The three Unown, Espeon and Umbreon were all added to Neo Discovery, Entei and Pichu were released as black star promotional cards, but Eevee (an alternate art reprint of Eevee from Japan’s Neo 2 expansion) and Charizard were never released in English. The cards from Premium File 2 were incorporated into the English game in a less uniform manner. Many cards were simply added to the corresponding English neo set, with all of the cards from Premium File 1 added to Neo Genesis and all of the cards from Premium File 3 added to Neo Revelation (with one small difference, more on that below). That’s all speculation of course, but now that we’ve covered the history of these releases, it’s time to look at the folders themselves.Īs an initial point, it’s worth noting that nearly all of the cards featured in the Premium Files were eventually released in English. When demand eventually cooled, there were still tons of unopened binders sitting on store shelves and, over time, the price settled to where it is today. So what happened? My best guess is that because demand was so high for new Pokemon cards, Media Factory and the Pokemon Company were prepared and produced stock to meet demand. As crazy as prices were in the early days following the release of the Premium Files, they can be obtained for a much more reasonable $10-20 a piece today. Those that did still sold it at very high mark ups, sometimes charging $30 or more. By the time Premium File 3 rolled around, Pokemon fever had started to cool, and many stores passed on stocking the product in the States.
This was likely due, at least in part, to the inclusion of the first ever reverse holographic cards in the TCG and a very cool looking holographic Charizard. Premium File 2 garnered a similar reaction at the time of its release. I remember seeing singles of the final form evolutions selling for $10 each, which in today’s dollars is about $10 million. Here a folder that contained every evolution of all three brand new starter Pokemon?! And the final forms are all holos?! What could possibly be better?!ĭemand was so high for the product that many brick and mortar gaming stores imported stock of Premium File 1 and charged exorbitant prices for the privilege of owning one of the coveted folders. It was in this environment that my peers and I first learned about Premium File 1, and it blew our collective minds.
#POKEMON NEO Y DOCUMENTS FULL#
Magazine editors at the time were more than happy to cater to our ravenous Pokemon hunger, running full cover previews of the games in just about every kids magazine in print. Gold and Silver were scheduled to be released in November 1999 in Japan and even though the games wouldn’t hit the United States until October 2000, American kids were desperate to grab whatever poorly translated information they could about the Japanese release. The favorite topic of discussion? Speculation about the next generation of Pokemon games.
#POKEMON NEO Y DOCUMENTS SERIES#
Today we’re looking at a series of promotional sets that fortunately remain relatively affordable in today’s secondary market: the Neo Premium Files.Īs the name suggests, the three Neo Premium Files primarily feature Pokemon from the second generation of video games: Gold and Silver, and while these older releases seem to have been overlooked by many new collectors, when Premium File 1 released in the Winter of 1999, it was a huge deal for kids all over the world.īack in late 1999, when Pokemon was at the height of its popularity, the playgrounds of America’s elementary schools were a haven for wild rumors and juicy gossip. Enter Hidden Gems, a series of articles that highlights affordable and unusual card releases to help add some variety to your collection. I n a world where everyone collects the same Pokemon cards, it’s hard to make your collection stand out from the crowd, especially on a budget.
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