Pokémon Vending Cards: Series 1 (Blue)

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Back in 1998, there were sets of Pokémon cards released in Japan that were sold on sheets in vending machines: Blue, Red, & Green. I'm going to be looking at every single one of these cards one set at a time starting with the Blue Series. Most of these cards all appear in Pokemon Trading Card Game 2, also a Japan-only release.
Intro, Background, Pallet Town Remix by Joshua C. Griffin.
#pokemon #pokemontradingcardgame #pokemontcg2

[@Dan55888]

Mr Mime is in Viriduan Forest because Viridian forest is on route 2 and that is where you trade for Mr Mime in generation 1. It was the only way to get it in pokemon red and blue I think. (Just like Farfetch'd in Vermillion City)

[@silvershadow8866]

Plus ash' mom has a mr mime as her boyfriend in her home

[@Paraspectre]

Right, but it isn’t really part of the forest. You don’t even go through it to go get Mr. Mime. But I get it, it’s “close by”

[@leftysheppey]

@@silvershadow8866 I always thought their relationship had more of a Mistress/slave dynamic

[@edwardnygma8533]

​@leftysheppey Nah he seems pretty fresh with her at times, they're definitely on equal footing.

[@cuplaser]

@@Paraspectre You know, Snorlax isn't really part of Celadon either.

[@carrot_no6196]

25:26 to me, it looks like the "tree" snorlax is sleeping on is the bridge near vermilion city, where you fight one of the two snorlax

[@Paraspectre]

We’d have to check in with the artist. They’re probably like 26 now

[@Krisipoke]

Exactly what I came here to say. That looks exactly like the place you find the Eastern Snorlax at.

[@Grimlax22493]

Makes more sense being the bridge because you can see small little trees to his left similar to how the route is laid out in the game

[@GoyBenius_0901]

That Kakuna with the Arita art is insane, looks like one of his more modern peices.

[@hv433]

I feel like you're underestimating Promo Mewtwo... Promo Mewtwo was easily a powerful card (it was part of Haymaker), and should be noted as the ONLY card that can pull Special Energies out from the Discard Pile at the time (any Colorless energy and Rainbow Energy). It's pretty versatile in decks, especially since you could use it for Super Energy Removals or Super Potions and get the Energy back with little issue, or you could discard a Psychic energy and another energy, use Energy Absorption and use Psyburn the turn after. So while it wasn't an obscene powerhouse like it was in the Gen 1 games with its monstrous stats nor the "ultimate life form" as the anime calls it, it still was pretty powerful in the card game. Oh, but the other two really aren't that great, the Base Set being a solid meme card and the Vending Mewtwo being very dependent on your opponent's deck.

[@Paraspectre]

To be fair, I never used Promo Mewtwo, so I’ll take your word for it. I was just thinking along the lines of Mewtwo being able to steamroll through the Gen 1 games, yet an Abra can take down Mewtwo in 4 hits in the card game with some lucky paralysis luck.

[@hv433]

​@@Paraspectre if you have used Base Set Hitmonchan or Base Set Electabuzz, Promo Mewtwo is very similar to those two. It's a 70 HP Basic with a move that does 40 damage - enough to knock out a good portion of Basic Pokemon in one or two turns. Again, it's pretty strong, but not overwhelmingly strong like in RBY or the anime. It may lose due to luck, but any Pokemon can lose due to luck. Wrong matchups, bad coin flips, etc. That's part of what makes the card game fun.

[@JCannon38]

@@hv433using that mewtwo along with the fossil set aerodactyl was broken. By turn two if you player right you can be doing 40 with mewtwo. And aero’s poke power would prevent all Pokémon from evolving. I steam rolled through the game and in real life back then 😂

[@luigibarqs]

The Mr. Mime card is part of the Viridian Forest set, because you can trade with an NPC near there for a Mr. Mime in the games. Also, I think that Snorlax card art depicts it sleeping at the Route 12 intersection from the games.

[@Paraspectre]

Yeah, it’s “close” by. I never think of Viridian Forest with it though. It’s not in the forest or even in the wild nearby. It’s just some random person who has one who happens to be near it 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Opaninesse]

The Japanese word translated as "Peck" is more broad then the english word. It also counts for like poking. Any kind of spike makes sense for peck which is why Goldeen has peck.

[@ohno5559]

or maybe goldeen gives the opponent a quick kiss on the cheek

[@AntiAnnihilator5000]

My favorite art of the cards covered in this video is Chansey. Chansey's a pokemon that doesn't leave much of an impression on me other than their role as Nurse Joy assistants in the anime (being that I've never done competitive), but the joyful look on the Chansey's face as it's surrounded by eggs is really adorable.

[@nousukas]

Porygon has a nice viewpoint with the pokemon on the pavement and the city in the backround. I kinda disagreed with Paraspectre in many of his opinions too. The eevee was very cute though.

[@Paraspectre]

Nothing is going to ruin that Chansey’s day

[@thutmose3757]

Great content as always! I'm excited for this new series.

[@Paraspectre]

Thank you! I love learning about these cards

[@TheLetterJ0]

Suspicious Soundwave reminds me a lot of the move Eerie Impulse that was introduced in Gen 6. And Bulbapedia says that a more direct translation of Suspicious Soundwave is Eerie Sound Wave, and Eerie Impulse is Strange Wave. So there are definitely some similar vibes going on there. But the moves' effects are nothing alike, and Zubat has never been able to learn Eerie Impulse.

[@Paraspectre]

Suspicious Soundwave would be a sweet band name

[@djprincegrandmasteryrjdalo2905]

I actually thought it was a more complicated version of the move, supersonic

[@taylorswan8587]

I’m getting close to having the whole vending set, some of my favorite cards ever 🙌

[@nousukas]

13:03 One reason I love the clefairy & Dark clefable in TCG 2. Always swithching or putting the opponent asleep. And Dark clefable is overall an excellent card.

[@bapjap]

Someone on eBay was getting rid of their complete vending collection. Happy to say I’m the proud owner of all 3 sets!

[@Paraspectre]

Woww, I am envious there. I think these cards are great

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

Here's a 5 month late celebratory party popper 🎉

[@Jforest02]

Holy crap, 10k subscribers. Congrats dude!

[@Paraspectre]

Why thanks! I’ll mention this in the next part and thank everybody

[@andrewjoseph2749]

In Red/Blue you get through trade a Mr.Mime from a house on the other side of Viridian Forest, that's probably why Mr.Mime is in the area 2 sheets.

[@Paraspectre]

Yeah, makes sense. I just do not think of Viridian Forest with it. You’re going through Vermilion and Diglett’s Cave in order to get it and probably not even going near Viridian Forest again

[@drascia]

I love listening to you talk about Pokémon cards. It's like a cozy bedtime story.

[@Paraspectre]

Haha well there’s probably another hour and a half to go in the series

[@drascia]

@@Paraspectre I definitely fell asleep to this last night

[@harmian]

I'd love to see an Imakuni deck TCG1 challenge run. As a special challenge, use the Imakuni?-card whenever possible. Do you dare? :)

[@EJsGameplay]

That would be cool. I might have to try that myself sometime.

[@Paraspectre]

This is probably my most requested challenge. I’ll have to do it eventually

[@KibbysGhost]

10k subscribers! Happy to say I’ve been here since the beginning, keep it going shroom boi!

[@Paraspectre]

🍄 🍄

[@4fives992]

I never knew these existed so seeing these cards for the first time was a treat. Those contest winning cards are really cute.

[@Paraspectre]

I legit like the Mr. Mime one. And as I mentioned, the humor in Poliwhirl evolving into a kid’s drawing

[@SmoltingWassie]

Bulbasuar left behind at Oaks lab from Red version while Oak does experiments on him.

[@Paraspectre]

I hate this… but yes, that’s the correct answer.

[@nickcasillas1618]

Love your style of super chill and relaxing video, lol could honestly listen to you talk about cards all day!

[@Paraspectre]

Why thanks! Still 3 parts to go in this series alone ☺️

[@mdudegamer]

This video brings back memories. At one point I went through all the vending cards in my spare time, and wrote up notes on 'em like some of the old guidebooks would do.

[@Paraspectre]

I probably would’ve done the same back then

[@sirwolfy9372]

7:08 in GB2 this card shows Bulba Holding pokeball at night. It's sweet

[@bodkin8914]

5.30 am in Germany: yeah new Paraspectre video😁 somthing nice to join me for breakfast. Thanks man

[@Paraspectre]

Enjoy your breakfast!

[@swizzler]

probably never came over here because vending machine owners were already cashing in on pokemon, I remember sticker machine vending devices that replaced the stickers with random pokemon cards, with a chance (haha, yeah right) at a foil.

[@johnxscar]

this is my favorite set, i ripped tons of these as a kid. I've never known what any of these cards do lol

[@DKQuagmire]

25:29 I always thought that picture of Snorlax was of Snorlax sleeping on the route south of Lavender Town, where you would normally catch it in the Pokemon red, blue and yellow games, blocking of the the direct route to Vermillion City!

[@Paraspectre]

Probably is, yeah. In the eyes of a small child

[@RJV-s3l]

This series is going to be pretty awesome! I love learning about these things. Also those Abra and Porygon illustrations are so good!

[@Paraspectre]

Right? I’ve decided that Porygon is the best one here

[@SupremeDirt]

got to say one of the strangest things with some of the wizards card releases is changing the levels for some reason. snorlax somehow losing 15 levels on its way west.

[@gentrelane]

American kids would have loved vending cards like that. I loved the bootleg ones it felt so fun to get them from a vending machine for some reason

[@Paraspectre]

I would’ve spent so much money on vending cards back then. Well, the money I got from allowance or returning cans or something

[@dicapriodelorean2888]

I always loved the art for vending machine series Porygon, it fits their 90s vibes and urban habitat

[@dror843]

Aye i have that art work for porygon but from the gameboy promo probably in celadon city as its where it is bought

[@Paraspectre]

I think it’s my favorite one from this series. It’s great

[@H4GS]

Hey man, love all your videos. How familiar are you with the Bandai/Carddass era of Pokemon cards? I’m super into the holo vending and sticker cards. Even some of the pocket monster and Satoshi cards I have that I can’t quite find any information online other than eBay listings have piqued my interest because of their artworks. Obviously the Topps/Anime TV Series/Burger King PokeTrivia have more widely available information on them so that’s all that typically comes up when I try to search for more info on some of those older sets. Would love a video on even some basic information about those sets!

[@DoubleDog]

Loving the videos on retro cards, especially the Japanese ones.

[@Paraspectre]

They’re a bit less known, so I’m really enjoying learning about them myself

[@acrophis]

I love Aya Kusube's art style.

[@KnTenshi2]

Aw, Paraspectre, you missed the chance to have a G Gundam reference for Clefairy. ;P But, seriously, it is neat to see the cards we never got.

[@HarpieKing]

I've recently started collecting some cards after not having any since my childhood. I'm specifically going for all variants of Jynx because she's my favourite pokemon. I'm setting myself a challenge for it though and I'm only using money that I make from KZbin so I'm gradually working my way through them but I'll be needing those 2 Vending Machine Jynx cards soon 😊

[@Paraspectre]

Heck yeah, I love it. Jynx cards are a cool collection. I myself am trying to get every Parasect, Sandshrew and Sandslash card. I had to draw the line at my top 3

[@djprincegrandmasteryrjdalo2905]

I’m very curious what is it about Jynx that you like about it? The only reason I’m asking is because I’m genuinely curious on how somebody could even like Jynx, and number two and I’m pretty sure you’re probably gonna get a feel for this one, but I personally despise humanoid. Pokémon that are human like and have clothing, I hate Pokémon with clothing on it just makes it unnatural and not right.

[@Prod.t1co]

i have that vending machine bulbasaur in awesome quality!

[@dror843]

just to explain that mr mime is in viridian forest area because on the other site of it you can cut a tree and there is a house there with npc that will trade you a mr mime for kadabra

[@marxistharpy]

Cool series! Can’t wait to see the rest

[@Paraspectre]

Thanks! Still like an hour and a half to go

[@leftysheppey]

Early pokemon artwork was weird. Just very very bizarre with vastly different backgrounds on each card. Different times, I guess

[@Marrer_osrs]

i need these cards XD they would been massive back in day .

[@ggrapperhaus]

I love your videos. Looking forward to this new series!!

[@ZigzagoonGang]

I’d love to see a normal type deck, something like lickitung Taurus and dodrio with some others

[@dror843]

it would be wonderful if you would make a video like this on all the less known sets from japan or cards like WEB series/VS series, fan club cards etc.

[@Paraspectre]

I certainly thought about this! I want to stick to retro cards, as they are what I’m into. But yeah, plenty of options there

[@dror843]

@@Paraspectre well VS set is retro as well as the web series and fan club cards

[@relo999]

25:30 It's not snorlax sleeping against a tree but Snorlax on route 12.

[@DeInevitable]

ooo baby i was hoping this would happen after the first video

[@Paraspectre]

Multiple parts?

[@FemboyLevi]

Just recently got myself the Snorlax card

[@Paraspectre]

It’s a piece of history

[@davinator1212]

Zubat DOES has some nice art

[@Paraspectre]

I’d put it above my desk

[@wavemasterxyra1630]

Seems like the Bulbasaur is the one that was left in Oak's lab.

[@Paraspectre]

Very good point…

[@StarkMaximum]

12:46 This hand of mine glows with an awesome POWER!!! Its BURNING GRIP tells me to defeat you! Take this! My love! My anger! And ALL OF MY SORROW! *SHIIIINIIIIING FIIIIIIINGERRRRRRRRRR!*

[@michaelhong1079]

why do some cards have a rarity symbol on the bottom right and others dont?

[@piratebear3126]

Just what I need to pass the time on a Sunday evening shift. Recently the Pokemon Go set actually had a Ditto that had a sticker of another Pokemon on top of it, closest thing we’ve gotten to the vending cards. Also I actually won the complete set of the Burger King toys as a kid. Unfortunately I ended up purging it as a teenager, except for the Sandslash keychain that still houses some of my keys to this day.

[@Paraspectre]

Man, I loved the BK toys. I used to own almost all of them but the only ones I still have are the plush Togepi and the Sandshrew and Sandslash keychains

[@techwiz81]

Those cards that look like they were drawn by a little kid are such a big oof, I would not have been happy to get that out of a vending machine

[@Paraspectre]

Haha they are a piece of history. I do actually like the Mr. Mime one though

[@techwiz81]

@@Paraspectre Mr. Mime is good and the actual ones drawn by children are fine I guess, but like Chansey and Doduo look awful

[@MeanderingSlacker]

A pet eevee can evolve into Vaporeon.

[@SamuraiSam]

Vending Parasect wouldn't be viable in an actual Card GB2 metagame between human players, but yeah, its effectiveness against the AI can be acknowledged

[@Paraspectre]

Depends on the human player…

[@SamuraiSam]

@@Paraspectre Sure, but if we were playing Card GB2 and you came at me with your Parasect deck, I don't think you'd be happy with the results!😜

[@terkerknight]

1:52 I know this man. Lmao

[@Paraspectre]

Freal??

[@terkerknight]

@@Paraspectre for real, he co-owned and co-operated the local comic book shop in my hometown for years.

[@F1ghtGam3r]

MATOBA DESIGN has interesting video, about the Snorlax card

[@joefarrow1599]

Ohh nice, I was wondering what vending meant in your other videos

[@Paraspectre]

I pretty much learned about them as I wrote this. I love them

[@warrior3456_]

Cool

[@keegandebruyn6567]

Nice

[@MrZrbrownie]

Some of this artwork looks maddeningly familiar. I never played the second game, nor did I ever get Japanese cards as a kid. So why do I recognize some of these?!

[@Paraspectre]

I’m pretty sure a lot of the artwork is from the original Japanese Red and Green, but I could be wrong. Pinsir and Parasect for example look like official artwork to me

[@MrZrbrownie]

@@Paraspectre Makes sense. Thank you sir! Can't wait for the next parts!

[@gligarguy4010]

I've always wondered, do you have an interest in the card game beyond the first gen?

[@Paraspectre]

Ehhh not really, no. I collected the first four sets as a kid and played the TCG a lot. Then I lost interest in Pokémon for years. I did get into TCG Online for a little while, so that’s my only exposure to more modern cards. I’m not really into the ridiculously high HP and attacks now and much prefer it when like, 30 damage was pretty good haha

[@Nmethyltransferase]

Head spliff.

[@ferrugemj18]

How can something nosedive without a nose?!?!?!?!?

[@Paraspectre]

Absolutely perplexing. Yet Rattata can’t learn Bite 🙄

[@bannisray3683]

Where can I get TCG 2 rom in english?

[@Paraspectre]

It’s pretty easy to find by going to Dr. Google

[@PiterLauchy]

Algorithm

[@Paraspectre]

Response

[@johnzale7748]

41st comment swag

[@FuckYoutubeCensorship]

Watch the Jojo/pokemon crossover by Mashed on KZbin and you'll gain more respect for Metapod.

[@RealDuendeNoFake]

The kid who drew mr mime somehow made him look cute lol

[@Team_Orchid]

I feel Zubat should have had a move called Swarm that acted like Paras's scatter spores considering how infamous that bat is at swarming you.

[@Paraspectre]

Can’t argue against that one

[@yyyytttt7]

Parasectre Try playing Pokemon but Start with 10 colorless and 10 what ever color the type of pokemon it is ..and also only having decker draw from only contain Pokemon,Support and Special energies, meanwhile your Items can be Used anytime without drawing since they already come with Limits such as One can be played during a turn, This way The flow of Battle is fast and adds PP system as seeing pokemon card attacks do Alot of damage it would make it more competitive and even if a pokemon runs out of Energy it will use Struggle like in the Handheld games

[@KirbytPink]

When are you doing challenges again? Like beat Pokémon Fire Red with only Parasect?

[@TheNerdSmash]

Just wanna point out that that snorlax isn't sleeping against a tree that's supposed to be one of the walk ways he blocks.

[@kargoncoppercoin2093]

Eevee learns lunge. Lunge is a bug type move. Bug type eeveelutiin confirmed? C'mon gamefreak, gimme Scorpeon lol

[@leftysheppey]

I'm expecting steel type soon. Don't ask me why, I just am lol

[@SorceressHalcy]

I really wish we had gotten a set that imported these, there are some really good mechanics and unique cards in these that I love to use in Card GB2. Would have needed to be in place of Base 2 or something probably but would have been cool to see.

[@ZigzagoonGang]

You have my vote