Japanese Base Set

What Japanese Base Set is

Japanese Base Set, sold in Japan as the Expansion Pack, is the first expansion of the Pokémon Card Game, released on October 20, 1996. It has 102 cards: 16 holofoil rares, 16 rares, 32 uncommons, 32 commons and 6 basic Energy cards, based on Pokémon Red, Green and Blue and drawn largely by Ken Sugimori, Keiji Kinebuchi and Mitsuhiro Arita. Its English equivalent, Base Set, followed on January 9, 1999 with the same 102 cards.

The set launched as a Starter Pack deck sold alongside the separately purchasable Expansion Pack boosters. It was promoted through the first Pokémon cards ever given away, a Pikachu and a Jigglypuff promo peeled from CoroCoro magazine five days ahead of the main release and advertised as the start of a collection that the Expansion Pack would continue.

Early Japanese cards carry the Pokémon's National Pokédex number rather than a set number, so Charizard is card 6, Blastoise is 9, Mewtwo is 150 and Chansey is 113, and that is how the cards are tracked here. The 16 holofoils are Alakazam, Blastoise, Chansey, Charizard, Clefairy, Gyarados, Hitmonchan, Machamp, Magneton, Mewtwo, Nidoking, Ninetales, Poliwrath, Raichu, Venusaur and Zapdos.

What makes Japanese Base Set different

• The No Rarity print The first print run carries no rarity symbol in the bottom corner, and these No Rarity cards are tracked separately from the later print. The No Rarity Charizard 6 is the most valuable card in the set by a very wide margin, and No Rarity copies hold fourteen of the top fifteen places.
• Where every Charizard began The Japanese Expansion Pack Charizard 6 is the first print of the Base Set Charizard artwork, more than two years ahead of the English card, and both the No Rarity and the later print rank in the set's top ten.
• Ordered by Pokédex, not rarity The Japanese release orders its cards by type, then by rarity with holofoil and non holofoil rares treated the same, then by National Pokédex number, while the English Base Set orders by card type, rarity and then alphabetically.
• Clefairy and Beedrill near the top The No Rarity Clefairy 35 ranks third in the set in PSA 10 and the No Rarity Beedrill 15, a non holofoil rare, ranks seventh, ahead of the No Rarity Mewtwo 150 and Chansey 113.
• Starter Pack and Gift Pack Alongside the Expansion Pack boosters the set was sold as a Starter Pack deck, and the sealed table above tracks the Starter Deck, the Gift Pack and both the standard and short booster packs.

How Japanese Base Set arrived

The Expansion Pack released in Japan on October 20, 1996, five days after the CoroCoro Pikachu and Jigglypuff promos introduced the game, and it was followed by the Japanese Jungle on March 5, 1997. The English Base Set arrived on January 9, 1999, with the same 102 cards reordered and its own Overgrowth, Zap!, Brushfire and Blackout Theme Decks.

The first Japanese print run was made without rarity symbols, and once the symbols were added the earlier cards became the No Rarity print that collectors now treat as the true first edition of the game. Every later Base Set print in every language traces back to these cards.

The Japanese set is tracked here as its own hub because its No Rarity holofoils are some of the most valuable Japanese cards tracked here and because its numbering, print runs and sealed products differ from the English release.

Japanese Base Set products

The Expansion Pack was sold in booster packs and booster boxes alongside the Starter Pack deck. The sealed table above tracks boxes, both pack sizes, the Starter Deck and the Gift Pack.

Collecting and grading Japanese Base Set

The No Rarity Charizard 6 leads the set in PSA 10 by a very wide margin, with the No Rarity Blastoise 9 second, then the No Rarity Clefairy 35, Alakazam 65, Raichu 25, Venusaur 68, Beedrill 15 and Mewtwo 150, the later print Charizard 6 and the No Rarity Chansey 113. The No Rarity Zapdos 145, Gyarados 130, Nidoking 34, Ninetales 38 and Poliwrath 62 complete the top fifteen. The live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

The 1996 holofoils scratch easily, so PSA 10 copies of the No Rarity holofoils are extremely scarce and the gap between PSA 9 and PSA 10 is very wide. No Rarity and later print copies are graded and priced separately, so check which print a slab holds before comparing it to the chase list.

Sealed Japanese Base Set is very rare, and the sealed table above tracks what boxes, packs and Starter Decks trade for today.