Pokémon

How can you tell a Japanese Pikachu card is a promo?

Published · By the Cards from Japan editors

Summary

Look at the collection number. Japanese promos carry a promo code after the number, such as "SV-P" or "S-P," and the official card search lists where each promo was given out. Two cards can share the name "Pikachu ex" while one came from a booster pack and the other shipped as a promo in a boxed product.

The code after the number

A search for "ピカチュウ" (Pikachu) in the official Japanese card search returns more than 300 cards, partly because the search also matches names like Pichu and Light Ball. The promos among them show their numbers like this:

CardNumber as printedDistribution listed on the detail page
Tohoku's Pikachu260 / SV-PSpecial BOX, Pokémon Center Tohoku
Pikachu VMAX265 / S-PCoroCoro Comic, January 2022 issue
Pikachu (XY era)XY-P, no numberPOKÉMON with YOU wagon

Regular pack cards show a rarity mark such as RR or SAR beside the number, and these three promos show none. Some regular cards also lack the mark, Radiant Charizard 015 / 172 among them, so the code after the number is what identifies a promo.

Four different 30th anniversary Pikachu ex cards

The 30th CELEBRATION expansion, released September 16, 2026, contains two Pikachu ex cards, 047 / 103 and 048 / 103, both RR. The 30th CELEBRATION FUTURISTIC BOX released the same day (¥27,500, sold only through Pokémon Center Online) adds two more: FUR-style Pikachu ex promos, one of each, illustrated by YOSHIROTTEN. A listing titled only "30th Pikachu ex" could be any of the four.

Pikachu promos go back to Pikachu Illustrator, which was never sold and was handed out only as a prize in a 1998 illustration contest.

Sources

  1. Pokémon Card Game official card search (Japanese)
  2. Card detail, Tohoku's Pikachu 260 / SV-P (Japanese)
  3. Card detail, Pikachu VMAX 265 / S-P (Japanese)
  4. Card detail, Pikachu XY-P (Japanese)
  5. Card detail, Pikachu ex 047 / 103 (Japanese)
  6. Card detail, Radiant Charizard 015 / 172 (Japanese)
  7. 30th CELEBRATION expansion (Japanese)
  8. 30th CELEBRATION FUTURISTIC BOX (Japanese)
  9. Guinness World Records, most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auction

Details are as published on these pages on the date above and can change. Check the official page before you buy or submit.

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