactics, Pinsir has Guillotine, Kingler also has Guillotine alongside Stomp and Substitute to abuse paralyzed Pokemon on top of the hard hitting Crabhammer, Weepinbell has Razor Leaf and Wrap but no way to paralyze faster Pokemon and thus would rely heavily on teammates, and then there's Golbat which has Confuse Ray and Bite to maximize your opponent's frustration as they face self hit damage, full paralysis and flinching.

The rest are mostly just too heavily overshadowed by the Pokemon above or got stuck with garbage movesets.

 

[Enigami]

Played some test Stadium 6v6 Poke Cup/Anything Goes matches using the rental sets on the dex with The Faz, got some insights to share:

Persian is definitely good, the raw damage of STAB Slash is crazy and 2HKOs a lot of stuff in the metagame while also being very fast and is only kept in check by Pokemon like Haunter and Gengar. Much like Tauros, you'll want to keep this Pokemon away from damage and status as much as you can afford to so it can challenge its counterpart on the opposing team and threaten to sweep in the late game.

Speaking of the Ghosts, we have a possible early RBY OU Golem vs. Rhydon situation here. Both Gengar and Haunter have their merits, Haunter having Explosion and Psychic and Gengar having Night Shade and Hypnosis to stand apart from one another. As the meta develops, one will probably take hold as the Ghost pick of the metagame, but until then we get to argue about which is better. Or maybe that they're better together.

Kadabra isn't quite as strong as predicted. Either attacks aren't doing much damage at all so Kadabra doesn't need to use Recover, or Kadabra is being hit by attacks doing so much damage that using Recover is a losing game. It's still very good at keeping the Ghosts and other mono-Psychic attackers contained until the opponent makes some play to brute force past it though, so it'll probably remain a staple on teams.

Tauros is still Tauros even after having Hyper Beam and most of its coverage taken away, with Double-edge's massive damage output making up for most of it. It has to rely on Fire Blast to damage Ghosts and Rocks, but burning those can still be good as it weakens Ghosts for Persian to break through and lessons the power of any Rock not named Aerodactyl.

Speaking of which, Aerodactyl. Its moveset is Fly, Hyper Beam, Supersonic and Dragon Rage. Bad, right? Wrong! Dragon Rage is a 4HKO on most things in the metagame, giving Aerodactyl a reliable attack to hit everything even while burned, acting like a pseudo-Seismic Toss, Fly can still do decent damage especially when it gets a critical hit, Hyper Beam can be used to secure a crucial KO despite the recharge turn, and even Supersonic has the tiniest use for cheesing a path to victory against anything it couldn't otherwise hope to win against. Its resistances, coupled with a shockingly functional yet terrible looking move set and outspeeding everything in the metagame except Electrode and tying Jolteon, makes it a surprisingly solid Pokemon despite the impression its move set would make.

Exeggutor is another good Pokemon, with Stun Spore being able to threaten many Pokemon reliant on their Speed while healthy and its resistances keeping Haunter, Psychics, other Grass-types and some Water-types in check, to name a few. Its lack of Psychic STAB does mean Gengar takes it on rather easily with Night Shade though.

Jolteon is a big threat on teams without something like Graveler to hard counter it, Jolteon's crit rate coupled with Electric/Bug coverage makes it extremely difficult to handle defensively. Several end games against The Faz depended on whether I could eliminate Jolteon so my Persian and/or Tauros could close out the game without Jolteon in the way.

Electabuzz, on the other hand, struggles to be a threat. I tried it, but its lack of Speed and ability to hurt Exeggutor really bites its ability to pressure teams (not to mention its lower Special stat and using Thunder Punch instead of the stronger Thunderbolt). It might work on some sort of paralysis reliant team that can use Psychic to get around Ground-types and cripple stuff with Thunder Wave, but otherwise it's just mediocre.

Articuno was an interesting one. When used against me, it felt like a huge threat since our team structures tended to lack an Ice-resistance. It's hard to fit everything you want on a team and a lot of the time an Ice-resist didn't seem important with Kadabra around, but Ice Beam does around 45%, making Kadabra extremely uncomfortable with switching in and trying to Recover stall in front of Articuno. Meanwhile, The Faz didn't like it despite performing well with how it limited options due to Articuno having little defensive utility and the difficulty in getting it in. So, kind of a one dimensional threat that might be hit or miss for some people.

Alakazam and Abra we didn't test a whole lot, but they do feel like they can each threaten teams pretty heavily if Kadabra falls. Haunter is probably the best option to use with them so if Kadabra wants to check Haunter, it has to risk being exploded on and letting the other Kadabra and its sibling(s) run rampant.

Jynx certainly feels like a threat in preview, though possibly not quite as high as I thought it was considering its not quite fast speed and extremely low physical bulk. Ice/Psychic coverage is still a huge threat, as is Lovely Kiss, but as long as you've got enough speed in your team you should be able to manage against it.

Chansey I'm mixed about. It tanks Special hits well enough initially, but it does tend to get worn down quickly and get forced to Rest. And at that point, it gets pressured heavily by Persian or Tauros, so better hope your Ghost is healthy to switch into them. Psychic's Special drops also is troublesome for Chansey. We weren't able to test with Minimize due to having to play on Showdown's Stadium OU (which has Evasion Clause), but that might help to make Chansey a tougher nut to crack.

Rhyhorn was alright, but it did get worn down pretty fast. Granted, it had switched into an Electabuzz's Psychic, but still. The Faz seems to think the Rock/Grounds won't be that useful, but I think they'll definitely find their ways on teams due to Jolteon alone.

Dragonair and Paras (as I expected) felt usable, but a little bit weak. They could usually provide a little bit of defensive utility switching into a resisted attack, get status on one mon and heavily maim or take out another before going down, so that'll probably land them places on some teams now and then. Rapidash was used by The Faz but didn't get a lot done, it does seem like it'll be a rare niche pick at best. Raticate was a little underwhelming, having to rely on Thunder crits to do any damage to Haunter or Gengar felt bad. Meowth will probably be even worse due to Thunderbolt being all it has to try to break the Ghosts with.

Generally, teams seem to work best with a Persian-Ghost-Kadabra core, so when deciding on a team starting with those should be a safe bet for now. You can use the RBY strategy dex to look up the importable sets for use in Stadium OU to test it, though evasion and OHKO moves have to be removed from sets in order to play it that way until we can get a Stadium Anything Goes Rentals format approved. Make sure to add 1 EV to your Pokemons' stats so the validator understands that the Pokemon are supposed to be Level 50.

 

[The Faz]

Played a bunch of test games with Enigami. Most of the stuff Eni already covered but I'm gonna give some additions on my perspective'. (All quotes are from Eni's post)

Articuno was an interesting one. When used against me, it felt like a huge threat since our team structures tended to lack an Ice-resistance. [...] Meanwhile, The Faz didn't like it despite performing well with how it limited options due to Articuno having little defensive utility and the difficulty in getting it in. So, kind of a one dimensional threat that might be hit or miss for some people.

This tier has impressive offensive haymakers: Persian, Haunter, Jolteon, Kadabra, etc, and you need a number of defensive checks. A standard team (in my games vs Enigami) was always Persian + 5 friends; Persian acts like a Tauros, saved for a revenge kill or late game sweep. This means you have 5 mons to be your main defense mons and the bulk of your middle game.
When you add Articuno to your team instead of having 5 mons you can use in the mid game you only have 4. That really restricts your options and means if any of those 4 mons falls you basically lost the game as something is now unchecked. If you want a second late game cleaner I'd say Tauros is much better since it's bulkier, giving it defensive utility that Articuno lacks. Articuno's middling speed tier and weakness to thunderbolt also doesn't help.

Exeggutor is another good Pokemon, with Stun Spore being able to threaten many Pokemon reliant on their Speed while healthy and its resistances keeping Haunter, Psychics, other Grass-types and some Water-types in check, to name a few. Its lack of Psychic STAB does mean Gengar takes it on rather easily with Night Shade though.

Jolteon is a big threat on teams without something like Graveler to hard counter it, Jolteon's crit rate coupled with Electric/Bug coverage makes it extremely difficult to handle defensively. Several end games against The Faz depended on whether I could eliminate Jolteon so my Persian and/or Tauros could close out the game without Jolteon in the way.

Jolteon and Eggy felt fantastic. As Eni said endgames often revolved around stopping Jolteon. Eggy served very well as a middle game bruiser; it can switch on a lot. Stun Spore is universally bad for the opponent, no matter what it switches into; it means early game if you switch it in and there's no status on the enemy team you're guaranteed progress, even if the mon directly on you you can't damage well.

Talking about damage: Egg Bomb is NUTS. Well, it's not nuts like a Tauros Hyper Beam but it does its job terrifyingly well; it hits Kadabra, Chansey, etc. It can even deal good damage on other mons due to 100 base power, too. It's definitely a move considering clicking and a move to be considered when playing against.


Other considerations:
Remember, this is a Stadium meta. Gengar having Hypnosis didn't impact nearly as much as it would have done if this was OU; enemy mons stay asleep for much, much less. That + Rest also counting for sleep clause means a mon having a sleep inducing move is a lot worse, specially ones with low accuracy. Paras did felt threatening - its Slash dealt considerable damage and the threat of Spore is really big when it's guaranteed sleep.

This meta is outrageously fun. Building for it is quick and easy since the sets are all predetermined plus every mon has one or two wild moves that you wouldn't expect that sometimes are useful. Getting to click Mimic with Persian on a Haunter switch in to fish for Psychic, clicking Leech Seed with Eggy on a Haunter switch in, Jolteon Sand Attack endgames, etc; you get to click many funny and fun moves in this tier and that's really cool. It's like 7U but instead of bad mons it's bad sets.

The team I liked the most was definitely Haunter / Persian / Tauros / Kadabra / Exeggutor / Jolteon;
It's a general hot podge of some of the best mons in the tier; there's not much synergy yet since the meta is so new identifying good defensive cores is pretty hard, but it does in general have enough defensive mons to work. Main advice if you run this is do NOT boom Haunter early. It might be temptive to boom Haunter on a Kadabra but trust me booming Haunter means opponent's Persians and Tauros have free reign on your team. Don't boom early.

Overall - really damn fun tier. Would love to play more in the future.

 

[y-roc?]

Been doing some labbing for stadium 6v6 and have noticed a couple of cool interactions.

Weezing/muk have a lot of potential as switch ins to Eggy that don't care about paralysis as they're already slow. Weezings physical bulk in particular makes it work as a backup normal check that can threaten boom. The combo of sludge and fire blast is very hard to switch into too since the status they spread is a lot more impactful than in vanilla formats. Poison's power as a defensive type has me very excited in this meta.

Slowbro as a defensive option to the psychics is really strong. While I tried slowpoke first due to amnesia the poor little thing crumples a bit too easy to the crit/special drop chances of psychic for my liking. Stab surf let's you threaten psychics reasonably well and surf + psychic is honestly enough for it.

Also as an additional haunter check the subs of Articuno and Moltres can live haunter psychics making them great responses especially if you can pivot in on a mega drain. I think with Articuno in particular spending time to figure out all the ways to safely get it behind a sub will be huge as sky attack + ice beam is scary when you pull it off (unless you run into omastar who is great btw).

 

[Enigami]

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1stadiumou-1833206844
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1stadiumou-1833214845
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen1stadiumou-1833222002

Got some more games in with The Faz.

Current impressions with the Pokemon I've seen and played against so far in no particular order. Both Ghosts continue to be great, Persian and Tauros continue to bust mons up, Kadabra and Exeggutor continue to be solid checks to a bunch of threats in the tier. Kadabra could be lower though, it straight up dies to STAB Normal attacks and Exeggutor does a solid job checking a lot of the same things Kadabra wants to. Aerodactyl also proves very handy with its resists, Speed, and making surprisingly good use of its movepool. Fly can dodge attacks and force switches, and those things that do switch into Fly don't like taking Dragon Rage right after and compromising their ability to check the other Pokemon they're supposed to check.

Grav is solid as an anti-Electric, Jynx is almost just OU Jynx, and Zapdos is still Zapdos.

Dragonair and Paras continue to prove usable enough with their resistances and spreading status. Zam struggles a lot when Kadabra and Exeggutor can keep STAB Psybeam contained, but when those threats are out of the way it's a solid cleaner that outspeeds other cleaners like Persian while being tough enough to stomach a Slash. Abra, Rat, and Buzz haven't been played since my initial bouts with The Faz but listing them where I felt like they belonged from those battles.

 

[The Faz]

I know I've said something similar before about Aerodactly but

dear god why does it get fly
Okay so like, you outspeed everyone, right? That means you can use Fly, they underspeed and miss you due to fly. Awesome. Now they either stay in and take the Fly or they can switch out into something that likes taking fly, like Graveler.
But then guess what, Graveler doesn't have anything good to hit Aerodactly with and takes good damage from Dragon Rage. And everything takes good damage from Dragon Rage so no matter who you switch to Dragon Rage will do good progress. And then depending on what you switch into, taking the Dragon Rage, the Aerodactly can choose to just do the same thing again, using Fly, dodging your attack and getting chip after chip on the Graveler and Dragon Raging into whatever you switch into.

And guess what, if you read a Fly, switched into Graveler and read wrong then Graveler eats a Dragon Rage to the face for free! And if you did read right and switched the Graveler in then guess what, all your moves are resisted by Aerodactly's rock typing and you can barely dent it.

All of that is to say unless you're playing something like Omastar nothing likes switching into Fly, and it's not just Fly it's STAB Fly from an Aerodactly. It deals a lot of damage.


Aerodactly aside, Paras is really cool! Ice coverage is very small so you only really gotta worry about few stuff, and with Jolteon and Eggy doing its rounds around you do get some neat opportunities to switch it in. Add in the 100% Spore chance and Slash you can do some nice damage to the opponent'ts team, very very nice. Just watch out to not para or burn any of the ghost types or Para gets in a tight spot.

Another thing: I played a lot Kadabraless (but brought a lot of Eggy). It works perfectly fine and was never caught in a "I wish I had a Kadabra rn" headset, which is always nice. Kadabra is good but it's not mandatory, I'd even say Eggy is better imho, due to having more varied and useful tools like being able to inflict paralysis.

 

[Enigami]

It's coming! Pokemon Stadium on Nintendo Switch Online coming April 12th. Looking forward to be able to play Rentals on Switch

 

[Beelzemon 2003]

Theorymon, I want to congratulate you for creating a thread about one of my favorite games. By the way, years ago, a group of friends and I created a thread with sample teams, tips and resources for the Pokémon Stadium 1 formats, we even included the Nintendo Cups '98 and '99 which can be played in the international versions using the Poké Cup and Prime Cup options. Here is the thread.

And since I'm in the mood of giving, here is the link to the official strategy guide of the game, which was published by Nintendo of America.

 

[Beelzemon 2003]

For Evasion, I'm honestly not 100% sure yet.

When we have tournaments of Stadium 1 and Stadium 2 formats in Pokémon Showdown, we usually ban Evasion and One Hit KO Moves. Since the Nintendo Switch version only has Rental Pokémon, I think that the best decision is to allow Pokémon that have those moves, but ban them from using said moves in battle. If the game comes to a situation where a Pokémon only has PPs for a banned move, then its player should lose the game as soon as the Pokémon uses it in battle.

 

[Link407]

Hi there everyone! Long time since I was a competitive player but still sometimes reading great info from here, so I wanted to share something really nice with you all!

Last week we prepared a basic Tierlist and improvised a Rentals tournament during a party... thing is, it was crazy fun! me and one of my friends are former international competitive players, so we nerfed our picks (80pts basically) but there were even rookies, and let me tell you something, I have never expected them to do so well! I managed to win but was close to be defeated twice and mi friend only managed to finish 4th! Close to lose a match 0-6 with the rival untouched!

Talking about this, minor changes were done after the v1 Tierlist, We now have to vote if an already picked Pokemon has to move, and back before it was just up to C-, but one Pokemon Skyrocketed from B+ to A and that is Gengar! What a beast in Rookie vs!

We set some fun rules like preparing the teams just before the tournament and sealing them, or counting the kills for the groups phase and don't letting retirements before half of the team is defeated! Now we are thinking about doing like a NBA draft were the last of the tournament will choose first and would not be possible to pick that Pokemon again so it will be even more diversity!

The entire tournament was recorded so you can see some fun battles here! It is very difficult to find Stadium battles or a community playing it!

If you are interested in something like that I can share all the info I have been gathering too! I wanted to investigate about all the Pokemon, not just the meta ones, and ordering them by type, role and traits! Having limited movepools is so fun and makes every Pokemon so unique!

Pokemon Stadium Rentals Guide
​

Edit: Today I was working on a new concept (Link above updated), ordering by damage, it brings a lot of information to the table, for example you can factor the speed position and the raw damage position in a Pokemon to obtain results like this:

As you can see it makes a lot of sense: Kadabra, Persian and Jolteon being the best reliable sweepers and it helps a lot investigating some Pokemon with damage calcs not that clear, for example you can compare Scyther with Persian as a slash user, or compare how bad is Rhydon in neutral scenarios.

For doing this I chose the most reliable form of damage of every Pokemon with his used stat, for example avoiding Dig, Fly, Recharge or Recoil as much as possible.

Some interesting facts: The hardest hitting Pokemon in the metagame is Magneton with a nuclear Thunder! Farfetch'd hits as hard as Persian and Golbat is the weakest of them all! As some people said early, Snorlax is the best physical attacker, and Hitmonlee the best non Normal physical attacker!

Hope you enjoy my content and bring some fun battles to the table!

 

[Enigami]

I'm surprised Snorlax is that high given its only STAB is Mega Kick and only coverage is Rock Slide. It being slower than almost every other Pokemon isn't ideal either. Is that A ranking solely based on its raw power on neutral hits, or results? I personally avoided using Snorlax due to its lack of Speed and vulnerability to Graveler.

One thing I see with this point buy system is Gastly (and maybe Omanyte) skyrockets in value. A Persian answer that costs 0 while checking a bunch of other stuff would be handy for teambuilding.

 

[Link407]

I'm surprised Snorlax is that high given its only STAB is Mega Kick and only coverage is Rock Slide. It being slower than almost every other Pokemon isn't ideal either. Is that A ranking solely based on its raw power on neutral hits, or results? I personally avoided using Snorlax due to its lack of Speed and vulnerability to Graveler.

One thing I see with this point buy system is Gastly (and maybe Omanyte) skyrockets in value. A Persian answer that costs 0 while checking a bunch of other stuff would be handy for teambuilding.

Hi Enigami and thank you for your feedback!

My ranking is far from, perfect but I take into account a lot of different stuff, for Snorlax It is his raw power, bulk and ability to hit Ghosts with Rock Slide, also have to take this ranking under the 6v6 and 3v3 prism. In 3v3 Snorlax is the undisputed King as far as I know, you don't see Persian as much and Ghosts are missing (Just because as you said Graveler is a better response to Snorlax) but choosing Graveler in 3v3 has a great opportunity cost and sometimes Snorlax roams free. I will bring an update with comprehensive commentary for each Pokemon on my Guide at some point, just working on it!

As for results in 3v3 I studied a Youtubers Championship that took place like 4 months ago, each Youtuber had a competitive player as a coach to build the team, and there was even people who actually competed back in the 2000s Pokemon Stadium World Championship. (It is difficult to find real fire out there) but let me tell you something, Snorlax was in every team, his 1v1 performance is too good!

In the 1st stage Pokemon case I try to avoid them actually, I put some just as fillers, or to represent something like Amnesia with Slowpoke, others are too good to avoid like Graveler, but Gastly and Omanyte are outclassed by their final stages, anyway if ranked they would not cost 0pts! others come to my mind like Razor Leaf Ivysaur, maybe the best Razor Leafer and should be ranked even higher than Venusaur!

Maybe will end ranking every Pokemon, but for now we have the tournament next weekend so no more changes allowed! you can see the family has grown a lot since the last one!

 

[Link407]

The Autumn Cup is over, and It has let us with a lot of testing and multiple replays. We tested 50+ Pokemon in a 6v6 tournament and a 3v3 Tournament where a Pokemon could not be picked up twice in a pretty dope tournament with even a custom game that let us choose scenario and play in a real Stadium! Also started to tier every Rental Pokemon for the next main cup and WIP for Stadium 2 Rentals (Pokemon Stadium 2 Rentals Metagame)

Work did not end here as I uploaded a new version of my teambuilder, helps a lot to introduce and train new players:

Pokemon Stadium Rentals Guide
​

All stadium moves with stadium mechanics included, gen 1 type chart, damage calculator and a commentary section for the most notable 50 picks with at least two of each type added.

Here my thoughts on the metagame:

About Evasion and OHKO moves I find it right just as It is, Evasion is already nerfed in stadium compared to RBY and you have plenty of moves to deal with it without opportunity cost, OHKO is only useful to have a chance to break a bulky mon in a pinch but you will face a lot of scenarios where your best move is pure luck based anyways, I find this hilariously fun because how unpredictable matches are sometimes, this coupled with fixed movesets and sit and play makes this game the ultimate Pokemon game to battle with some friends.


Meta level

Normal types sit as the best Pokemon in Rentals, I think Persian is the best cleaner overall closed by a straight outclassed Tauros, outside of that you have the wallbreaking power of Snorlax, the Special wall of Chansey or the Agility set of Dodrio.

Ghost types become the best Normal answers despite Snorlax, they have even big utility outside of they because how narrow movesets are in Rentals, for me there is no discusion and Gengar is the top dog, you usually want to preserve your Ghost until Persian is down, and Persian does not want to show, so Explosion is not that useful, maybe you could want Haunter because of your build though.

Psychics are extremely good too and are only resisted by themselves, so you must have one in your team unless you want to get wrecked by Kadabra, thing is Kadabra is very frail and I have no doubt Exeggutor is one of the best Pokemon in the format, very dificult to drop from a team because of how much Pokemon are perfectly walled by him. Alakazam in the other hand trades overall utility for greater speed than Persian.

Next are the Electrics, they could be the GOATS if they were not stopped dry from the Rock/Groud, but they are. Jolteon is so scary than in my opinion enables Graveler to be in nearly every team, you can not underestimate Zapdos power and Paralysis ability too and Electabuzz being able to hit Rock/Ground and Poison/Ground types.

Rock/Ground are the best Electric answers and also become handy because of their Normal resistance and high Physical damage, they are great against Gengar but not Haunter and become the best defensive core adding Exeggutor to the equation. I think Graveler is the best of them but when teambuilding you keep in mind you can exploit it by not having Rock Slide, so Rhyhorn can become more dangerous to the majority of the teams.

Ice types are the best offensive form in the format, you hit for neutral damage nearly all of the meta mons and break the best defensive core of the game, thing is they don't bring as much as a defensive synergy. Jynx is good because of sleep, Articuto is blessed with Substitute and can wall Exeggutor can even sub for free in front of Haunter and Lapras brings much more Defensive synergy and beats the other Ice types.

Last we have the Waters, if it wasn't for exeggutor they would be in a greater spot but nonetheless they still are the best Ice answers, I like Starmie as it has great overall utility and breaks Ice and the other Waters, even resists psychic and Slowbro because is a good Physically defensive Psychic. Omastar can fit here or with the Rocks or with the Ghosts, it is a great Persian answer that hits like a truck and has Chansey coverage!


Meta outsiders

Fire types are pretty much buffed in Rentals, they are much more good in neutral scenarios than they are in RBY so you can expect even Charizard having chances to win Persian 1v1, Moltres is the best of them enabled to dodge Earthquake and sub in front of Exeggutor, but fire types don't bring that much of a synergy to a team. I also like Arcanine as a mono Fire, has good bulk, substitute, Dragon Rage for neutral damage and hits hard thanks to Fire Blast, also it is not weak to Ice as Moltres and Charizard are.

Then you have THE Bug/Grass, Paras, I think it is the best representation of both types outside of Exeggutor, this thing can make trouble if you don't play correctly against it, also Scyther seems to have a niche as a second Slash user. Grass types on the other hand are the biggest Rentals losers, their movepools are horrendous, lacking razor leaf as their way of damage hurts.

Next we have the Dragons, Aerodactyl was a dragon right? It can outspeed and fly you to death, or damage you with Dragon Rage, Dragonair can bring paralysis and some kind of defensive synergy but it's very weak, and Dragonite is an inaccurate Agility cleaner, Gyarados is good though, can hit Exeggutor, you can bring him in Eartquake, just avoid Electric type moves.

Posion types are represented by Weezing with its bulk and explosive nature and Arbok thanks to its Glaring ability, one note is that usually I don't find useful to paralyze the Rock/Ground, as they become the perfect Gengar answer. You can also fit the Nidos here as a secondary Ground type pick that is not annihilated by Bubble Beam!

Fighting type is slightly buffed in Rentals but is still pretty bad, Poliwrath is the only one I can see usage in a serious team because it has a great movepool with sleep, counter and mixed coverage.

And that is all for me, pretty long post but I prefer that than multi posting, I would like to know your opinions, tierlists, playing experiences. All the info provided by Theorymon, The Faz, Beelzemon and Enigami's tierlist, replays and comments where a great help!

 

[Link407]

SPRING CUP TIER LIST UPDATE:

6v6 Focused Tier list (For 3v3 bulkier Pokemon tend to perform better, like Snorlax, Slowbro, Lapras, other, like Gengar, lose weight due to role compression)


Playable Formats:

-Free Choice: You have 100pts for team building (130pts for rookie, -10pts each tournament win).

-Draft: You have 100pts for team building, picks can not be repeated between players.

-Random Cup: You spend your points in a tier, your pick is randomized.

-Anything Goes: You have 180pts for team building battle 6v6 Smogon format.

-Poke Cup: You have 180pts for team building battle 3v3, Official format.


We have added two mods, not playable on NSO:

-Added Rental Mew and Mewtwo:

POKEMON​	MOV 1​	MOV 2​	MOV 3​	MOV 4​	HP​	ATK​	DEF​	SPE​	SPD​
Mewtwo​	Confusion​	Swift​	Disable​	Seismic Toss​	166​	115​	95​	159​	135​
Mew​	Psychic​	Mega Punch​	Transform​	Metronome​	160​	105​	105​	105​	105​

-Added Battle Arena Selector.


As we play we are discovering more and more niches for some Pokémon, mostly in the lower tiers, so I think our tier list is more polished now. I am wishing to play some kind of tournament here in Smogon to further test the upper tiers!

 

[Straylo]

Are there sample teams for anything goes with no point restrictions or would the best team simply be all the 30 point mons?

 

[Link407]

Are there sample teams for anything goes with no point restrictions or would the best team simply be all the 30 point mons?

I don't think the best team would be just all the 30 mons but this team will definitely work! I think for anything goes you want to look in the 30-20 mons, some 15 are interesting enough in their roles like Arcanine, Electabuzz or Paras too.

From the 30s mons maybe you want to drop something like Articuno or Jolteon for a Rock Ground like Graveler or Rhyhorn (There is big debate now who is the best right now because Articuno is wreaking havoc and Graveler is a entry point) or maybe you want to stack normal types that can break Gengar alongside a Persian team, like Snorlax.

There is more room for experimentation than expected, this is draft, but last successful team I built was around Articuno, an offensive momentum based team around Sleep and Freeze inspired by 1996 Fubuki Saiminjutsu, with Sleep, Substitute and a very luck positive chance of a Freeze with Articuno's bulk and forced switches, this team was able to break through in a unsuspected way, most of the time freezing the best target like the Water trying to absorb Ice Beam and this being game.

Would be cool if someone wants to work on sample teams and test AG further since this is not a popular format for us! I would be glad to accept matches on NSO too in any format now that I have the Switch :)

 

[ninun]

Is there any kind of showdown-style damage calculator for the stadium rentals metagame sets or is it just the marble palace one? I couldn't find any that were particularly convenient so I was just gonna make my own if nothing exists already

 

[Link407]

Is there any kind of showdown-style damage calculator for the stadium rentals metagame sets or is it just the marble palace one? I couldn't find any that were particularly convenient so I was just gonna make my own if nothing exists already

Hi there Ninun, sorry for the late reply, I have one built in my Pokemon Stadium Rental Guide v4 but if you end up building something fancier please let me know!