Error cards

Error cards, also known as misprints, are special cards in the TCG that have certain elements that are incorrect. They include corrected and uncorrected design errors, repeating ink misprints, and other production errors. The list of "Corrected Errors" includes design errors that saw a correction within the same print run and any notable ink errors known to occur. These cards have a very limited production size and oftentimes offer a rare glimpse into a moment from a print run. The list of "Uncorrected Errors" are mass-produced cards that never saw a correction within the same print run, making them notable, but not rare or desirable to collectors. Errors listed on the Official TCG Errata document are denoted by (Erratum).

Original Series

Base Set

 
Vulpix listed with "HP 50" instead of "50 HP".

Corrected Errors:

  • Blastoise: "Stage Error Blastoise". The word "Stage" can be missing from the top right corner on unlimited prints.
  • Blastoise: "Illustrator Error Blastoise". The word "Illus." can be missing from the bottom left corner of unlimited prints. Much rarer than the "Stage Error Blastoise".
  • Blastoise: "Red Dot Blastoise". A small red ink dot above Hydro Pump attack's water energy symbol can be found on unlimited prints.
  • Chansey: "Black Dot Chansey". A black ink blob can be found above the "x" of "next" on the Scrunch attack on unlimited print.
  • Charizard: "Black Dot Charizard" A small black ink dot can be found covering the "t" of "Nintendo" at the bottom of unlimited prints. Notably this error also has a micro holoshift at the bottom of the artwork and a slight holobleed.
  • Clefairy: "Red Heart Clefairy". A magenta ink printer hickey coincidentally resembling a heart with a circle can be found above the artwork on rare unlimited prints. The most desirable copies are the ones with a thick full circle and heart because the error can be very faded.
  • Clefairy: "Black Dot Clefairy". A big black ink blob can be found covering the "no" of "now Asleep." in the Sing attack on unlimited prints.
  • Gyarados: Low black ink/Gray print error can be found on unlimited prints. Another error is a red dot on the bottom border of some unlimited prints, directly under the "96" in the copyright.
  • Hitmonchan: Low black ink/Gray print error can be found on unlimited prints. Another error is a large holobleed over the "HP" and fighting energy symbol at the top right of some unlimited prints.
  • Machamp: "Screen Holo Machamp". A yellow "screen" of vertical ink lines can be found across some unlimited prints giving the holos a very unique effect.
  • Machamp: "Green Dot Machamp". A blue-green ink blob over the "H" in "HP" at the top right of unlimited prints.
  • Mewtwo: Blue ink streaks can be found on the holo background on unlimited prints. Low black ink/gray print errors can also be found on unlimited prints.
  • Ninetales: "No Damage Ninetales". The number "80" is missing from the Fire Blast attack on some shadowless prints found from Brushfire theme decks.
  • Ninetales: A black ink hickey obstructing the "es" in "Ninetales" can be found on some unlimited prints. Unlimited Ninetales can also be found with a yellow hair looking obstruction at the bottom right of the card. Additionally, unlimited Ninetales can be found as a gray text or low black ink error.
  • Venusaur: Blue ovals of missing yellow ink can be found scattered across unlimited prints. Caused by water drip obstructions on the yellow plate.
  • Beedrill: "D.efending Error Beedrill". A rare design error where some unlimited prints were accidentally printed with a period on "D.efending" in the Poison Sting attack.
  • Dragonair: "Rainbow Smear Dragonair". A rainbow-like smudge covering the letter "u" in the word "number" on 1st edition and shadowless prints.
  • Electrode: Blue ink hickey on Electrode's right cheek on some unlimited prints.
  • Charmeleon: "Red Heart Tattoo Charmeleon". Unlimited print red ink hickey coincidentally resembling a heart on Charmeleon's left hip.
  • Charmeleon: "Blue Slash Charmeleon". Two blue ink streaks across Charmeleon's body possibly from two hair obstructions on the blue layer.
  • Charmeleon: A small red printer hickey near the set symbol area can be found on unlimited prints. All copies of this error are also noticeably red saturated which likely resulted in the magenta ink blot hickey.
  • Poliwhirl: Blue ink hickey at the top right over the word "Pokémon" on unlimited prints.
  • Wartortle: "Evolution Box Wartortle". A corrected design error where a short print run of English unlimited print accidentally had the evolution box showing Wartortle's image instead of Squirtle at the top left. Notably, all Portuguese 1st edition and unlimited prints have this error as well, hinting towards a common print facility.
  • Wartortle: A blue ink hickey at the top right of unlimited prints. It's the same size as the water energy symbol just to the right.
  • Abra: "Jet Plane Abra". A small black dot coincidentally resembling a jet plane can be found in the sky left of Abra on unlimited prints.
  • Bulbasaur: "Shadowless Sunbeam Bulbasaur". Shadowless error with two yellow streaks of missing blue ink over Bulbasaur's body. All copies also have an identical column of missing gloss over Bulbasaur's body.
  • Charmander: "Scratch Error Charmander". Half the “h” in “Scratch” attack can be found missing along with the red ink smeared on unlimited prints.
  • Charmander: There are multiple repeating magenta printer hickey errors in unlimited print. One is over the "h" in "Scratch" attack. A second is over the "Mit" in Mitsuhiro at the bottom left corner. A third can be found above the "50 HP" at the top right.
  • Diglett: "Rotated Energy Symbol Error Diglett". A design error where the Fighting Energy symbol for the Dig attack can be found rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise from a print run of unlimited "2-Player Starter Set" boxes.
  • Machop: "Yellow Belly Machop". An additional yellow ink smudge on Machop's belly can be found on unlimited prints.
  • Magnemite: A blue ink printer hickey on Magnemite's forehead on unlimited print.
  • Pikachu: "Ghost Stamp Pikachu". A yellow cheeks shadowless design error with an incomplete 1st edition stamp reading only the outline of "E ITION", missing the "1" and the "D." This error has been found inside gold-strip shadowless "Zap!" theme decks.
  • Pikachu: A few unlimited cards have been found with a medium sized yellow ink hickey over the word "Pikachu" in its Thunder Jolt attack.
  • Ponyta: A medium sized magenta printer hickey can be found in the sky above Ponyta's tail of unlimited prints.
  • Rattata: Two small magenta ink dots can be found in varying degrees above the set symbol area of shadowless prints.
  • Squirtle: "Red Diamond Squirtle". A small diamond of red ink can be found over the "ve" in "prevent" in the Withdraw attack of shadowless prints.
  • Squirtle: Unlimited Squirtle can be found missing the "tle" of its name.
  • Staryu: A magenta printer hickey can be found at the top left corner of the artwork of unlimited prints.
  • Tangela: "Blue Stain Tangela". A large blue ink stain hickey can be found on the artwork at the right side of unlimited prints. This is one of the largest repeating printer hickies in the set.
  • Vulpix: "Blue Butt Vulpix". A blue ink obstruction can be found on Vulpix's butt on both 1st edition and shadowless prints. The 1st edition is notably more rare.
  • Water Energy: "Water Energy Misalignment Error". A mass produced design error where the top banner was accidentally misaligned higher than intended, resulting in the energy symbol being too high and the banner missing the edge design at the top, left, and right side.
  • Holo Shifts: The unlimited holos can be found with an extreme foil shift in varying degrees all but Machamp. Holo shifts are the result of a misaligned white ink layer.
  • Inverted Backs: All the unlimited holos, uncommons, and commons have been found having an upside down back and being majorly off-center. The error is actually an inverted front because the backs are standardly printed first.
  • Dark Gold Border: Some Shadowless nonholo rares, uncommons, and commons have been found printed with extremely dark gold borders. A recent occurrence was from a shadowless 2-Player Starter Set deck. Unlimited Machamp holos are also known to rarely have this border error as well as 1st edition common cards.
  • Base 2000 UK Yellow Shifts: Commons from the 1999-2000 UK prints can be found with a severe yellow ink shift to the right and downward in varying amounts. Only about 10 have been found and none of them were starter Pokémon, making a finding of one very rare.
  • Yellow Stain Shadowless Holos: Most of the shadowless holos have been found with vertical yellow ink lines across the card. Some have a lot of lines while others only have one.
  • Yellow Saturated Holos: Most of the unlimited holos have been found with extremely oversaturated yellow ink across the whole card.
  • Gray Stamps: 1st editions can be found as a gray stamp or low ink 1st edition stamp error. The 32 rares from the set are extremely hard to find compared to the non-holos. Unlimited Machamp cards can also be found with this error.
  • Back Stamps: 1st edition commons and uncommons can be found with a 1st edition stamp inverted on the back of the card. The black ink evidently didn't fully dry before the sheets were stacked, leading to wet ink transfer. Some cards received additional black ink and some had their ink removed to be "white stamps."
  • White Stamps: Similar to the "Back Stamps," these 1st edition commons and uncommons can be found with the 1st edition stamps partially white on the front and on the back. Due to missing ink from wet ink transfer, these are most commonly found on the back, compared to rarely being found white on the front.
  • Crimps: Some booster packs contained cards that were misaligned when the pack was sealed, causing the crimps used to seal the pack to also be present on the cards. The most common crimp found in packs distributed by Wizards of the Coast is Unlimited Machamp. The pack rares are hardest to find crimped, most likely due to being in the middle of the pack. "Vertical crimps" and "Longstem hanger crimps" are also very rare crimps to find, most times happening on the uncommon card. "Crimped and cut" cards were so misaligned in the pack wrapper that they were cut with the booster pack. These cards often were not cut all the way, leaving behind a cut mark and sometimes a double crimp from the second pack.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Blastoise: German versions of the card erroneously state that Water energy can be attached to any Pokémon instead of only Water-type Pokémon.
  • Gyarados: All Base Set Gyarados were printed with the "6/102" too far to the left.
  • Machamp: The shadowless version has the Fighting symbols in all four of the Fighting Energy symbols noticeably shifted to the right.
  • Kakuna: In the 1st Edition and shadowless versions of this card, the bio incorrectly reads "Length: 22 lbs" instead of "Weight: 22 lbs".
  • Bulbasaur: In the 1st Edition and shadowless versions of this card, the bio incorrectly reads "Length: 15 lbs" instead of "Weight: 15 lbs".
  • Caterpie: The 1st Edition and Shadowless versions of this card have their HP listed as "HP 40" instead of "40 HP".
  • Metapod: The 1st Edition and shadowless versions of this card have their HP listed as "HP 70" instead of "70 HP".
  • Nidoran♂: Nidoran♂ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♂".
  • Sandshrew: The move Sand-attack on the 1st Edition and Shadowless versions of this card reads "this attack does nothing" instead of "that attack does nothing".
  • Voltorb: In the 1st Edition and Shadowless versions of this card, the Bio at the bottom of the card reads "Easily mistaken for a Monster Ball", using the Japanese name for Poké Balls instead of the English name. The unlimited version was corrected, with "Monster Ball" being replaced with "Poké Ball."
  • Vulpix: The 1st Edition, Shadowless, and unlimited prints have their HP printed as "HP 50" instead of "50 HP". This was only corrected in the UK released 1999-2000 4th print run.
  • Imposter Professor Oak: The 1st Edition and Shadowless versions of this card read "Impostor Oak" instead of "Imposter Oak".
  • Bill All versions of this card, including Legendary Collection, have a white space under Bill's left arm where part of the background was intended to be instead.
  • Switch: The 1st Edition and Shadowless versions of this card read "Switch 1 of your own Benched Pokémon with your Active Pokémon." The word "own" was later removed in the unlimited versions of this card.
  • Japanese Evolution Box Errors: All the Japanese holo cards of evolving Pokémon have the holographic overlapping the bottom of the evolution box.

Variants incorrectly regarded as errors:

  • Machamp: "Cosmos Holo Machamp". Base Set was printed using the starlight holofoil pattern. However, some Machamp cards were printed with the Cosmos holofoil pattern instead. These Machamp cards were found inside the 2-Player CD-ROM Starter Set deck. This deck contained Base Set 2 cards and a reprint of the unlimited Machamp with Base Set 2's cosmos pattern.
  • Ninetales: "Black Flame Ninetales". A rarer variant only found on unlimited prints where the flames of the artwork are black like the shadowless artwork instead of blue like most of the unlimited prints. Wizards of the Coast, the distributor of Pokémon cards at the time, changed the design at some point early during unlimited print, making the black flame Ninetales less common.
  • Pikachu: "Red Cheeks Pikachu". A variant found on 1st edition, shadowless, and the E3 promo prints that is often regarded as an error. The illustrator of the card, Mitsuhiro Arita, originally submitted the artwork of the Base Set Pikachu with yellow cheeks. Wizards of the Coast employees thought the cheeks were supposed to be red, so they changed their color to red without Arita's permission. Eventually, it was switched back to having yellow cheeks as Arita had originally intended. Pikachu's cheeks turn yellow during an attack, which explains why Arita wanted them to be yellow. Because this was an intentional design change, it should not be considered an error.

Jungle

Corrected Errors:

  • Clefable (Holo): The prerelease promo holo has been found with both shifted and inverted prerelease stamps.
  • Clefable (Nonholo): A handful of unlimited non-holo Clefable cards were printed with a red ink mark on Clefable's body.
  • Flareon (Holo): Unlimited holo Flareon can be found with multiple magenta ink hickies with white rings in the background of the artwork.
  • Kangaskhan (Holo): A few unlimited holos were found with the left side of the artwork as nonholo due to additional white undercoat ink. The same error happened on Snorlax.
  • Kangaskhan (Nonholo): "Green Spear Kangaskhan". A number of unlimited cards were printed with a horizontal streak of missing magenta ink resembling a green spear in Kangaskhan's hand. There is also a subtle red streak right above it from missing cyan ink.
  • Pinsir (Holo): A number of 1st edition Pinsir cards have holo-like scratches that can be seen going above and through the 1st edition stamp.
  • Snorlax (Holo): A few unlimited holos were found with the left side of the artwork printed with a nonholo portion due to additional white undercoat ink. The same error happened on Kangaskhan.
  • Snorlax (Nonholo): "Yellow Highlighter Snorlax". A number of unlimited Snorlax cards were printed with a large streak of missing magenta ink, making it look like the bottom left of the artwork had been drawn on with yellow highlighter.
  • Butterfree: ""d" Edition Butterfree". Due to a small ink obstruction hickey, a large number of 1st edition cards were printed with a ring in the 1st edition stamp making, the 1 look like a "d". One of the most common errors found on cards distributed by Wizards of the Coast. Undoubtedly, over 100 copies of this error exist.
  • Persian: A few unlimited cards were found with a yellow ink ring resembling a fruit hanging in the tree above Persian's tail.
  • Weepinbell: A few unlimited cards have been found with a medium-sized yellow ring under the "R" in its Razor Leaf attack from a blue hickey.
  • Eevee: ""d" Edition Eevee". A handful of Eevee cards have been found with a small ink hickey circle in the 1st edition stamp that vaguely resembles the stamp error seen on Butterfree.
  • Exeggcute: Many unlimited cards were printed with a green dot and a yellow ring above the artwork from a cyan ink hickey. Pop<30
  • Exeggcute: A few unlimited cards were found with a large yellow vertical stain on the left side of the card.
  • Jigglypuff: A couple unlimited cards were found with a blue oval at the end of the left tree branch. Caused by missing yellow ink.
  • Oddish: A few unlimited cards were found with a black ink hickey ring over the 1'8" of its length stat.
  • Paras: A significant amount of unlimited cards were found with the exact same missing black ink sections around the jungle symbol and the "20" in its attack. Pop estimate<10.
  • Pikachu: A handful of unlimited cards were found with a small red ink hickey resembling tweezers above the "u" in its name. The red V shape was likely caused by a small hair obstruction on the magenta blanket cylinder. Known population estimate<5.
  • Venonat: A good amount of 1st edition cards have been found with a long vertical black ink line running along the top left side on the yellow border. The line was likely caused by a hair obstruction being on the black blanket cylinder. Estimation of population<20.
  • No Symbol Errors: A large print run of unlimited Jungle holo rares was printed without the Jungle symbol designed into the black plate. A handful have been found with missing yellow ink ovals usually found by finding blue ovals on the grass type Pokémon.
  • Red Line Rares: Some 1st edition nonholo rares have been found with horizontal magenta ink lines over the middle of the artwork and some with large ink drips. Extremely rare. Current estimation for known pop<10.
  • Holo Shifts: A handful of unlimited holo cards have been found with a misaligned holo effect. These are highly regarded as the error grails for each set.
  • Pink Back Rares: A handful of 1st edition nonholo rares have been found with a major magenta ink stain horizontally across the back middle of the card. The size of the stain varies from only covering the top of the Poké Ball to also covering the word "Pokémon."
  • Yellow Screen Holos: A handful of unlimited holos have been found with vertical yellow lines across all or part of the card. This error is also known for rarely happening on unlimited Machamp cards, shadowless holos, and unlimited Gym Heroes holos.
  • Inverted Backs (Fronts): A handful of unlimited holos have been found having an upside down inverted back and being majorly off-center. The error is actually an inverted front because the backs are standardly printed first. There is also at least one example of this error happening on the unlimited Jungle PCD nonholo sheet, giving the possibility of some Oddish, Gloom, Bellsprout, Weepinbell, Nidoran♀, Nidorina, Meowth, Persian, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, and Eevee cards having this error.
  • Crimps: An unlimited uncommon card has been found with a long crimp from a hanger long stem booster pack. Normal booster box pack crimps are the only other known crimp found in the Jungle set almost equally common to find on the uncommon and common card. The rare card has only been found several times with a partial crimp.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Electrode: Every 1st edition nonholo Electrode was accidentally designed using the artwork for Base Set Electrode.
  • Rapidash: All 1st edition and unlimited versions of this card read "Put Rapidash on the Stage 1 card" instead of "Put Rapidash on the Basic Pokémon". This was later corrected in Legendary Collection.
  • Seaking: All 1st edition and unlimited version of this card read "Put Seaking on the Stage 1 card" instead of "Put Seaking on the Basic Pokémon."
  • Nidoran♀: All versions were misformatted as "Nidoran ♀".
  • Japanese Evolution Box Errors: All Japanese holos with an evolution have the holographic overlapping the bottom on the evolution box.

Variants incorrectly regarded as Errors:

  • Pikachu: "Ivy Pikachu 1st Edition". This Black Star promo #1 can only be found as 1st edition from the 1st ed. Jungle booster packs. For many years, this was assumed to have been an error card not meant to have been in the packs due to it being the only black star promo with a 1st edition stamp. However, the emergence of a prototype Jungle booster pack, together with evidence found in a Japanese magazine, suggests the card was an intentional secret rare chase card that was never advertised in America. The evidence was found in a Japanese publication "Pokémon Card Trainers Vol. 2" in an article showcasing the upcoming North American release of the Jungle set expansion. The prototype booster packs include text on the Poké Ball graphic reading "Capture the rare Pikachu card! Look on inside wrapper!". Most recently on June 7, 2021 Twitch user murkd_ was opening 1st edition Jungle booster packs on stream and opened 3 packs each containing 3 1st Edition Ivy Pikachu cards (9 total), each filling the pack's usual uncommon card slots. According to PSA, the graded population is over 230.

Fossil

Corrected Errors:

  • Gengar: A few holos have been found with a large yellow ink hickey on the back of the card at the top of the "MO" in POKÉMON. It closely resembles the shape of an arm flexing or a slanted yellow 7 with a yellow line around it. Notably, three identical copies have been found, with one being 1st edition and two being unlimited.
  • Haunter: "Blue Stain Haunter". A large number of unlimited holos were printed with a large blue ink stain at the bottom right corner of the artwork near Haunter's hand. The most severe examples have the blue ink bleeding all the way to the right of the yellow frame into the purple area, while the least severe examples have small blue hickey circles or streaks in the holo. With every sheet that was printed, the ink slowly diminished until all the additional ink was gone. This is one of the largest and most popular ink stains found on cards distributed by Wizards of the Coast.
  • Haunter: "Yellow Stain Haunter". A handful of 1st edition holos were printed with a vertical gold border ink stain varying in severity on the left side of the card like on Hitmonlee, but much rarer. With every sheet that was printed, the ink slowly diminished until all the additional ink was gone.
  • Hitmonlee: "Stainmonlee". A small amount of 1st edition holos were printed with vertical gold border ink stains varying in severity on the left side of the card. Only a few severe examples have been found with two stains covering from Hitmonlee's foot all the way down to the bottom border, while the most common form of this error only has the stain right below the artwork covering the word "Stretch" of its Stretch Kick attack. With every sheet that was printed, the ink slowly diminished until all the additional ink was gone.
  • Zapdos: "Nonholo Evolution Box Misprint". All 1st edition Zapdos holos have a misprint at the top left corner of the artwork which was accidentally designed with a nonholo section where an evolution box would have been for an evolving Pokémon. This misprint was also mass produced for unlimited print and mass produced as a corrected unlimited print. Neither are rare to find.
  • Ditto: A few unlimited nonholos were found with a small pink ring from a blue ink hickey right above Ditto's head in the artwork background.
  • Sandslash: A handful of unlimited copies were found with between 7 to 10 small black dots after weakness, reading "weakness . . . . . . . resistance".
  • Seadra: A few unlimited copies have been found with a medium sized blue ink hickey at the bottom left of the card covering the words "Capable of" and "pectoral".
  • Krabby: Some unlimited Krabby cards have an incomplete Fossil set symbol. Often referred to as "Fossil Slash Krabby".
  • Krabby: Some unlimited Krabby cards have an ink bubble covering or obscuring the word "length" with varying severity.
  • Slowpoke: All 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of this card incorrectly credit the illustrator Miki Tanaka as "Miki Takano". This error was corrected on the third print (1999-2000 copyright) versions.
  • Slowpoke: A handful of unlimited cards have a large blue ink error over the Psychic Energy symbol at the top right of the card. The error was caused by a magenta ink blob hickey.
  • Cosmos Fossil Holos: Some unlimited holos were printed with the incorrect cosmos foil pattern. English Fossil holos were printed with the starlight holofoil pattern, but some were printed with the cosmos foil pattern instead. It is unclear if this was done in error, as test prints, or if Wizards of the Coast intentionally switched to a different holofoil. These are highly sought after grails to collectors.
  • No Star Holos: Also known as "Mirror Holos," found on both 1st edition and unlimited holos, these cards are missing some, or in rarer cases, all the stars in the holofoil pattern. Fossil is the most common Wizards of the Coast set that this error has been found in.
  • Inverted Back Holos (Fronts): The unlimited holos have been found with upside down backs. The back and front of the sheet don't often align evenly, so when inverted, the back can be majorly off-center down and to the right. The backs are standardly printed first, so the error is someone feeding the front of the sheet into the printer upside down.
  • Blurry Art Rares: Some unlimited nonholo rares have been found with color misregistration shifts errors to the left in respect to the black and border ink, causing the art to be blurry. There are two variations for this error with the first being the magenta and yellow ink are shifted left the same amount. The second variation also has cyan shifted left with the magenta and yellow.
  • White Line Border Holos: Some 1st edition and unlimited holos have been found with a sharp white vertical line of missing ink on the left border. This is caused by the holofoil being glued abnormally far to the right, which causes the gold border's ink roller to miss the card while rolling over the edge of the foil.
  • Orange HP Error Uncommons: A handful of unlimited uncommons have been found with significantly low magenta ink across the whole card, making the HP bright orange and significantly affecting the coloration of some artworks. The magenta dots of ink on these cards are smaller than usual, making them appear sunfaded.
  • Holo Bleed Water Spill Obstructions: A handful of unlimited holos have been found with massive holobleeds from missing sections of white ink. These sections are typically horizontal swaths or ovals of missing white ink caused by water obstructions. The white plate's water roller would have spilled or dripped out too much water on the plate.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Zapdos : All 1st edition holos were accidentally designed with a nonholo section at the top left corner of the artwork where the evolution box would be for an evolving Pokémon.
  • Japanese Fossil Holofoil cards: All of the holofoil cards with an evolution box were accidentally designed with the holographic overlapping the bottom on the evolution box.

Base Set 2

Corrected Errors:

  • Charizard: A few copies have been found with the same additional white ink smear across the holo making a section of nonholo. It goes from the bottom left up to the right under its face.
  • Poliwrath: Many Poliwrath holo cards have a small blue ink dot on the swirl of its body.
  • Magmar: "Blue Flame Magmar". A handful of copies have been found with a large blue ink area above its tail in the artwork. An obstruction likely caused the area to be missing the magenta and yellow ink. This is one of the most popular and most sought after Wizards of the Coast errors.
  • Squirtle: A few copies have been found with a large green line that starts right next to the Weakness and goes upwards up to ‘Withdraw’.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Seaking: The card reads "Put Seaking on the Stage 1 card" when it should say "Put Seaking on the Basic Pokémon".
  • Wartortle: W stamped promo versions of the Base Set 2 Wartortle have a smaller water energy symbol next to their HP.
  • Vulpix: This print as well as the Base set 1st edition, shadowless, and unlimited 1999 versions have their HP incorrectly listed as "HP 50" instead of "50 HP". This was corrected in the 4th Base set print released exclusively in the UK.
  • Nidoran♀: Nidoran♀ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♀".
  • Nidoran♂: Nidoran♂ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♂".

Team Rocket

 
Dark Golbat reads as "Pokémon.Apply"

Corrected Errors:

  • Dark Arbok (2): "Holoshift Dark Arbok". At least a dozen unlimited holo Dark Arboks cards were printed with the holofoil shifted slightly to the left. The other Theme deck holo, Dark Weezing, is not known to have this error, so it was likely printed separately.
  • Dark Arbok (2): A handful of unlimited holos have been found with a blue colored obstruction error under the words "Choose 1 of" in the Stare attack. On these cards, there is a streak of missing yellow ink from an obstruction on the yellow plate. They also all have a scratch of holobleed through the middle of the error from missing white ink.
  • Dark Dragonite (5): "Nonholo Dark Dragonite #5". A single nonholo Dark Dragonite was accidentally put on the uncommon sheet during the design stage for the 1st edition cards. Additionally, these copies use the card template for the holo #5 Dark Dragonite instead of the nonholo #22. This design error was never corrected, so it was mass produced in unlimited as well.
  • Dark Charizard (21): "Black Tape Obstruction Dark Charizard". On a print run of unlimited nonholos, a large obstruction resembling paper or tape occurred over the Dark Charizard. It made all the black ink in the art and text bleed with additional ink and missing ink around the edge. There have been over 10 unique copies found with this obstruction moving down to the left. The error appears to have happened at the bottom left corner of the plate because a connecting Dark Slowbro, Dark Magneton, & Rainbow Energy were also found with a similar obstruction.
  • Dark Charizard (21): "Red Tail Obstruction Dark Zard". A few unlimited nonholos have been found with a long purple triangle obstruction on the back middle right of the card. The object was on the magenta blanket, making the ink bleed and having a blue edge of missing ink.
  • Dark Machoke: A few unlimited copies have been found with a large vertical gold border ink stain along the left side of the card. The same stain has been found on a few other uncommons as well.
  • Charmander: "Black Dot Error". A black ink dot can be found on unlimited prints on the "d" in Charmander's name.
  • Dark Raticate: A handful of unlimited Dark Raticate cards have been found with horizontal yellow roller stains across the card. This error has been found on other common and uncommon cards, but is most common on Dark Raticate.
  • Diglett: A handful of unlimited cards have been found with brown speckles or streaks of ink across its face in the artwork. This error could have been caused by oversaturated cyan.
  • Grimer: "Blue Tape Obstruction". Over 3 unlimited copies have been found with a large obstruction resembling tape at the bottom half of the card. The object packed additional blue ink with a yellow cloud of missing blue ink around it. This card has been found 3 times with a connecting Sleep! trainer card with the bottom half missing the blue ink and appearing to have a cloudy pink stain.
  • Machop: A few unlimited copies were found with the Rocket set symbol partially faded at the bottom right of the "R".
  • Slowpoke: A few unlimited Slowpoke cards were found with severe yellow ink streaks horizontally across the cards, causing the blue water in the artwork to be swampy green. This yellow ink roller error has been found on many other unlimited commons and uncommons.
  • Sleep!: A few copies have been found with a blue ink obstruction across the bottom of the card, appearing as a cloudy pink stain. This card connects to the right of the Grimer obstruction error.
  • Smudged Stamp 1st Editions: Nonholo cards from this set can be found with a smudged 1st edition stamp. Trainer cards appear to be the most affected by this error. Stamps can appear thick, smudged or smeared, incomplete, or a combination of those.
  • Gray Stamp 1st Editions: Gray stamps can rarely be found in this set on the commons and uncommons. They range from partially gray to very light gray.
  • Low Black Ink Holos: The unlimited holos have all been found with low black ink, most noticeably from the bright gold frame around the artbox and the faded grey text.
  • Speckled Black Ink Rares: The rares have been found to have a repeating black ink error of random speckled black ink dots across the cards, especially over the artbox frames.
  • Border Stain Uncommons: Some unlimited uncommon cards have been found with a large vertical gold border ink stain along the left side of the card. There have been found at least 3 Dark Machokes, a Dark Golduck, a Nightly Garbage Run, and a Dark Jolteon.
  • Yellow Roller Stains: Unlimited commons and uncommons have been found with horizontal drips, streaks, and lines of yellow ink across the cards. At least a couple dozen have been found.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Holofoil Dark Arbok and Rare Dark Arbok (1st & Normal Edition): Dark Arbok was printed with the number 3 accidentally inserted into 2000, resulting in the copyright date reading "©1999-23000 Wizards".
  • Holofoil Dark Dragonite (1st & Normal Edition): The attack cost symbols for Holofoil Dark Dragonite are not centered.
  • Dark Golbat (holo and non-holo): The Pokémon Power on English prints reads "Apply Weakness and Resistance" while the Pokémon Power on Japanese prints reads "Don't apply Weakness and Resistance." There is also a lack of space between the words "Pokémon" and "Apply", making it read as "Pokémon.Apply".
  • Non-Holofoil Dark Vileplume (1st & Normal Edition): Non-holofoil Dark Vileplume have a weakness to Fighting instead of Fire.
  • Dark Rapidash: Dark Rapidash's stats lack the word "Length".
  • Grimer: Grimer's Poison Gas attack puts the Defending Pokémon to sleep in the English version of this card while the Japanese version Poisons it.
  • Dark Raichu (1st and Normal Edition): Dark Raichu's Evolution Box is colored light gray instead of dark gray. Additionally, the card reads "Put Raichu on the Basic Pokémon" instead of "Put Dark Raichu on the Basic Pokémon". This wording error was fixed for the Legendary Collection reprint.

Gym Heroes

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Rocket's Scyther: In all prints of this card, the attack Shadow Images reads "This effect lasts until Rocket's Scyther takes damage (or is Benched or is evolved)" despite Scyther having no evolution at the time. There was a Rocket's Scizor card later released as a promo, albeit as a Basic Pokémon and therefore being unable to evolve from Rocket's Scyther.
  • Tickling Machine: In all prints of this card, it is classified as a "Rocket's Secret Robot", although the original Japanese card has the ロケット団秘密メカ text that was translated as Rocket's Secret Machine in all other instances. A correction or errata was never issued, with a 2005 ruling sidestepping the issue – the instruction was given to "consider it" one, but only for certain interactions.[1]

Cards of interest:

  • Blaine's Charmander: The Charmander in this artwork has a small spike on its back from its very first design. Though not an error, this specific design of Charmander is not seen anywhere else in the TCG except for the Gym Challenge expansion.

Gym Challenge

Corrected Errors:

  • Blaine's Charizard (1st and Normal Edition): 1st Edition and Unlimited prints of these cards have a Fighting Energy symbol instead of the Fire Energy symbol. 1st Edition prints never received a correction whereas Unlimited prints did receive a correction very late in the print run. This makes the corrected unlimited Blaine's Charizard rarer and more desirable among collectors rather than the error version.
  • Rocket's Minefield Gym (1st and Normal Edition): 1st Edition and Unlimited prints of this card do not mention how many damage counters are needed to be put on a Pokémon. 1st Edition prints never received a correction whereas Unlimited did receive a correction very late in the print run. This makes the corrected unlimited Rocket's Minefield Gym rarer and more desirable among collectors rather than the error version.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Misty's Seel (1st and Normal Edition): All prints of this card have a transparency error; there should not be a white space around Seel's tail.
  • Giovanni's Pinsir (1st and Normal Edition): On English prints of this card, the "Snapping Pincers" attack does 10+ damage instead of the intended 20+ damage.
  • Giovanni's Nidoran♀ : Nidoran♀ was misformatted as "Nidoran ♀".
  • Giovanni's Nidoran♂ : Nidoran♂ was misformatted as "Nidoran ♂".

Cards of interest:

  • Blaine's Charmander: The Charmander in this artwork has a small spike on its back from its very first design. Though not an error, this specific design of Charmander is not seen anywhere else in the TCG except for the Gym Heroes expansion.

Neo Series

Neo Genesis

 
Focus Band has a white bar below its picture due to a presumed misalignment.
  • Kingdra: A significant amount of unlimited holos have been found with blue and magenta ink hickies randomly across the artwork. Presumably this error happened during a Cold Fusion theme deck print run.
  • Typhlosion: (17): "Red Dot Typhlosion". A red ink hickey with a yellow ring has been found left of the set symbol on at least a dozen 1st editions.
  • Typhlosion: (Japanese 157): Most Japanese copies of this card have a damage number of 60 instead of 60+ for the Flame Burst attack. The corrected 60+ version is more rare.
  • Border Bleed Holos: Over a handful of 1st edition holos have been found with gold border ink bleeds at the top or bottom of the card.
  • Square Cut Holos: At least ten square cut unlimited holos have been found from several different sources appearing to be factory cut either from error or employee connection. Unlimited commons have also been found presumably NFC from someone cutting up an uncut sheet.
  • Blue Speckled 1st Editions: Over ten 1st edition nonholo rares and commons have been found with blue speckled ink across parts of the card.
  • Gray Stamp 1st Editions: Gray stamps have been found on the common and uncommons from this set.
  • Inverted Back 1st Edition Commons: Several 1st edition commons have been found with an inverted and misaligned back. This is likely due to a single sheet being put on the pile upside-down before the front was printed.
  • 'Yellow Stain Commons: More than a handful of unlimited commons have been found with a yellow roller error horizontally across the card. Double Gust has been found twice.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Meganium (11): (1st Edition and Unlimited): The Pokémon Power title text is printed in black instead of the intended red.
  • Slowking and Typhlosion (18): (1st Edition and Unlimited): The damage values in their attack are both misaligned upward.
  • Horsea: (1st Edition and Unlimited): One of the attack cost energy symbols for its attack is off-center.
  • Natu (1st Edition and Unlimited): The psychic energy symbols for the Telekinesis attack are off-centered to the left margin.
  • Focus Band (1st Edition and Unlimited): The artwork has a white bar beneath it, presumably due to being improperly positioned during the card's design process.

Neo Discovery

  • Espeon: A handful of holos have been found missing sections of the white background ink of the artwork.
  • Poliwrath: This card has been found many times with a square-shaped holobleed obstruction error at the bottom left of the artwork on unlimited holos. The same error was also found on a first edition holo.
  • Scizor: A few unlimited holos have been found with all the white undercoat ink smeared to the right of where it should be, similar to a half holo effect of additional ink.
  • Umbreon: Holo Umbreon commonly has holobleed over its body.
  • Square Cut Holos: WotC gave a handful of people in the Pokémon community full sets of square cut unlimited holos.
  • Crimps: Some English Unlimited booster packs for this set were printed in Belgium instead of the United States. This set has a special "Belgium long crimp", which has a longer style compared to the USA booster box crimp. This set has a significantly high amount of rares partially crimped.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Scizor: For all versions of this card, the Double Claw attack's damage reads "20+" instead of "20×".
  • Umbreon (1st Ed and Unlimited Nonholos): The black eye in the Psychic symbol on nonholo Umbreon's resistance is larger than normal.
  • Kakuna (1st Ed and Unlimited): The copyright text of all Neo Discovery cards is "1995-2001", but Kakuna's reads "1995-2000".
  • Unown O (1st Ed and Unlimited): The first sentence of its Pokémon Power reads "Once during you turn" instead of "your turn".

Neo Revelation

  • Ampharos A few 1st editions have been found with an extra white ink spray to the right of Ampharos.
  • Raichu A handful of 1st edition Raichus have been found with a large ink splatter over its face and down to the Thundershock attack of gold border and black ink.
  • Rocket's Hideout A couple unlimited copies have been found with a rectangular shaped blue obstruction at the bottom right over the set symbol.
  • Double Printed Backs: About a dozen unlimited uncommons were found having a double printed and inverted back. The sheet presumably would have went through the printer a second time upside-down while printing the Poké Ball backs.
  • Blurry Text Holos/Double Print Holos: At least 10 Unlimited holos have been found with a 3D blurry text effect from a black double print. This is the result of the black plate misaligning from its blanket, which prints a small amount of sheets of gray 3D images before quickly fading away.
  • Inverted Backs: A few unlimited nonholos have been found with inverted backs from three different sources: rare nonholo Suicune, uncommon Unown Y. and uncommon Balloon Berry.
  • Double Holo Variants: 1st edition and unlimited holos have two variants. Some artworks have more holo showing than the other due to a design change having less white undercoat ink. The variant seems more rare to find in 1st editions.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Delibird (1st and Normal Edition): The energy symbols for Delibird's attack is off-centered upward.
  • Raichu (1st and Normal Edition): Unlike all other cards in this set, the "Put Raichu on the Basic Pokémon" text on the card is bold and italicized.
  • Zubat (1st and Normal Edition): Zubat's resistance lacks the "-30".

Neo Destiny

  • Larvitar: A couple unlimited copies were found with a major blue ink stain over its body all the way up over the 40 HP and cut off by the border.
  • Shining Holo Shifts: The Shinings are rarely found with noticeable holo shifts.
  • Missing Shining Errors: A handful of Shinings have been found with large sections of missing holo. A Celebi was even found completely missing the shining holo.
  • Holo Shift: A major holoshift unlimited Scizor has been found in English.
  • Dark Print Uncommons: A bunch of unlimited uncommons have been found with extra bold black ink with the text all having a 3D double print effect.

Uncorrected Errors:

  • Dark Croconaw: The card's Pokédex entry erroneously states that Croconaw has 49 teeth instead of 48.
  • Dark Exeggutor: The card name is misspelled as "Exeggcutor".
  • Dark Haunter: Dark Haunter's "Call Back" attack's clause leaves out the word "opponent's".
  • Light Flareon: The "b" in "benched" is not capitalized.
  • Togepi: The "before applying Weakness and Resistance" text is not in italics.
  • Unown C: Unown C's "Chase" Pokémon Power reads "Apply Weakness and Resistance" despite the attack not inflicting damage.
  • Unown P: There is an extra space in the Basic Pokémon title on Unown P.
  • Gligar: The energy symbols on Gligar are not in the correct position. Also, in the description beneath the picture, the Pokémon Type is missing the "n" from Flyscorpion. This applies to both 1st and Normal Editions.
  • Shining Tyranitar: The word "just" is misspelled as "hust".

Legendary Collection Series

Legendary Collection

  • Reverse Holofoil Exeggcute: Unlike other Reverse Holofoils, the Energy costs for attacks on this card are reflective. Wizards of the Coast attempted to correct this error, which resulted in a holofoil shift. The shifted foil variant is much rarer.
  • Holofoil Dark Raichu: The electricity on Dark Raichu's tail is holofoil, which is inconsistent with the original Team Rocket illustration. This misprint causes the tail to look disembodied.
  • Nidoran♀: Nidoran♀ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♀".
  • Nidoran♂: Nidoran♂ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♂".

e-Card series

Expedition Base Set

  • Alakazam: The "This power can't be used if..." text is italicized when it is not supposed to be.
  • Dugtrio: The Attack Energy cost symbols are larger than the standard size.
  • Gengar: The text for Gengar's Pokémon Power has a premature line break.
  • Charizard: This card tells the player to "Put Charizard on the Basic Pokémon" instead of "on the Stage 1 Pokémon".
  • Totodile: When Cyndaquil's card is scanned with the e-Reader, a "Cynda!" sound is added to the Melody Box. When Totodile is scanned, however, it adds a "Wani!" sound (as in Waninoko, Totodile's Japanese name) rather than "Toto!". As Chikorita and Pikachu (two other cards which received this effect) have the same English and Japanese names, it is unknown whether Totodile or Cyndaquil's card is the one that contains an error.
  • Energy Removal 2 and Multi Technical Machine 01: When these cards are scanned with the e-Reader, the TM01 card names the card's move as "Paralyzing Stare" instead of "Paralyzing Gaze" and the reader refers to "Energy Removal 2" as the ordinary "Energy Removal".
  • Darkness Energy: The card text incorrectly implies that it can add to damage done to Benched Pokémon, which normally cannot be increased.

Aquapolis

  • Crystal Nidoking: This card's Poké-Body mentions  ,  , and   energy when Nidoking's attacks use  ,  , and   energy.
  • Reverse Holofoil Lanturn: This card has a Poké-Body icon on it despite not having a Poké-Body.
  • Magnemite: The text on this card appears faded compared to other Metal Pokémon in the set.
  • Ariados: In its Spider Force attack, the "defending" in "defending Pokémon" is not capitalized. This error is not present in the non-holofoil version.
  • Nidoran♂: Nidoran♂ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♂".
  • Rare Holofoil Cards: For unknown reasons, the bottommost cut out on the left side of the card is not holofoil.

Skyridge

  • Nidoqueen: The ending period at the end of Double Claw's effect is missing. This applies to the Holofoil, Rare and Reverse Holofoil versions of the card.
  • Persian: Under the Surprise Slash attack, it reads "You opponent" instead of "Your opponent".
  • Nidoran♀: Nidoran♀ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♀".
  • Hyper Potion: Hyper Potion received a major text change with the release of Sword & Shield. (Erratum)

EX Series

EX Ruby & Sapphire

  • Dustox: The Poké-BODY has 2 spaces between the words "Protective" and "Dust" instead of 1. This applies only to the holofoil version.
  • Slakoth: The last "f" in the attack "Slack Off" is not bolded.

EX Sandstorm

  • Vigoroth: The "Focus Energy" attack reads "base damage of Vigoroth's Slash is attack" instead of "the base damage of Vigoroth's Slash attack".
  • Dunsparce: The "Strike and Run" attack was mistranslated, therefore not specifying that Dunsparce may only be switched with a Benched Pokémon if a Pokémon was put onto the Bench as a result of the attack's effect that turn. This went unnoticed, with a 2004 Organized Play incorrectly affirming that Dunsparce could be switched out even if the conditions for doing so weren't fulfilled.
  • Marill: This card is supposed to have a Retreat Cost of 1, but a third to a half of these cards were printed with a Retreat Cost of 0. Alternate Holofoil versions of this card do not have this error.

EX Dragon

  • Combusken: The card was printed as Stage 2 instead of Stage 1. Only cards that were printed from EX Battle Stadium set have this error.
  • Latias ex: In its holofoil, there is a circular space with missing holofoil positioned where the evolution symbol usually is on EX-era Evolution cards.
  • Latios ex: In its holofoil, there is a circular space with missing holofoil positioned where the evolution symbol usually is on EX-era Evolution cards.
  • Magnemite: The reverse holofoil version of this card has a white circle where the Resistance would be.

EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua

 
Some EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua cards have the Retreat Cost energy misaligned to the right.
  • Team Aqua's Crawdaunt: The Retreat Cost energy is supposed to be centered under "Retreat Cost". It is misaligned to the right.
  • Team Magma's Claydol: The Retreat Cost energy is supposed to be centered under "Retreat Cost". It is misaligned to the right.
  • Team Magma's Torkoal: The Retreat Cost energy is supposed to be centered under "Retreat Cost". It is misaligned to the right.
  • Team Magma's Camerupt: In the Poké-Power description, the second instance of "Magma's" is misspelled as "Mamga's".
  • Team Magma's Baltoy: Under the "Psymist" attack, it reads "choose 1 of you opponent's" instead of "choose 1 of your opponent's".
  • Team Magma Belt: The "T" in Pokémon Tool is not capitalized.
  • Absol: The second instance of "Pokémon" in Feint Attack's effect is misformatted as "Pokemon". It also contains a redundant parenthetical clause saying not to apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon despite the attack's main effect already stating that Weakness and Resistance do not apply.

EX FireRed & LeafGreen

  • Ditto: In Energy Ball's effect, "more than" is misspelled as "more then".
  • Nidoking: Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ are misformatted as "Nidoran ♀" and "Nidoran ♂", respectively.
  • Nidoqueen: Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ are misformatted as "Nidoran ♀" and "Nidoran ♂", respectively.
  • Hypno: The word Drowzee under the evolution box is misspelled as "Drowsee".
  • Drowzee: Drowzee is misspelled as "Drowsee".
  • Nidoran♀: Nidoran♀ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♀".
  • Nidoran♂: Nidoran♂ is misformatted as "Nidoran ♂".
  • Gastly: The card is a common card, but it says it is an uncommon card in early print runs.
  • Magikarp: The card is a common card, but it says it is an uncommon card in early print runs.

EX Deoxys

EX Unseen Forces

  • Sitrus Berry: "At any time between turns" has been changed to "At the end of each turn". (Erratum)

EX Legend Maker

  • Lanturn: Under the "Water Gun" attack, "more than" is misspelled as "more then".

EX Crystal Guardians

  • Treecko δ: The color in the Holo Italian version is changed. The full print is gray and brown instead of purple.

EX Dragon Frontiers

Diamond & Pearl Series

Diamond & Pearl

 
Empoleon LV.X's icon is misprinted as Poké-BODY instead of Poké-Power.
  • Empoleon LV.X: In early print runs, the Poké-Power was incorrectly stated as a Poké-BODY. This was fixed for Tin Promos.

Mysterious Treasures

  • Alakazam: The Psychic Guard attack should not have the word "Evolved". (Erratum)
  • Ariados: The Sticky Poké-BODY should have the word 'any' in "(excluding any Ariados)". (Erratum)
  • Exeggutor: The String Bomb attack should read "Flip a coin for each Energy from Basic Energy cards" instead of simply basic Energy cards. (Erratum)
  • Glalie: The Craggy Face Poké-BODY should not have the word "Evolved". (Erratum)
  • Manectric: The Lightning Twister attack should read "Does 20 damage times the amount of Energy from Basic Energy cards" instead of simply basic Energy cards. (Erratum)
  • Seel: Despite other pure Water-type Pokémon in the same set having Lightning as their weakness, Seel's weakness is Metal.
  • Magmortar LV.X: The Flame Bluster attack should read "2   Energy cards" rather than "2   Energy". (Erratum)

Secret Wonders

  • Blastoise: The Waterlog Poké-POWER was rewritten as "Once during your turn (before your attack), you may use this power. If you do, your turn ends. Attach as many basic   Energy cards from your hand to any of your Pokémon in any way you like." (Erratum)
  • Entei: The Blaze Roar attack should read "2   Energy cards" rather than "2   Energy". (Erratum)
  • Banette: The Ghost Head attack should read "(You can’t Knock Out Banette.)" instead of "(You can't put more than Banette's remaining HP.)" (Erratum)
  • Electivire: The Discharge attack should read "  Energy cards" rather than "  Energy". (Erratum)
  • Electrode: The Energy Shift Poké-POWER should not have the text "Once during your turn". (Erratum)
  • Wormadam Sandy Cloak: The Sandy Cloak Poké-BODY should have the text "by your opponent's Pokémon" appended to the end. (Erratum)
  • Mew: Mew's stats lack the second "s" in the word "species".

Great Encounters

  • Dialga: The illustrator is erroneously credited as Daisuke Ito instead of Nakaoka.
  • Tangrowth: The Power Whip attack should read "This attack does 10 damage for each Energy from Basic Energy cards" instead of simply basic Energy cards. (Erratum)
  • Unown G: The GUARD Poké-POWER should have the text "by your opponent's Pokémon" appended to the end. (Erratum)

Majestic Dawn

  • Old Amber: The font of the "50" in the cards HP is incorrect. It is actually the font used for Trainer cards' titles, as well as other titles such as Pokémon and attack names, even though HP and attack costs use a different font.

Legends Awakened

  • Unown V: The VACATION Poké-POWER was rewritten as "Once during your turn (before your attack), you may use this power. If you do, your turn ends. Remove 2 damage counters from each of your Pokémon." (Erratum)

Stormfront

  • Mamoswine: The Pokédex number listed on the card is 474; however, Mamoswine's Pokédex number is 473.
  • Gengar: The Fainting Spell Poké-Power should read the "Attacking Pokémon" rather than the "Defending Pokémon." (Erratum)
  • Roserade: The Hidden Poison Poké-BODY should read the "Attacking Pokémon" rather than the "Defending Pokémon." (Erratum)
  • Skuntank: The Evolutionary Gas Poké-POWER should have the text "(If the Defending Pokémon is no longer your opponent's Active Pokémon, this effect ends.)" appended to the end. (Erratum)
  • Staraptor: The Protect Wing Poké-BODY should not have the word "Evolved". (Erratum)
  • Gastly: The effect of the first attack reads "you opponent" instead of "your opponent".

DP Black Star Promos

  • Shinx: Some of these cards were printed with the back printed upside down.
  • Carnivine G: Copies of this card read 80HP instead of HP80.
  • Probopass G: Copies of this card read 90HP instead of HP90.
  • Tropical Wind: An unknown quantity of the Worlds 2009 print was printed with the collection number "DP25" (the Worlds 2008 promo number), as opposed to "DP48". This error only affected the English cards, including the staff versions and each of the top-ranking stamped versions (excluding the non-stamped version).

Diamond & Pearl Trainer Kit

  • Riolu (Trainer Kit 6): The total number of cards in the Trainer Kit set is misprinted as 61. The correct number of cards in the set is 11.

DP Promos

  • 2008 and 2009 Burger King promotional cards: A fair amount of the cards, if not all, were printed with the content closer to the left. This is more easily seen in the 2009 promotion.

Platinum Series

Platinum

  • Dialga #23: All Reverse Holofoil prints of the card are printed as   Pokémon instead of the correct  . (Erratum)
  • Dialga G LV.X: Some prints of this card that were included in the Clash of Legends promotional box have misprinted Energy symbols for weakness and resistance; the background of Dialga's   weakness was yellow and the background of Dialga's   resistance was light blue.
  • Shaymin LV.X: Seed Flare attack is missing the word "card" after the second  . (Erratum)

Rising Rivals

  • Luxray GL LV.X: The 2009 World Championships version of this card shows the copyright date is both 2008 and 2009, with the eight and nine overlapping.

Supreme Victors

  • Pachirisu #118: On this card, "EleSquirrel" is misformatted as "Elesquirrel".
  • Seel: Despite other pure Water-type Pokémon in the same set having Lightning as their weakness, Seel's weakness is Metal.

Arceus

  • Lucky Egg: The original text omits "and put into your discard pile". (Erratum)

HeartGold & SoulSilver Series

HeartGold & SoulSilver

Unleashed

  • Crobat: Some copies of this card have text printed over the name "Crobat" that makes the name look like "Oriobat".
  • Onix: The original text of this card states "Whenever you attach an Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokemon, remove 1 damage counter from that Pokemon", which was corrected to "When you attach an Energy card from your hand to Onix, remove a damage counter from Onix." (Erratum)

Undaunted

  • Defender: The original text of this card states "Any damage done to the Pokémon Defender is attached to by an opponent's attacks is reduced by 20", "by an opponent's" was later removed. (Erratum)

Triumphant

  • Nidorino: Some copies of this card have a "9" printed over the "4" in the set number of 46.
  • Unown: The original text of this card omits "you may remove all Special Conditions". It was later changed to clarify that the use of this Poké-Power is optional. (Erratum)
  • Aipom: Some copies of this card have a "G" printed over the "I" in Imitate, a "W" printed over the "Ta", and a "R" over the "P" in Tail Punch.
  • Weepinbell: The word "Flip" is misspelled as "Filp" in Corrode Target's effect.
  • Psyduck: The word "Flip" is misspelled as "Filp" in Tripping Headbutt's effect.

Call of Legends Series

Call of Legends

  • Phanpy: In some early prints, the name "Phanpy" was misspelled as "Phanphy" twice in the Ultra-Thick Skin Poké-Body.

Black & White Series

Black & White

  • Zekrom: Some copies of this card were printed with a gray background instead of the usual black one.

McDonald's Collection

  • Maractus: The height is misprinted as 3'07" instead of the correct 3'03".

Next Destinies

  • Zoroark: The graphic border near the HP is the graphic used for Stage 2 Pokémon despite Zoroark being a Stage 1 Pokémon. The error was eventually corrected in later print runs.

Dark Explorers

  • Many cards in this set are miscut, as miscuts in this set exceed averages of other sets.

Dragons Exalted

  • Hoppip: The Pokédex entry on this card is Skiploom's Pokémon Black and White Pokédex entry instead of Hoppip's. The error is present on both the unlimited and reverse holo versions, and was eventually corrected in later print runs on both prints.

Dragon Vault

Plasma Storm

Plasma Blast

  • Blastoise: A promotional print of this card included in the XY Two Pack Blisters erroneously lists the copyright as ©2012 even though the Plasma Blast expansion was released in 2013 and the XY Blisters in 2014.

Legendary Treasures

  • Victini: Some of these cards have an upside down date in the yellow border on the top right of the card. The date appears to be "08-19-13".

BW Black Star Promos

XY Series

Kalos Starter Set

  • Potion: The Spanish version and some Russian versions lack both the set number and the rarity symbol.

XY

  • Aromatisse: This card was included in the Crazy Punch deck, one of four released after the 2014 World Championships, and this World Championships print introduced an error that was not present on the original card. Although Aromatisse is from the XY expansion, the World Championships Deck print erroneously has the Flashfire expansion symbol present instead, even though no error print of the regular version of the card exists. This error was not corrected.

Furious Fists

  • Fighting Stadium: The text should read "do 20 more damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon if it is a Pokémon-EX" instead of "do 20 more damage to the Defending Pokémon-EX". (Erratum)

Phantom Forces

  • Hydreigon: Some prints were printed with the Diancie Holo, where the holo effect shows Diancie on the image of the card.
  • Jamming Net: The text should read "do 20 less damage to each of the opponent’s Pokémon" instead of "do 20 less damage to all Defending Pokémon". (Erratum)

Primal Clash

  • Shield Energy: The original text of this card reads "(before applying Weakness and Resistance)", but it should be after. (Erratum)
  • Kingdra: A number of copies were printed with a blue and pink ink blotch on the top right corner of the card.

Roaring Skies

  • Dragonite: A very low number of copies of the Non Holofoil version (exclusive to the Storm Rider Theme Deck) erroneously have "Stage 1" instead of "Stage 2" on the top left of the card.

BREAKthrough

  • M Mewtwo-EX: The Japanese Full Art print misspells Vanishing as Vanising in the card's artwork.
  • Chesnaught BREAK: Some prints of all BREAK cards in this set were printed with the back upside down.
  • Raichu BREAK: Some prints of all BREAK cards in this set were printed with the back upside down.
  • Marowak BREAK: Some prints of all BREAK cards in this set were printed with the back upside down.
  • Zoroark BREAK: Some prints of all BREAK cards in this set were printed with the back upside down.
  • Florges BREAK: Some prints of all BREAK cards in this set were printed with the back upside down.
  • Noivern BREAK: Some prints of all BREAK cards in this set were printed with the back upside down.

BREAKpoint

  • Garbodor: Some prints were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.

Generations

  • Butterfree: Some prints of all regular Rare Holo cards in this set (excluding Full Arts) were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.
  • Raichu: Some prints of all regular Rare Holo cards in this set (excluding Full Arts) were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.
  • Gengar: Some prints of all regular Rare Holo cards in this set (excluding Full Arts) were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.
  • Machamp: Some prints of all regular Rare Holo cards in this set (excluding Full Arts) were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.
  • Golem: Some prints of all regular Rare Holo cards in this set (excluding Full Arts) were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.

Fates Collide

  • Seel: Despite other pure Water-type Pokémon in the same set having Lightning as their weakness, Seel's weakness is Metal. The weight of 41.9 lbs is also incorrect.
  • Mew: Some prints were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.
  • Lucario: Some prints were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.

Steam Siege

  • Galvantula: The original text of this card states "This attack does 30 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Pokémon" when it should read "This attack does 30 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon". (Erratum)

Evolutions

  • Electrode: The original text of this card states "This card provides 2   Energy only while this card is attached to a   Pokémon" which has been changed to ANY Pokémon, not just Lightning-type Pokémon. (Erratum)
  • Many holo cards in this set have their holographic stars bleed into the entire card.
  • Although minor color differences are always possible (i.e. Pikachu with darker or lighter shade of purple as artwork background), there were some cards in this set with more major color errors:
    • Non-holo prints of Pikachu have two major color errors which occurred on multiple copies: one where the artwork background is blue, and one where the background is maroon.
    • Devolution Spray, Switch, and Charizard sometimes have greenish parts where it should have been yellow (the Devolution Spray with this error seems to be more common to find than for the other two).

XY Black Star Promos

Sun & Moon Series

Burning Shadows

  • Charizard-GX: There is texture on the rainbow version of this card for a third retreat cost energy when there should only be two.

Crimson Invasion

  • Type: Null: Some prints were printed with 'Holo Bleed', where the holo effect covers the entire card.

Ultra Prism

  • Cyrus ♢: The original text says you can't play this card unless you have a   or   Pokémon in play, but the intended requirement is to have a   or   Pokémon as your Active Pokémon. (Erratum)

Fairy Rise

  • Giratina (Korean): Original Korean copies of this card incorrectly state that Giratina's Ability puts 1 damage counter on 2 of the opponent's Active Pokémon instead of their Benched Pokémon.

SM Black Star Promos

  • Buzzwole: The illustrator is erroneously spelled as "Kouki Saito" instead of Kouki Saitou. This error is only present on this promo version as the Cosmic Eclipse print of the card has a different artwork by another illustrator.

Sword & Shield Series

Sword & Shield

  • Cinderace: The Retreat Cost for Cinderace should be 2, as opposed to the printed 1. (Erratum)
  • Inteleon: All reverse holo versions of this card have the holo shifted down around the energy symbols for both attacks.

Rebel Clash

  • Applin: Some copies of this card have a red splotch over the word "get" in the card's attack.

Brilliant Stars

  • Garchomp: The original intention of the Ability was to provide protection only from the opponent's attacks, not from your own. (Erratum)

SWSH Black Star Promos

  • Pikachu: Some of the General Mills promo versions of these cards have one to several red dots printed on them. The most common appears to be a red dot under "HT" and another red dot on the top right border.

Scarlet & Violet Series

SVP Black Star Promos

Other/Promotional cards

Wizards of the Coast

 
Prerelease Raichu
  • Prerelease Raichu: Arguably the rarest card printed by Wizards. Rumored to have been about 6 to 50 made, some of which were retrieved by Wizards themselves. These cards came about during the printing of prerelease Clefable from Jungle, when some Base Set Raichu cards were attached to the side of sheets of Clefable cards. Wizards staff denied their existence for years, but have since confessed to the card's existence.
  • Pikachu: Due to a mistake by Wizards, a few Ivy Pikachu promo cards were printed with a 1st edition stamp. This is the rarest unique card in the 1st edition series; it is said to be found in only 1 of 10 Jungle booster boxes.
  • Pikachu: The Japanese Glossy version and Portuguese Pikachu World Collection 2000 version both erroneously credit Ken Sugimori as the illustrator instead of Keiji Kinebuchi.
  • Electabuzz / Mewtwo / Pikachu / Dragonite: These four promotional cards were accidentally printed with the Pokémon the First Movie logo upside down in the lower left corner. It is thought that only 30 of each card were printed with this error (so a single misprinted sheet of 120 cards).
  • Meowth: The HP is nudged too far over to the left and the attack cost symbols are much smaller than the normal cost.
  • Eevee: "Pokémon Power" is misformatted as "Pokemon Power".
  • Dark Persian: A number of Dark Persian were printed without any HP.
  • Team Rocket's Meowth: The category is misformatted as "Scratchcat" instead of "Scratch Cat".
  • Marill: Its "Length" stat is listed as "Height" instead of "Length", its Water Gun attack is missing a Water energy symbol, and its 20+ damage done is off the center.
  • Scyther: Scyther's game text in the parentheses is not in italics.
  • Mew: The attack Psyshock inflicts confusion instead of paralysis.
  • Celebi: Hajime Kusajima's name is misspelled as "Hajime Kusajim".
  • Slowking: Slowking's length is listed as 6' 8" instead of 6' 7".
  • Promotional Hitmonchan: Hitmonchan's HP is written as 60 instead of 70. Some of these cards were intentionally released with this error by Wizards of the Coast at the time as their license for printing Pokémon cards was ending around the time the Best of Game TCG was released.
  • Moltres / Articuno / Zapdos: The first print runs of these cards erroneously credited the illustrator as Toshinao Aoki instead of Naoyo Kimura, which was corrected in later prints.

Nintendo

  • Ancient Mew: When it was first being printed in Japan, the copyright text was misspelled as "Nintedo" instead of Nintendo.
  • Various cards: Some cards will have square edges or a mix of round and square images.
  • Various sets: During the printing of sets, there is a rare chance that a card in the set will not get printed correctly. This results in the border being partially visible and the rest of the card being a blank white box. These cards are usually sought after by collectors.

POP Series 5

  • Mew δ: Numerous cards were printed with the back printed upside down.
  • Pikachu: Numerous cards were printed with the back printed upside down.
  • Zangoose δ: Kouki Saitou's name is misspelled as "Kouki Saito".

References