Introduction
So you have a favorite Pokemon, and now you want all of their cards (naturally). This article aims to guide you through the ins and outs of species collecting when you’re going for every language and every variant. It’s a daunting task that requires a lot of research, but also a very rewarding endeavor, especially if you’re as crazy ambitious as I and many others are.
Ultimately, TCG collecting is a very individualized and personal experience, so take what suits you and leave what doesn’t. Before we get too far into it, don’t feel like you have to collect every card just because it exists. Setting limits and boundaries for what you include in your collection doesn’t make your collection any less valid, whether that be in accordance with language, card type or rarity, price, or any other arbitrary factor. Your collection is for your own enjoyment first and foremost!
Many species collectors will also start out with one or two languages (most commonly Japanese and their country’s language, whether that be English, French, German, or what have you). It’s also important to keep in mind that many collections you see on the internet have been curated over the course of several years of dedicated searching. You don’t need to collect everything right away, and starting with smaller, achievable goals will help ensure you don’t burn out when gunning for hundreds, or even thousands, of cards to collect. Having smaller goals and limiting your focus will help keep the hobby from feeling like a slog, and celebrating your wins, no matter how small, is extremely important too. It can be tempting to purchase everything you can find immediately, but there’s no shame in taking it slow to assess what the best purchase is at the time, whether that be in price point or rarity. When it stops being fun, take stock of your enjoyment of the process, and remember to take care of yourself first.
What even exists
The first step to all-language, all-variant species collecting, aside from choosing what Pokemon you’ll be hunting, is figuring out what cards even exist. Most sets are pretty straightforward in English and Japanese, but once you start to branch out into other languages, you’ll soon find that some languages lack reverses, and some have reverses in only specific sets; alt printings with different foil, half decks, starter decks (especially the dreaded Start Deck 100), and promos abound, and it snowballs very quickly.
The following is the start of the process that I use to figure out if a card exists in a particular language or not (and what those cards are). Even then, it’s easy to miss different peripheral printings, so checking your list against others that have ‘mons in the same sets and eras as you do is also a big help.
I recommend using some sort of checklist or spreadsheet tool to help you organize your collection. There are lots of different ways to go about that, but here’s a shameless plug for my free to use Google Sheets templates if you’d like to head down that route.
Languages to Look For
The most obvious variants you’ll come across will be the different language variants. Pokemon cards have been printed in 16 different languages at the time of writing, including:
- English
- Japanese
- German
- French
- Italian
- Dutch
- Polish
- Russian
- Portuguese
- Spanish (Spain)
- Latin American Spanish
- Korean
- Thai
- Indonesian
- Traditional Chinese
- Simplified Chinese
Not all sets were printed in all languages, and many languages will have a different set structure from English and Japanese. In the modern era however, most sets have largely settled into following either the English structure for western sets (German, French, Italian, etc) or the Japanese structure for Eastern sets (Japanese, Korean, etc).
Alternate Variants
As I’m sure most here are aware, many cards have additional alternate printings, even within a language. Basics to look out for include:
- 1st edition vs Unlimited
- Repeating errors (no damage Ninetails, PokéBody Empoleon LV.X, etc)
- Print run differences (2000 Fossil, Black vs white outline SM5+, etc)
- Reverse foil
- Holo pattern differences (retro vs HD cosmos, cracked ice, etc)
- Language-exclusive holos (especially in Portuguese)
- Deck variants (especially non-holo variants that are usually holo, like certain GX random constructed decks)
- Reprints of the same card in different sets within the same language
The Basics of Research
Keeping all of the above possible variants in mind (and then some!), it’s now time to start actually researching cards.
Starting Out
Serebii is the resource I check first for English-language printings. I find it easiest to start with English here since it’s my first language, but your mileage may vary. You can search for a particular Pokemon, and it will bring up a list of what sets it was printed in for both English and Japanese. This isn’t an all-inclusive list, and they do miss prints sometimes, but it’s a good starting point for figuring out what sets your Pokemon even exists in.
If you’re interested in collecting cards with your favorite Pokemon in the art but not in the name, you’ll also be looking for cameo cards! @JoshsOddCollection has posted a lovely guide to the English cameo releases here that deserves a mention.
Once I have my list of sets from Serebii (and any sets that have cameos in them), I’ll take that over to Bulbapedia and go through each set that I know my Pokemon was in. For most sets, Bulbapedia will have release notes on what languages that particular set was released in near the bottom of the page, as well as if any 1st Edition or reverse variants exist or not. Just like with Serebii, this list isn’t always 100% accurate, but it’s an excellent resource for getting started here, and you should be able to fill in most of the blanks on the bulk of your languages from that.
Newer languages to the TCG are a little bit trickier because of the catch-up phases that most have gone through, and many of their sets are listed completely separately on Bulbapedia, but as you’re going through each English set, they have the corresponding Japanese setlist as well. Sets don’t always line up perfectly 1:1 in English and Japanese, so it is worth double-checking, but this should get you pretty close there too.
Also worth a note is to check the peripheral releases section for theme decks, promos, ATCG (sets that weren’t released in English or Japanese), other exclusive cards, and prints that were released outside of their main sets. CTRL + F is your friend here. Not all of the newest set releases are on here immediately, but it does get updated regularly.
While you’re here, make note of the Pokemon’s name in each language. I recommend copy-pasting into a note on the side for reference later, especially for languages that you don’t speak/read or have a keyboard installed for.
In addition to Bulbapedia’s promo lists, my other favorite promo resource is Pokumon by @humanforscale. I cross-reference with Bulbapedia as well, but Pokumon deserves its own section here too, as there’s a lot of really good additional information available.
If your Pokemon is from an earlier generation, for mid-era Korean prints, this website is an excellent resource for sets and deck releases, as there isn’t very much information about these sets elsewhere.
Particularly for sets that have limited information to work from, searching up a set in the language you’re seeking over on Youtube and watching pack openings or box breaks is an excellent way to find out holo patterns, card lists, and more. This is especially helpful with researching Korean, Thai, and Indonesian releases during their catch-up phase.
Pokemon has their official websites in each language as well, though funnily enough, they aren’t always accurate. The Thai, Indonesian, and Chinese official websites in particular do have good information, but you’ll absolutely want to cross reference that with other sources. The Simplified Chinese WeChat is also a valuable source of information, but you’ll need either a local phone number or someone with a local phone number to access it.
The final place I check, excluding marketplaces, is right here on E4! You might be thinking “wait a sec…” but there are so many valuable lists and resources that people have put together over the years right here on the forum. I highly recommend giving your species a search here in addition to the sites above, as there may be someone out there with the exact same collecting niche as you to check your own list against.
International Marketplaces
I like to use various international marketplaces to cross-reference different releases and find other peripheral releases that I may not have been able to find in my usual searching above. Even if something is out of stock, photos and listings go a long way for confirming cards actually exist. The list of sites here is compiled of the ones I actively use, but there are many, many more out there too- it just takes some digging.
Many of the sites below will require a proxy to purchase from, whether that be an individual middleman or a business like Buyee, so keep shipping costs and proxy fees in mind as well if you’re planning on making a purchase.
When searching multi-national marketplaces, I always recommend going through tags for your Pokemon’s name in multiple languages. I have eBay saved searches for “Piplup” of course, but also “Plinfa,” “Tiplouf,” and “Pocchama”. Similarly, “[Pokemon Name] Overseas/Foreign/etc” or similar can net some finds on marketplaces that wouldn’t commonly have a certain language available. I’ve found quite a few Korean Piplup prints by searching ポッチャマ開会 over on MercariJP, and the same can be true of other online platforms as well.
The usual haunts, TCGPlayer, Troll & Toad, eBay, and other similar platforms can be good for buying and do deserve a mention here, but there are a ton of other better options, so I won’t go into detail too much on these.
eBay saved searches especially are an easy way to check for hard-to-find cards on the daily, but you’ll likely want to branch out pretty quickly as well. Along that same vein, messaging eBay sellers located in other countries is a wonderful way to source bulk that may not ordinarily get listed. Many of my Thai and Indonesian cards have been acquired from kind eBay sellers that have promos or other expensive cards listed, and even if they don’t personally have what you’re looking for, they may know someone who does!
If you’ve been around the TCG scene, you’ve probably heard of Cardmarket (even if you can’t order from them without a proxy). This is an excellent resource for prints you aren’t sure about- just look up whatever card you want, and you can see if anyone has it for sale or not (confirming it exists). Sometimes people do list things incorrectly though, so take everything with a grain of salt, especially if it doesn’t have pictures.
Much like its predecessor, CardTrader offers a selection of all-language printings, but they ship worldwide, allowing people outside CardMarket’s shipping areas to acquire otherwise difficult cards.
Both Mercari, and moreso MercariJP, the Japanese counterpart, also deserve a mention. If you’re outside of Japan, you’ll need a proxy like Buyee to purchase from MercariJP, but they’re worth a daily saved search, especially if you have any of the difficult to find unlimited Japanese prints to hunt down.
Like Mercari, Vinted has a few different global platforms for different countries, so it’s worth it to check out each branch for specific languages.
Global Bunjang is similar to Mercari, but for Korean users instead, and absolutely worth a bookmark if you have any tricky prints to find.
A Brazilian TCGPlayer-like website, LigaPokemon is my go-to for checking if a card exists in Portuguese or not. There have been a lot of promos that were only printed in Japanese/English/Portuguese for whatever reason, so it’s always a good idea to double check any promos that your species has here. Portuguese also has several exclusive holo variants of these promos and other set cards that are worth a search.
Tokopedia is an Indonesian website similar to Mercari, especially good for Indonesian promo and starter deck referencing. You’ll need a proxy to order if you’re not located in Indonesia.
For middlemanning cards, Shopee, Buyee, and other similar proxy websites can be helpful if you’re looking to make purchases from location-restricted platforms as well.
Final Notes
One last resource that is invaluable when species collecting is your fellow collectors! Even if you don’t collect the same species, connections and friendships are everything. Cross referencing set lists, organizing middlemanning and group orders, and commiserating with those in a similar boat makes the entire experience a lot more fun in my experience. Special shoutouts to all of my fellow species collecting friends I’ve made here on the forum- there are entirely too many to list here, but y’all know who you are.
In conclusion, whether you’re just starting out on Route 1 of your journey or you’ve been collecting for years, I hope you’ve found this guide helpful! There are so many different marketplaces and resources that aren’t listed here, but hopefully this will provide a starting point for your own research and collection. If you have any additional resources you like to use that I haven’t mentioned here, feel free to drop them in the replies for everyone to reference as well. As always, thanks for reading, and happy collecting!
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