Although the Stadium Mode should be considered Pokémon Stadium's main attraction, most players will probably like the Gym Leader Castle option the best -- mainly because of the rewards you reap when you beat it. This mode lets you battle your way through eight gyms taken directly from the Game Boy games, before you face the Final Four and your arch Rival. The Gym leaders are Brock, Misty, Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, Giovanni, Elite Four and Rival. The Rules Open to all Pokémon (but you can only bring one of each kind). Enter with six Pokémon. Choose three out of the six for each battle. No level restrictions. Gym Leaders will normally use level 50 Pokémon. If you use any Pokémon over level 50, their Pokémon will be of the same level as your highest level Pokémon. No two Pokémon asleep or frozen. No selfdestruct move with last Pokémon. This mode may look like a board game, but it's really just a map that shows you which gym you'll face next. Once you have beaten a gym's three trainers and their leader, a new location will open up on the map and you'll face the next group. You'll first battle Brock and three of his trainers, then Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni. Next, you have to beat the Elite Four (Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, Lance) AND your rival. Should you lose against a gym leader or one of his/her three trainers, you'll have to start over at the beginning of that gym. There are no continues in this mode. Before each battle, you need to elect three from your group of six Pokémon that you will pit against the next trainer. The trick is that you can see the other trainer's six Pokémon, but you don't know which three he/she picked to go against you. So you always have to assemble a worthy team that can hold its own against a varied opposition. The key to beating Gym Leader Castle lies in the creation of a strong Pokémon team with a diverse lineup of types. A good standard type combination would be: Psychic, Electric, Water/Ice, Fire, Ground or Ground/Rock. As your last Pokémon type, pick a Flying or a Normal type, a Dragon, another Electric or Psychic, or one of the less popular types like Bug, Grass, Fighting, Poison or Ghost. Feel free to experiment with different combinations, but remember to stay away from creating a team comprised of three or more Pokémon vulnerable to the same attack type. Like with most of the modes in Pokémon Stadium, you can either use Pokémon that you have caught and trained on your Game Boy cartridge, or rent them from an extensive list of "Rental Pokémon". However, the Rental Pokémon aren't nearly as powerful as homegrown ones -- so you definitely want to use your own in this mode. Also, if you don't own a Pokémon Game Boy cartridge, you're missing out on the really cool reward you get when you beat the Gym Leader Castle. Rewards Every time you defeat the Elite Four and your rival, you are randomly awarded one of eight semi-rare to rare Pokémon that you can then transfer to your Game Boy cartridge. The Pokémon is awarded to you after the credits sequence and you need to pick it up in Professor Oak's Lab. Note that the lab can only hold one Pokémon at the time, so pick it up right away or you may be forced to overwrite it when you beat Gym Leader Castle again. All in all, you can win the following eight Pokémon: #001 Bulbasaur: Pokémon Red and Blue players who picked Charmander or Squirtle as their starting Pokémon can finally get their hands on the powerful Grass/Poison type. It first evolves into Ivysaur, then into Venusaur. #004 Charmander: If you picked Squirtle or Bulbasaur, the powerful Charmander can finally be yours -- as well as its evolutions, Charmeleon and Charizard. #007 Squirtle: Pokémon Yellow players may not care about this one either, but Red/Blue players who picked Bulbasaur or Charmander will finally find out why Squirtle is most players' #1 choice as the starting Pokémon. It evolves into Wartortle and Blastoise. #106 Hitmonlee: Even Pokémon Yellow players should be excited about this one. If you picked Hitmonchan, this is your only chance to get -lee (outside of trading with someone). #107 Hitmonchan: Here's the second (and less popular) Hitmon character. Chances are you didn't pick this one -- so this fighting Pokémon will be a welcome reward. #133 Eevee: In my opinion, Jolteon is the most powerful Electric Pokémon in the game. Eevee's other two evolutions, Vaporeon and Flareon aren't bad, either. The catch is that you only find one Eevee in the Game Boy games -- and you can only evolve it into one of the three. Here's your chance to get as many Eevees as you like. Cool, huh? #138 Omanyte: Did you get Kabuto when you had to choose between the Dome Fossil and the Helix Fossil? Well, Omanyte (and its evolution Omastar) can finally be yours. #140 Kabuto: Kabuto and its evolution, Kabutops, may have a lot of weaknesses, but they're still two of the coolest looking Pokémon in the game. Here's your chance to get Kabuto -- even if you picked Omanyte in the Game Boy quest. Note that you don't need to beat the whole Gym Leader Castle mode if you want to win another bonus Pokémon. Once you have opened up the Elite Four Battle, you can just start from there.