Can anyone refer me to a list of Japanese exclusive Charizard artwork cards? To my knowledge I know of the ‘98 CD promo, ‘00 Neo 2 promo, ‘01 Lance’s Zard, and ‘16 XY EX promo. There’s also the ‘01 Web series Dark Charizard with the E-reader format but it’s obviously the same artwork.
I think you indeed have all of them, except for the S-P tournament promo. For completeness, here a list with pictures:
Trade Please campaign February-July 1998 “A Course”;
Pokémon Song Best Collection CD of January 1999;
280/XY-P promo.
Neo Premium File 2
Pokémon VS set.
276/XY-P promo.
103/S-P promo.
Simply not released yet in English. Actually, it’s not even released in Japanese yet. This is from the Vivid Voltage set that will release on September 18th in Japan.
The three artworks above in English have Japanese text instead of the GUREN DIVE, WILD BLAZE and HEAT TYPHOON, so technically you could say they’re a different artwork.
In my opinion, that Charizard V is probably one of the worst artworks I’ve seen, haha. In contrast, I’m excited for the Vivid Voltage card. That one I really like the artwork on.
Not saying you’re wrong but Charizard V looks awesome to me, in my opinion. I like that it looks simple & neat without the flare & distractions the others have.
@quuador, thanks for the pictures! Do you know if PSA differentiates between the cd promo charizard and the trade please A course Charizard? Or are there no visual differences whatsoever?
Although PSA uses both labels, there isn’t any visual difference between the two versions of the Venusaur/Charizard/Blastoise. To quote @pfm on the method PSA uses:
So PSA basically just flips a coin. Tbh, they’ll probably label it the one you send it in as in your submission form.
It’s rather similar with the other cards from the Pokémon Song Best Collection CD, although some can still be distinguished if you know how (although PSA doesn’t distinguish any of them from their similar counterpart):
Pikachu: This card looks similar as the English Shadowless yellow cheeks Base Set Pikachu. The way to distinguish the English Base Set from this Japanese CD Promo version is with a flashlight test. The CD Promo is printed on Japanese cardboard, which is ever so slightly thinner than the cardboard used for English Pokémon TCG cards. I also mention this in my Base Pikachu artwork variations article.
Computer Error: there are three versions of this card released in Japanese: January 1998 CoroCoro Comic insert; Kamex Mega Battle regional tournament participants prize; Pokémon Best Song Collection CD. The Kamex Mega Battle version has a white-shadowed ‘R’ as symbol, and the other two have red-shadowed 'R’s as symbol. See below at glossy promos on how to distinguish the other two with red-shadowed ‘R’.
Super Energy Retrieval: there are four versions of this card released in Japanese: April 1997 Pocket Monsters Fan Club insert; Pokémon Best Collection CD promo; inside the Gold, Silver, to a New World… set (Neo Genesis in English); unknown release that was used for photos in books (see this thread). The first two are glossy with the same text (see below at glossy promos on how to distinguish them from one another). The other two versions are both non-glossy and also have different texts (so three different text versions), as can be seen in the picture of the linked thread.
Glossy promos (Super Energy Retrieval; Computer Error; Mewtwo; Mew): Both the Mew and Mewtwo were included both in the 7th Next Generation World Hobby Fair vending sheet #00 of December 1997, as well as the Pokémon Song Best Collection CD of January 1999. How to distinguish these four earlier released glossy promos from the Pokémon Song Best Collection CD promos is like this:
The other cards released in the Pokémon Song Best Collection CD promo set are all non-glossy, and cannot be distinguished from their earlier releases as far as I’m aware:
Venusaur/Charizard/Blastoise: All three released in both the Trade Please campaign and CD
Arcanine: Released as both a Toyota auto campaign promo in October 1997 and as CD promo
Cool Porygon/Hungry Snorlax: Both released in the Nintendo 64 ad campaign of December 1997 and as CD promo
Seriously since joining this forum in May I’ve gained a much bigger appreciation for the artwork in these cards. Also used to be a real ignorant sourpuss about modern until a couple of years ago, but some of these full-arts are just fantastic. Really does give more ‘real estate’ to showcase the artist’s creativity, just look at that 276/XY-P promo… got my fingers crossed for an English release of the VV charizard! IDGAF if it’s a promo or a set card, just want it…
I’ve never been a fan of that one either. The generic artwork from 5ban graphics and the like hardly ever excite me. I typically won’t go out of my way to acquire such cards.
The eCard Lottery Promo Charizard is Japanese exclusive (the Charizard artwork exists in other languages but only this version of the card is a holo, which distinguishes it). The holo really makes the card come to life, one of the best looking Charizard cards ever in my opinion. It had a total distribution of 5,000 copies.
As I mentioned at the bottom of my post, I’ve excluded cards of different holofoil alterations (like this non-Holo vs Holofoil) as well as size differences - although I did gave a few examples of those. But I do agree it’s an amazingly looking card.
I also really like the Charizard V! I prefer it over the HR version. I am not normally one for the modern 5Ban graphics but I do think it is simple and elegant and the colours stand out. Also it is in keeping with the original Charizard in terms of looks which I prefer.
This is from the Vivid Voltage set that will release on September 18th in Japan.
Tbh, they’ll probably label it the one you send it in as in your submission form.
