What are the true first Pokemon cards?

[Enomai12]

I am going to get into buy cards and things soon again.

My school was about the pogs and pokemon that year. They took pokemon seriously. Some kid brought in a topsun blue black charizard to brag once. PSA is screwing people by saying topsun is 1997. They were around in 1995 like the cards say.

Though, i didnt have valuable pokemon cards. I had an extremely rare magic card. It was the top 9 cards, but it said “every player loses on their next turn” on everyones next turn they lost lol. I didnt understand how rare that card was, and it is a real magic card. It is so rare i might of had like the only one, i havent seen any of those listed.

[Will]

You may find this thread interesting!

Topsun 1995->1997 update officially happening with PSA. 1996 Bandai Carddass = The TRUE ROOKIES!

Hey all, some very exciting news to bring to the Pokémon card collecting community today. This is also a project I’ve been working on with PSA for over 2 years at this point. I can finally say, “It is HAPPENING!” Per my conversations with PSA, the update to correct the Topsun Pokémon card set from the year 1995 to 1997 is officially happening later this month. For those that know me, this is something that I’m very passionate about and I’m very happy to announce that the last domino is about t…

[rtas]

Nothing related to pokemon was released in 1995 or prior. The official trading card game released in Oct. 1996 in Japan and January 1999 in English. Topsun released in 1997 as well. Please do not mistake copyright years for release years.

[rainbow]

1996 - Verified timeline of Pokemon Card release dates

Introduction With an abundance of both disinformation and misinformation within the community, it can be hard to sort through the facts from fiction. Therefore the purpose of this post is to provide the release dates of cards, along with verifiable sources, that were released in 1996. This doesn’t necessarily mean all sources need to be included, but enough for confirmation purposes. This post is not considered complete and will continue to be expanded on as more verified and solid information …

Enough with the rumours.

[Quuador]

@rtas

Nothing related to pokemon was released in 1995 or prior.

Technically, this is incorrect. The very first officially released Pokémon product are indeed the Japanese GameBoy Games, released on February 27th, 1996.

But, the first versions of pre-release flyers for those games were released on November 23rd, 1995, still mentioning the originally intended release dates of those games of December 21st, 1995, until they got postponed (and a second version of this pre-release flyer was made, mentioning the correct February 27th, 1996 date).

There is also the book New Game Design, written by Game Freak’s founder Satoshi Tajiri, which released in December 1995. This book contains some early beta sprites of the upcoming Pokémon Pocket Monsters games, and also depictures some on the book cover.

Likewise, there is a Famitsu magazine volume of November 17th, 1995, which previewed the games that are going to be shown at the Spaceworld event, including Pokémon.
The volume after that of this same magazine also shows some, which was released on December 1st, 1995.

But, going even back to December 1992, a Happy New Year 1993 post card was given internally to Game Freak employees, which depictures early designs of Exeggutor and Kangaskhan:

FYI: The first Pocket Monsters beta sprites were designed in ~1989, and the original name was Capsule Monsters, until that was postponed more than once and later rebranded as Pocket Monsters. Physical copies of those early Capsule Monster concepts only exist internally within Game Freak, like this one that was shown during a Japanese TV show in 2018.

Sources:

1. Most are answers in this thread I create: First physical product to mention/depict Pocket Monsters?
2. HelixChamber.com, containing great information about early Pocket Monster game sprites/maps, and the early Japanese history of Pokémon.

---

But, going back on topic for the first released Pocket Monsters cards: see the article by @rainbow in the comment above:

@rainbow

1996 - Verified timeline of Pokemon Card release dates

Enough with the rumours.

Bandai Carddass Part 1 were the first released Pocket Monsters cards, released on September 21st, 1996.

PS: The Bandai Club Part 1 stickers could also somewhat be considered cards imho, released in May 1996.

Greetz,
Quuador

[martin]

Seeing 1989 and Pocket Monsters in one sentence is just crazy! Soviet Union still existed back then, Germany was still divided and the World Wibe Web had just been invented!

[Quuador]

Going back to the discussion of the cards, re-reading the comments in the thread I created First physical product to mention/depict Pocket Monsters?, I came across something interesting in the article of the Pocket Monsters GameBoy cartridges linked by @thundermoo:

@thundermoo

Was shared a nice article tonight on early Red and Green version variants: Link

In that article, the following is mentioned:

Another document included in the earliest printings is a customer feedback postcard, only available during the first 30 days after release, and had to be postmarked by the end of March. Customers would be entered into a free raffle for the official guidebook or special playing cards, as well as an additional copy of either Red or Green version.

Interesting fact: Ishihara-san, President & CEO of Game Freak, indicated in an interview that initial sales were lower than expected during the first 30 days, which explains why these surveys are relatively scarce today.

The front of the postcard translates to roughly the following:

“Kyoto City Higashiyama Post Office P.O. Box No. 15. Thank you for purchasing Pocket Monsters. Sorry to trouble you, we request your opinion as valuable reference for future software. Additionally, a lottery will be run for participants. Winners may receive: (100 Winners) Pocket Monsters Guidebook or (500 Winners) Special Playing Cards. In addition, the announcement of the winner will receive a free copy of either version. This is valid until the end of March, 1996.”

The bottom box (featuring Bulbasaur) in the survey (roughly) reads:

“It’s all about Pocket Monsters! “Pocket Monsters Guidebook” – List price undecided. Scheduled to be released early March, 1996.”

This text lines up perfectly for the late February release of the games.

Most notiably about this quote, is the “Winners may receive: (100 Winners) Pocket Monsters Guidebook or (500 Winners) Special Playing Cards. In addition, the announcement of the winner will receive a free copy of either version. This is valid until the end of March, 1996.”

Does this mean there are 500 Pocket Monsters Special Playing Cards sets available, given out somewhere in early/mid (April perhaps) 1996?

The earliest Pocket Monsters Playing cards I’m aware of are the Twin packs, released in December 1996, thanks to this post by @rainbow:

@rainbow

First, we have the twin packs. As far as I am aware, there are two twin pack releases, which I have called the “Green Packs” and the “Red Packs”.

…

The release date of the twin packs is early December 1996. It is very unlikely that both of them were released at the same time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a sizable gap between the two twin pack releases. Perhaps they were introduced with the redesign of the Red and Green packs (319 and 320). As far as I am aware, there is no discernable difference between the cards inside.

Anyone perhaps have any info about the release date of these 500 Special decks, and what they might look like? And whether the cards themselves might be different than any later released Pocket Monsters playing cards?

Greetz,
Quuador

[rtas]

Hehe, of course I knew this Quuador

I was only crushing their memories about cards that don’t exist (unless they are from an alternate universe) lol

[rayray123]

Please do update us! If those cards were earlier, then that outdates the Bandai! I’m super curious about this. Although, they certainly would have surfaced by now right? I would suppose that they are the same playing cards as the red and green decks. It says “special playing cards” for 500 individual winners, so I’m not entirely sure. I’m rooting for the Bandai!

[rainbow]

I don’t have any information about them directly. But that post said a rough translation, so I verified it with AI.

I can confirm that the original Japanese text specifically says 「任天堂・高級プラスチックトランプ」 (Nintendō・Kōkyū Purasuchikku Toranpu) .

Let’s break that down:

• 任天堂 (Nintendō): Nintendo

• 高級 (Kōkyū): This is the key word. It translates to “high-grade,” “high-class,” “deluxe,” or “premium.” It denotes superior quality.

• プラスチック (Purasuchikku): This is the Japanese word for “plastic.”

• トランプ (Toranpu): This is the Japanese word for “(Western) playing cards.”

Therefore, the most direct and accurate translation is “Nintendo High-Grade Plastic Playing Cards” or “Nintendo Deluxe Plastic Playing Cards.”

The word for “special” in Japanese is typically 特別 (tokubetsu) . That word is not used here. The postcard is emphasizing the high quality and material of the cards, not that they are a “special edition” in name.

I remember seeing this blog post, which I was thankfully able to find again.

So while it would be wonderful if they were special Pokemon themed cards, there is a very high chance they were basic designs Nintendo was already producing.

You would think with 500 decks released, someone would have shared or bragged about owning them by now.

Now you watch someone will fake them haha.

[BANKS]

I can confirm the survey says the decks are “plastic trump” decks, meaning the standard 52 card deck with suits. Given the proximity of the March survey to the release of the red & green “trump” decks in December, I speculate they would have used the same decks.

Maybe, there is a “no rarity” game to be had where the 500 promo decks have a slightly altered design or barcode from the mainstream release in December.

[rainbow]

Possibly.

My hesitation comes from the cards within the green/red decks (and subsequent decks within that series, including the Netz Toyota promo release ('98, or '99)) being cardstock and not plastic (as far as i know).

Also the postcard doesn’t explicitly state they are Pokemon playing cards, but instead headlines Nintendo. Which they did have as generic products of the time. Like these:

メルカリ

メルカリ

At that point in time, they weren’t even sure about the popularity of the game, so it really is possible they provided existing generic products they had on hand. 9 Months is a long time before green and red decks would be released.

That’s just my initial reasoning which may turn out to be complete wrong.

[Quuador]

@rainbow @BANKS Thanks for the replies. Ah, I just assumed the translation in the article was correct, but you both are indeed right it’s “Nintendo Premium Plastic Playing Cards”, based on Google Translate:

I agree it’s very likely it’s one of the existing Nintendo playing decks with plastic cards, and nothing Pokémon related. Especially since, as you said, they had no idea how popular the Pocket Monsters GameBoys would be beforehand.

Thanks for clearing that up.
Also tagging @rayray123 since you were curious about them. Looks like it’s a false alarm.

Greetz,
Quuador