Pokémon Base Set: A Deep Dive into the Original Expansion

Pick up a modern Pokémon pack and you will find a few things that feel completely normal: Pokémon that grow into bigger Pokémon, Trainer cards that help you draw, and colored Energy cards that power your attacks. All of that was settled in one product. In January 1999, Wizards of the Coast released Base Set, the first English-language expansion of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and it came with 102 cards in the English release. This article walks through what was in the box, how the cards work, and how newcomers can enjoy the set today without needing to buy anything expensive.

Where Base Set came from

The Pokémon card game did not start in English. It launched in Japan in October 1996, a few months after the first video games. English-speaking players had to wait until January 1999, when Wizards of the Coast, the company that already published Magic: The Gathering, brought the game to the United States and other English-language markets. You can see the full sequence on the timeline.

That timing matters. In 1999 the video games and the cartoon were already popular with kids, so a card game based on them arrived with a ready-made audience. For many people who grew up then, Base Set was the first trading card they ever opened. That is why the set has such a strong nostalgic pull.

The publisher changed later. Since 2003 the English game has been run by the Pokémon company's own U.S. arm, so the Wizards of the Coast years are a closed chapter. Base Set sits at the very start of that chapter, together with Jungle, Fossil and the Neo sets. Our Pokémon TCG hub places all of these on one page if you want the bigger picture.

The structure Base Set established

Every Pokémon deck is built from three kinds of cards, and Base Set defined them all.

Pokémon cards are the creatures that fight. They have hit points (HP), attacks and a type.
Trainer cards are support. They represent people and tools, they never battle, and they let you draw cards, search your deck or change the board.
Energy cards are the fuel. You attach them to your Pokémon, and attacks list how many Energy they need.

The set used the Energy types of the original video games: Fire, Water, Grass, Lightning, Psychic and Fighting. Many Pokémon were also printed as Colorless, meaning they could use any Energy for part of their cost.

Pokémon cards also come in stages. A Basic Pokémon can go straight onto the table. A Stage 1 card goes on top of a Basic Pokémon that it names, and a Stage 2 card goes on top of a Stage 1. That growth rule is called Evolution, and it mirrors the video games, where a Charmander turns into Charmeleon and then Charizard. The tension it creates is simple: bigger cards are stronger, but they need time and the right cards in hand.

The win condition was also set here. Each player puts a few cards aside face down as Prize cards, and every knockout lets you take some. Take them all and you win. Our step-by-step turn guide shows how those pieces fit into one turn.

The starter trio: Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur

If Base Set has a headline, it is the three Stage 2 starter Pokémon from the first video games. Each one is the final form of a starter line, and each one has a Pokémon Power. A Pokémon Power is an effect that is not an attack. Later eras renamed this kind of effect Poké-Power, Poké-Body and finally Ability, but the idea stayed the same.

Charizard

Charizard is a Fire-type Stage 2 that evolves from Charmeleon. It is a Holo Rare, and its artwork was drawn by Mitsuhiro Arita. On the card, the Weakness is Water and the Resistance is Fighting. The Pokémon Power rewards planning with Energy rather than speed, so this is a card that asks the player to build toward something.

Blastoise

Blastoise is the Water-type end of the Squirtle line. Its Weakness is Lightning. Its Pokémon Power is a good example of how early cards could change the shape of a game without attacking at all, which is a very different idea from the "hit as hard as you can" style that many beginners expect.

Venusaur

Venusaur completes the Bulbasaur line as the Grass-type member of the trio, and its Weakness is Fire. Its Pokémon Power moves Grass Energy between your Pokémon, which makes it an early utility card. It often gets less attention than Charizard, and that is a useful lesson: a card can be historically important without being the most famous one.

Together the three show how Base Set built a small theme into the cards. The starters are different types, have different Weaknesses, and each plays a different supporting role. Many collectors enjoy gathering all three as a trio.

Weakness, Resistance and other things printed on the card

Every Base Set Pokémon lists a Weakness and sometimes a Resistance near the bottom. A Weakness means damage from Pokémon of that type is increased. A Resistance means that damage is reduced. On the original cards the Weakness is shown as a type symbol with a multiplier, and the Resistance with a number that is subtracted. The page on Weakness and Resistance covers the details.

This is where the card game borrows from the video games. The starter trio is a neat teaching set: Charizard lists Water as its Weakness and Fighting as its Resistance, Blastoise lists Lightning, and Venusaur lists Fire.

One caution for anyone comparing eras: the exact numbers and the symbols have changed over the years. When you read an older card, judge it by the rules of its own time and not by a modern card sitting next to it.

Pikachu, Mewtwo and Professor Oak

Three other cards show the rest of the set's range.

Pikachu is a Basic Lightning Pokémon and a Common card. Common means it was printed in large numbers, so you could find it in many packs. It evolves into Raichu, which makes it a simple, friendly example of a Basic Pokémon growing into something bigger. It is also the franchise mascot on one of the first English cards, and that is its main charm.

Mewtwo is a Basic Psychic Pokémon and a Holo Rare. It is a legendary Pokémon from the first video games, and it was a headline character in the first Pokémon movie. Because it is a Basic card, it can enter play right away without waiting for an evolution chain. Mewtwo proves that a card does not need to evolve to become a favorite.

Professor Oak is a Trainer card named after the professor from the video games. It is an Uncommon, it never battles, and its job is to refresh the player's hand. In Base Set, Trainers were one simple category. Today the same role belongs to a group called Supporters, as the page on Trainer cards explains. New collectors often skip Trainers, but they tell you a lot about how a set was meant to be played.

The holographic look and the three printings

Base Set is also remembered for how it looks. The Holo Rare cards have a shiny, patterned area over the artwork while the rest of the card stays flat. Tilt the card under a lamp and the picture seems to glitter. For a kid in 1999, finding one of those in a pack was a small event.

The pattern is a particular style. Later sets moved away from it and used different foil designs. Neo Genesis, for example, brought a new foil pattern and new card rules, and you can compare both on its set page. If you want to see how holographic cards sit alongside other rarities, read our guide to rarity and finishes. It explains why "rare" and "shiny" are two different ideas, which trips up many beginners.

Holographic is a finish. Rare is a rarity. Keep those two ideas separate and the rest of the hobby gets much easier to read.

1st Edition, Shadowless and Unlimited

Base Set has three printings that collectors talk about, and they are about how the cards were printed, not about how good the card is.

1st Edition cards came from the first print run. They carry a small stamp on the left side of the card, just below the artwork. The stamp reads "Edition" with a number one in a circle.
Shadowless cards lack the soft drop shadow around the artwork frame. On a Shadowless card, the border of the picture looks flat. On the later printing, a darker line along the edge of the frame gives it a slight shadow.
Unlimited cards are the main later printing. They have the drop shadow and no stamp.

Here is a simple way to check, using only what you can see. First, look for the stamp below the artwork on the left. If it is there, you are looking at a 1st Edition card. If not, find a normal Base Set card from the same print and compare the frame edges side by side. A Shadowless card will be missing the shadow along the right side of the picture box.

Two cautions help here. Shadowless cards exist without the stamp, so a missing stamp alone does not tell you whether a card has a shadow. And fakes exist, so read our guide on spotting fake trading cards before you trust any single detail.

Why Base Set is the reference point

People compare almost every later Pokémon set with Base Set. There are a few reasons.

First, it was the first. Rules like Evolution, Prize cards and Energy attachment appear here in their original form. When a modern set tweaks one of them, you can trace the change back to this set.

Second, it contains the faces of the franchise. Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Pikachu and Mewtwo are among the characters that people picture when they hear the words "Pokémon cards."

Third, later sets keep returning to it. Scarlet & Violet—151 revisits the original 151 Pokémon in the modern card style, and Charizard ex from that set invites a direct comparison with the 1999 Charizard. Many collectors use these pairs to see how card design, artwork and rarity labels changed over more than twenty years.

For more on the design side of that story, see how trading card design has changed.

How to read a Base Set card

You can learn most of what a Base Set card says in a minute. Work from the top down.

Stage and name. The top left shows Basic, Stage 1 or Stage 2. Evolved cards also name the Pokémon they evolve from.
HP. The hit points sit at the top right, next to the type symbol. Damage is tracked against this number.
Artwork. The picture sits in a framed box. This frame is where you look for the Shadowless and 1st Edition details.
Attacks and Powers. Each attack shows Energy symbols on the left, a name and a damage number. A Pokémon Power is labeled separately from the attacks.
Weakness, Resistance and Retreat. The bottom strip holds these three values. Retreat cost is how much Energy you must discard to swap the Pokémon out.
Fine print. Near the bottom you will find the illustrator name, the card number out of 102, and the rarity symbol.

One small oddity: Base Set cards do not carry a set symbol, which later sets added. The "out of 102" number is therefore your best clue to the set. Our guide on reading a trading card explains the same idea for all three games.

How to approach collecting Base Set

You do not need to chase the most famous cards to enjoy the set. A few approaches work well for newcomers, and none of them depend on a big budget.

Pick a theme

A theme gives your collection a shape. You could collect the starter trio, every Pokémon of a single type, every Trainer, or one evolution line from Basic to Stage 2. Our guide on building a themed collection covers how to choose one and stick with it.

Learn condition basics

Condition describes wear: bent corners, scratches on the holo area, whitened edges, creases. Older cards have had decades to collect wear, so two copies of the same card can look very different. Start with the card condition basics and look at every card in good light, front and back, before deciding it is what you want.

Protect what you own

Basic care goes a long way. Use soft sleeves, keep cards out of direct sunlight, avoid damp rooms and do not stack loose cards under weight. The guide to storing and protecting your cards has a short checklist. Writing a simple catalog also helps, and the article on organizing a card collection shows one way to do it.

Buy carefully

Because the set is old and popular, fakes and mislabeled cards exist. Take your time, ask questions, and read buying and trading cards safely before your first purchase. You can also save cards you like in your own browser with My Collection, which costs nothing and does not require owning the card.

Where to go next

Base Set rewards slow reading. Pick one card, read it top to bottom, then look at a card from another set and note what changed. These pages are good next stops.