Pokemon Stadium 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch later today, almost a year after the port was announced last September. It joins its predecessor, Pokemon Stadium, which has been available on Switch since April 12.
It's launching alongside the Pokemon Trading Card Game on GBA, also releasing later today. These two classic Pokemon spinoffs will be available to anyone with a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack.
Taking a look a the eShop now, it doesn't seem that either of the games are available to download at the time of writing, at least in Europe. However, the showcase made it clear that they will be out later today, so it's worth checking in until they're live.
The Pokemon Trading Card game launched on the GBA in 1998, initially as a Japanese-exclusive title. It was localised for Western players in the year 2000, but it's still one of the more overlooked Pokemon spin-offs. Its last re-release was almost a decade ago on the Nintendo 3DS, and since that store was taken down, it hasn't been available to purchase legitimately until now.
As for Pokemon Stadium 2, this was one of the more anticipated ports. A childhood favourite for many, Stadium 2 launched in 2000 (2001 for the West) on Nintendo 64. Its main selling point was its interactivity with every mainline Pokemon game available at the time: Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Using the Transfer Pak, players could port their team over to Stadium 2, using them in battles on the big screen.
Unfortunately, much like the first Pokemon Stadium that's already on Switch, there's no way to connect with other Pokemon games. This means that you'll be stuck using the rental Pokemon instead of your own. It's not clear if Nintendo ever plans to add some kind of interaction between the Stadium games and the mainline titles.
Of course, the main problem here is that the classic mainline games still aren't available on Switch. They were all re-released on the 3DS and ran brilliantly. But since this storefront was taken down, there's no way to purchase the games legitimately. Even if you have the games on your 3DS, you can't use it to transfer Pokemon over to the Switch, limiting your choice of Pokemon in the Stadium ports.
In any case, all of the other features are included. Pokemon Stadium 2 and The Trading Card Game will be available to play at no extra cost for anyone with a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. They will go live later today.