The Lost Era of Pokémon Cards
Most people think that WOTC Pokémon Trading Card Game is where it all started. I know I did.
But it's not. Before the TCG became the global standard, Japan had an entire parallel ecosystem of Pokémon cards — different companies, different distribution channels, different philosophies about what a card should even be.
I went down this rabbit hole, so you won't have to.
Carddass (1996–2000)
The Actual First Pokémon Cards
The first Pokémon cards didn't come from a game store. They came out of a vending machine. Bandai released the Carddass series in September 1996, a full month before the TCG launched, five cards for ¥100, or a single card for ¥20.
The machines were called Carddass, Bandai's term for their card vending infrastructure, and they were everywhere in Japan at the time.
Bandai produced four sets of Carddass Pokémon cards between 1996 and 1997, with a consistent layout: Pokémon on the front, information on the back. Unlike the TCG, which abstracts Pokémon into a battle system, the backs showed evolution trees and each Pokémon's encounter rates across Red, Green, and Blue. They were documenting the game world.
Part 1 and Part 2 were based on Pokémon Red and Green. Together they totalled 309 cards — more than any other Carddass release. The artwork was still early-stage, as the world and characters weren't yet as fully developed as they'd later become.
These are the cards most collectors refer to when they talk about Carddass.
Part 3 and Part 4 shifted toward more dynamic depictions, emphasizing action and appealing to collectors' imaginations. They had a smaller card count, but introduced secret promotional cards. The Part 3 secret — FILE NO.000 — was distributed only at CoroCoro Plaza inside Ito-Yokado department stores in April 1997. The Part 4 secret was available only through vending machines at that same location starting in June 1997. A handful of stores, a short window. Even at the time, these were essentially impossible to find.
The Jumbo Carddass was a separate release from November 1996. These larger cards featured removable stickers on the front, trainer details from Red/Green/Blue, and a map of Kanto on the back. Some included snapshots of in-game battles. A special Jumbo Pikachu promo was given to attendees of the 1997 Tokyo Toy Show at Tokyo Big Sight in March of that year.
After the game-based sets, Bandai shifted Carddass production toward anime scenes and movie tie-ins, continuing through 2000 with content covering the Gold and Silver era and Generation II Pokémon.
One practical issue across all Carddass releases: the cardboard stock was delicate, and in 1996 there was little knowledge about how to safely store collectible cards. Most surviving copies have creases or smudges, which makes clean examples significantly more valuable. A PSA 10 Charizard from the Red series has sold for over $30,000.
Topsun (1997)
The Most Misunderstood Cards in the Hobby
Topsun cards came packaged with apple-flavored bubble gum from a Japanese candy company called Top-Seika. Each pack contained two cards and two sticks of gum and cost 60 yen. They covered the first 150 Pokémon, no Mew, and the design was clean and encyclopedic, closer to a physical Pokédex than anything else.
The controversy around these cards comes down to one thing: the copyright date printed on the card reads 1995. That date doesn't refer to when the cards were made. It reflects the Pokémon property's copyright, not the Topsun cards themselves. The official Top Seika website states that a licensing agreement wasn't established until 1997. CGC and BGS have since updated their grading practices to reflect the 1997 release date, and PSA followed in March 2024.
Within Topsun there are essentially three distinct print runs, and they matter a lot to collectors:
Blue Back / No Number — Early in production, an error occurred where the Pokédex number was missing from the face of each card. The error was corrected quickly, but many made it into circulation. Only 50 of the 150 Pokémon have a confirmed no-number variant, and all of them are blue backs. These are considered the very first print run. The Charizard no-number PSA 10 sold for $493,230 in 2021 — one of three known to exist at that grade.
Blue Back / Numbered — The corrected first wave, still on blue stock. Blue backs are considered the earlier print and are more coveted than green backs. The cards came loose in gum packets with no protection and were never meant to be collected, so mint copies are extremely hard to find.
Green Back — Later print runs switched to green card backs. Same Pokémon, same artwork, but considered a second wave and generally less rare than blue backs.
Prism Holofoils — Sixteen of the 150 Pokémon have a prism holo version, released after the initial print run at a rate of one holo per 40 packs. Charizard and Pikachu are the most valuable. These exist only in the numbered format — there are no no-number holos.
Topsun also produced "VS" cards from 1997 onward, featuring two Pokémon battling on the front rather than a single Pokémon with Pokédex data. These came in waves covering Generations 1 through 4, meaning production continued well into the mid-2000s. A branding change from "Topsun" to "Top" in 1998 helps date some of these later cards, but many are impossible to pin down precisely. The VS cards are a completely different product from the blue and green backs, and most collectors treat them as separate.
Meiji (1997–2002)
Chocolate Cards With an Actual Game Mechanic
The Meiji series gets dismissed as simple promotional cards. That's underselling them. Starting in 1997, Meiji packaged collectible Pokémon cards with their chocolate, making them one of the earliest brand collaborators with the franchise. The collaboration ran through 2002, producing eight distinct sets. Each one was different enough from the last that collecting the full run is genuinely its own project.
1997 Set — The first collaboration introduced "rock paper scissors" cards, where each card displayed an HP value and type on the front, with flavor information on the back. All cards were foil, with Mew and Mewtwo receiving additional gold foil versions. This initial series was large — over 150 cards — featuring characters like Eevee, the Eeveelutions, Mew, Mewtwo, Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur. One card per box of chocolate.
2000 Sets (Blue, Silver, and Gold) — The 2000 release was the largest Meiji set to that point, bringing back the rock paper scissors game alongside blue, silver, and gold patterned holofoil variants. The backs also included move data showing what levels Pokémon learned specific attacks. Only Pikachu received all three color variants; every other Pokémon appeared in just one. It was also the first Meiji set to include Generation II Pokémon like Espeon and Umbreon. Lugia — the face of Pokémon Silver — only got a gold foil version, which is a choice that's never quite been explained.
2001 Set — Meiji dropped the rock paper scissors mechanic and switched to a horizontal rainbow holofoil. The cards are extremely reflective with an almost hologram effect — a foil treatment that would later appear in the Japanese TCG's Platinum Arceus era. The 2001 set reused some 2000 artwork alongside new Pokémon like Marill.
2002 VS Series — The final year of Meiji's original Pokémon run was a significant departure. Each card featured an embossed battle scene between two Pokémon, with their names displayed on colored bars along the side. Cards came in different color variants depending on which Pokémon was featured — though whether one variant is rarer than the other isn't definitively documented.
Across all years, the cards were printed on shorter, heavier card stock unique to Meiji, with finishes that changed from year to year. They were loose in boxes of chocolate, edges and surfaces damage easily, and they were never meant to be sleeved and stored. A full master set across all eight releases, in collectible condition, barely exists. Individual subsets are poorly documented and some have almost no English-language checklists at all.
Tomy Scratch Cards (1997)
Designed to Be Destroyed
Unlike Topsun and Carddass, the Tomy scratch cards weren't collectibles. They were meant to be played. Each card had a scratch-off surface on the back, like a lottery ticket, that revealed Pokémon data during gameplay. Players each drew a random card from their pack, flipped a coin to decide who went first, scratched panels to reveal moves and damage values, and subtracted HP until one Pokémon hit zero. Then you moved to the next card.
Tomy released Series 1 in May 1997, with 36 total cards including six holofoils — Charizard and Pikachu among them. Series 2 followed later that year. Both series feature artwork by Ken Sugimori and Mitsuhiro Arita, including the Kangaskhan trophy card art. Packs came with five cards each, sold in retail boxes.
The two series are broadly similar in design but differ in their Pokémon lineup and holo distribution. Holofoil cards can sometimes be duplicated within the same box, which makes chasing specific holos unpredictable. Series 2 packs command higher prices today — sealed Series 1 packs rarely sell under $250, and Series 2 goes higher.
Here's the collecting paradox: since scratching was essential to playing, unscratched cards are extremely rare to find. PSA now designates each graded card as "scratched" or "unscratched," with unscratched examples commanding a significant premium. A scratched Tomy card was used exactly as intended. An unscratched one was never played. The card in its natural final state is, from a collector's standpoint, damaged — a situation no other set in Pokémon history replicates.
Pokémon Kids Mini Cards (1996–1997)
The Forgotten Pokédex
Bandai produced a separate line of miniature cards packaged with small Pokémon finger puppet figures as part of their "Kids" candy toy line. The cards are smaller than standard TCG cards and contain Pokédex-style data — similar informational philosophy to Carddass, but physically paired with a figure.
Because documentation on this set is so sparse, leading grading companies won't officially grade it. It's largely absent from high-end collecting discussions — categorized as a toy accessory rather than a card product. But in terms of intent, it might be the most complete early attempt at a physical Pokédex: you weren't just collecting a card, you were collecting the Pokémon and its data as a single object.
Nissui Battle Seals (1999)
Where the Definitions Break Down
The Nissui products push at the edges of what we even call a "card." Nissui is a Japanese food company that distributed Pokémon-themed seals, technically stickers on thin cardboard, with their products in 1999. They were collected like cards, structured into sets, and designed around battle concepts.
Whether they count depends entirely on your definition. Cardboard backing: yes. Gameplay mechanic: borderline. Collectible lore: absolutely. They sit in a category that resists easy labeling, which is part of why they're rarely discussed alongside the other pre-TCG products. They were also starting to gain traction with graders — CGC Trading Cards began officially grading Sealdass cards, and prices on ones that had been passed on earlier started climbing noticeably.
What Actually Happened
Looking at all of these together, what's striking is how differently each one thought about what a Pokémon card should be. Carddass documented the game world through vending machines. Topsun built a physical Pokédex in gum packs. Meiji added a playable game mechanic to chocolate promotions and reinvented the format every year. Tomy created a fully playable card game that required destroying the cards to use them. The Kids line paired physical figures with informational cards as a single object.
None of them were doing the same thing. They were all exploring different ideas about how to extend the Pokémon world into physical format.
The TCG, when it launched in October 1996, didn't invent Pokémon cards. It standardized them into one format, one coherent system that could scale globally. In doing that, it closed off all the other directions the ecosystem had been moving. What we call "vintage Pokémon cards" today is just the branch of that exploration that survived.