When Did Japanese Pokémon Card Backs Change?
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By: Oliver Copeland
- Published:
- Last Updated: January 11, 2024
Do you know the secrets of Japanese Pokémon card design?
Pokémania swept North America in 1999, but Pokémon had already rooted itself into pop culture in Japan, in 1996. Upon receiving your first Japanese card, you probably noticed that the back of the card’s design was different! Instead of ‘Pokémon’, the card read ‘Pocket Monster Card Game’. But did you know that the English cards influenced the Japanese cards’ design to change?
In 2001, Japanese Pokémon cards underwent a redesign. This included the face of the card as well as the back. These are referred to as “new backs” while cards pre-2001 have “old-backs”.
Original design
Japanese Pokémon cards were first released in 1996 and featured the original design on the reverse of the card, which we now call “old-backs”. The back of the card read, “Pocket Monster Card Game”. There is copyright information below the illustration.
Interestingly, the artwork in this design shows the top (or red) portion of the Pokéball separating from the rest of the Pokéball, including both the bottom half and the button.
New design
In December 2001, the Base Expansion Pack was released in Japan. In North America, this set was renamed Expedition Base Set or just ‘Expedition’ for short.
This new expansion to the TCG came with a full card redesign. This was the beginning of the e-Card series, where the cards could be swiped through an e-Reader Gameboy Advance attachment to play in-game. The cards now featured an e-Strip down the left side and bottom of the face of the card.
This is when the back of the card was also redesigned for the Japanese version.
The new back design now read “Pokémon” just like its North American counterpart, and no longer had copyright info along the bottom of the card. The new design was also reworked to be much more colorful and eye-catching, not unlike its English cousin. This is the card design that we still see today.
They also changed the way the Pokéball opened. The button was now attached to the top part of the Pokéball. Curiously, they chose to illustrate the Pokéball opening differently than the English version.
North American backs
The backs of North American Pokémon cards have remained the exact same since they were released in 1999. Just like the Japanese redesign, they have a Pokéball in the middle and the word “Pokémon” both above and below the card.
Final thoughts
Card design is cool and keeps the TCG looking fresh. However, the back of the card rarely changes in most TCGs, as this could render the card illegal in a tournament. However, the old-back Japanese Pokémon cards were almost immediately out-of-date and boring to kids in the 90s and required a change-up (not to mention the whole Pokéball thing). Will we see another redesign in the future? Probably not.
