Pre-99 Vintage Japanese Pokémon Sets, a Summary Guide

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Below is a list of the first five major pre-99 Pokémon releases, not in order. I personally get a lot of DMs from my sports collector connections asking about vintage Pokémon sets, so I wanted a guide to direct people to. I hope this also introduces them to the wonderful community that is E4!

These are not represented in a particular order, particularly because there is rumor/debate/speculation about TopSun, Carddass or Japanese Base being the first cards, depending on speculative dates of manufacture, release, license and distribution.

(not in a particular order)

1996 Carddass
Pictured: a 1996 Carddass Charizard holo and a vending machine
E4 Resource: www.elitefourum.com/t/carddass-pocket-monsters-pokemon-anime-collection/29374/1
External Guide: pokeboon.com/about-the-series-of-a-bandai-pokemon-carddass/
External Guide: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pocket_Monsters_Carddass_Trading_Cards

Summary: Many contend that Carddass has the first release date for a Pokémon card set. The first Carddass releases (part 1 / Green & Part 2 / Red) were released in 1996, with parts 3 and 4 being released in 1997. Further Anime cards were released between 1998 and 2000. Sold in vending machines. Art cards, not gameplay.

TopSunThe official TopSun release was 1997. Proof of earlier print/distribution is highly speculative (see the linked Article/Discussion below to follow this topic further).

Pictured: A TopSun “No Number” Pikachu and Retail Box
E4 Guide/Post: www.elitefourum.com/t/pokemon-topsun-vs-set-1997/28523/1
External Guide: pokeboon.com/what-is-the-pokemon-topsun-card/
PSA Pop Report: www.psacard.com/pop/tcg-cards/1995/pokemon-japanese-topsun/63305

Article / Discussion:
“The Great Topsun Debate”:

Summary: Printed in blue and green backs. “No number” versions of the blue back cards are a rare error, or possibly first, prints of these cards. Originally sold in boxes & packs. Officially released in 1997, but some collectors contend it was printed and available prior to cards with earlier release dates, possibly due to PSA labeling them as 1995. See the discussion linked above for various theories on this topic. Contains art cards, not gameplay.

1996 Japanese Base
Pictured: A 1996 Japanese Base Charizard and a booster box
E4 Resource: www.elitefourum.com/t/meanwhile-jp-base-box-1996-quietly-becomes-unavailable/27612/1
External Guide: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Base_Set_(TCG)#Japanese
E4 Guide to No Rarity: www.elitefourum.com/t/a-guide-explaining-why-no-rarity-comes-from-packs-and-decks/16617/1

Summary: 96 Japanese Base (or “Basic”) cards introduced us to the iconic card art and TCG gameplay which would sweep the US and the world in 1999. Before first edition shadowless 99 cards, this set was the OG TCG and the first gameplay card set. Sold in packs and boxes, there is an early “no rarity” print which many believe to be the first printing of 96 Base. Jungle, Fossil and Rocket expansion sets were also printed in Japanese prior to the US releases.

1997 TOMY cards

Pictured: An “un-scratched” 1997 TOMY Charizard and retail boosters & packs for series 1 & 2
E4 Resource: www.elitefourum.com/t/tomy-1997-pockemon-scratch-card/21642/1
External Guide / Setlist: www.yamwax.com/tomy-scratch/ (my guide)

Summary: 97 TOMY scratch is the 2nd gameplay Pokémon set after Japanese Base and its expansions. Tough to find in “unscratched” condition because opponents scratched off the cards as they “battled” head to head. Sold retail in booster boxes & packs. Graded by BGS. Series 1 features 36 total cards including six holos (Charizard, Pikachu, Blastoise, Venusaur, Mewtwo & Moltres). Series 2 introduces six additional holos and 36 more total cards. 72 total cards between both series.

1997 Meiji Cards
Pictured: A 1997 Meiji Pikachu card and a Meiji chocolates box
External Guide / Setlist: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/1998_Meiji_set

Summary: 1997 Meiji Pokémon cards were distributed as a promo card set within Meiji chocolates and was continued to be released in future years, including 1998 and a 1999 set with embossed holo cards. Art cards, not gameplay.

  • great details below on various Meiji releases and detail!

Notes: I’ve chosen to stick to card sets offered retail here, and excluded sticker or limited promo releases such as Nissui or CD Promos. I can certainly update this list or any details as new information is suggested. Just let me know! -Yam

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Nice post! @accio,

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I was literally going to bed just as you posted this.

I Skimmed the titles and didn’t read the content except for the Meiji cards which only caught my eye because you missed the original 1997 Promo set.

They came in these boxes which each had their own designated possible cards to pull, and the boxes were released in succession. Each sealed box contained 1 unprotected card which rattled around within the spacious box and sat next to a sealed bag of chocolate coated cookie snacks.

The cards are notoriously difficult to grade which has resulted in low pops because no-one has what we traditionally consider to be gradeworthy copies.
But finding many of these cards, especially the character cards is very difficult regardless of condition.
By the way, thecardcollectoruk has the only graded copies of Misty, Ash, Brock.
These cards are historically significant because they are the first trading cards to feature the original trio.
Alright i’m going to sleep.

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@rainbowgx - thanks for the great image and added detail! I made an edit and update in my post.

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I would not call the “no rarity” a misprint. While it contained errors, it’s the first printing of Japanese base set. Is there anyone who doesn’t acknowledge that at this point?

Misprint would be like no symbol jungle or no damage ninetales. No rarity cards are an actual print run. The run was printed first. Then the errors were fixed. Then base set was printed. They are the alpha cards of pokemon.

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I wouldn’t even call it an error. No rarity cards on early promotional material suggests that the idea of a rarity symbol initially just didn’t exist.

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Great point. The Pokemon TCG was conceptualized after observing the success magic the gathering. There was NO way to know the rarity of early magic cards based on the cards alone. There aren’t any symbols on alpha, beta, unlimited to suggest which cards are common, uncommon or rare. I can’t remember when the rarities of the cards were figured out but when I was into
magic cards from 1994-1996 I had no idea.

The point is if Pokemon was modeled after MtG it would make perfect sense that the initial cards would have not had the concept of rarity symbols.

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There is no evidence of Topsun being released in 1995 just rumour I would not put it at No.1. Cardass is correct as being released earlier than JP Base, it was released late September 1996. I would try to limit spreading the Topsun rumour until there is proof of it appearing anywhere in 1995.

(Oct 1996 corocoro)

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Curious if anyone has more information about the Japanese Sealdass sticker set?

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@jonandek - good point! I have edited the post and no longer refer to “no rarity” as a misprint. I did have a link to the terrific extended post on No Rarity in the resources for 96 Base. cc: @slippingjimmy Thanks guys.

@shizzlemetimbers - I appreciate you bringing that perspective to the thread, so that individual collectors can make their own determination. In the post I do indicate that Carddass is the first “official” release and indicate my stance that TopSun is first refers to unofficial information from collectors the likes of Gary & EB (that discussion is linked in the TopSun resources). I don’t have a bias in that argument, having approximately equal collection equity in Topsun & Carddass cards (and the most equity in 96 Base tbh.) This will be a fun debate to follow for years. Thank you again!

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Awesome! This is great stuff BTW

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YES at last an interesting post omfg at last, thank you very much!

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Yep. But you wouldn’t believe how deeply people want to believe it is from 1995 though.

As far as I know there wasn’t any merch back in 1995 for pokemon. Actually, from what I’ve been told the games (Red & Green) were first made available at a

pre-release event on 21 Dec 1995

but were not officially released until February 27, 1996.
So I would be surprised if there were any negotiations for entering into merchandising licensing agreements until 1996. Especially given the environment the game was released into, being the game boy was thought to be be long in the tooth and as such sales for the game started off slow.

As for the copyright information, as mentioned before, the 1995 is just signifiying when the copyright was first awarded: not for the product but for the licensed Intellectual Property.
Let’s look at an example on a different product.
Some of you are likely familiar with the Amada Retsuden Hyper Sticker Collection.
I will use one of the packs as an example:

You can see the copyright is marked 1995, while the product also clearly states it was made in 1996.
The copyright information itself is not taken to express the year of production nor the product’s year of release.
These days, to remove ambiguity it is often written in a range to avoid confusion.
An example can be seen on the footer of the official website www.portal-pokemon.com/

…and another example on this colouring page of pikachu.sg.portal-pokemon.com/special/event/pdf/a1_pikachu01.pdf

As for this summary guide, I think it is biased, misleading and contains errors.
I think with a little work we can improve on the information a little.

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@rainbowgx , There are only two known releases of Pokemon items before 1996 so far:

(1995 release date flyer version)

(Satoshi Tajiri’s book New Game Design)Contains some prototype images for the games

Unfortunately I don’t own any 1995 corocoro comics which could be another place that might have some early Pokemon stuff inside but doubtful since it would have been found already

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motivated OP here

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Yeah they are very cool. I’m doubtful too.

As far as cards go though, I haven’t seen anyone publicly compile a list of all known vintage card releases.
I might take a stab at it and see if anyone here can fill in any identified blanks, errors etc.
edit: list of sets/manufacturers anyway…

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Great post. Its great to have a detailed reference point for the older stuff other than base set.

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Been working on something similar to this all week. Ill try and get it finished up today and posted :blush:

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Whoa whoa whoa.

I am quoted as a source for saying that Topsun came first?

This is my exact post from the 2016 thread you linked to that you apparently used as evidence for saying that Topsun came first:

"To add something to this thread though - the Media Factory (i.e. base set) cards have a copyright date of 1996 on them, and only 1996.

However, just like the Topsun cards, the Bandai (i.e. Carddass vending series part 1&2) cards have a copyright date of 1995 on them, and only 1995.

Beyond that, the only thing we can say for sure is that the Bandai cards were officially released in 1996, and the Topsun cards were officially released in 1997.

Right now, the only piece of evidence I see for the Topsun cards being first is based on a conversation Gary had 18 years ago… and frankly even at the time it doesn’t seem like Gary discovered anything particularly conclusive.

So until proven otherwise, I am going to say that the Bandai cards pre-date the Topsun cards."

Even if I HAD said Topsun likely came first - which I didn’t - EnlightenedBulbasaur is not the best source.

I will say it again -

There is absolutely no evidence that Topsun was printed in 1995. It is a rumor stemming from the copyright date on the cards, and the copyright date does not necessarily indicate it was printed in that year (just like many other Pokemon cards also include the “1995” year somewhere in the copyright date).

The only thing we know for sure is the release dates of the cards. Topsun was released in March 1997, after Bandai Carddass Series 1 was released in September 1996 and Base Set was released in October 1996.

There is no basis for calling Topsun the first Pokemon card set.

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@slabsniper I don’t believe that I would have any motivation to name Topsun 1st. I have never owned any TopSun holos, and have just a couple of LP pikachus and raw common cards in my collection. I wish I had a Charizard, but it keeps eluding me. I own superior Carddass and 96 Base cards tbh.

I referred to Topsun as “1995 Topsun” because that is how PSA labels them. I am not contending they were released in 1995. The resource shared, a discussion between King Pokémon and Enlightened Bulbasaur, tipped the scales for me in terms of listing Topsun as the first major set to make its way into Pokémon. I am also thankful for the posts that @rainbowgx and @shizzlemetimbers have shared to provide readers with additional information to make their own determination. Thanks all!

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