1996 - Verified timeline of Pokemon Card release dates

Introduction

With an abundance of both disinformation and misinformation within the community, it can be hard to sort through the facts from fiction. Therefore the purpose of this post is to provide the release dates of cards, along with verifiable sources, that were released in 1996. This doesn’t necessarily mean all sources need to be included, but enough for confirmation purposes.

This post is not considered complete and will continue to be expanded on as more verified and solid information surfaces.

I don’t claim to have expert knowledge of every release, and it would be silly to present myself in such a way. I am trying my best, but if I have made any mistakes or omissions, please be patient and message with the correct or missing entries, so I can make the appropriate updates.

A lot of the information ahead has been gathered through the efforts of many over time, and I have tried to mention them where possible (and have remembered). A special thanks goes to someone outside of the community for their help with providing translations for some of the entries.

Overview

Pocket Monsters Carddass Part 1:

  1. The cover of Carddass News magazine, Issue 51, announces the new products of September 1996. Carddass Part 1 is listed as the final bullet point. (source).

New September products (9月 の新製品),
Carddass products (カードダス商品),
Pocket Monsters part 1 (ポケットモンスターパート1)

  1. The CoroCoro Comic Magazine, cover date August ’96, holds an advertisement stating its release late in the month of September (21st -30th).

Part 1 (パート1),
Green Version (グリーンバージョン) ,
General card (一般カード),
Retail price 20 yen (tax incl.) (定価20円(税込)),
Sales start end of September (last third) (9月下旬発売),
Bandai (バンダイ)


Pocket Monsters Carddass Part 2:

  1. In the same CoroCoro issue mentioned above (August 1996), it states that Part 2 is expected to be released in the first third of October (1st - 10th) (sourced thanks to doublefelix921).

Part 2 will be released around early October!! (パート2は10月上旬ごろ発売!!)

zoom2

  1. In the November Issue CoroCoro magazine (released October 15, ‘96), it states in an advertisement that Part 2 was now on sale.

Prism cards (プリズムカード),
Pocket Monsters Carddass part 2 (ポケットモンスターカードダスパート2),
On sale now (発売中)

Pokemon Kids:

  1. CoroCoro release magazines on the 15th of the prior month to the cover date. If the 15th falls on a weekend the release is moved to the Friday before the weekend the 15th falls on. October 15 1996 was a Tuesday, so we know this Issue was released on the 15th.
    This issue contained an advertisement stating that Pokemon Kids was released in October.

Released October (10月発売).


fullpage

  1. Pokemon kids the series (Oct 1996 to Dec 2006) was documented and published in a book titled Pokemon Kids Perfect Collection – Bandai Official Fan Book (ポケモンキッズ パーフェクトコレクション【バンダイ公式ファンブック】) by Shogakukan in collaboration with Bandai. Shogakukan publish other Pokémon publications in addition to non-Pokémon content, including the CoroCoro Comic Magazines.

The book states that Pokemon Kids (subsequently referred to as Part 1) was released October 1996.

8 Kinds in all (全8種) (figures),
Released October '96 ('96年10月発売),
Closed package (クローズドパッケージ) – meaning blind box.

  1. Bandai’s website records the basics of the release, and includes an old promotional picture in low resolution.


Translated

CoroCoro Comic insert promos from November 1996 issue

  1. While the issue has a cover date of November, CoroCoro release the magazines on the 15th of the prior month. If the 15th falls on a weekend the release is moved to the Friday before the weekend the 15th falls on. October 15 was a Tuesday, so I assume the Issue was released on the 15th.

The two cards included in this magazine issue as inserts can be seen on this page.

One can also be seen on the cover.

Officially authorized appendix (公式認定ふろく)

  1. Pokémon cards (ポケモンカード)
  2. 3 Major Pokémon Card winning strategies (ポケモンカード3大必勝法)
  3. Limited edition Pokémon Blue Version (限定品ポケモンブルーバージョン)
    Don’t miss out on this information!! (この情報をみのがすな!!)
    exclusive mail order information (独占通信販売情報)

Japanese TCG Base Set

  1. While the issue has a cover date of November, CoroCoro release the magazines on the 15th of the prior month. If the 15th falls on a weekend the release is moved to the Friday before the weekend the 15th falls on. October 15 was a Tuesday, so we know the Issue was released on the 15th.

An advertisement stating the TCG Japanese base set would be available

from October 20th (クトリー 10月20日 より).

  1. The printing press graphic design containing this same release information was also printed with another layout and was distributed at the 4th Next Generation World Hobby fair in Tokyo over the 23rd and 24th of August (info shared by Shizzlemetimbers).

This ad states

For sale on October 20th (10月20 日 発 売 に む け で).

  1. Another confirmation from an official Pokemon website. It states Release date
    October 20, 1996 (Sunday) (発売日 1996年10月20日(日)).

Playing Cards (Bridge cards)

(sometimes colloquially referred to as poker cards)

  1. The Nintendo website stated that playing cards would be released early December 1996 (first third of the month) ('96年12月上旬発売).

Note:
“Playing cards come in two sizes - poker size and bridge size. Poker size is 63.5mm X 88.9mm. Bridge size is narrower at 56mm x 88.9mm.” [source]

Translated

Gift Pack

  1. The Gift Pack box contains cards to allow recipients to learn how to play the TCG and includes a couple of promos with the " Easily Understand How to Play Pokémon Cards". Confirmation from an official Pokemon website states

Release date December 12, 1996 (Thursday) (発売日1996年12月12日(木)).

Pokemon Kids (part 2)

  1. The Pokemon kids series was documented (from 1996 until December 5th when the 10th anniversary special box set released) and published in a book titled ポケモンキッズ パーフェクトコレクション (Pokemon Kids Perfect Collection - Official Fan Book) by Shogakukan in collaboration with Bandai. Shogakukan publish other Pokémon publications in addition to non-Pokémon content, including the CoroCoro Manga Magazines.

The book states that Pokemon Kids (Part 2) was Released December '96 ('96年12月発売).

Blue / New Year (Pokemon Blue Version and New Year (1997), celebration playing cards

(Although not technically poker cards they have sometimes colloquially been refered to as such.)

  1. While the issue has a cover date of January ‘97, the CoroCoro monthly magazine is released on the 15th of the preceding cover dated month, unless it falls on a weekend in which instance it falls on the Friday before the 15th as it has here.
    The card stock printed sheet of cards were included in this magazine issue as an insert and require self-assembly. They can be seen on this post by qwachansey. With a translation post by me, here.

Bound-in attachment (to this magazine) (とじこみふろく)
Pocket Monsters Blue Version (ポケットモンスターブルーバージョン)
Playing cards & karuta – (トラカルタ (a portmanteau of tru.mp (which is what western playing cards are called in Japan) and “karuta”))


I also briefly want to discuss release dates in regards to some having a release day vs. a range.

Put simply, in many instances (mostly from Bandai) the less important the release, the less granular the release date is. This likely being as there is no need for all release dates to have the granularity of a day specified, on which releases would be co-ordinated to appear nationwide.

For example:
The TCG launch was an enormous undertaking and had to have had a lot of resources and investments put into developing the cards.

To really ensure the TCG launch had the best chance at succeeding, a tent pole marketing strategy was utilised. This meant they built a lot of interest in the product before it had even launched, and they did this by talking about the upcoming TCG in prior issues of the CoroCoro magazine (and likely elsewhere).

A release date was set and released to the public as something to not only look forward to but to expect, this would be a rollout experienced by everyone at the same time. They would ensure the retailers had access to the products on this day, ready to go – and by offering a specific day and heavily advertising it, therein lays a promise for that particular point in time. If the customers found out stores didn’t receive anything until a week later, then it would kill the generated excitement at the top of the marketing tentpole. Of course the tail end of that marketing campaign would use a number of tactics to channel consumers into the next release wave of products, and position them to be where the consumer is excited to take part in the next cycle all over again).

The TCG was positioned to be the dominant leader in Pokémon cards and that’s where it has always been.

Inversely, if we look at the Bandai Carddass releases, they both had a release date window of ~10 days.

That’s their expected first appearance rollout window. Some areas might have them stocked on the first day within that range, while others on the very last day – there is no guarantee. It’s a more lenient promise to the consumer – saying please keep an eye out in your location during this time.

But then there is the Pokémon Kids cards. The importance of their releases being timely in stores were even less significant than Carddass at the time, and were provided with a month as their release dates. It really wasn’t important to specifically specify when they would arrive at stores, as they certainly wouldn’t have a co-ordinated rollout. It just wasn’t a priority. The first release came out with just 36 cards (part 2 onwards had 151 for this generation (excluding the 2018 reprint)), so it wasn’t a very weighty release and only developed into a massive, branded product line, over time (which it now is: with more than 300 million units sold over its lifespan (Japan has 126 million citizens)).

When compared to the TCG, these (non-TCG) cards didn’t have the same amount of planning, development, or investment; and that’s not putting them down. As products they just weren’t released at the same tier as the TCG.

They are of course, still wonderful parts of history to be enjoyed.


For those wondering why Topsun does not feature in this post, it is due to their release being confirmed to have been after 1996, at an unknown date. This is confirmed due to Topsun procuring a licence to promote their products with Pokémon branding/assets in 1997, as stated on the Topsun website at the time. This information was discovered and shared by shizzlemetimbers.

I mention this to establish historical accuracy, not to put down Topsun cards, nor to offend those concerned about the prices of these cards.


Most of the images from the CoroCoro magazines I used here, are from this archive. I do not own the rights to any of the content, nor the scans, and share the above excerpts under fair use provisions.

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I think this type of early documentation is super important to have as a reference since so much of this information is hard to find (in English at least)

here’s another similar article if you want to incorporate any of that information here

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Wow. Absolutely incredible post as always!

Thanks for the hard work you put in on this!

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