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Topps trading cards • August 1999 to June 2004

Topps made Pokemon cards too

Not Pokemon TCG cards. Trading cards: anime stills and film frames on card stock, 12 sets of them between August 1999 and June 2004, and most people who collect Pokemon have never knowingly held one. Some of them are worth more than the cards everybody does know about.

Pikachu #25, a Topps trading card from Pokemon Official Trading Cards, August 1999: a still of Pikachu from the anime printed on card stock
Pikachu #25 from Pokemon Official Trading Cards, August 1999. This is a Topps card, not a Pokemon TCG card.

First, the thing that trips everybody up

These are trading cards, not game cards

Bulbapedia puts it in one line: "Topps does not manufacture any cards for use with the official Pokémon Trading Card Game." Topps is a trading card company. It made cards of Pokemon, licensed, for people to collect and swap. It never made a card you could put on a table and play with.

Which is why the fastest check is to turn one over. A Pokemon TCG card back is the blue Poke Ball pattern, the same on every card in the game, and the front carries HP, an attack, an energy cost and a retreat cost. A Topps card back carries a Pokedex entry or a summary of the episode the picture came from, with the Topps logo under it. There is nothing on it to play with. That last part follows from the line above rather than being quoted from anywhere, and it is written that way on purpose: no source we found spells the list out, but a card that was never made for the game was never going to carry it.

The confusion is understandable and it is worth naming. Both came out at the same time, both are Pokemon, both were sold in packs in the same shops in 1999, and both are the standard trading card shape. Only one of them is a game.

12
Topps Pokemon sets, 1999 to 2004
2,492
Topps listings with a price on them
$8,765
Top raw value, Dragonite [Tekno] #149
$45,490
Top PSA 10 value, Lapras [Sparkle] #131

Why this page exists

Nobody talks about them and some are worth thousands

This is not a hunch and it is checkable on this site in about ten seconds. Our list of the 100 most valuable raw Pokemon cards ranks every Pokemon card PriceCharting prices, in every language, and 14 of those hundred rows are Topps cards. Anybody who has read that page has already scrolled past 14 of them.

The reason is roughly this. Topps' cards were treated as the cheap ones at the time, because the game cards were the ones with a game attached, so far fewer were kept in sleeves and far fewer have ever been graded. The Chrome sets are the extreme case: chromium stock, heavily embossed, thick, four different finishes of every card, and a coating that makes them stick together in a pack. That is a card which was hard to pull out of a pack undamaged in 2000 and is hard to find in a high grade now.

What this page will not tell you is how hard any of them were to pull. Topps published insert odds for some of these sets and we deliberately did not record them. This site never states pull rates for anything.

The five most valuable raw, right now

  1. 1Dragonite [Tekno] #149, 2000 Topps ChromeDragonite [Tekno] #1492000 Topps Chrome$8,765
  2. 2Charizard [Sparkle] #6, 2000 Topps ChromeCharizard [Sparkle] #62000 Topps Chrome$8,600
  3. 3Snorlax [Tekno] #143, 2000 Topps ChromeSnorlax [Tekno] #1432000 Topps Chrome$6,000
  4. 4Articuno [Tekno] #144, 2000 Topps ChromeArticuno [Tekno] #1442000 Topps Chrome$5,500
  5. 5Vaporeon [Tekno] #134, 2000 Topps ChromeVaporeon [Tekno] #1342000 Topps Chrome$4,269

Ungraded PriceCharting price guide values read August 22, 2026, each read a second time from the card's own product page before it was printed. All 100, and the other hundred ranked the other way.

The five most valuable in a PSA 10

  1. 1Lapras [Sparkle] #131, 2000 Topps ChromeLapras [Sparkle] #1312000 Topps Chrome$45,490
  2. 2Gengar [Tekno] #94, 2000 Topps ChromeGengar [Tekno] #942000 Topps Chrome$39,000
  3. 3Charizard [Tekno] #6, 2000 Topps ChromeCharizard [Tekno] #62000 Topps Chrome$29,380
  4. 4Lugia, 2000 Topps Movie First AppearanceLugia2000 Topps Movie First Appearance$29,353
  5. 5Gengar [Sparkle] #94, 2000 Topps ChromeGengar [Sparkle] #942000 Topps Chrome$23,426

PSA 10 PriceCharting price guide values read August 22, 2026, each read a second time from the card's own product page before it was printed. All 100, and the other hundred ranked the other way.

The sets

All 12, in the order they came out

Set names, dates and card counts are Bulbapedia's, one page per set, linked at the foot of this page. Card counts are the BASE set: the chase and insert cards are extra and are described further down. The gray lines under each set are where PriceCharting files those cards, which is not the same thing at all, and the next section is about why.

  1. Pokemon Official Trading Cards

    August 1999 • 90 cards in the base set
    Bulbasaur #1, a Topps card from Pokemon Official Trading Cards, August 1999
    Bulbasaur #1
    Booster Pack Series 1 Blue Logo: the sealed packaging Pokemon Official Trading Cards was sold in
    Booster Pack Series 1 Blue Logo

    76 Pokemon cards, 13 character cards and a checklist card. The first 76 Pokemon, and the characters of the early anime.

    Also written as Pokemon Trading Cards series 1.

    • 1999-topps-tv: the base set, 288 priced rows

  2. Pokemon the First Movie Trading Cards

    November 1999 • 72 cards in the base set
    Mechanical Mewtwo #6, a Topps card from Pokemon the First Movie Trading Cards, November 1999
    Mechanical Mewtwo #6
    First Movie Booster Pack: the sealed packaging Pokemon the First Movie Trading Cards was sold in
    First Movie Booster Pack

    41 cards from Mewtwo Strikes Back, 18 from the short Pikachu's Vacation, 12 Evolution cards and a checklist. Pokemon: The First Movie, and the short shown with it.

    • 1999-topps-movie: the film and short cards, 198 priced rows
    • 1999-topps-movie-evolution: the 12 Evolution cards, 37 priced rows
    • 1999-topps-movie-die-cut: the 12 die cut embossed Evolution chase cards, 12 priced rows
    • 1999-topps-movie-sticker: the 18 sticker chase cards, 19 priced rows

  3. Pokemon Trading Cards series 2

    June 2000 • 72 cards in the base set
    Gengar #94, a Topps card from Pokemon Trading Cards series 2, June 2000
    Gengar #94
    Booster Pack [Series 2]: the sealed packaging Pokemon Trading Cards series 2 was sold in
    Booster Pack [Series 2]

    41 Pokemon cards, 5 Heroes & Villains cards, 25 episode cards and a checklist card. More of the original 151, and episodes of the first anime series.

    • 2000-topps-tv: the base set, merged with series 3, 317 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-heroes-&-villians: its 5 Heroes & Villains cards, merged with series 3's 12, 51 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-clear: its 5 clear cards, merged with series 3's 5, 10 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-die-cut: its 12 die cut embossed cards, merged with series 3's 12, 25 priced rows

  4. Pokemon Chrome Trading Card Series 1

    June 2000 • 78 cards in the base set
    Blastoise #9, a Topps card from Pokemon Chrome Trading Card Series 1, June 2000
    Blastoise #9
    Booster Box [Series 1]: the sealed packaging Pokemon Chrome Trading Card Series 1 was sold in
    Booster Box [Series 1]

    78 cards covering the first 78 Pokemon. Pokemon 1 to 78, printed on chromium stock.

    • 2000-topps-chrome: numbers 1 to 78 of it, merged with Chrome Series 2, 604 priced rows

  5. Pokemon: the Movie 2000 Trading Cards

    July 2000 • 72 cards in the base set
    Lugia Rises #64, a Topps card from Pokemon: the Movie 2000 Trading Cards, July 2000
    Lugia Rises #64
    Booster Pack: the sealed packaging Pokemon: the Movie 2000 Trading Cards was sold in
    Booster Pack

    59 cards from The Power of One, 12 from the short Pikachu's Rescue Adventure and a checklist. Pokemon: The Movie 2000, and the short shown with it.

    • 2000-topps-movie: the base set, 217 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-movie-sticker: the 10 Animation Stick-on cards, 10 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-movie-first-appearance: the 6 Pokemon First Appearance hologram cards, 6 priced rows

  6. Pokemon Trading Cards series 3

    December 2000 • 72 cards in the base set
    Mew #151, a Topps card from Pokemon Trading Cards series 3, December 2000
    Mew #151
    Booster Pack [Series 3]: the sealed packaging Pokemon Trading Cards series 3 was sold in
    Booster Pack [Series 3]

    34 Pokemon cards, 12 Heroes & Villains cards, 19 episode cards, 6 puzzle cards and a checklist card. Pokemon 118 to 151, and the Orange Islands run of the anime.

    • 2000-topps-tv: the base set, merged with series 2, 317 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-episode: its 19 episode cards, 57 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-puzzle: its 6 puzzle cards, 18 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-pop-up: its 10 pop-up chase cards, 10 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-heroes-&-villians: its 12 Heroes & Villains cards, merged with series 2's 5, 51 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-clear: its 5 clear cards, merged with series 2's 5, 10 priced rows
    • 2000-topps-tv-die-cut: its die cut Evolution cards, merged with series 2's die cuts, 25 priced rows

  7. Pokemon Chrome Trading Card Series 2

    December 2000 • 73 cards in the base set
    Mewtwo #150, a Topps card from Pokemon Chrome Trading Card Series 2, December 2000
    Mewtwo #150
    Booster Pack: Series 2: the sealed packaging Pokemon Chrome Trading Card Series 2 was sold in
    Booster Pack: Series 2

    The remaining Generation I Pokemon after Chrome Series 1, numbers 79 to 151. Pokemon 79 to 151, printed on chromium stock.

    • 2000-topps-chrome: numbers 79 to 151 of it, merged with Chrome Series 1, 604 priced rows

  8. Pokemon Johto Trading Cards series 1

    February 2001 • 90 cards in the base set
    Chikorita #152, a Topps card from Pokemon Johto Trading Cards series 1, February 2001
    Chikorita #152
    Booster Box [Series 1]: the sealed packaging Pokemon Johto Trading Cards series 1 was sold in
    Booster Box [Series 1]

    62 Pokemon cards, 27 episode cards and a checklist card. The Johto Pokemon and the Johto anime.

    • 2001-topps-johto: the 62 Pokemon cards and the checklist, 129 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-episode: its episode cards, 28 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-sticker: its 62 sticker chase cards, 62 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-die-cut: its 15 die cut embossed chase cards, 15 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-pop-up: its 10 pop-up chase cards, 10 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-hologram: its hologram chase cards, 12 priced rows

  9. Pokemon Johto League Champions Trading Cards

    November 2001 • 50 cards in the base set
    Ho-Oh #250, a Topps card from Pokemon Johto League Champions Trading Cards, November 2001
    Ho-Oh #250

    37 Pokemon cards, 12 episode cards and a checklist card. Johto, the second Topps run at it.

    • 2001-topps-johto-champions: the 37 Pokemon cards and the checklist, 76 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-champions-episode: its episode cards, 13 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-champions-sticker: its 37 sticker chase cards, 37 priced rows
    • 2001-topps-johto-champions-die-cut: its 18 die cut embossed chase cards, 18 priced rows

  10. Pokemon Advanced Trading Cards

    May 2003 • 90 cards in the base set
    Blaziken #19, a Topps card from Pokemon Advanced Trading Cards, May 2003
    Blaziken #19

    81 Pokemon cards, 8 character cards and a checklist card. Generation III and the Hoenn anime.

    • 2003-topps-advanced: the base set, 180 priced rows
    • 2003-topps-advanced-die-cut: its 18 embossed Evolution chase cards, 18 priced rows
    • 2003-topps-advanced-pop-up: its pop-up chase cards, 9 priced rows

  11. Pokemon Advanced Challenge Trading Cards

    June 2004 • 90 cards in the base set
    Rayquaza #54, a Topps card from Pokemon Advanced Challenge Trading Cards, June 2004
    Rayquaza #54

    89 Pokemon cards and a checklist. Pokemon introduced up to and including Generation III. The last Topps Pokemon set.

    • 2004-topps-advanced-challenge: the base set, 177 priced rows
    • 2004-topps-advanced-challenge-die-cut: its 18 die cut embossed chase cards, 18 priced rows
    • 2004-topps-advanced-challenge-pop-up: its 10 pop-up chase cards, 10 priced rows

And one that never came to the States

  1. Pokemon Johto Series 3

    May 2001 • 70 cards in the base set

    30 Pokemon cards, 27 snap cards, 6 Heroes & Villains cards, 6 puzzle piece cards and a checklist card. Johto, released in Europe only and printed in English, French, German and Italian.

    Europe only

    PriceCharting holds no bucket for this one, so none of its cards are priced on this site.

Pokemon Top 10 Collector Cards is not on that list and should not be on anybody's. A Topps set planned for Pokemon's 10th anniversary in 2006 and never released. It is not part of the run above and is easy to meet in a checklist and mistake for one.

A trap worth knowing

Topps shipped 12 sets. Price guides list 33

If you look these cards up anywhere that prices them, you will meet set names Topps never used. That is not an error, it is a different way of filing the same cards, and knowing which one you are reading saves a lot of confusion.

Topps filed by RELEASE: one set, shipped on one date, containing its base cards and its chase cards. PriceCharting files by CARD TYPE: a set's die cut chase run gets its own bucket, its stickers get another, and where two Topps sets shared a card type the two are merged into one bucket. "2000 Topps TV Heroes & Villians" is the clearest case. It holds HV1 to HV17, which is series 2's five Heroes & Villains cards plus series 3's twelve, and Topps never released a set by that name.

So on this site the set list above is Topps' own, and the gray lines under each one say which price guide buckets those cards ended up in. 30 of those 37 claims are re-checked every time this page is built, against the card numbers in our own copy of the crawl: the build stops if, say, the Orange Islands bucket stops holding exactly 19 OR-numbered cards, or the Chrome bucket stops holding exactly 151 numbers. The ones with no check next to them are the ones where our count and Bulbapedia's did not line up exactly, and no check was invented to make them agree.

What the subsets are

Chrome, die cut, stickers and the film frames

Most Topps sets are a base run plus several kinds of chase card, and the chase cards are where nearly all the money is. These are the ones you will meet.

Chrome

A separate line of sets rather than an insert. Chrome cards are printed on chromium stock, are heavily embossed and very thick, and carry the Topps Chrome logo on the front and the back. The artwork matches the regular Trading Cards series.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Chrome_Trading_Cards_Series_1

Die cut

Chase cards cut to the shape of the Pokemon rather than to a rectangle, with raised embossing. Most Topps sets printed a run of them.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_2

Evolution

Cards showing a Pokemon's evolutionary line. In the First Movie set the 12 Evolution cards are part of the base set and there are 12 die cut embossed versions of them as chase; in Advanced the 18 embossed Evolution cards cover six three-stage lines.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Advanced_Trading_Cards

Sticker

Cards carrying a peelable Pokemon sticker, with puzzle pieces printed on the back that assemble into one image across the run.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_2

Puzzle

Cards whose backs carry pieces of a picture. Series 1 put them on the backs of its 13 character cards, completing an image on the checklist card; series 3 printed 6 puzzle cards of their own.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_1

Heroes & Villains

Character cards for the people in the anime rather than the Pokemon, describing who they are and what they want. They were part of the base set in series 2, series 3 and the Europe-only Johto Series 3. Topps never released a set called Heroes & Villains.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_3

Pop-up

Cards with a punch-out Pokemon that props up off the card face.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Advanced_Trading_Cards

Clear

Transparent cards with an image printed on both sides. Series 2 and series 3 printed five each.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_2

First Appearance hologram

Six hologram cards in the Movie 2000 set for Pokemon making their first screen appearance in that film.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_the_Movie_2000_Trading_Cards

Authentic Film Frame

A card carrying a real 35mm frame cut from a print of the film. Topps said a full reel was cut into individual frames, one to a card, so no two of these cards hold the same frame.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_the_Movie_2000_Trading_Cards

And the parallels, which are the same card printed a different way

A parallel is not a different card, it is the same card number with a different finish, and it is why one set can hold four rows for one Pokemon. The Chrome bucket is the extreme: 151 card numbers and 604 priced rows, because every number exists as a plain Chrome card and as Sparkle, Spectra, Tekno. 151 times four is exactly 604. The word in square brackets in a card's name on a price guide is the finish.

Foil

A silver foil parallel of a base card. Series 1 printed a silver foil and a rainbow foil version of all 90 of its cards alongside the plain one.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_1

Rainbow Foil

The second foil parallel, with a chromatic shine across it rather than a flat silver one.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_1

Sparkle

Sparkle-Chrome, one of the three insert parallels sitting above a plain Chrome card. Chrome Series 1 and 2 both printed every number in Chrome, Spectra-Chrome, Sparkle-Chrome and Tekno-Chrome.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Chrome_Trading_Cards_Series_1

Spectra

Spectra-Chrome, the second of the three Chrome insert parallels.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Chrome_Trading_Cards_Series_1

Tekno

Tekno-Chrome, the third Chrome insert parallel and the hardest of the four Chrome finishes to find. It is the finish on the most expensive raw Topps card in this whole ranking.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Chrome_Trading_Cards_Series_1

Holo

A hologram parallel or a hologram chase card, depending on the set.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Johto_Trading_Cards_series_1

Tin Topper

PriceCharting's own label on eleven rows across the 1999 and 2000 TV sets. We could not source what Topps itself called them, so this guide says what the label is attached to and no more.

On Tekno specifically, the collectibles press has written that it is "The Jigglypuff card in question is of the Tekno rarity, making it one of the least common cards in the Topps Chrome Series 1 set." That is hobby press rather than a Topps statement, so treat it as somebody's reporting. What is not in doubt is the arithmetic on this page: Tekno cards take 38 of the 100 places on the raw hundred, over on the values page.

In your hand

How to tell a Topps card from a real TCG card

Here they are next to each other. Same Pokemon, same year, and only one of them is a game card.

Charizard #6, a Topps trading card: a still of Charizard from the anime printed on plain card stock, with no HP, no attack and no energy cost anywhere on it
Topps, 1999Charizard #6, from Pokemon Official Trading Cards. A frame from the cartoon on card stock. No HP, no attack, no energy cost, no retreat cost: nothing on it belongs to a game. Turn it over and the back is a Pokedex entry with the Topps logo under it.
Pokemon TCG Base Set Charizard, card 4 of 102: an illustration of Charizard with HP at the top, an attack with an energy cost, a retreat cost and an illustrator credit
Pokemon TCG, 1999Base Set Charizard, card 4 of 102. Commissioned artwork rather than a screen grab, HP in the top corner, an attack with an energy cost beside it, a retreat cost at the foot and the illustrator's name on it. The back is the blue Poke Ball pattern, the same on every card in the game.

Every check, in words

Any one of these settles it. The first one settles it fastest.

The back is a Pokedex entry or an episode summary, not game text

A Topps card back carries a description of the Pokemon or a summary of the episode the picture is from. A Pokemon TCG card back is the blue Poke Ball pattern, identical on every card in the game.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_2

The Topps logo is on the back, under the Pokedex entry

Card number at the top, Topps logo under the entry, copyright along the bottom. There is a Nintendo seal on the back too, circular on the UK first printing and oval on the North American one.

www.elitefourum.com/t/topps-collecting-guide/13374

The picture is a still from the show or the film

Topps printed screen images. A Pokemon TCG card carries commissioned illustration with an artist credit on it.

billsarchive.com/topps.html

There is no HP, no attack, no energy cost and no retreat cost

This one follows from the card not being made for the game rather than being quoted from a source, and it is the fastest check there is: turn the card over, and if there is nothing to play with, it is not a Pokemon TCG card.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Topps

On Series 1, the color of the Topps logo dates the printing

Blue on the first printing, black on the second, green on the third and red on the fourth, the last two on non-foil cards only. The foil debossing changes with it: smooth on the first, then rays, then flames, then Poke Balls.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Cards_series_1

A Chrome card feels wrong in the hand before you look at it

Heavily embossed, noticeably thick, with the Topps Chrome logo on both faces. The glossy coating also makes them stick to each other.

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Chrome_Trading_Cards_Series_1

One thing that does not work: reaching for a ruler. Measuring the card is the first thing people try and this guide cannot back it up. We found no source stating a size or a card stock difference between a Topps Pokemon card and a Pokemon TCG card, so no check here rests on one. Turn the card over instead: the back settles it in a second and every tell above is on that side.

If what you are actually asking is whether a card is real at all, that is a different question and it has its own page: eight checks for spotting a counterfeit. A genuine Topps card is not a fake Pokemon card. It is a real card of a different kind.

Where to go next

The prices, and the rest of the site

Topps card values holds both hundreds in full, ranked raw and ranked by PSA 10, with the source path on every row and the date they were read.

Elsewhere: the 100 most valuable raw Pokemon cards and the 100 highest PSA 10 values rank everything, Topps included, against the whole catalog. Every English set and the set guides cover the actual card game. Is it worth grading? does the subtraction on raw against graded prices, which is the question these two lists raise on nearly every row. And Pokemon lore and every Pokemon video game are the other two pages here that are about Pokemon rather than about cards.

Where all of this came from

Set names, dates, card counts and what each subset is: Bulbapedia, read August 18, 2026. One page per set, and each set card above names the one it came from. Thanks to them for keeping it.

Prices, card scans and the packaging photographs: pricecharting.com, read August 22, 2026, methodology published at their /page/methodology. Every priced row on the values page carries its own path on that site. The pack and box photographs are theirs as well, and they are the reason this page can show you what a 1999 Topps wrapper looked like at all: nothing else we could reach has one. 4 of the 12 sets have no packaging photograph in their catalog, and those show a card and say nothing about packaging rather than borrowing a picture from a set next to them. Every picture on this page was fetched and checked before it was published.

The Pokemon TCG card in the comparison: TCGdex (assets.tcgdex.net), which is where the card scans on this site's set guides come from.

Not sourced, and therefore not said here: who Topps signed the Pokemon license with, how many of anything was printed, what a pack cost, and any odds of pulling anything.

Card images are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification. Pokemon and all card artwork are trademarks of The Pokemon Company, Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures Inc. Topps is a trademark of its owner. This is a fan page and none of them are involved in it.