Pokémon Stadium on the N64 was the first time we got to see our favorite monsters duke it out in full 3D—and man, did it feel like a big deal back then. You start off picking your team (or importing your leveled-up crew from the Game Boy games if you had the Transfer Pak), and suddenly your tiny pixelated buddies are throwing fireballs and thunderbolts like they’re in some over-the-top anime battle. The animations were simple by today’s standards, but watching Charizard finally flap its wings or Pikachu actually leap around? Pure magic.

The German version plays exactly like the others, just with menus and text in German—handy if you’re practicing the language or just like the way "Glurak" sounds compared to "Charizard." The real fun was in the Gym Leader Castle mode, where you’d grind through increasingly brutal fights, or the minigames that turned Pokémon moves into weirdly addictive party challenges. Sure, the AI could be brutal if you weren’t prepared, but that just made finally beating Mewtwo with your underleveled team even sweeter.

It’s still one of the best ways to relive that late-’90s Pokémon hype without digging out your old Game Boy.