Pokemon TCG Cards With Backgrounds

Pokemon TCG Base Set Backgrounds Discovered by Fan

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Published: April 1, 2021 5:52 PM

If you grew up in the 90s and happened to have been a fan of Pokemon at the time then you might be in for a treat today, and no it's not an April Fools prank. A big fan of the original base set of the Pokemon TCG spent some time digging around online and came across a whole slew of the backgrounds featured on the original set of cards. 

Pokemon TCG Card Backgrounds

If you were playing the Pokemon TCG back when it first hit store shelves, then you probably remember that the art was pretty cool. Rather than simply taking the exact style of the video games and translating it onto cards, the first edition of the card game decided to get a bit more creative. Using a combination of real photos, simple 3D graphics, and hand-drawn art, the Pokemon TCG cards of this generation are iconic and bring an instant flash of nostalgia to anyone who played with them as a kid. 

Now, a Twitter used by the name of FanamelIT has uncovered the origins of some of those pieces of art. A collection of stock images known as Datacraft Sozaijiten turns out to be the original point for a lot of the background images used in various Pokemon TCG cards. In general, these images can be found in a lot of Japanese media, and various Nintendo games, according to the finder. The announcement tweet even featured a video showing exactly how perfect of a match most of these photos were. 

Even More To Find? 

In the original tweet announcing the find, Fanamel showed off 9 different Pokemon TCG cards that owed their background art to this collection, but in a follow up they also said that other cards in the set would probably also have the same source. Clearly, there's a chance that even more of these background images can be found by anyone willing to pay a little fee, and do a little digging around. If you feel like checking out the collection for yourself and going on the hunt then you can find the collection on Sozaijiten's website


What do you think about this cool Pokemon TCG background art? Does it give you a nostalgia feeling to find out where this images actually come from? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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More Info About This Game
Learn More About Pokemon Trading Card Game
Release Date
October 1, 1996 (Calendar)