Hello everyone! I just recently created an account here, and I wanted to share and also find out about something I think is super neat. We all know about the standard japanese-english stuff that gets pretty much replicated one-to-one on every country where pokémon is a thing. But sometimes the people in charge at a certain country just wanted to do things in a certain way, and in the end we get these really niche things that just don’t get the attention they deserve. So I’m here to show some of the things I know, and I hope you guys can add other stuff as well.
Vivillion Cards (not sure if this counts but the list is mine so now it does)
So I’m not too sure if any of you guys played Pokémon X/Y, but this mon had this gimmick where it’s wing patterns would change depending on the location you set your 3DS in. All-in-all it had 18 patterns you could get, and they tried to incorporate this in the TCG by adding 6 regional variants to (almost, the French variant of the pattern on the game became the standard one so now they get nothing) every language the cards are printed on.
Chinese Kanto Starters Box
For the 25th anniversary of the franchise the chinese branch decided to release themed boxes containing each of the OG trio including a playmat featuring the box art, some packs from the asian version of celebrations and the acknowledgement of plastic card encasement enjoyers with a display case. It comes with some of the Classic Collection cards as promos, gotta say I’m a bit jealous they got the charizard just like that in the box.
Indonesian KFC
So, apparently KFC in Indonesia ran a campaign that would give a booster with a random card with every Kid’s Meal (KFC Chaki Kids Meal) on March 21. And they had all had one thing that made them special. A KFC bucket stamp.
They even have a KFC Charizard there, this set is honestly a banger.
Latin American rayquaza deck
This one is very dear to me, as they were very much a part of my childhood, and it’s probably the most obscure thing I have on this tiny list. And I happen to know a lot about this, so my time to shine.
In the 2000s the license for distribution of the cards in many latin american countries (and Portugal) was under a Brazilian book publisher named Devir. And the way they handled theme decks on the EX era was very… distinct. Instead of the bulky trapezian-y box we’re used to, it was a more normal looking box featuring standard ken Sugimori art of the featured Pokémon.
They are pretty much an admitedly less cool copy of their english counterparts, with one very singular exception. During the EX Emerald era two decks were printed in English, one featuring Milotic and another Manectric. Two decks were also released by the publisher, and on one they tought Manectric wasn’t cool enough to be the centerpiece of their product so they just added a rayquaza to it (a great choice).
I happen to have this particular sealed deck but it’s on a box inside a box on my top shelf, so this will have to do until I fight my laziness to get it.
And for the super exclusive deck they decided to make, by hand, it features the best pokémon of all. Try to guess. Yes, the answer is obvious. It could have only been Exploud.
Fun fact, the Ho-Oh deck undersold in the spanish-speaking countries and oversold in Brazil, so to cut costs on the reprint they repacked the Spanish deck and just printed the packaging and the booklet itself. They put a sticker on it to assure customers only SOME of the product was spanish.
I also have this deck so the high quality pic of the deck will come… someday.
If you’re interested I can make a list of every deck released like that.
But now, what are some some other cards or products that have a regional flair? An exclusive stamp, a different packaging or maybe even an actual different product, everything counts. I’m sure there’s a LOT of stuff out there.
