@majomaal That poster was inside the December 1996 CoroCoro comic, here is the preview from the November issue advertising it:
And yes as @qwachansey, pointed out above copyright dates mean nothing by themselves.
And yes as @qwachansey, pointed out above copyright dates mean nothing by themselves.
3 Likes
This was great, thank you
Just curious. Thx for the feedback.
Great write-up. I don’t know that much about the Japanese TCG release history.
I did come across a great wiki entry with a more mainstream summary of events in chronological order though, that perhaps some others here may also enjoy reading (translate it with google translate).
seesaawiki.jp/w/jester_the_pcg/d/%A5%DD%A5%B1%A5%E2%A5%F3%A5%AB%A1%BC%A5%C9%A4%CE%CE%F2%BB%CB
Thank you for the write up. God-tier. Question though: On the V1 and V2 starter decks. Which is which in the comparison picture?
imgur.com/a/lKbQTkj
Thank you! Yeah a bit confusing V1 is on the right
For lack of any other threads I could find which discuss the differences between the various different Japanese Base Set packs, I have something of an update which some of you here may find interesting.
Last September I posted the thread ‘A second Japanese Neo Genesis print run - but why?’ detailing a variant of Japan’s Neo Genesis booster packs which have updated 2001 barcodes. I then stumbled upon something I don’t think anyone has ever spoken of in depth before outside of Japan. I’ll quote an Instagram post I shared last month showing off some Team Rocket and Neo 2 packs I had found which also had these 2001 barcodes:
*Around February 2001 The Pokémon Center Company took over control of printing Pokémon products from Media Factory. In doing so they reissued barcodes for all booster boxes and booster packs which had been released prior to that point, from Base Set up to Neo 2 (Neo Discovery).
These barcodes were printed as labels and stuck over Media Factory’s original barcodes, but despite not being printed on the packs directly the new packs were safety tested by Japan’s Toy Standards authority meaning they weren’t simply new barcodes stuck on old product, rather a complete new batch of booster boxes and booster packs created with these new barcode labels stuck on top.
These packs are a lot harder to find than the regular Media Factory packs and in Japan they usually sell for double the price, but there’s very little knowledge of them outside of Japan.*
As such, the first additional variant is a 300 yen Base Set booster pack with one of these 2001 barcode labels stuck to it (this is unfortunately not my picture, but is from a 2017 eBay listing):
Long Pack 300 Yen Booster Pack with 2001 Barcode (sticker)
About a week after I shared that post I discovered something which takes this a step further - at some point The Pokémon Center Company updated the booster pack design to include the new barcodes printed directly onto the packs:
Long Pack 300 Yen Booster Pack with 2001 Barcode (printed)
These packs almost definitely will not contain No Rarity cards, but it is my belief that this is where corrected cards will have been distributed. I’ve been speaking with a Japanese collector who has told me that they believe there’s a 50% chance the packs with barcode stickers have corrected cards but a 100% chance the packs with the barcode printed on has the corrected cards.
I don’t know much about Base Set, so have no idea if that even includes any corrections, but for sets like Jungle and Neo Genesis cards this will definitely apply, however I have yet to see either a Jungle or Neo Genesis pack with the 2001 barcode printed on.
As far as I can tell there are no differences between these 2001 barcode Base Set packs and the original Media Factory packs, but I can say that I’ve also tracked down a printed 2001 barcode Japanese Neo Discovery pack which has its references to Media Factory completely removed and the copyright updated to simply read “© Pokémon”:
Whether this then means that there’s a third 2001 barcode Base Set variant with Media Factory branding removed I do not know.
5 Likes
Just made an account to post this, came from your previous but older thread about Japanese No Rarities since I recently learned about them and was browsing the Googles for more info, and then came by this card today, hadn’t seen it mentioned anywhere, or if it was I missed it. Thoughts?
This is just a holo from the Misty deck, doesn’t really add value and it’s a “no rarity” in the same sense as base set. 
I have been hunting for more information concerning the 1995 test cards and have had some luck through various sources, mainly the Fan Club magazines (Creatures Corner) and the Aim! Pokemon Lizardon Tournament History book. I have amended the original post but will include the test section here for ease of browsing:
Test Cards
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Creatures sent TCG artists and other employees a special Creatures Deck showcasing the history of the TCG from 1995 to 2021. Inside the deck features a Chansey Pokemon Test Card with artwork by Ooyama. These test cards were developed by Ooyama and Akabane and have many revisions which I will highlight below.
Early test cards for Charmeleon and Gust of Wind
By January 1996, the final revisions for the test cards are completed, namely the card attacks and other card rules/effects (Aim! Lizardon Tournament History Book). Final artwork and card design was finalized months later. Although it is mentioned that there were many revisions through hundreds of play tests, it might be possible to categorize the stages of development for these test cards.
(translated)
It is apparent that there are multiple test variants for each card from Base Set and it makes sense since each card had to be play tested and improved for the final product. The earliest versions seem to feature a checkerboard style background (so far only Trainer cards have surfaced in this style).
Charmeleon Silhouette and Gust of Wind
Showing the evolution of test versions from right to left
The ‘prototype’ designs shown in the CoroCoro comics are almost certainly test cards. They seem to match the style of known test cards and fit the narrative flow from the initial design and concurrent test phases to the eventual release in October.
Another unique aspect of the Test cards is the addition of “habitats”. These are featured above the flavour text and include: Forest 森 , Grassland 草原 , Urban 町 , Mysterious 不思議な , and Legendary 伝説 .
From the 28th of February onwards, Takumi Akabane started posting various Test cards on his instagram.
After 26 years still more incredible new Pokemon history discovered
His posts confirm the information gathered so far and add some more clues to help date and uncover more versions. It is apparent the checkerboard style pattern is the earliest version of the test cards, one thing to note however is only Trainer cards have surfaced with this style background.
(Akabane IG - Corocoro - No Rarity)
Charmander has appeared most frequently, the Akabane IG Charmander looks to be identical to the Lizardon Book version.
1996 Pokemon Card Game Prerelease Flyerlink to full zoomable image
Not long after Akabane posted his test cards I discovered there were slight differences to the cards featured in the above flyer (released Aug 1996) compared to their No Rarity counterparts, strongly suggesting that these are also a later version of the test cards. The most obvious examples being the ‘Non Holo’ Charizard, Nidoking and Clefairy. Most importantly, Charizard has different flavour text below the attack information:
If you click this link for a HD more zoomable picture, you will see that many of the cards featured are reminiscent of the cards featured in Akabane’s posts, Machop especially with its strong outlined borders.
Below is a rough guide to the Test versions:
**Version 0**The earliest versions feature more simple designs missing many elements found in later versions and up to the final print run of No Rarity. They also include the English text "WEAKPOINT".
**Versions 1 and 2**
Feature "WEAKPOINT" with Poliwag having the flavour text directly below the attack information which was not used in later versions.
**Versions 3**
and beyond eliminate "WEAKPOINT" and replace it with Kanji.
**Version 4**
Features more finalized artwork and is featured in the Corocoro comics, also the energy symbol placement for Weakness, Resistance and Retreat are more consistent with No Rarity.
**Version 5**
From the 1996 Pokemon Card Game Prelease Flyer, which following the previous advertisement route from Corocoro appear to be among the latest versions of the test cards.
Finally there is No Rarity which was officially released on 20th October 1996.
Note: the above are observations and obviously may not be a hard and fast rule for each version just a convenient way to categorize the apparent test version evolution. This is an evolving topic, more cards may surface and change the information above.
[Gallery of test cards and possible test cards](https://imgur.com/a/lfEowWB)
---
25 Likes
Wow those images are incredible. Cool noticing the Weakpoint addition. Do you know if those other black & white “squiggly lines” test cards you linked in the gallery were also illustrated by Ooyama?
3 Likes
Hopefully there are more test cards lurking out there should help narrow down the variants more and I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Gyarados. The black and white cards are Ooyama and are featured in Creatures Corner in the Fan Club magazines. The black and white test cards are interesting since they seem to contain elements dating them further down the version history. For example Charmeleon has an evolution box in the ‘correct’ position while the Charizard from the CoroCoro for example has the evolution box above the artwork.
6 Likes
I’ve just read this thread again for more understanding, absolutely incredible how you’ve brought together the information and explained it 
it’s great to see where our nostalgia has come from and how far it is still going today. We are blessed with these cards
3 Likes
Do you know when the pokemon company took printing over from media sun?
Amazing work and information!