Base Set, known in Japan as , is the first set of cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game created by Creatures Inc. It was released in Japan on October 20, 1996, and in the United States on January 9, 1999. It consists of 102 cards; the cards in the set are based on Pokémon species from the first generation of the series.
Like other sets in the series, the game puts two players against each other, and each player aims to defeat their opponent by knocking out the opponent's Pokémon or rendering them unable to continue playing. The Japanese release was published by Media Factory, and Wizards of the Coast handled production in the United States. The set has been featured in multiple versions and reprints, including the Game Boy Color video game Pokémon Trading Card Game and in future sets like XY: Evolutions and Celebrations.
The value of Pokémon cards was initially high before experiencing a market crash a year after its US release. The value of Pokémon cards, especially Base Set, eventually saw a marked increase in the 2020s, with influencer Logan Paul credited as being partly responsible by purchasing and opening Base Set boxes on live stream. Some of the cards have characteristics that have made them more expensive, such as an error in which a drop shadow had been removed. The Base Set contains some of the most valuable Pokémon cards, especially the first edition Charizard and the erroneously printed pre-release Raichu.
Concept
The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a strategy card game where two players compete against each other with a deck of at least 60 cards, each using their Pokémon to knock out their opponent's Pokémon. It features Pokémon species and characters from the first generation of the Pokémon series. These Pokémon cards have a certain amount of Hit Points (HP), as well as attacks and abilities called "Pokémon Powers". Each player must have an active Pokémon, and can have anywhere from zero to five benched Pokémon that can be swapped in if the active Pokémon is knocked out or swapped out. When an opponent's Pokémon's HP is depleted, the player takes from six "prize cards", taken from their deck at the beginning of the game, with the victor being who takes all prize cards first. A player can also lose if, after their active Pokémon is defeated, there are no benched Pokémon to replace it, or if a player's deck is emptied and they fail to draw a card at the beginning of their turn.
A deck consists of multiple types of cards. The first type is the Pokémon card, which can be one of seven elemental types: Colorless, Electric, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Psychic, and Water. Each Pokémon card has a weakness or resistance that affects how much damage is dealt, such as Charmander, who takes more damage from Water Pokémon. The next card type is Trainer cards that can be used to affect the outcome of the battle. The third card type is the Energy card, of which each is associated with one of the six elements and are needed in order for a Pokémon species to use their various techniques. Techniques specify the type of Energy required to use them; a card may show four Fire Energy symbols, meaning that four Fire Energy cards must be attached to that Pokémon card. If a technique shows the Colorless energy symbol, any type of Energy card can be used to cover the cost. Some attacks may also use a mixture of Colorless and another Energy type. Energy can also be discarded from a Pokémon card to allow the Pokémon to be swapped with a benched Pokémon. Each Pokémon card is either a Basic or an Evolution card. Basic Pokémon can be put into play without any complication, while Evolution cards need to be played on top of another specific card. Some Evolution cards can be played on other Evolution cards. A Pokémon cannot be evolved into the next stage on the same turn that the previous stage was put into play.
At the start of a match, a coin is flipped to determine who goes first. Once both players have placed an active Basic Pokémon into play from their hand and picked how many, if any, will be benched, the top six cards of their deck will be put into the players' respective prize card pools face down. Some Pokémon attacks have custom rules to determine what they do and how effective they are; for example, some cards do a certain amount of damage multiplied by however many Energy cards are attached. while others may inflict status effects, such as poisoning, which causes a Pokémon card to sustain a certain amount of damage on the opponent's turn. In addition to these techniques, some Pokémon have Pokémon Powers that can affect play.
The Base Set expansion was accompanied by five pre-made card sets. Each of these sets come with at least 60 cards.
Set name Type focus2-Player Starter SetFighting and FireBlackoutWater and FightingBrushfireFire and GrassOvergrowthWater and GrassZap!Electric and Psychic
While the other four sets have 60 cards, the 2-Player Starter Set consists of 61 cards: two 30-card decks, each themed around a type, and an additional holofoil Machamp card.
Development and release
Development of the Pokémon Trading Card game was handled in Japan by Creatures Inc. The backgrounds of Base Set cards utilizes either real photos, 3D graphics, and hand-drawn art, many of which were sourced from a collection of stock images called Datacraft Sozaijiten. It was first released in Japan on October 20 1996, published by Media Factory. In Japan, the packs feature art drawn by Mitsuhiro Arita, while the English release has three possible packs, each depicting either Venusaur, Charizard, or Blastoise. In the first printing, cards have an "Edition 1" stamp denoting that it is a First Edition card. Another printing, called the Unlimited printing, was later released, and the first print had error cards called "Shadowless cards", as cards lacked a drop shadow on the bottom and right border of the Pokémon's frame. Later Unlimited releases fixed this error.
Prior to the Base Set's English release on January 9, 1999, Wizards of the Coast released a set of cards called "1998 Pokémon Demo Game Plastic Pack". As part of the development of the set, Wizards of the Coast created a pre-release test card depicting the Pokémon Raichu that has PRERELEASE stamped with green text. Despite not being intended to be included, anywhere from eight to eleven Raichu cards were discovered to have appeared with this stamp on them during a printing of pre-release Clefable cards in the subsequent Jungle expansion. These error cards were taken by employees; their existence was denied until 2006, when an employee confirmed they existed. Another early error saw a limited number of cards printed with the back art of a Magic: The Gathering card instead of the normal back art.
The Base Set expansion has been featured in multiple video games. A PC game titled 2-Player CD-ROM Starter Set was released featuring cards from the Base Set, as well as a physical Machamp card. The Game Boy Color video game Pokémon Trading Card Game also features cards from the Base Set, among others. The computer software Apprentice, which was designed for playing Magic: The Gathering on the Internet, was modified by Pokémon fans to be capable of playing Base Set and other Pokémon Trading Card Game sets released at the time. A 6x8" Pikachu card was included in Top Deck magazine. Wizards of the Coast followed Base Set with another expansion called Jungle on June 16, 1999.
List of cards Base Set contains a total of 102 cards; of these, 69 are based on Pokémon species, 16 of which can be holofoil (all of which are also rare). The remaining 33 cards include Trainer and Energy cards. Of these, the art is either done by Ken Sugimori, Mitsuhiro Arita, Keiji Kinebuchi, or Tomoaki Imakuni.
Card nameElement Rarity ArtistAlakazamPsychicHolofoilKen SugimoriBlastoiseWaterHolofoilKen SugimoriChanseyNormalHolofoilKen SugimoriCharizardFireHolofoilMitsuhiro AritaClefairyNormalHolofoilKen SugimoriGyaradosWaterHolofoilMitsuhiro AritaHitmonchanFightingHolofoilKen SugimoriMachampFightingHolofoilKen SugimoriMagnetonElectricHolofoilKeiji KinebuchiMewtwoPsychicHolofoilKen SugimoriNidokingPsychicHolofoilKen SugimoriNinetalesFireHolofoilKen SugimoriPoliwrathWaterHolofoilKen SugimoriRaichuElectricHolofoilKen SugimoriVenusaurGrassHolofoilMitsuhiro AritaZapdosElectricHolofoilKen SugimoriBeedrillGrassRareKen SugimoriDragonairNormalRareMitsuhiro AritaDugtrioFightingRareKeiji KinebuchiElectabuzzElectricRareKen SugimoriElectrodeElectricRareKeiji KinebuchiPidgeottoNormalRareKen SugimoriArcanineFireUncommonKen SugimoriCharmeleonFireUncommonMitsuhiro AritaDewgongWaterUncommonMitsuhiro AritaDratiniNormalUncommonKen SugimoriFarfetch'dNormalUncommonKen SugimoriGrowlitheFireUncommonKen SugimoriHaunterPsychicUncommonKeiji KinebuchiIvysaurGrassUncommonKen SugimoriJynxPsychicUncommonKen SugimoriKadabraPsychicUncommonKen SugimoriKakunaGrassUncommonKeiji KinebuchiMachokeFightingUncommonKen SugimoriMagikarpWaterUncommonMitsuhiro AritaMagmarFireUncommonKen SugimoriNidorinoGrassUncommonMitsuhiro AritaPoliwhirlWaterUncommonKen SugimoriPorygonNormalUncommonTomoaki ImakuniRaticateNormalUncommonKen SugimoriSeelWaterUncommonKen SugimoriWartortleWaterUncommonKen SugimoriAbraPsychicCommonMitsuhiro AritaBulbasaurGrassCommonMitsuhiro AritaCaterpieGrassCommonKen SugimoriCharmanderFireCommonMitsuhiro AritaDiglettFightingCommonKeiji KinebuchiDoduoNormalCommonMitsuhiro AritaDrowzeePsychicCommonKen SugimoriGastlyPsychicCommonKeiji KinebuchiKoffingGrassCommonMitsuhiro AritaMachopFightingCommonMitsuhiro AritaMagnemiteElectricCommonKeiji KinebuchiMetapodGrassCommonKen SugimoriNidoran♂GrassCommonKen SugimoriOnixFightingCommonKen SugimoriPidgeyNormalCommonKen SugimoriPikachuElectricCommonMitsuhiro AritaPoliwagWaterCommonKen SugimoriPonytaFireCommonKen SugimoriRattataNormalCommonMitsuhiro AritaSandshrewFightingCommonKen SugimoriSquirtleWaterCommonMitsuhiro AritaStarmieWaterCommonKeiji KinebuchiStaryuWaterCommonKeiji KinebuchiTangelaGrassCommonMitsuhiro AritaVoltorbElectricCommonKeiji KinebuchiVulpixFireCommonKen SugimoriWeedleGrassCommonMitsuhiro AritaClefairy DollTrainer CardRareKeiji KinebuchiComputer SearchTrainer CardRareKeiji KinebuchiDevolution SprayTrainer CardRareKeiji KinebuchiImposter Professor OakTrainer CardRareKen SugimoriItem FinderTrainer CardRareKeiji KinebuchiLassTrainer CardRareKen SugimoriPokémon BreederTrainer CardRareKen SugimoriPokémon TraderTrainer CardRareKen SugimoriScoop UpTrainer CardRareKeiji KinebuchiSuper Energy RemovalTrainer CardRareKeiji KinebuchiDefenderTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiEnergy RetrievalTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiFull HealTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiMaintenanceTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiPlusPowerTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiPokémon CenterTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiPokémon FluteTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiPokédexTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiProfessor OakTrainer CardUncommonKen SugimoriReviveTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiSuper PotionTrainer CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiBillTrainer CardCommonKen SugimoriEnergy RemovalTrainer CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiGust of WindTrainer CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiPotionTrainer CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiSwitchTrainer CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiDouble Colorless EnergyEnergy CardUncommonKeiji KinebuchiFighting EnergyEnergy CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiFire EnergyEnergy CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiGrass EnergyEnergy CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiLightning EnergyEnergy CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiPsychic EnergyEnergy CardCommonKeiji KinebuchiWater EnergyEnergy CardCommonKeiji Kinebuchi
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