A Twitter user who played Pokemon Stadium 20 years ago has been reunited with his in-game Pokemon team thanks to the internet. Pokemon Stadium was an N64 title released in 1998, and despite having a similar turn-based combat system to the main series Pokemon games it is considered a spin-off due to its lack of story. Still, with a million copies sold by the end of 2000, it was considered one of the console's best sellers.
The N64 is a truly iconic console, and even now, almost four console generations and over twenty years after its release, players still have cause to revisit it and dust off the many classic games in its library. The used game trade thrives off of rare N64 cartridges, and it's easy to see why; a lot of N64 games were beloved enough to get remasters and re-releases on later-gen consoles, and even when compared to those, their original releases still hold up remarkably well. Pokemon Stadium has flown a bit under the radar in this world of remakes; unlike legends like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, it never got a full re-release.
This might be what prompted Twitter user Derek R. Rose (via GamesRadar) to buy a used copy of the game from eBay. When he received it in the mail, he was disappointed to discover that a previous owner had written their name, Sam G., on the cartridge, a fact that directly contradicted the image posted to eBay by the seller of the game. He took to Twitter to express his frustration to his followers, which is when things got interesting. One of his followers jokingly tagged a friend of theirs in the post because the friend happened to also be named Sam G. What this mutual friend thought was a fun coincidence turned into a much more surprising twist of fate when, after a brief conversation, this Sam G. was revealed to actually be the same Sam G. who had originally owned that copy of Pokemon Stadium back in 2000.
This fascinating turn of events sent Derek Rose on a mission. He decided to reunite Sam G. with his long-departed Pokemon team by any means he could. With the help of an N64 Transfer Pak, a cartridge dumper, and a hacked 3DS, Rose was eventually able to bring three of the 20 year old Pokemon Stadium fighters into the present day by transferring them into Pokemon Sword and Shield and sending them to Sam G. Much of the team could not be resurrected due to the limited roster in Sword and Shield, but they are still safe in Derek's new copy of Pokemon Stadium.
The internet is a vast, strange, often frightful place. Depending on what circles people travel in and how they spend their time online, they could be forgiven for thinking of it as a dreadful place full of awful, combative people. But really, the internet is just a tool; a powerful, deeply important tool unlike just about anything else available to the human race. Using that tool, people can do some incredible things. This Pokemon Stadium story is a remarkable example of how good the internet is at bringing people together and forging connections. Because Derek Rose fell victim to false advertising, Sam G. got to reconnect with memories he'd made two whole decades ago. That's a truly phenomenal thing, and a beautiful example of the strange, delightful, unpredictable things people on Twitter will do for each other just because they can.
Source: Derek R. Rose/Twitter (via GamesRadar)