After what seems like an eternity since I first stumbled across this thread, I recently visited my parents' house and brought back my Pokemon card collection. It's spread across a big lever arch file (so full it can't shut properly) sorted by Pokedex order and then several small boxes for energy and trainer cards. I've ordered loads of new Ultra Pro Platinum binder wallets and later this month will start reorganising everything by individual set. I'm also planning a spreadsheet so I can actually track what I have.
However, I've first gone through and made mental notes of the exact cards I had. The vast majority of my cards are easily identifiable and classifiable by individual set, but I've picked out the following Japanese cards that I can't seem to categorise.
Given the language barrier and the fact that most lack set symbols, I can't even name each of these cards. However, many (possibly all) appear to be promo cards. For example, I can identify the original Japanese versions of
Arcanine #6 and
Cool Porygon. Some of the later cards also appear to have corporate logos (McDonald's and Meiji Chocolate), suggesting they were part of sort sort of cross-promotion.
However, confusingly one of the cards also appears to be
Super Energy Retrieval (and shares the Neo Genesis artwork), but has a glossy finish and lacks a set symbol so I'm guessing it was an earlier special release. Additionally, some of the cards have set symbols (such as what I presume is Rocket's Meowth), but I can't find them on online lists of the given set - so I'm guessing they are also promo cards, albeit ones tied to wider sets.
I appreciate that some of these cards are outside the 1999-2003 time period strictly covered by this thread, but I would be really grateful if any of the experts in this thread could elaborate on these cards and explain if any are particularly rare.
Good morning my friend. Thank you for your patience while I took the time to get back to you. I will help you here as much as I can and also see if I can direct you to resources to help yourself going forward. These are confusing cards! But I can help you right up until Cleffa., the second to last page.
In summary, these cards are all "Unnumbered Promotional Cards", which is a huge category spanning many, many cards during this time period. These cards have little relationship to one another beyond being promo cards and the majority of them were never released in English. But this can also make it hard to identify what exactly you're looking at,
so let met start with this link.
This is as complete of a resource you will find in English for Japanese promos. While the timeline is really accurate, lots of these cards have variants distributed through alternate/multiple methods and sometimes the card is slightly different and sometimes the card is exactly the same. Let's look at this card for example,
Cool Porygon.
From the list view, you can see this card was distributed from the "Nintendo 64 Double Get Campaign (December 10, 1997-January 31, 1998" - a promotion that distributed this card along with Hungry Snorlax. You have both of these cards in your binder and both of these cards are listed as 1997 promos in the list. But when you go to the actual page for Cool Porygon, you'll notice this is the catch-all page for this card and focuses on the English card first and foremost.
When you scroll down, you will see a summary of its release information. This card reads:
This card was as a
Wizards Black Star Promo released as part of a
Nintendo 64 bundle package with
Pokémon Stadium. In Japan, it was first available as an
Unnumbered Promotional card as part of the Nintendo 64 Double Get Campaign. Between December 10, 1997 and January 31, 1998, customers at participating stores who purchased a Nintendo 64 were given a booklet containing Cool Porygon,
Hungry Snorlax, and a set of two Food counters for use with Hungry Snorlax's attacks. Customers were also given a copy of
Singing Pokémon Encyclopedia. Later Japanese versions were reprinted as one of a selection of cards included in the
Pokémon Song Best Collection CD, released on January 1, 1999. Later English versions were available through the
Pokémon League in 2000.
We can ignore the English release because it's not meaningful to us, but we can see this was distributed twice in Japan - once through the aforementioned Nintendo 64 promotion and then once again as part of the Best Song Collection. One of these releases would be much rarer than the other, so the question is whether or not these two releases are different in any way.
This is where it's going to get difficult. For some cards the answer is yes. For some cards the answer is no. For Cool Porygon and Hungry Snorlax, to my knowledge, the cards are identical with no differences between them whatsoever. So whether you got it through the rare and limited Nintendo 64 promotion or the Best Song CD at retail doesn't matter because they were exactly the same card.
Let's look at another card in your collection, and one you specifically called out:
Super Energy Retrieval. Let's look at the release information:
In Japan, this card was first available as an
Unnumbered Promotional card on a two-card insert alongside
Mewtwo in the
Pocket Monsters Fan Book, released on May 20, 1997. A mail-in prize draw offering another copy was published in the December 1998 issue of
Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special, released in late October 1998. People wishing to enter the prize draw were required to affix the application ticket on the bottom left of the article page to a postcard and send it to
Shogakukan. Two thousand winners were sent a set of five mounted cards on two plain sheets:
Imakuni? and Super Energy Retrieval on one;
Computer Error,
Lt. Surge's Electabuzz, and
Erika's Dratini on the other.
It was later reprinted as one of a selection of cards included in the
Pokémon Song Best Collection CD, released on January 1, 1999. It was printed outside of Japan in the
Neo Genesis expansion. The Japanese
Gold, Silver, to a New World... print was updated to include "basic Energy cards" in the card effect, as
Special Energy cards had yet to appear in the TCG at the time of its original print. This change was included in the wording for the English version.
Once again we have a card that was distributed two ways - once through a mail in promotion and once through the same CD collection as before. But unlike Cool Porygon and Hungry Snorlax, these cards are not the same. One of them is glossy and one of them is not. Super Energy Retrieval appears twice in the list view, one denoted glossy and one not denoted at all, which is how you know they were different cards tied to each distribution method. But neither are specified in the actual article. This is why you have to use the list, the article, and your own cards as a comparison to figure out what one you have. Your glossy card was distributed through the CD Collection.
The last thing relates to set symbols. In English, promos were denoted with a special "Black Star" set symbol to let you know they were promos. But in Japan, many of them use the same set symbol as the set they were promoting. This is why you have a lot of cards which have Neo Genesis set symbols.
I am going to list what each of your promos are for you so you can, at least, know what you have:
- Arcanine - Distributed once through a Toyota Promotion and once in the Best Song CD Collection. To my knoweldge, the cards are identical.
- Dragonite ("Game Boy Dragonite") - Distributed in Japanese boxes of the Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color.
- Cool Porygon - Distributed through the Nintendo 64 campaign and the Best Song Collection alongside Hungry Snorlax.
- Hungry Snorlax - Distributed through the Nintendo 64 campaign and the Best Song Collection alongside Cool Porygon.
- 20 Damage From Confusion - Distributed as part of the Vending Series 3 promos.
- Imakuni? - Distributed through CoroCoro Comic.
- Surfing Pikachu - Distributed once through a railway stamp rally and once through Coro Coro. The stamp rally version is standard card stock, the CoroCoro version is on glossy card stock.
- Flying Pikachu - This is the first version of this card, which saw multiple variants. Note the lack of an airplane in the background. This means the card is from CoroCoro. Later versions of the card feature an airplane.
- Flying Pikachu - This is the final version of this card, which saw multiple variants. I tend to think of this one as "Flying Pikachu 2" to distinguish from the first version and its multiple variants. This card was distributed through the "Everyone's Happy" campaign for Nippon Airlines.
- Meowth - One of my favorite cards of all time. Distributed through CoroCoro.
- Misty's Tentacool - Distributed through CoroCoro.
- Brock's Mankey - Distributed through CoroCoro.
- Super Energy Retrieval - We spoke about this one earlier, but this is the version from the CD Collection, which is distinct.
- Pichu - From the Neo Premium File #2, a collection of 9 cards available at retail.
- Lucky Stadium - One of many, many cards which bear this name. This is specifically the Kanto variant of the card featuring Lugia.
- Marill - Distributed through CoroCoro.
- Wooper - Distributed through CoroCoro.
- Cleffa - Distributed through CoroCoro.
So now the question is what these cards are worth and that's hard to pin down. Japanese cards have a smaller collector base in the US, but they're also a lot harder to find and identify. Many have no English counterparts so they are popular add-ons for collectors looking for something unique. I am not an expert in the market for these cards because I am only just getting in to it, but generally CoroCoro promos tend to be $10-$20, those holo promos are $30-$40, and everything else is probably in between.
These are really cool cards and it's awesome you have so many of them. I wish I could give you more advice on how to sell them, but I'm a novice with Japanese cards and their market. Unfortunately I can't help very much on the last page because they're out of my scope. I will help as much as I can though.
