Pokemon has been one of the busiest franchises in the gaming world during the past year. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the franchise has released multiple video games during 2021 with the highly-anticipated Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes only a month away. The Pokemon Trading Card Game has been equally active this year, unveiling new types of cards and announcing a new online platform for the massive TCG. Now, the card game's newest set celebrates the history of the worldwide phenomenon with plenty of nods to its past.
The Pokemon Trading Card Game has been one of the biggest card games in the world since its first set debuted in 1996 in Japan and 1999 in the United States. Running alongside the mega-popular Pokemon video games, the card game has shared in the celebrations Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been putting on for the 25th anniversary of the monster-catching franchise. The aptly-titled Celebrations set looks to celebrate the two-and-a-half decades of success the franchise has seen through honoring some of the game's most iconic cards.
The Pokemon Company had previously announced the upcoming celebration set with the newest expansion to the Pokemon Trading Card Game officially releasing on Friday. The set features reprints some of the most iconic cards in the Pokemon Trading Card Gameincluding Base Set Charizard, Rocket Set Dark Gyarados, and Gym Challenge's Rocket's Zapdos. Celebrations also features full-art cards of some historic staples from the Pokemon TCG like Professor Oak and several versions of Pikachu receiving beautiful fully illustrated cards.
The expansion's preview page features a celebration of Pokemon's history featuring a timeline showing off some of the iconic cards included in the set. The site also features a 'Who's That Pokemon?'-style quiz testing fans of the trading card game on their knowledge of some of the franchise's signature creatures. In the spirit of celebrating the Pokemon Trading Card Game's history, The Pokemon Company is encouraging fans to share their memories of their first Pokemon card on Twitter using the hashtag #Pokemon25. Alongside several collections to purchase the card, the TCG's celebratory merchandise also includes deck boxes, carrying cases, and tins.
2021 has been a big year for the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Sets like Chilling Reign and the introduction of new mechanics like V-Union Cards have shaken up the competitive meta of the popular card game. Pokemon cards have never been bigger as a hot commodity for collectors with booster packs selling out as quickly as they are stocked and the second-hand market booming. The Pokemon Trading Card Game has certainly seen its fair share of success throughout its 25 years and that success will surely continue as Pokemon grows into the future.
Pokemon Trading Card Game: Celebrations is available now in retail stores and through the PokemonCenter website.