All 6 Variants of The Ancient Mew Card Explained
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By: Oliver Copeland
- Published:
- Last Updated: April 12, 2024
Yes, There Are 6 Different Variants
The Ancient Mew card was first released in Japan, in 1999. It’s the only card like it, featuring a unique design, front and back. But there are actually 6 different variants of the card, due to multiple releases in different regions, and events, and one variant is even due to an error.
Let’s take an in-depth look at all of the Ancient Mew cards, and you can learn how to tell the difference!
1999 – Ancient Mew I (Error)
Although released at the same time, most people refer to the glitter foil Ancient Mew as Ancient Mew I.
This was available upon purchasing a ticket for the Revelation of Lugia film in Japan, in 1999.
This card famously has a typo in the copyright, located at the bottom of the card. Nintendo is misspelled as ‘Nintedo’. It is the most sought after by collectors since the error is considered desirable.
It’s worth noting that the language on the Ancient Mew card is not made up. It’s a mix of Futhark Runic and Gothenburg Runic.
1999 – Ancient Mew II
Ancient Mew II was also available at the theatrical release of Revelation of Lugia in Japan, in 1999. The difference with this card is that the foil pattern is the classic Cosmos pattern we see in most early Japanese cards.
This card was also available in the same pamphlet but does not have the error in the copyright.
1999 – Ancient Mew I (Corrected)
This card is identical to the Ancient Mew I, but now has the ‘Nintedo’ error corrected to ‘Nintendo’.
This card is the hardest to find as it was printed in smaller numbers. The error version tends to get more attention, but the corrected version sometimes sells for more than any other variant.
2000 – Ancient Mew International
This is the Ancient Mew card you most likely had as you were growing up.
In North America, the Revelation of Lugia film was renamed to Pokémon 2000: The Power of One. But thankfully, we still got the Ancient Mew promotional card.
However, it was not available in a pamphlet. Instead, it came in a cellophane wrapper with an insert card.
2019 – Ancient Mew
In 2019, Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back was remade and re-released. In Japan, they rereleased the Ancient Mew card as well. They even made a new pamphlet, similar to the old one.
This card is almost identical to the original Ancient Mew I from 1999 but has a 2019 copyright date.
This time they only released the Glitter foil variant, and no Cosmos variant was re-released.
2020 – Ancient Mew
The Korean version of the Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back film was delayed, and as a result, did not release until 2020 in Korea. This means that we have another variant.
Again, it is identical in almost every way, but the copyright date now says 2020, instead of 2019.
This card did not come in a pamphlet, but instead, a cellophane wrapper, much like the international release of the original card.
The Reverse Side
The back of the Ancient Mew card is identical across all variants, regardless of the holofoil pattern or release date.
It is also the only card in Pokémon TCG history to have a backside such as this one, and one of two cards in Pokémon TCG history to have a foil back. (The other being the Imakuni Trade Please! promo from Japan).
Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading my write-up on the Ancient Mew card.
This card is historical in the Pokémon TCG and a nostalgia trip for most of us! I love creating articles like these, so if you want to support me, check out my YouTube channel or visit some other articles on the site!
Hi, I'm Oliver. I've been collecting Pokémon cards for 25+ years. I hope you enjoyed your read and learned something. Learn more about me on the About page.
6 thoughts on “All 6 Variants of The Ancient Mew Card Explained”
Hello there!
I have a question;
I found a Ancient Mew card enclosed in one of those plastic hard cases in a moving crate I just unpacked from my childhood home. It has to be an international version, am from Sweden, but it seems to have characteristics from both the international and original print.
It has speck pattern with the items on each side of mew instead of space, but viewed at an angle it also has the computer-like markings on the frame present on the cosmic pattern later print. It has the international “1995, 96, 98, 99 Nintendo Creatures, GAMEFREAK. (c) 1999-2000 Wizards” stamp.
While viewed at the angle where the international cosmic frame is visible, there are also traces of the “planets” or dots from the cosmic version. It’s as if the original ancient mew with speck print and items has been blended with the cosmic one. It is lighter in colour like the speck version too.
Any thoughts as to what version this is?
It looks more like the 2020 reissue to be honest.
Does the international card have the items on each side of mew at a certain angle? On the left there’s a “T” shape inside of a bubble for example. Present on my card.
I’m confused.
Thanks,
Karl
Hey Karl, thanks for the question. And I apologize for my late response. I’d like to see some high res images or even a video of your card. Can you email me? Alternatively, you can join my Discord server and post in there, we’d love to determine exactly which card you have!
I potentially have the same card perhaps ?
The German version of these cards is somewhat weird / filled with mistakes.
1. There is a question mark in the heading of the insert card. None of the other versions have a question (I checked UK, US, French and Italian)
2. There is a typo in the heading: the letter ‘t’ is missing (‘Urzeiliche Mew’ instead of ‘Urzeitliche Mew’). (Also, leaving out any definite/indefinite article sounds weird to me, but that’s debatable, I guess.)
3. In German, nouns have genders and adjectives are formed accordingly. The heading ‘Urzeitliche Mew’ implies that ‘Mew’ is either feminine or neuter. In the text below, however, it says ‘[…] Urzeitlicher Mew-Spielunterlage’ implying ‘Mew’ is masculine.
1999 – Ancient Mew I (Corrected)
I have two of these still in the wrapper and framed. Are these valuable?
The Ancient Mew I (Corrected) are very valuable, yes!