I was looking at the versions shown in the ’ Pikachu Always Together’ book published way back on 20th of September, 1998 .
Which shows three of them, one being the animation version @Orannge has been seeking information on (can be seen in the middle at the bottom on the right).
However, I have seen a clear view of one of the inserts from the toy. This one has the Japanese ST 4 (safety toy mark) .
As some of you know, that ‘4’ signifies compliance with safety standards for the year 2004, in the context of pokemon.
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
Initially, this 8-year gap seemed a bit odd for a gacha-style toy. I couldn’t understand why a toy released around 1998 would be licensed so much later:
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The ST Mark (Safety Toy Mark) indicates the year of the safety standard it meets. So, ‘ST 4’ means it met 2004 standards.
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The crucial piece of information: Japanese ST certifications are typically only valid for two years. If a company wants to keep selling an older toy design, they must get it re-tested and re-certified to the current standards.
If toys have been accepted and approved in a ST Standard Conformity Test
conducted by Designated Testing Bodies, such result shall remain in effect for
two (2) years from the date of acceptance at the Test.
- Therefore, the most likely scenario is that this particular release of the toy is from a later production run, manufactured (and re-certified) in or around 2004. The design and release is from the '98-era, but this specific item was released later.
But why would they bother re-certifying or doing new production runs of an older gacha toy?
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Cost-Effectiveness of Existing Tooling: For the manufacturer (Kyodo Co. Ltd.), re-using the existing molds and tooling for an old, proven design is significantly cheaper than developing entirely new products. If there’s still demand, it’s an easy win.
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Selling Off Old Stock: It’s also possible they had a large amount of unsold stock from the initial Pokémon boom. To legally sell these through mainstream outlets, items beyond the initial 2-year certification window (perhaps even re-applying for certification a couple of times if stock was substantial), they would need to get them re-certified with the current ST mark. The paper insert with the ST 4 mark would have been added at this later stage. We know that at some point, some of these GB cards, were sold in some capacity as dead stock.
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Sustained Popularity: If it was a “hit” gacha item, the manufacturer would have incentive to keep it available.
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Selling in Parallel: It’s quite common for popular “classic” gacha items to be sold in machines alongside newer series. So, this line might have been available at the same time as brand new releases were happening.
So, while the 2-year re-certification rule is a strong technical reason for the 2004 ST mark, the other factors might explain why the company would choose to continue producing, re-certifying, and having kept them on the market.
There’s always some mystery.