Japanese Neo Genesis

What Japanese Neo Genesis is

Japanese Neo Genesis, released in Japan as Gold, Silver, to a New World... on February 4, 2000, is the first expansion of the Pokémon Card Game neo Era and the first set to feature Generation II Pokémon. It has 96 cards: 16 holofoil rares, 16 rares, 32 uncommons and 32 commons. Its English equivalent, Neo Genesis, followed on December 16, 2000 with 111 cards, and every other language edition arrived in February 2001.

The set introduced the Darkness and Metal types with Darkness Energy and Metal Energy, the Baby Pokémon stage with Pichu, Cleffa, Elekid and Magby, and the Pokémon Tool subclass of Trainer cards that attach permanently to a Pokémon, a nod to the held items of Pokémon Gold and Silver. It also introduced an updated card design: a circular Evolution box, HP in black text instead of red, the Evolution Stage shown below the HP and a background graphic behind Weakness and Resistance.

Japanese neo Era cards carry the Pokémon's National Pokédex number rather than a set number, so Lugia is card 249, Pichu is 172 and Pikachu is 25, and that is how the cards are tracked here. The 16 holofoil rares are Ampharos, Azumarill, Bellossom, Feraligatr, Heracross, Jumpluff, Kingdra, Lugia, Meganium, Pichu, Skarmory, Slowking, Steelix, Togetic, Typhlosion and Metal Energy.

What makes Japanese Neo Genesis different

• The original Lugia Lugia 249 is the first print of the Neo Genesis Lugia, one of the most famous holofoils of the neo Era, and it is the most valuable card in the set by a wide margin in PSA 10.
• Pichu and Pikachu Pichu 172 and Pikachu 25 rank second and third in the set in PSA 10, with the Pichu holofoil ahead of the Pikachu common, and the Pichu exists in first print and corrected forms that are tracked separately.
• Corrected prints Several cards were reprinted with corrections: Typhlosion 157 had Flame Burst's damage corrected to 60+, Pichu 172 changed its wording from electrical to electric shock, Donphan had Flail's damage corrected to 10x, Quilava's Char text was reset to four lines and Darkness Energy's 10 damage counters became 1 damage counter.
• The Moo-Moo Milk that changed The Japanese Moo-Moo Milk shows a Sentret suckling from a Miltank, an illustration judged inappropriate for the English audience and replaced in the English print with cans of Moomoo Milk in a barn beside a Cleffa.
• Commons that grade Slowpoke 79, Togepi 175 and Clefairy 35 are low rarity cards that rank among the set's top fifteen in PSA 10, well ahead of most of the holofoil rares.

How Japanese Neo Genesis arrived

Gold, Silver, to a New World... released in Japan on February 4, 2000, following Southern Islands on July 17, 1999 and the Challenge from the Darkness Team Rocket set, and it was followed by Crossing the Ruins..., the Japanese Neo Discovery, on July 7, 2000. It opened the neo Era alongside the Pokémon Gold and Silver games, with the new Johto Pokémon, the two new types and the Baby Pokémon arriving together.

The English Neo Genesis followed on December 16, 2000, ten months later, with 111 cards that included second versions of Feraligatr, Meganium and Typhlosion and its own Hotfoot and Cold Fusion Theme Decks. Jumbo Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile cards were later issued in First Partner Packs.

The Japanese set is tracked here as its own hub because its Lugia, Pichu and Pikachu trade as the original prints of cards the English set made famous, and because its corrected reprints form their own collectible variants.

Japanese Neo Genesis products

Gold, Silver, to a New World... was sold in booster packs and booster boxes. The sealed table above tracks both and the 9-Card Set With Binder.

Collecting and grading Japanese Neo Genesis

Lugia 249 leads the set in PSA 10 by a wide margin, with Pichu 172 and Pikachu 25 behind it, then the corrected damage Typhlosion 157, Slowking 199, the corrected Pichu 172, the first print Typhlosion 157, Slowpoke 79, Togepi 175 and Togetic 176. Meganium 154, Clefairy 35, Azumarill 184, Steelix 208 and Feraligatr 160 complete the top fifteen. The live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

Japanese neo Era holofoils are prone to surface scratches and print lines, so PSA 10 copies of Lugia 249 are scarce and the gap between PSA 9 and PSA 10 is very wide. The corrected and uncorrected prints of Typhlosion and Pichu are graded and priced separately.

Sealed Japanese Neo Genesis is rare, and the sealed table above tracks what boxes and packs trade for today.