Nintendo

64 Mario Stadium is a variety show focused on Nintendo game consoles and software that was broadcast on TV Tokyo affiliates from July 4, 1996 to September 28, 2000. It aired every Thursday from 6:30 to 7:00 pm. It is the successor to Super Mario Stadium, which had previously aired in the same Thursday 6:30 pm slot, and was renamed and renewed when sponsor Nintendo released the Nintendo 64. The Pokémon-related projects that the show implemented were carried over to Pokémon Sunday, which began airing in 2004 and later continued to use the format for its successors.

Cast[]

Hosts[]

  • Toru Watanabe
  • Noriko Katō (July 4, 1996 - March 26, 1998)
  • Rie Ichinomiya (April 2, 1998 - March 25, 1999)
  • Atsuko Sudo (April 2, 1998 - September 28, 2000)

Regular[]

  • Shinji Uchiyama

Performers[]

64 Mario Stadium often features young comedians as guests. At the time, it featured several groups of comedians who were still unknown and had rarely appeared on television, as well as comedians who had appeared on Fuji TV's Vocabulary Heaven series.

  • Ari to Kirigirisu (TV debut)
  • Asarido (later regular)
  • Othello
  • Umi-shari Suigyo
  • Great Chicken Powers (Regular in first half)
  • Sokonuke AIR-LINE (later regular)
  • Take2
  • TKO
  • X-GUN
  • BOOMER
  • Folk Dance DE Narikozaka
  • U-turn
  • Dangerous
  • Unjash
  • Nonkies

Program contents[]

Quiz Battle[]

A quiz segment where four groups of two people and a celebrity answer Nintendo-related questions. The celebrity plays the game. The winner wins a Nintendo 64 console, second place wins a Game Boy Pocket, third place won an Nintendo 64 controller, and last place got a special telephone card for the show.

Aim to be the Mario Kart 64 Time Trial Grand Champion![]

Every week, five challengers attempt a time trial in Mario Kart 64's Mario Raceway. The contestant who completes the race in under 1 minute 30 seconds receives an official license from the show, and the contestant who records the best time receives an original gold controller and the latest N64 software. Champ Maruyama, a member of the Super Mario Club, was in charge of commentary.

Pokémon League[]

A match using Pokémon Red and Green. Initially, a specially designed (communication-enabled) Super Game Boy and two monitors were used, but after the release of Pokémon Stadium, the match was played using the monitor. The basic rules are that three people participate in a team, each team shows the other their six Pokémon, and three are chosen from them. The types and levels of Pokémon that could be used were changed several times, but in all cases, Mewtwo and Mew were not allowed to be used. Regarding status conditions, it is not allowed to freeze or put more than two of the opponent's Pokémon to sleep. If one wins three weeks in a row, they will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and presented with a copy of Pokémon Blue with Mew inside. The commentary was provided by Trancell Taneichi, who was an editor of Family Computer Magazine at the time.

Matches also took place in the second games, Pokémon Gold and Silver, but they were merely qualifiers for the national tournament or exhibition matches, and never became an established feature like they were in the previous games.

Pokémon Snap Best Photo Contest[]

The contest was held in 1999 to coincide with the release of Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64. There was a category sponsored by TV Tokyo 64 Mario Stadium and another sponsored by Shogakukan CoroCoro Comic and five winners were chosen from each category, with snapshots of ten different Pokémon made into cards. It is said that 15 or 20 of each type of card were issued.

Below are the Pokémon that served as models for the grand prize cards in the categories sponsored by this program, TV Tokyo 64 Mario Stadium.

64 Mario Stadium Special postponement[]

64 Mario Stadium Special was scheduled to be aired on December 30, 1997 as a special year-end and New Year program, but due to the Pokémon Shock that occurred on December 16 of the same year, the special program was postponed and replaced with a re-broadcast of episodes 25 and 26 of the anime Moomin. Though Nintendo was the only sponsor, it was treated as a PT program. The special program was instead aired on January 18, 1998, after the New Year.