{"id":5894,"date":"2026-07-31T07:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neokyo.com\/blog\/?p=5894"},"modified":"2026-08-03T09:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:35:26","slug":"when-did-pokemon-cards-come-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neokyo.com\/blog\/when-did-pokemon-cards-come-out\/","title":{"rendered":"When Did Pok\u00e9mon Cards Come Out? Japan in 1996, the U.S. in 1999, and What the Dates on Your Cards Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You dug out a stack of old Pok\u00e9mon cards, looked at the fine print along the bottom, and found the year 1995. That number is not the card’s print date. Pok\u00e9mon cards came out in Japan on October 20, 1996<\/strong>, and the first English cards did not reach U.S. shelves until January 1999, so a card marked 1995 was printed years after the date it carries. Below are the dates collectors mix up, which cards are genuinely the oldest, and current graded-market values for cards from 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Date<\/strong><\/td>What happened<\/strong><\/td>Where<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
February 1996<\/td>Pok\u00e9mon Red and Green launch on Game Boy<\/td>Japan<\/td><\/tr>
October 20, 1996<\/td>First Pok\u00e9mon TCG starter pack and expansion pack<\/td>Japan<\/td><\/tr>
September 1998<\/td>Pok\u00e9mon Red and Blue launch on Game Boy<\/td>U.S.<\/td><\/tr>
January 1999<\/td>Base Set, the first English card set<\/td>U.S.<\/td><\/tr>
1995<\/td>A copyright year printed on cards, not a release date<\/td>\u2014<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Pok\u00e9mon Cards Came Out in Japan: October 20, 1996<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Everything else in this article hinges on one date in Japan. Two things are worth pinning down about it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n