2002 English edition almanac

• 02-28

  Neo Destiny, 113 cards — 105 numbered plus eight secrets. Japan had it in April 2001; the count did not change. It was the last English set with a 1st Edition stamp, and the last of the Neo series.

• 05-24

  Legendary Collection, 110 cards. Every card is a reprint — Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket, and the Base Set 2 versions of the same. No Japanese set corresponds to it: this is the only English set of the year that Japan never had.

• 05-24

  Legendary Collection puts a reverse holofoil in every pack. Not a holo, not a parallel rare — a foil treatment applied to the whole card face except the artwork, on every card in the set. Every English set for the next decade would carry one.

• 09-15

  Expedition Base Set, 165 cards, from Japan's 128-card Base Expansion Pack. Thirty-seven cards were added — the single largest gap between a Japanese set and its English counterpart in the game's history to that point.

• 09-15

  Expedition is the first English set with the e-Reader strip. The widened bottom border that Japan had used since December 2001 arrives in the West in the same month as the e-Reader itself.

• 09-16

  The e-Reader launches in North America. The dot-code strip on every Expedition card could be scanned for animations and minigames. The accessory was discontinued within two years; the strips stayed on the cards until 2003.

• 12-01

  Best of Game, nine promotional cards distributed through leagues — Electabuzz, Hitmonchan, Professor Elm, Rocket's Scizor, Rocket's Sneasel, Dark Ivysaur, Dark Venusaur, Rocket's Mewtwo, Rocket's Hitmonchan.

• all year

  No Crystal Pokémon, no H-numbering, no secret rares in the English 2002. All three of those arrive in 2003 with Aquapolis. The English card of 2002 is structurally the same object it had been in 2001.

• all year

  Wizards of the Coast was on its way out. Nintendo had been preparing to bring distribution in-house since 2001. Skyridge in May 2003 would be the final Wizards set, and it got one print run.

• 2003-01-15

  Aquapolis, 186 cards — built from two Japanese sets, The Town on No Map and Wind from the Sea. The H-numbered holofoil run and the Crystal Pokémon both start here.

• 2003-05-12

  Skyridge, 182 cards — built from Split Earth and Mysterious Mountains. The final Wizards of the Coast expansion, one print run, and today the most expensive Wizards set per card.

• 2003-07-18

  EX Ruby & Sapphire — The Pokémon Company takes over distribution. No e-Reader strip, no thick border, a new card design. Everything on this page belongs to the era that set closed.

Read the dates as a pair. In 2002 Japan printed 364 cards the West could not buy, and the West printed 388 cards Japan had already sold. The two editions were never further apart.