After the release of the Pokemon trading cards, Nintendo launched a spin-off video-game series called ‘Pokémon Trading Card Game’ ( ポケモンカードＧＢ) for Game Boy and Game Boy Color based on the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The motivation was for people to enjoy, learn, and master, the trading card game, digitally, even if you have not played the Pokemon TCG.
A sequel to this game was also launched titled ‘Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!’ (ポケモンカード GB2 ＧＲ団参上!) in 2001. This was a Japan-exclusive release. The game’s story revolves around a new villainous team, Team Rocket, and contains nearly all of the cards from Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, and Team Rocket.
Along with these games and their supplementary products, Pokemon also included special promo cards to commemorate these events. These bonus cards can also be referred to as GB promos, as these cards display a ‘GB’ symbol in place of the Expansion symbol, indicating it was originally created exclusively for the Game Boy.
Featured Cards
Perhaps the most famous and recognized of the GB promos. This was included as a special bonus card with every purchase of the physical copy of the Pokemon Card GB game. This is the only one of the four Legendary cards which was released as an actual card. The 4 legendary cards included the Legendary bird trio and Dragonite. Similarly, it is only one of three Game Boy-exclusive cards to be made into a card. The others are Tangela and Electrode which were printed in the Japanese Web expansion pack.
This card was pasted on a mount as an appendix to the CoroCoro Comic. The mount mentioned that this was an officially certified special card ‘GB Meowth’. It was possible to peel off the card from the mount and use it.
This Venusaur card was an insert along with the Pokemon Card GB Official Guidebook, taped to the back cover in a transparent bag. This card was first digitally released for the Pokemon Card game in Game Boy color and was then made available as an Unnumbered Promotional card in copies of the Official Guidebook.
| Card | Set Number | Release date | Base Product Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Venusaur | Unnumbered | March 9, 2001 | 380 yen |
| Dark Ivysaur | Unnumbered | March 9, 2001 | 380 yen |
These two bonus cards were included in the official Pokemon card magazine ‘Pokemon Card Trainers Vol.10’. These card feature the Neo Series layout and these cards were related to the sequel game ‘Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!’
| Card | Set Number | Release date | Base Product Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Rocket’s Mewtwo* | Unnumbered | March 28, 2001 | 3900 Yen |
| Lugia* | Unnumbered | March 28, 2001 | 3900 Yen |
The two bonus cards were available as an Unnumbered Promotional card and were included in copies of ‘Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!’
| Card | Set Number | Release date | Base Product Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Fearow* | Unnumbered | April 12, 2001 | 880 yen |
The final bonus card with the GB symbol, this was included as an insert in the official guidebook for the sequel game ‘Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!’
*Japanese exclusive artwork not released in English.
Supplementary Images
