Japanese versions of Pokemon cards? |
When I first saw the Japanese version of the Pokemon cards, I thought They were beautiful, even though I can’t read or speak Japanese. The game originated in Japan, and is strongly tied to the cartoon; Wizards of the Coast adapted the cards and game for the American audience. Here is an example of the Drowzee card:
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Both the American and Japanese versions have special rare cards; but the Japanese version
is foil-backed, rather than holographic, and slightly less rare than the American ration
of 1/33. Also, there are a lot of Pokemon in the Japanese version that aren’t in the
American version yet, like Eevee and Flareon, and the Gym version of Flareon.
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The Gym cards have Pokemon with improved hit points and power points. The Gym series has several pre-constructed decks, which are based on the Gym leaders that Ash battles in the Pokemon cartoon: Brock (ground), Mysti (water), Erica (grass), Lt. Serge (electric), and Blaine (fire). Each deck has 64 cards, and there is a different coin in each package-- the Blaine deck has the Arcanine coin, while all the American decks so far have Chansey.
In addition to extra Pokemon, the Japanese version of the game has more types of boosters. The boosters include: starter (red), Jungle (green), Secret of the Fossil (brown), Team Rocket (has pictures of Jessie, James and Meowth on it), and the special Gym- boosters (with pictures of Brock, Mysti, Erica and Serge on them). However the number of cards in each deck is less, 10 cards as compared to 11 in the American version.
I don't know exactly how many cards there are compared with the American version, nor do I know what the differences are in the Trainer cards; I also don't know what cards are rare, other than the foils.
I'd love to get some more information about the Japanese cards.
- Rache