I did have suspicion about Sabrina’s Gengar when I was researching for this article x years ago, but I neglected to mention it in the original post just because it’s a pretty subtle change due to the holo treatment obscuring most of the background/the lack of reverse holo card varieties at the time (when I tried to investigate English scans more thoroughly I couldn’t tell if the graveyard was washed out due to the holo treatment or just not there), and it would have been even harder to show in picture form with the obnoxious camera I was using back then.
wow, I really like the graves on the Japanese version…time to keep my eyes peeled…thanks Scott!
2 Likes
The english copy, at least the one I have in the photo above, the crosses are for sure washed out. I can somewhat make out one cross at a certain angle, but the entire background is much brighter. I also noticed the Gengar in the English is more in the foreground, almost completely separate from the lighter and flatter background. The japanese background has more depth, gengar looks more translucent, like a ghost in a graveyard.
If that was enough analysis, I know in video games a lot of crosses are censored when released in the US. I assume that might play a role. Perhaps that aspect is me narrating, but the photo above was taken at the best angle to see both backgrounds equally.
Oh yeah, your picture shows that they undoubtedly changed the background (the scans I found years ago weren’t that clean in showing the underlying image), and it’s pretty safe to assume it was changed for the reasons you mentioned. Crosses and other religious iconography were always something that sent Nintendo of America in a panic in the old days – crosses were just the most common offenders – and on top of the crosses they probably don’t want a card with a Pokemon standing in a graveyard.
I did try to look for other changes in holographic cards after I saw this one in 2012, but nothing else raised any red flags. Though of course I’d love to hear if anybody else digs up another edited card.
Just so you know, this link is broken.
1 Like
Delete ‘upccc’ and replace it with ‘efour’, link fixed 
1 Like
Ah, thank you 
Regardless, it’d be great if a mod could update the link. ^^; (I wasn’t aware of the secondary meaning behind that card myself.
Does it not appear fixed for you? I went through and the internal link is switched.
Awesome post! Cool to know there are 11 if I want to ever collect the rest, I already have 4!
Has anybody gone to a graveyard and searched for Pokemon yet? Hmmmm…
There is a funeral home by my house, Gastly everywhere. Hmmm…
2 Likes
We have a graveyard with a large church in my town, it’s where William Shakespeare is buried and has a Magmar which spawns there semi regularly. No gastly though strangely.
2 Likes
Hey guys, with Photobucket recently ending hotlinking for free members, I took this opportunity to take new comparison pictures for all of the censored cards and put them up onto Imgur, also adding Sabrina’s Gengar to the main article after smpratte confirmed the background change earlier in the thread. Hope this helps! 
3 Likes
Beautiful work–thank you!
Is it just me, or are some of the crosses on the Gengar still faintly visible on the English version also?
Thanks for the guide!Today I learned about the most recent banned card, magmortar.
What I find strange is that I cant seem to find the banned Magmortar 
I have all the other banned cards and they seem to be really easy to find but this one never pops up. Atleast to me
Fun fact: in searching for the Magmortar on eBay just now (I bought my copy way back in 2012 when I learned the card was altered for Dragons Exalted), I learned that the Korean version of the card was left unedited.
1 Like
Not strange at all. Bulk uncommon is why you can’t find it. If copies sold for real money then the market would be flooded with them. Who want’s to spend time looking for or listin a 10 cent card?
OP- Love this thread. A few of the cards here are going into my first PSA submission. Very fun read.
1 Like