pre-Pokemon Worlds era, Tropical Mega Battle spotlighted (1999-2002)
Matt Matoba, the founder of MATOBA DESIGN, has just released an exciting video. Get ready to step back in time before the Pokémon World Championships became a big thing. Explore the coolness of the Tropical Mega Battle, a special tournament in Hawaii that happened from 1999 to 2002, even before Worlds. Listen to what people who were there have to say, see really rare card pictures, and uncover what makes this event so special.
The Pokemon World Championships is a big event that happens every year for almost 20 years now. But before that, there was another important Pokemon event called the Tropical Mega Battle.
This event took place from 1999 to 2002 and was for players who won big Pokemon TCG tournaments in their own countries. If you won, you got a free trip to Hawaii to attend the Tropical Mega Battle.
We also are witnessing high quality scans for the first time of the super rare English VS decks. The ポケモンカード ★VS (Pokemon Card ★VS) set was released in Japan on July 19, 2001 and included 30-card packs which were half decks with Japanese exclusive cards with Pokemon that were owned by (Gym) Trainers from the first 2 generations of the Pokemon Videogames. It was also the first product to ever include the new Japanese card backings with the International Pokemon Logo and e-Reader template.
Some of the scans featured in the English VS decks.
You can find more scans of these English VS cards at the website of MATOBA DESIGN here.
An official retail release of the VS decks outside of Japan never happened. At the Tropical Mega Battle, people present at the event, got English versions of these decks, but they are incredibly hard to find.
In a video, Matt talks to people who were at the Tropical Mega Battle tournament. They share their special memories and show off their super rare Pokemon cards that were only given out at that event or have been signed by key staff from Creatures.
The people Matt talks to are: Mindy Lambkee / Mindy Meldrum, Edo, Jon Brooks, David Brooks, and Mike Boozer. JP, admin for PkmnCards did a great job scanning the VS cards really well to archival precision.
The video is available below, and we highly recommend checking it out. Overall, this is an interesting video and resource for anyone interested in Pokemon TCG history.
Disclaimer: Images and scans in this article were provided by MATOBA DESIGN exclusively for its use, and all rights are owned by MATOBA DESIGN.
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