Pokemon Trading Card Game

Pokemon Trading Card Game is a Trading Card Game based on Pokemon.  It was first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan and by Wizards of the Coast in December 1998 other regions. In June 2003, Nintendo took back the publishing rights from both Media Factory and Wizards of the Coast to The Pokémon Company.

The Japanese TCG cards have a different back from the international releases. Though notably there was a change in the back designs of the Japanese TCGs in December 2001.

The left being the current backs of the cards and the right being the card back from 1996 – 2001

This video walks through the history of some of the card backs of the Pokemon TCG cards throughout its history.

The pre-2003 era of Pokemon Cards are amongst the most iconic and nostalgic with some of the cards from these sets having some of the most memorable and collectible cards.

First edition shadowless Charizard Pokemon Card. The holy grail of Pokemon Cards.

If you played the game, here’s a great site that has kept track of all of the meta game during that period.

Additionally Helix Chamber has a great site with some Coro Coro scans that show some of the early beta designs of the Pokemon TCG cards as well.

If you’re craving the feeling of opening a pack, there’s also this great online simulator that continues to update cards from the latest sets to give you a virtual feel of what it is like cracking a pack again.