BASE SET 2000 - A GUIDE TO THE LAST PRINT OF BASE SET

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BASE SET 2000 - A GUIDE TO THE LAST PRINT OF BASE SET

To all extent of Pokémon Card Collectors, no other set of cards is more recognizable and desirable than Base Set. Either due to nostalgia or just because it is the first set to be released, it came to lay the foundations for what collecting the TCG is today.

Released in Japan in 1996, saw its homonym being translated and printed in English in the end of the 20th century by the company Wizards of the Coast. The base set was a massive success which led to a continuous printing of the famous cards up to (around) half of the year 2000, even though Team Rocket was already hitting the shelves in the USA.

There are four different variants of the Base Set, each one with noticeable differences in the card’s aesthetics:

  1. Base Set 1st Edition
  2. Base Set Shadowless
  3. Base Set Unlimited
  4. Base Set 2000

This article will focus solely of Base Set 2000. It will be divided into three parts. I will cover the history, release, card layout differences as well as sealed product and contents. I won’t be focusing on financial value, only the collector value of the products.

The Base Set 2000 is born with the passing of the 20th century, by this time the Pokémon craze is well established in the USA and Australia and is giving its first steps in Europe and other westernized countries. With these new player/collector base demanding for Pokémon Cards, WOTC is forced to keep printing Base Set in English, however, due to copyright changes reflecting the new year, Wizards updates the layout of the well-recognized Unlimited cards.

The Base Set 2000 is hence start being printed in three different locations Worldwide – United Kingdom, United States and Australia. This print was the last for Base Set and is speculated to be the shortest of them all (currently totalizing less than 100 PSA 10 Holographic cards to have hit the market/are in personal collections that I am aware of).

Each country’s print is distributed country-wide except for the United Kingdom printed cards, which are going to be distributed a bit throughout Europe as well, mainly Northern and Central/Eastern Countries, reaching even some outliers such as Turkey, Cyprus and Kuwait. The U.K. print grows to become the most recognizable print of this subset due to be the only one confirmed to yield Holographic Cards with the 1999-2000 copyright change – the denomination U.K. Print Run is hence born. However, some booster packs made in U.K. will still yield normal 1999 Unlimited Holos.

The American printed cards are confirmed to only have the non-holo cards with the 1999-2000 copyright change and the Australian printed cards are speculated to be the exact same, though without confirmation as of the publication of this article. Surplus of normal Unlimited Holos are used to fill the holo slot instead. Non-holo rares have the copyright changed.

It is important to notice that only one location (with certainty) was printing Base 2000 Holographic Cards, and these cards were being distributed throughout Europe where a big quantity of countries also have Base Set printed in their mother tongues, as well as the remaining Unlimited print, “competing” with the English Base 2000 variant. This means less need to print to demand for the cards and hence supporting the “shortest print of base set” speculation. This will eventually make the Base 2000 Holos extremely hard to find today, let alone in good condition.

Note: The fact that there are four variants of the Base Set is reflected on a common denomination of the set – 4th Print – which is inherently wrong since there were eight print runs for the Base Set. The eight-print run is Base 2000 Unlimited.

LAYOUT CHANGES AND IDENTIFYING THE CARDS

The major aesthetic differences are:

  • Copyright Date becomes “1999-2000 Wizards”
  • Lighter colour shades on the cards
  • Vulpix HP is corrected
  • Charizard background stripes

Image - Copyright Date becomes “1999-2000 Wizards”

Image - Lighter colour shades on the cards (On the left Unlimited 1999 and on the right Base Set 2000)

Image - Vulpix HP is corrected (On the left Unlimited 1999 and on the right Base Set 2000)

Image - Charizard Background Stripes (On the left Unlimited 1999 and on the right Base Set 2000)

Oddly enough, WOTC did not use this layout change to correct the Gyarados Holographic card, which still keeps his set number far too left from the supposed spot, when compared to the other cards in Base Set.

SEALED PRODUCT

As all the variants of Base Set, Base 2000 also had the following products available:

  • Booster Boxes
  • Base Set Theme Decks (Overgrowth, Blackout, Zap & Brushfire)
  • Base Set 2 Player Starter Set
  • Base Set Assorted Booster Bags (USA only)

On top of the card layout change, WOTC also decided to alter their original square logo to a curved one. This change will help identify easier the 1999-2000 Base Set sealed product, however there are other nuances that are also present on them.

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Image - On the Left WOTC logo pre 2000 and on the Right WOTC logo the new and current logo

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SEALED PRODUCT - BOOSTER BOXES AND BOOSTER PACKS

We already discuss that Base 2000 was printed in three locations worldwide, USA, Australia and the United Kingdom, hence we will have three different boxes from these locations, with each one having different characteristics.

United States of America Box & Booster Packs

This box is the harder to identify since, visually, it only differs from the normal Unlimited USA printed boxes at the bottom. It will have the square WOTC logo, the blue wing Charizard on the side and 1999 copyright date. At the bottom we can find only one country code being this the only way to identify the box as Base Set 2000. Inside you will find packs with the new curved WOTC logo and Non-Holographic Base 2000 cards. These packs have short crimps, the curved logo and state “Made in the U.S.A”.


Image - Base Set 2000 Booster Box made in the USA


Image - Back of Base Set 2000 Booster Pack made in the USA. Notice the short crimps on the pack.

Image - Bag with Base Set 2000 Made in the USA Pack. Notice the curved WOTC logo on the back. Only distributed on the USA.

Australian Box & Booster Packs

This box is the rarest of the three. It will have the revised WOTC logo, the 1999-2000 copyright and “Made in Australia” with several country codes on the bottom side. The booster packs will also have the rounded logo and “Made in Australia” printed on the back, but instead of the “Nintendo Licensed” Logo they will have the International Variant. Also it has long crimps instead of the short ones mentioned above.
As for the contents I never watched any being opened and failed to purchase a set of packs 2 years ago, as far as we know there could be “Steam Siege” cards inside……just kidding, for sure non-holo 1999-2000 cards, the holographic cards are pending confirmation. If you would like to contribute to that verification, you can purchase GemMintPokemon’s box, open it and tell me.

Image - Australian Base Set 2000 Booster Box. Notice the Curved Logo and the International Nintendo Logo on the Wrapper and on the box.

Image - Australian Base Set 2000 Booster Packs. Noticed the logos and the long crimps. Shades of the colours on the packs are also lighter.

United Kingdom Box & Booster Packs

This is the box you want to crack open if you are after the 1999-2000 Base Set Holographic Cards, even though not guaranteed to get all the 12 cards with the adjusted copyright. The box presents the same characteristics of the Australian counterpart but instead states “Made in the UK”, it will have the curved logo and “1999-2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc” printed. The Booster packs will have long crimps instead of the USA short crimp style as well.


Image - U.K. Base Set 2000 Booster Box. Also with the same characteristics as the Australian print but stating “Made in the U.K”.

Image - U.K. Booster Packs. “Made in the U.K” written on the back text of the booster pack.

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SEALED PRODUCT - THEME DECKS & 2 PLAYER STARTER SET

The Base 2000 Theme Decks are the same as the normal Unlimited Base Set, we have 2 Player Starter Sets and the classic Overgrowth, Zap, Brushfire and Blackout. All the decks have characteristics that can help identify them easily, being the 2 Player Starter Set the hardest to recognize.

2 Player Starter Sets

This classic product was printed in two locations, the United States of America and the United Kingdom (never saw any that was printed in Australia). The display with 8 decks for the American print will have the rectangular WOTC logo stamped on the shrink wrap and the UK print will have the curved logo. Both will say “1999-2000 Wizards ,Inc” on the verse.

Like the Booster packs, you are not guaranteed to pull a Base 1999-2000 Holographic Machamp from the U.K variant, I have opened some with and some without it, the remaining cards will have the 1999-2000 copyright change.

Image - 2 Player Starter Set Display from Base Set 2000 printed in the USA.

Image - 2 Player Starter Set Display from Base Set 2000 printed in the U.K.


Image - Opened 2 Player Starter Set Base Set 2000 printed in the U.K. This one did not have the Machamp 1999-2000.

Theme Decks (Overgrowth, Blackout, Brushfire & Zap)
These are way easier to distinguish when compared to the 2 Player Starter Set. As far as I am aware these were only printed in the United Kingdom and adopt a lot of the changes that later were used on the post Base Set Decks. When sealed you can see and “easy to open” tab on the shrink-wrap that opens from the back, the curved WOTC logo printed on the side and the international Nintendo license logo, “1999-2000” printed on the back side text and easier to identify, a “TRADING CARD GAME” logo on the front. The “TM” won’t have the “*” and apparently Base Set 2000 is for children above 5 years old, while normal unlimited can be played by 3 and onwards.

I have opened several of these theme decks from different sources and always got “1999-2000” Holographic cards. However, recent findings suggest that not all Theme Decks will guarantee a Base 2000 Holo Card. A fellow member of E4, recently open a Theme Deck box, which contains 8 decks and on his Overgrowth pulled a regular Unlimited Gyarados whilst on the others he got the Base 2000 holos.

Image - On the left Unlimited 1999 and on the right Base Set 2000 Overgrowth Theme Deck

Image - Other different characteristics of Base Set 2000 Theme Decks

The contents also differ from the standard unlimited theme decks, you will find a small deck box and an information card to contact Wizards of the Coast. The damage counters will be made from cardboard and the cards are bundle together with shrink-wrap that has a “easy to open” tab.

Image - Contents of a Zap Base Set 2000 Theme Deck

CONCLUSION

Base 2000 Unlimited is a subset of Base Set that has a lot of potential collector value, it is part of the Pokémon TCG History as the last major change on the layout of the first set of all. It cemented the foundation to the following sets card structure and design of the sealed product. Lastly it closed Base Set Chapter as one of the most recognized, widespread and desirable 102 card set in the entire World.

In 2021 PSA finally agreed to recognize and label the Base Set 1999-2000 cards. Thank you to @bartallen2 and to many others who contribute to continuing pressuring PSA to do so.

As for all of you who read everything, I hope you learned something new and exciting. Thank you for reading and a special thank you to @gemmintpokemon for allowing me to use some of his images of sealed product and fingers so I could better show the differences. I have also included some images out of the internet such as the Australian Packs and 2 Player Starter Set Displays, the remaining pictures are my own.

Feel free to add anything you might know not here stated.

Cheers everyone!

Stylus :blush:

EDIT: ARTICLE UPDATED DUE TO THE RECENT PULL OF AN UNLIMITED BASE GYARADOS FROM A BASE 2000 OVERGROWTH THEME DECK

EDIT2: ARTICLE UPDATED DUE TO PSA RECOGNITION OF THE VARIANT

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Good stuff! With enough work on this maybe someday it can be pointed to for PSA to get their shit together and start recognizing the variant. Since they already do with packs, and the fact that the distinction is so evident it really is ridiculous that they haven’t yet.

Pushing the “base 2000” or “4th variant” is an important distinction too over the “4th print” misnomer. It is so widespread by now that when selling things on eBay you’d have poor results not including it which just continues the trend. PSA could help resolve that if they’d make the distinction as well which would be nice.

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Definitely tricky to search for.

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The article is concluded :blush:

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Great read! I’ve had a ton of fun collecting the cards - I just found some in a shop today! I’ve known it’s not accurate, but I will probably continue to use “4th Print” because it rolls off the tongue better for me than “Base Set 2000” or “Base 2000.”

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informative post. Thanks for the work that went into this!

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This is an extremely important thread; and I have a feeling many will be coming here once PSA acknowledge the set’s existence.

Kudos to you, Styluspt :blush:

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Thanks for all the insight! Can only hope one day this is recognized more by PSA and the average collectors. I agree it is a bit of a pain searching for these.

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Is there a difference in card stock quality between unlimited Holos and Holos pulled from Base 2000 booster packs but still have the 1999 copyright date?

Mjisaacs

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Yes, from what I remember they feel different in the hand, I cannot compare right now because they are all now graded.

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They feel a little heavier.

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Is it worth to open a base booster box uk or packs for collecting the set or better keep it sealed?

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I bought a UK booster box last May and I was lucky enough to pull the big 3 among others and get Charizard/Venusaur back as 10’s, Blastoise as a 9 among others as 9’s all 4th prints. I consider these cards to be my personal holy grails because I pulled and graded them myself. Even though the differences can be viewed by some as subtle changes compared to the unlimited versions, it’s still unique in their own right. I pulled the trigger on getting this box because I wanted to get something a little different from the regular base unlimited, glad I did and haven’t looked back!

I can post some pics of my 4th print PSA cards holo’s if anyone is curious or interested.

Thank you for the guide @styluspt

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Always better sealed.

Not bad at all!

I bought an opened UK booster box last year, but the cards - which were over 300+ commons and uncommons were all Base 2000, which was rather fun considering that many of this forum said they’re not particularly valuable and that I should put them in a bag and lead them in a park LMFAO :grin: But naturally they thought there were unlimited.

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In addition to the post above, did I open a UK booster box and all the holos were 1999 holos and not the UK 1999-2000 holos.
But you’ve never know if you don’t open :grin:

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Yes. Show your 4th print cards. Love to see them. Congrat on pulling the trio.

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That’s what makes these cards even rarer in my opinion. Not that I’ll say that they’re rarer than 1st Edition holos, but I feel a case could - and perhaps even should - be made for them being rarer than Shadowless. The fact that opening a UK booster box doesn’t even guarantee you getting 1999-2000 holos is nothing short of remarkable.

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lolll!

By this time I was watching @gemmintpokemon and researching online in terms of the differences so I took a risk and opened it. I still have my box along with the wrapper inside it. But pulling that Charizard and having it come back as a 10 made it worthwhile. Below are all the PSA 10s and Blatoise PSA 9, I have so far from my collection 4th print. I hope to purchase a few more this year to complete it but one that still eludes me is the clefairy 4th print, need 4 more. :ninja:

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