Pokémon TCG Almanac · 1999
1999 is the first year the cards shipped in two editions. This page covers what Japan got — Challenge from the Darkness and Southern Islands, 116 cards. What Wizards of the Coast released overseas the same year was a different set of products entirely: Base Set, Jungle and Fossil, 228 cards, with card lists that do not match Japan's. Those have their own yearbook, the 1999 English edition.
98 cards of Challenge from the Darkness and 18 of Southern Islands — 116 cards in two products.
In Japan the Gym line closed in June 1999 with Challenge from the Darkness, adding Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni and finishing the original-series run that began in 1996. July brought Southern Islands, eighteen cards tied to that summer's film.
The same year, overseas, Base Set arrived in January, Jungle in June and Fossil in October — the English market was replaying Japan's 1996 output 27 months later. That gap is the story of 1999.
Each entry shows the card face on the left and name, HP, type, stage, artist and attacks on the right. The pack-details block below each set carries the original price, pack spread and publisher.
Card faces are scans of the international print (Gym Challenge / Southern Islands), since no public scans of the Japanese originals exist. The eighteen Southern Islands cards are the 2001 international scans — same artwork, but the card frame is not the 1999 Japanese one.
This page documents 116 main-series cards across two products on two release dates in 1999. It covers cards printed in Japan only; printings for other editions are tracked separately.
| Publication edition | Japanese edition |
|---|---|
| Products | 2 |
| Cards | 116 |
| Release dates | 2 (1999-06-25 – 1999-07-17) |
| Series codes | PMCG6, si1 |
| Card faces on record | 114 of 116 |
| Latest release on record | 1999-07-17 |
6th expansion · Challenge from the Darkness (1999-06-25, 98 cards) · Southern Islands (1999-07-17, 18 cards).
How many main-series cards does this page record for 1999?116 cards across two products, an average of 58.0 cards per product. This is the main-series archive count, not a claim that every promo and event card from the year is itemised here.
What release dates does this page cover?2 release dates, from 1999-06-25 to 1999-07-17.
Do these Japanese cards have English-edition counterparts?114 of 116 cards (98.3%) carry a mapping to an English-edition card; the remaining 2 are Japanese-only printings or not yet paired.
How many of these 116 cards are shown with a card face?114 of 116 cards have a card face on record; the other 2 are listed without one rather than showing a card face from a different printing.
The English Base Set goes on sale in North America, two years and three months after Japan's first expansion. Many shops held back at first, judging it too childish, so the wide rollout only came in March or April.
The March issue of CoroCoro. The insert run that started in 1998 kept going — through 1999 a card came with a magazine almost every month.
The Masaki trade-evolution campaign closes. Mail Bill's PC (the pass card from Expansion Sheet 3) together with a specified Pokémon, and Media Factory mailed back the evolved holofoil. Five cards in all.
English Jungle. Japan's version had 48 cards; the English one has 64, because Wizards began printing both holo and non-holo versions of every rare — a pattern that stuck.
Challenge from the Darkness, the sixth expansion. 98 cards, ten to a pack at 291 yen. With this the eight Gym Leaders are complete and the original series closes.
The film The Power of One opens. The cinema pamphlet carried Ancient Mew, and the same day Southern Islands arrived as two folders of nine cards.
Tropical Mega Battle 1999. An international invitational; entrants received the Bilingual Exeggutor, a single card printed in both Japanese and English.
The September issue of CoroCoro carried Hama-chan's Slowking, drawn by Masatoshi Hamada — the voice of Slowking in that film.
English Fossil. 62 cards, the smallest of the three, sold in eleven-card packs.
French Set de Base. German followed in December — the European languages rolled out one by one across the year end.
Pokémon Gold and Silver arrive on Game Boy. The cards lag behind until Neo Genesis in February 2000.
German Grundset. The same 102 cards, now in German.
The cards you could not buy, in the order they reached people in Japan, with the two English items last. In 1999 the film and the mail-in campaign were the two pillars.
Closed 30 Apr 1999 (began 24 Nov 1998)
One of five cards from a mail-in campaign: send Bill's PC (the pass card from Expansion Sheet 3) plus a Gastly-line card to Media Factory, and the evolved form came back. It recreates the games' trade evolution literally. Roughly 36,000 were sent out, the most of the five — and because the return mount gripped the corners, many copies carry dents there.
Closed 30 Apr 1999 (began 24 Nov 1998)
Send in an Abra-line card and this came back. At roughly 39,000 copies it is the most common of the five, printed on cosmos holofoil — the speckled foil.
Closed 30 Apr 1999 (began 24 Nov 1998)
Sent in with a Machop-line card; about 29,000 copies. Mid-pack among the five — and at the time Machamp existed only as a Base Set holo, so this was its first alternate foil.
Closed 30 Apr 1999 (began 24 Nov 1998)
Sent in with a Geodude-line card; roughly 22,000 copies — the second-rarest of the five.
Closed 30 Apr 1999 (began 24 Nov 1998)
Sent in with an Omanyte; about 21,000 copies, the scarcest of the five. Omanyte does not evolve by trade in the games, but the campaign treated it the same way.
30 Jun 1999 · Bessatsu CoroCoro, August issue
A jumbo of the playground from the short Pikachu's Rescue Adventure. Not playable — a reading piece, part of the run of oversized magazine freebies that year.
15 Jul 1999 · CoroCoro, August issue
A jumbo of the film's antagonist. A person, not a Pokémon, and with no effect text — it shipped alongside the issue's regular insert.
17 Jul 1999 · cinema pamphlet
Bound into page two of the cinema pamphlet for The Power of One. Its text is written in runes, and being unreadable is the point. Japan had three printings; the first misspells Nintendo as "Nintedo" in the copyright line. The English version was handed out at theatres during the film's first week in July 2000.
15 Aug 1999 · CoroCoro, September issue
Drawn by Masatoshi Hamada himself, who voiced Slowking in the film — the card is even named for him. The clearest example of that era's celebrity tie-ins.
August 1999 · Tropical Mega Battle
Given to entrants at the international invitational that gathered players from overseas. The name and effect text are printed in both Japanese and English — an English-market card that still carries Japanese.
From 1999 (#1–#4 that year)
The English promo line starts this year and runs to 53 cards through 2003. Cinemas, leagues, magazines and toy bundles all fed it, so the numbering does not follow release order.
June and October 1999
Participation cards from the prerelease tournaments held before Jungle and Fossil. An ordinary card with a PRERELEASE stamp — otherwise identical to the retail version.
Handouts ran all year in 1999; these are the main ones. Counting every monthly CoroCoro insert and tournament participation card would add dozens more. Where no public scan exists, the entry is left without an image rather than filled with a different card.
Sixth expansion and the second half of the Gym line, released internationally as Gym Challenge. The pack spread (10 cards, 6 common / 3 uncommon / 1 holo) and the 291-yen price had not changed since the first set. Japan received 98 cards, 16 of them holofoil. The Gym line ends here; the next Japanese set did not arrive until February 2000.
Four Gym Leaders — Koga, Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni. Seventy-five Pokémon and twenty-three Trainers, sharply divided by owner: counting Pokémon alone, Koga 17, Sabrina 17, Blaine 16, Giovanni 15. The remaining eight carry the names of Erika, Misty, Brock, Lt. Surge and Team Rocket.
Evolution runs 42 Basic, 24 Stage 1 and 9 Stage 2. Sixteen cards are holofoil: fifteen Pokémon, and exactly one Trainer — Giovanni. The Blaine, Koga and Sabrina Leader cards are ordinary rares, so even within the same four Leaders the treatment differed.
24 cards · listed in original order.
40 HP with a retreat cost of 1. Sharp Stinger costs one Grass for 10 and poisons on heads. The first of Koga's seventeen cards — a 40 HP Basic whose job is to spread poison, not to survive.
50 HP. Fast-Acting Poison flips two coins and, if both come up heads, leaves the Defending Pokémon both Confused and Poisoned. The sturdiest of Koga's Basics — it doubles as an early wall.
50 HP. Horn Thrust does nothing on tails; Double-edge hits for 30 but deals 20 to itself. A card that gambles on every attack.
40 HP. Double Kick flips two coins for 10 each; Retaliation only works while Giovanni's cards are already damaged. Damage that has to be earned first.
40 HP. Group Attack deals 10 for every Koga's Zubat you have in play — the more copies you stack, the harder it hits. An early payoff for running duplicates.
40 HP. Poison Antennae poisons for 10; Removal Beam strips an Energy off the Defending Pokémon. The entry point to Sabrina's twenty cards, and a two-way choice every turn.
50 HP. Sludge Grip hits for 10 and then lets you pick a card out of your opponent's hand — a quiet way to delay whatever they are building.
40 HP. On heads, Smelly Gas hits every Benched Pokémon your opponent has for 10. Modest damage, but it sits on the Bench as a 40 HP Basic and keeps leaking.
50 HP. Sleep Powder deals 10 and puts the Defending Pokémon to sleep; Grasping Vine draws two on heads. One of the few cards that attacks and refills your hand at once.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Double Razor Leaf flips two coins for 40 each — 80 on a double heads. The middle of Erika's Grass line and the bridge into Venusaur.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Toxic Secretion poisons and then escalates: the poison damage grows each turn instead of staying flat. A card that charges rent on your opponent's turns.
An 80 HP Stage 1. Poison Sting Tackle deals 20 but also deals 20 to itself; Body Slam paralyzes on heads. Its real value is the 80 HP.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Rend adds 20 if the Defending Pokémon already carries damage counters — the earlier you chip, the harder this hits.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Bite is a flat 20; Sonic Scream confuses on heads. One of only two Stage 1s across Koga's seventeen cards.
A second card of the same name — a different printing from the Koffing earlier in the set. Smokescreen disrupts the next attack for 10; the set carries two distinct Koffings.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Spontaneous Explosion makes 10 into 40 on heads; Toxic Cloud poisons. The end of Koga's evolution line.
A 90 HP Stage 2 and one of the set's sixteen holos. Growth attaches up to two Grass Energy from the deck on heads; Wide Solarbeam also hits the Bench for 20. Erika's ace.
An 80 HP Stage 2 holo. Nerve Poison inflicts Paralysis and Poison together on heads. The only Stage 2 among Koga's seventeen cards.
A 90 HP Stage 1 that poisons itself on purpose: Poison Buildup does that, then Poison Power jumps from 20 to 40 while Arbok is Poisoned. A strange two-step engine.
A 100 HP Stage 2. Mega Kick is a flat 40; Love Lariat turns 50 into 100 on heads. One of Giovanni's two Stage 2s.
The highest HP in the set at 120. Intimidate shuts down attacks from anything with 50 max HP or less. A Stage 2 holo and Giovanni's ace.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Healing Pollen flips three coins and removes a damage counter from each of your Pokémon per heads — healing spread across the whole side.
An 80 HP Stage 1 with a single move — Sludge Whirlpool for 40. Its value is 80 HP that keeps swinging; the damage-dealer of Koga's line-up.
A 70 HP Basic. Snapping Pincers makes 10 into 20 on heads; Overhead Toss shuffles the Bench. The only 70 HP Basic among Giovanni's sixteen cards.
11 cards · listed in original order.
50 HP. Kindle discards an Energy for 10; Slash is a clean 20. The entrance to Blaine's Fire line.
40 HP. Tail Fan deals 20 and confuses on heads. The lowest-HP Basic of Blaine's nineteen cards.
50 HP. Blaze hits for 20 and adds 10 to every Grass Pokémon on your opponent's Bench — an anti-Grass card before side decks existed.
50 HP. Hind Kick deals 20 and, on heads, switches Ponyta to the Bench — attack first, retreat for free.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Fire Claws is 30; Bonfire discards one Fire Energy per heads. The bridge into Charizard.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Fire Mane is 20; Stamp turns 30 into 40 on heads. The second-hardest hitter among Blaine's nineteen.
A 60 HP Basic. Firebreathing makes 10 into 20 on heads; Lava Burst discards the top five cards of your deck. Power with a price.
A 100 HP Stage 2 holo. Roaring Flames discards every Fire Energy on it to add 20 per card. Blaine's ace, and a card that spends everything at once.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Burn Up hits for 50, but on tails every Fire Energy on it is discarded. Big numbers with a real risk.
A 90 HP Stage 1 holo and the first card in this set to reach 120 damage — Firestorm, at the cost of three Fire Energy. Heat Tackle deals 10 back to itself.
A 90 HP Basic holo. Phoenix Flame hits for 90, but on tails Moltres and everything attached go back into the deck. A legendary bird printed as a Basic.
5 cards · listed in original order.
50 HP. Scratch deals 10; Random ESP confuses on heads. The only Water-type among Sabrina's twenty cards.
The lowest HP in the set at 30. Flail Around flips three coins for 10 each. The frailest of Giovanni's sixteen cards — and the easiest to knock out.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Damage Shift collects a damage counter from each of your Pokémon and moves them onto the opponent — a rare way to turn your own wounds into damage.
A 90 HP Stage 2. Water Ring hits every Pokémon that is not Water on both sides for 10. Modest, but spread damage on a Stage 2 was unusual in 1999.
A 90 HP Stage 1 holo. Dragon Tornado deals 40 back to itself unless it Knocks Out the Defending Pokémon; Summon Storm confuses and paralyzes on a double heads.
2 cards · listed in original order.
An 80 HP Stage 1 holo. Kerzap turns 20 into 50 on heads; Thundertackle paralyzes on heads. The ace of Lt. Surge's twelve cards.
A 70 HP Basic holo. Plasma attaches any number of Lightning Energy from your discard pile; Electroburn hits for 70 and damages itself.
13 cards · listed in original order.
40 HP. Energy Loop deals 20 and returns a Psychic Energy on it to your hand — a card that recycles its own fuel.
50 HP. Lazy Attack hits for 30 and then puts Slowpoke itself to sleep. A card that works every other turn.
50 HP. Suggestion stops the Defending Pokémon from attacking on heads; Headbutt adds 20. Lock it, then hit it.
50 HP. Sleight of Hand puts up to three cards from your hand on top of your deck, clearing dead draws. Slap adds a flat 20.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Life Drain scatters damage counters onto the opponent on heads; Psyshot is a clean 30. The bridge into Alakazam.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Naptime strips three damage counters on heads; Screaming Headbutt hits for 40 but cannot be used next turn.
40 HP with a single move: Suffocating Gas for 30. Thirty damage with no condition is unusual on a 40 HP Basic in this set.
A 50 HP Stage 1. Night Spirits flips one coin per Sabrina card you have in play, for 30 each. It rewards building the deck around her name.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Invigorate puts a Basic Pokémon from any discard pile onto your Bench; Pendulum Curse flips coins equal to the opponent's cards in play.
60 HP. Helping Hand removes any number of damage counters from one of your opponent's Pokémon and draws that many cards — healing the enemy for cards. Hug locks retreat on heads.
An 80 HP Stage 2 holo. Mega Burn hits for 60 but cannot be used next turn. Even so, 60 on a Psychic Stage 2 was about as fast as 1999 got.
An 80 HP Stage 2 holo. Pain Amplifier puts a damage counter on every already-damaged Pokémon your opponent has; Call of the Night adds 40.
A 70 HP Basic holo with three attacks. Juxtapose swaps the number of damage counters on both Active Pokémon — the strangest move in the set. Hypnoblast and Psyburn back it up.
6 cards · listed in original order.
40 HP. Pranks picks a card out of your opponent's deck and discards it on heads. Fury Swipes flips three coins for 10 each.
50 HP. Chop is a flat 10; Fury Punch flips for 20 per heads. The entrance to Giovanni's Fighting line.
60 HP. Horn Charge does nothing on tails; Overrun adds 10 to the Bench on heads. Every attack is a coin flip.
An 80 HP Stage 1. Risky Attack damages Machoke itself on tails; Headlock adds 20 more on heads.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Lie Low blocks all damage done to it during your opponent's next turn. The only Fighting evolution among Brock's eighteen cards.
A 100 HP Stage 2 holo. Hurricane Punch flips four coins for 30 each — the widest swing in the set, up to 120.
14 cards · listed in original order.
50 HP. Peck is 10; Sand-attack deals 20 and makes the next attack fail. The only Colorless Basic among Koga's seventeen.
50 HP. Cat Fleas confuses on heads; Cat Kick hits for 30. One of two distinct Meowth cards in this set — the other is 068.
50 HP. Wild Kick does nothing on tails; Retaliate deals 10 per damage counter on the Defending Pokémon.
70 HP. 3-Pronged Tail flips three coins for 10 each; Full Speed Charge flips four for 20 each, reaching 80. All luck, all the way.
40 HP. Sharp Point is 10; Barrier Attack blocks all damage next turn for 20. Small, but it knows how to survive.
40 HP. Messenger returns Pidgey and everything on it to the top of your deck, recycling it once it has done its job. Wing Attack adds 20.
40 HP. False Charity peeks at the top of your opponent's deck on heads; Double Scratch flips twice for 20 each.
80 HP. Child's Punch does nothing on tails; One-Two Punch turns 30 into 50 on heads.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Quick Turn flips two coins for 30 each; Aerial Maneuvers makes 10 into 30 on heads.
A 60 HP Stage 1 holo. Ambush deals 40 on heads; on tails it lets you look at your opponent's hand and discard a card. The only Colorless evolution among Giovanni's sixteen.
A 40 HP Basic holo. Giant Growth raises its max HP to 80 and adds 20 to its attack on heads. A card that grows into itself.
A 90 HP Basic. Collapse deals 20 and then puts Snorlax itself to sleep. 90 HP is among the highest for a Basic here — and it sleeps through the retaliation.
One of the two cards left out of the English release. Harmonize costs two Colorless for 30 — but from the moment you use it you must start singing, and the damage only lands when the song ends. Its Pokémon Power even instructs you to throw the card as far as you can when Doduo retreats.
The second of the two cards left out of the English release. The name is printed as a blank line so the owner writes their own name in. A 90 HP Chansey with Lucky Egg and Lucky Punch — identical in play, empty in name.
23 cards · listed in original order.
Discard any number of other cards from your hand, then flip a coin. If heads, draw twice that many cards.
Discard any number of cards, flip a coin, and on heads draw twice as many. A Blaine-named way to trade a bad hand for a better one.
Count the number of cards in your discard pile and shuffle them into your deck. Then discard that many cards from the top of your deck.
Shuffle your discard pile back in, then discard the same number of cards off the top. A way to reset the deck that charges you the same amount you recycle.
Each player shuffles his or her hand into his or her deck and draws a new hand of the same number of cards.
Both players shuffle their hand into their deck and draw the same number back. It scrambles whatever your opponent was holding together — a way to erase their set-up turn.
Until the end of your opponent's next turn, prevent all damage from attacks done to your Benched Pokémon. (Any other effects of attacks still happen.)
Prevents all attack damage to your Benched Pokémon through your opponent's next turn. The other effects of those attacks still happen.
If your opponent has any Benched Pokémon, he or she chooses 1 of them and switches it with his or her Active Pokémon, then, if you have any Benched Pokémon, you switch 1 of them with your Active Pokémon.
Your opponent switches first, then you switch. Both sides reset their Active Pokémon without paying a retreat cost.
You can't play this card if you have any cards in your hand other than Blaine's Last Resort. Show your hand to your opponent, then draw 5 cards.
Playable only when it is the only card in your hand: show your hand, then draw five. A harsh condition for what was, in 1999, an enormous draw.
Put a Basic or Evolution card from your hand face down in front of you and tell your opponent the name of an attack of that card. Your opponent guesses the name of that card. Flip the card over. If your opponent guessed right, he or she draws 3 cards. If your opponent guessed wrong, you draw 3 cards. Either way, return the card to your hand.
A quiz card: set a Pokémon face down, name one of its attacks, and let your opponent guess the card. Right and they draw three; wrong and you do.
Attach Koga's Ninja Trick to your Active Pokémon with Koga in its name. If this Pokémon goes to your Bench, discard this card. When your opponent attacks, you may switch this Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon (before damage or other effects of attacks).
Attach it to a Koga-named Pokémon and you may switch out before the attack resolves. Insurance that lets Koga's Pokémon leave before the damage lands.
Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent sets aside all the cards in his or her hand face down. Nobody may look at those cards. At the end of your opponent's next turn, your opponent puts those cards back into his or her hand. If tails, your turn ends immediately (you can't attack this turn).
On heads, your opponent sets their whole hand aside face down until the end of their next turn. On tails your turn ends immediately. High-risk disruption.
This card stays in play after being played. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. Ignore Weakness when a Water Pokémon does damage to a Pokémon with Blaine in its name.
A Stadium for Cinnabar. Water Pokémon ignore Weakness when attacking a Blaine-named Pokémon — Blaine's answer to his own Weakness.
This card stays in play after being played. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. Once during each player's turn (before attacking), that player may flip a coin. If heads, that player may shuffle 1 of his or her Pokémon in play with Koga in its name and any cards attached to it into his or her deck.
A Stadium for Fuchsia. Once a turn, either player may flip: on heads, shuffle a Koga-named Pokémon and everything on it back into the deck. A way to recycle a damaged card.
Attach Sabrina's ESP to 1 of your Pokémon with Sabrina in its name. At the end of your turn, discard Sabrina's ESP. If that Pokémon uses and attack that involves flipping coins, Sabrina's ESP lets you re-flip those coins once. If you do, re-flip all the coins.
Attach to a Sabrina-named Pokémon; it is discarded at the end of the turn. While attached, one coin-flip attack may be re-flipped in full.
Flip a coin. If heads, choose a Trainer card in your opponent's discard pile that isn't put in play (like PlusPower or Mysterious Fossil). You may use that card as if it were in your hand, if you do everything required in order to play that card (like discarding cards). The card stays in your opponent's discard pile.
On heads, use a Trainer card sitting in your opponent's discard pile as if it were in your hand — the card stays in their discard pile. Theft without removal.
Flip 2 coins. If both of them are heads, choose 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon and return it and all cards attached to it to his or her hand. If 1 or both of them are tails, your turn ends immediately (you can't attack this turn).
Flip two coins; on a double heads, return one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon to their hand. A single tails ends your turn instead.
This card stays in play after being played. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. As often as each player like during his or her turn (before attacking), that player may return 1 basic Energy card attached to 1 of his or her Pokémon with Sabrina in its name to his or her hand.
A Stadium for Saffron. Either player may, any number of times a turn, return a basic Energy from a Sabrina-named Pokémon to hand — Energy becomes movable.
Flip a coin. If heads, search your deck for any card and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward. If tails, you can't play Trainer cards until the end of your next turn.
On heads, search your deck for any card. On tails, no Trainer cards until the end of your next turn. Search with a real price.
This card stays in play after being played. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. Whenever a player puts a Basic Pokémon onto his or her Bench from his or her hand, he or she flips a coin. If tails, put damage counters on that Pokémon.
A Rocket Stadium. Every time either player Benches a Basic from hand, they flip — tails puts damage on it. It hits both sides, and punishes Basic-heavy decks.
During this turn, instead of attaching your free Energy card, you may instead attach 2 Fire Energy cards to 1 of your Pokémon with Blaine in its name. (Playing additional copies of this card this turn has no effect.)
Instead of your free Energy this turn, attach two Fire Energy to one Blaine-named Pokémon. Acceleration for a Fire deck.
If an attack from a Pokémon with Koga in its name does damage to a Defending Pokémon this turn, that Pokémon is then Poisoned.
This turn, any attack from a Koga-named Pokémon that deals damage also poisons the target. One card that gives all seventeen of Koga's Pokémon poison.
Choose 1 of your Pokémon in play with Giovanni in its name. For the rest of your turn, you may evolve that Pokémon even if you just played or evolved it this turn or if this is your first turn. This effect also applies to the Pokémon it evolves into.
Lets a Giovanni-named Pokémon evolve the turn it was played, even on your first turn. Giovanni is the only ★ among the four Leaders because Japan shipped no Giovanni theme deck — so only the holo version existed.
Remove all damage counters from 1 of your Pokémon with Giovanni in its name. Then discard your hand.
Remove every damage counter from one Giovanni-named Pokémon, then discard your entire hand. Healing paid for with your whole hand.
This card stays in play after being played. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. Whenever a Pokémon with Giovanni in its name evolves, its owner removes 2 damage counters from that Pokémon (or 1 if it only has 1).
A Stadium for Viridian. Whenever a Giovanni-named Pokémon evolves, remove two damage counters from it. The more you evolve, the more it heals.
Take all Energy cards attached to 1 of your Pokémon with Sabrina in its name and attach them to another 1 of your Pokémon with Sabrina in its name.
Move every Energy off one Sabrina-named Pokémon onto another. Energy transfer without losing a single card.
Eighteen cards released alongside the second movie. They were not sold as booster packs but handed out in two nine-card folders (Rainbow Island and Tropical Island), so there is no per-pack price. The same eighteen also appeared in three-card boxes, divided by region of the islands. The cards carry no rarity symbol, and none are holofoil.
Eighteen cards tied to the film, sold as two folders of nine (Tropical Island and Rainbow Island), all drawn on a southern-island theme. The art splits exactly in half: nine by Keiko Fukuyama, nine by Naoyo Kimura.
None of the eighteen carries a rarity symbol. It was not a booster set but a fixed run of eighteen handed out together, so there is no common/uncommon/holo split — the rarity field here reads "no symbol". The same eighteen were also sold in three-card boxes, divided by region of the islands.
5 cards · listed in original order.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Strange Scent makes both players flip, and whoever gets heads removes up to three damage counters. Razor Leaf adds a flat 30.
40 HP. Gnaw is 10; Agility blocks every effect of attacks, damage included, through your opponent's next turn for 20.
An 80 HP Stage 2. Fly blocks all attacks next turn for 30; Rainbow Powder paralyzes on heads and poisons on tails — two different statuses off one coin.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Sharpshooter flips one coin per Grass Energy attached and deals 20 per heads to any Pokémon you choose. The more Energy you stack, the harder it snipes.
A 70 HP Stage 2. Paradise Pollen heals two counters and then reaches the Grass Pokémon on your Bench; Horrid Pollen deals 30 and either paralyzes or confuses.
4 cards · listed in original order.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Tentacle Grip flips one coin per Water Energy on it and draws per heads — card draw tied to how much Energy you commit. Poison Sting adds 20.
40 HP. Squirt deals 10 to any one of your opponent's Pokémon, ignoring Weakness and Resistance; Rolling Tackle adds 20. Small, but it chooses its target.
A 70 HP Basic. Gentle Song removes two damage counters from itself and puts the opponent to sleep; Ice Beam paralyzes on heads for 20. Healing and disruption in one card.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Water Gun adds 10 for each Water Energy on Wartortle beyond what the attack costs — modest until you stack it, then 40 or 50.
2 cards · listed in original order.
A 30 HP Mew. Rainbow Wave picks one Energy type attached to it and deals 20 to every Pokémon of that type your opponent has. The lightest card in the set, and the hardest to aim.
A 70 HP Stage 1. Revelation searches the deck for a Trainer card on heads; Psychic adds 10 for every Energy on the Defending Pokémon.
2 cards · listed in original order.
A 90 HP Basic. Slam flips two coins for 20 each; Body Slam costs four Fighting for 40 and paralyzes on heads. A Fighting wall that arrives on turn one.
A 60 HP Stage 1. Low Kick is 20; Rampage adds 10 for every damage counter on Primeape — the more it has been hit, the harder it swings.
5 cards · listed in original order.
A 70 HP Stage 2. Supersonic Flight does 40 but nothing at all on tails; Slicing Wind costs four Colorless for 50. Drawn soaring over the island.
40 HP. Bawl deals 10 and confuses on heads. The youngest Pokémon in the set — a Generation II species that was still brand new in 1999.
A 60 HP Stage 1 with one attack. Sharp Teeth makes 10 into 40 on heads; tails leaves it at 10. Everything rides on the coin.
50 HP. Tempting Eyes drags a Benched Pokémon into the Active spot; Sing puts it to sleep on heads. A card that buys time instead of dealing damage.
A 70 HP Basic. Lick Wounds removes two damage counters from any damaged Pokémon, yours or theirs; Tongue Stretch deals 20 to a target of your choice.
Also released this year: English edition.
Neo Genesis (96 cards), two and a half months after the Gold and Silver games. The card game moves generations, the six-set original run ends, and the release pace settles at three or four sets a year.
English Team Rocket — two and a half years after Japan's November 1997 release. The English market was still catching up on 1997.
Pokémon Card★VS (141 cards). It introduces running card numbers, ending the era when the Pokédex number doubled as the card number.
English Southern Islands — two years after Japan's folders, the eighteen cards finally shipped in English as a regular set.
The 116 cards across these two sets are essentially the whole Japanese output of 1999 — no expansion sheets and no constructed decks shipped that year, so unlike 1998 there is no missing slice of the pool.
Release dates and product identities are connected to the Japanese edition release register by set code. Sources are printed per product so a reader can check the claim without trusting this page alone. Unmatched products say so instead of borrowing another edition’s citation.
PMCG6 verified_secondarysi1 verified_secondaryCard data — HP, type, stage, attacks, artist, rarity — follows the international Gym Challenge / Southern Islands printings. No public scans of the Japanese originals exist and their attack text includes machine translation, so stats and attacks are taken from the international print.
The 98 Japanese and 132 international cards do not map one to one: Gym Challenge mixes Japan's fifth and sixth expansions together. Matching ran against what the 1998 page had not already used, on four keys — owner name, Pokédex number, HP and rarity.
Two errors in the source data were corrected. ① Cards 003 and 004 are labelled ジョバンニ (Giovanni) where the Japanese printing reads サカキ. ② Card 075 is listed as _____のチャンシー; the Japanese card reads _____のラッキー. Both are fixed on this page.
Rarity follows the Japanese printing. The English set makes all four Leader Trainer cards holo, but in Japanese only Giovanni is a ★ — counting the English way gives nineteen holos against Japan's sixteen.
Pack prices, spreads and box counts follow what the publisher printed at the time — Media Factory in Japan, Wizards of the Coast in English. The English eleven-card pack stayed at $3.29 across all three sets. These are original retail prices, not today's market.
Cards 074 and 075 were left out of the English set — Imakuni?'s Doduo and _____'s Chansey. The first featured a singer unknown outside Japan; the second was a joke card. No public scan of either Japanese card exists, so both are shown without an image.
Of the 228 English cards, 197 reuse the scans already on the 1996 and 1997 pages — the artwork is identical. Only the remaining 31 (sixteen non-holo Jungle, fifteen non-holo Fossil) were fetched fresh here.
1999 closes the original series: eight Gym Leaders complete, a detour to a southern island, and an English market finally catching up. In 2000 the cards move to Gold and Silver.