Pokemon cards celebrate the series' 25th anniversary with an astonishing array of Pikachus

Pokemon Pikachu
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

The Pokemon Company is releasing a series of special edition Pokemon cards to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary.

The seven new cards all feature a selection of different styled Pikachus from 25 different Pokemon artists, each one spanning the 25 years we’ve had Pokemon to celebrate. According to Kotaku, three of the cards are remixed versions of older Pikachu cards with updated art and abilities which are appropriate for today’s standard of the trading card game. 

Three of the cards are Flying Pikachu, Surfing Pikachu, and an updated version of the very first Pikachu card which was illustrated by its original artist Mitsuhiro Arita. The remaining four are part of the V-Union mechanic which was announced in June and allows players to create a more powerful card by combining four Pokemon cards together. 

The seven cards will be sold in a Pokémon TCG: Celebrations Special Collection pack and will release on October 8, 2021 - according to the series’ official website - and also apparently contains a reissue of the first Charizard card. 

It doesn’t seem like The Pokemon Company is planning to stop unveiling anniversary celebrations any time soon as they have already announced new games coming to the series with the reveal of Pokemon: Legends Arceus, which is due out in 2022, and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl which are both due in November of this year. 

They’ve also released a song with Katy Perry, which features Pikachu in the music video, as well as hosted a virtual Pokemon Day concert with Post Malone. Let’s also not forget the limited-time Pokemon-themed Happy Meals at McDonald’s that included a special edition Pokemon card inside. This of course led to several people buying bulk loads of the happy meals and selling on the cards for an extortionate price.

It was also announced today that Pokemon Unite, the Pokemon-themed free-to-play MOBA, will be releasing on Nintendo Switch on July 21, 2021. So it doesn’t look like the Pikachu gang is ready to slow down with the anniversary celebrations any time soon. 

Want to know the best place to revisit, or even start, the Pokemon series? Take a look at our best Pokemon games list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

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