Jungle Love; The Misprints from the first Pokemon Expansion

With the English release of Burning Shadows, the next expansion in the Sun and Moon block of the Pokemon TCG, still a few months away, I wanted to take a look back at some of the older cards in the TCG’s history and highlight a few collectible cards that casual collectors might not otherwise be familiar with. Today I’m focusing on a set that’s been driving me mad and making me crazy: Jungle.

            Released in Japan on March 5, 1997 and in the United States on June 16, 1999, Jungle was the first expansion to the Pokemon TCG. The set was very small, containing only 48 cards in its Japanese iteration. Wizards of the Coast, the Company publishing Pokemon cards at the time, expanded the English set to 64 cards by printing each Japanese holo card as a both a holo rare and a non-holo rare in the English release. This approach was repeated for a number of later Wizards of the Coast expansions including Fossil, Team Rocket, Neo Discovery, and e-series sets. Collectors and players alike criticized this approach at the time, noting it was merely a way to artificially inflate the contents of a set without adding any unique or meaningful cards.

            As was customary for Wizards’ early Pokemon sets, Jungle received both a 1st edition and unlimited English release.  For new collectors just joining the hobby, 1st edition Wizards cards can be identified by the 1st edition stamp on the left side of the card under the picture frame (circled in red on the picture below). If the stamp is not present, the card is from the unlimited release. As with other Wizards sets, the 1st edition set is the more popular of the two, commanding much higher prices on the secondary market than the Unlimited version.

1st edition Kangaskhan. The 1st edition symbol is circled in red. The Jungle set symbol is on the right side of the card under the bottom right corner of the picture frame.

             Jungle was the first expansion to the TCG, and it’s clear that Wizards hadn’t quite ironed out all the bugs in the quality control process. As a result, there are a number of interesting and unique error cards of interest to collectors.

1. 1st edition Electrode

    Base Set Electrode

  Only two Pokemon were featured in both Base Set and Jungle: Pikachu and Electrode. Electrode was first printed as a Rare card in Base Set.

In Jungle, Electrode received fresh new artwork and was printed as both a holo and a non-holo Rare. At least, that was what was supposed to happen. In the 1st edition print of Jungle, the non-holo Electorde was mistakenly printed with the artwork from Base Set instead of the artwork from the Jungle expansion. This issue was later corrected in the Unlimited printings.

            1st edition holo Electrode                                                                                1st edition non-holo Electrode error

2. No Symbol Jungle Holos

In the first printings of  Jungle’s Unlimited release, a number of holo cards in the expansion were printed without the Jungle set symbol. Fortunately for collectors, tracking down a complete set of the no symbol Jungle holos is both fun and affordable, with the cards selling for only a modest premium over their non-error counterparts. Unfortunately, the error has led to considerable confusion for new collectors, who often mistakenly believe these cards are part of Base Set. My complete set of the no symbol Jungle errors is pictured below.

 No Symbol Jungle Holos

3. Ivy Pikachu error

Most old school collectors know that the first of the Wizards black star promo cards is Pikachu. The ivy pattern in the card’s background has led to this card being casually referred to as the “Ivy Pikachu.”  Fewer collectors realize that there are actually two versions of this card in the English TCG. The first is the standard, fairly common promotional card. The second is the rare, 1st edition error card.

Ivy Pikachu Error

The Ivy Pikachu Error was mistakenly included in a very small number of 1st edition Jungle booster packs. The total number of these error cards are unknown, but they are universally acknowledged to be the rarest, and most expensive, cards in the Jungle expansion. Interestingly, the Promo set symbol, and not the Jungle set symbol, appears on this card. As with the no symbol Jungle holo error cards, this has been a source of confusion for new collectors. The bottom line is that if your Ivy Pikachu has a first edition symbol, someone pulled it from a 1st edition Jungle booster pack.

Between these notable error cards and the 1st edition and unlimited printings of the set, Jungle has a lot to offer both casual and experienced collectors. Fortunately, the set remains fairly affordable due to the very high number of Jungle cards printed at the height of the 1999 Pokemon craze. The set is small and therefore fairly easy to complete, but it is nonetheless an important set in the game’s history and worth adding to your own collection.

Thecardpletionist has been collecting Pokemon TCG cards since the game’s English release in 1999. You can read more from the author at http://thecardpletionist.blogspot.com/ and can follow him on Instagram.