Japanese Team Rocket

What Japanese Team Rocket is

Japanese Team Rocket, released in Japan as Rocket Gang on November 21, 1997, is the fourth expansion of the Pokémon Card Game. It has 65 cards: 16 holofoil rares, 16 uncommons, 32 commons and one Secret card, based on Pokémon Red, Green and Blue and built around Team Rocket and the Pokémon it mistreats. Its English equivalent, Team Rocket, followed on April 24, 2000 with 83 cards, and every other language edition arrived in July 2000.

The set introduced Dark Pokémon, cards with a brown and black artwork window, Evolution box and Pokédex box, higher attack damage and lower HP than their normal counterparts. Some of the Dark evolutions show Ken Sugimori's Red and Blue artwork of their previous stage instead of the usual Red and Green art. Rocket Gang also introduced the Secret card, a card numbered beyond the printed size of the set and carrying the Super Rare rarity in Japan, and it brought the first holofoil Trainer and Energy cards in Rocket's Sneak Attack and Rainbow Energy.

Early Japanese cards carry the Pokémon's National Pokédex number rather than a set number, so Dark Charizard is card 6, Dark Dragonite is 149 and Dark Blastoise is 9, and that is how the cards are tracked here. The 14 Dark holofoils are Dark Alakazam, Dark Arbok, Dark Blastoise, Dark Charizard, Dark Dragonite, Dark Dugtrio, Dark Golbat, Dark Gyarados, Dark Hypno, Dark Machamp, Dark Magneton, Dark Slowbro, Dark Vileplume and Dark Weezing.

What makes Japanese Team Rocket different

• The first Dark Pokémon Rocket Gang introduced Dark Pokémon, the mistreated Pokémon of Team Rocket, with their brown and black card frames and their trade of HP for attack power, and 14 of the set's 16 holofoils are Dark Pokémon.
• The first secret card Here Comes Team Rocket! is the first Secret card in the game, numbered beyond the set's printed size and given the Super Rare rarity in Japan, while the English Team Rocket added Dark Raichu as its own secret card instead.
• Dark Charizard and Dark Dragonite Dark Charizard 6 is the most valuable card in the set in PSA 10, with Dark Dragonite 149 second and Dark Blastoise 9 third, the same three cards that lead the English set.
• Holofoil Trainers and Energy Rocket's Sneak Attack and Rainbow Energy were the first Trainer and Energy cards printed as holofoils, and they complete the set's 16 holofoil rares alongside the 14 Dark Pokémon.
• Grimer, Eevee and Psyduck Grimer 88, Eevee 133 and Psyduck 54 are commons that rank among the set's top fifteen cards in PSA 10, ahead of half the Dark holofoils, and Grimer 88 sits fifth in the whole set.

How Japanese Team Rocket arrived

Rocket Gang released in Japan on November 21, 1997, five months after Mystery of the Fossils on June 21, 1997, and it was followed by the Japanese CD Promo cards on January 28, 1998 and then by Leaders' Stadium, the first of the Gym sets. It was the fourth expansion of the game and the first built around Team Rocket.

The English Team Rocket followed on April 24, 2000 with 83 cards, adding non holofoil versions of the Dark rares and the Dark Raichu secret card, and it was the first English set not packaged in cardboard backed blister packs.

The Japanese set is tracked here as its own hub because its Dark holofoils are the first prints of the Dark Pokémon artwork and because its secret card differs from the English one.

Japanese Team Rocket products

Rocket Gang was sold in booster packs and booster boxes. The sealed table above tracks both and the Gift Pack.

Collecting and grading Japanese Team Rocket

Dark Charizard 6 leads the set in PSA 10, with Dark Dragonite 149, Dark Blastoise 9 and Dark Gyarados 130 behind it, then Grimer 88, Dark Slowbro 80, Dark Alakazam 65, Dark Vaporeon 134, Eevee 133 and Dark Dugtrio 51. Psyduck 54, Dark Jolteon 135, Dark Machamp 68, Dark Flareon 136 and Dark Vileplume 45 complete the top fifteen. The live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

The 1997 holofoils scratch easily, so PSA 10 copies of Dark Charizard 6 and Dark Dragonite 149 are scarce and the gap between PSA 9 and PSA 10 is very wide across the top of the set. The commons grade far above their raw prices for the same reasons.

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