The second set of the English e-Series era released on January 15th, 2003, based on the Japanese The Town on No Map set. This is the first set (and one of just two sets) to introduce Crystal-Type Pokémon, which are still a very popular and massive goal for collectors towards this day.
This set was only the second set to have Reverse Holos, which are so common with every set nowadays; and unlike the previous Expedition Base Set, the holos were a separated category within the set (H1 to H32) which lacked Reverse Holos. This was also the next to last set printed by Wizards of the Coasts, until Nintendo took over.
And, as evident by this (e-Series) era, this was also only the second set to have e-Reader dot-code strips on the cards, containing different data per Pokémon.
Although I personally prefer to likely least popular Crystal cards, since it’s the only one I pulled myself as a kid, making it more special for me personally: Kingdra:
What can I say? It’s an incredible set with a great identity, one of my favorites: love umbreon and espeon especially, but plenty of bangers among the commons too.
Just wish it were a bit cheaper to collect, but I’m fine having a binder with only non-holos
It’s the weakest of the three wotc e-series sets, which is to say it’s still a top tier set with strong set cohesion and excellent, creative artwork. The featured Pokemon species selection pales in comparison to Skyridge and Expedition, which brings it down a notch for me.
I say it’s the best set of the few e-series sets. Tons of noteworthy illustrators and each pokemon included had its complete evolution line, sometimes with two cards per. Made for a fantastic gen 1 & 2 set overall.
It’s an amazing set and it consists of one of my top 3 favorite sets of all time (The Town on No Map) and one of my top 10 favorite sets of all time (Wind from the Sea). I really love the theme and set identity.
Aquapolis and Skyridge have always seemed ephemeral and mysterious to me due to their scarcity and emphasis on ancient ruins. Lots of great art too and probably when Mitsuhiro Arita peaked imo
Aquapolis is probably one of the best expansions. This expansion introduced even more e-Reader applications such as Construction: Action.
Regarding cards, artworks were amazing … The concept of Crystal Pokémon was interesting … despite they were awful regarding competitive meta, the card style was eye-pleasing and artworks were really good … sad that it was a very short-lived concept that was never brought back.
Regarding applications, in my opinion the best ones were “Punching Bags” & “Harvest Time” because of easy controls. … On the other hand, “Jumping Doduo” could make you feel dizzy because of high speed …
The only thing that I didn’t like about Aquapolis is that Construction: Breakout was not released in west because Wizards deleted the Large Dot Code from cards that were NOT monsters and that had “a” or “b” in their ID (for example, Crystal Energy). Because lack of Large Dot Code, Wizards unified both variants (a & b) in one single ID (that finishes with “-#”)
