I totally agree — it’s a charming set. The fact that the set was released at a time that the Pokemon franchise was in a bit of a downturn probably hurt the collection’s reputation — undeservedly.
They are wonderful sets, if I were you I’d get another one, one to have in an album or slabbed and the other one because we like to have some items sealed.
There re currently three World Collections if I’m not mistaken, two from a Japanese 7/11 promotion (Blue/Green) and a Yellow one which is from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.