Pokémon: 10 Ways The Card Game Is Different From The Anime

The Pokémon franchise has plenty to offer, from its hit anime series to the classic trading card game. But how does the anime differ from the TCG?

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If not for a never-ending roster of sequels, reboots, and other such games made for an assortment of Nintendo consoles, the famous Pokémon Trading Card Game would be the closest thing fans have to experiencing an actual Pokémon battle.

Even if they leave a lot to the imagination, a trading card battle with Pokémon can still feel just as intense as one seen in the anime’s Indigo League arc. Even so, it goes without saying that the translation of a Pokémon fight from anime to trading cards isn’t as one-to-one as some hope.

10 Nobody Relies On Coin-Tossing

Just like almost every tabletop game before it, the Pokémon card game relies on coin-tossing to determine certain things, like an attack or special effect. If Dungeons & Dragons is best known for its assortment of dice, Pokémon cards are closely tied to their coins.

Obviously, anime trainers don’t flip coins to determine an attack’s success or failure, but what the coin represents is clear. Simply put, coin tosses make a Pokémon battle’s unpredictability physical. Since this is a story device, no one bothered animating it.

9 There’s No Energy Card Economy

Energy Cards are the currency of the Pokémon card game, since almost everything that a Pokémon does is determined by how many Energy Cards they have. Balancing a deck’s Energy Card ratio may sound boring, but it’s one of the most important things card players need to learn.

Obviously in the anime, Ash doesn’t need to pay Energy Cards to someone before telling Pikachu to use Thunderbolt. The Energy Cards are just an in-game representation of the anime Pokémon’s stamina. That said, Energy Cards don’t reflect the rare times that an already fatigued Pokémon can power through a fight with nothing but sheer determination.

8 Evolution Is Not A Strategic Move In The Anime

A surefire way for a card player to turn the fight in their favor is to evolve their Pokémon. At any given time, a player can evolve their Pokémon into its more powerful form. This is a strategic move that should be used smartly. The anime takes evolution a bit more seriously and treats it as more than just an ace up a player’s sleeve.

In the anime, evolution is an unpredictable event that usually happens during a Pokémon’s moment of intense determination and/or stress. Additionally, evolving also means that the Pokémon just grew up and matured. Evolution is an emotional accomplishment for both the Pokémon and their trainer, and the anime treats it with the gravitas that the moment asks for.

7 Pokémon Cards Can Only Use One Attack At A Time

Like the video games before it, the Pokémon card game is a turn-based fighting simulator. Each Pokémon has a pre-set number of moves, so it’s up to the player to decide if their turn is for attack or defense. Using one move per turn makes sense since it balances the game’s odds, but if this were applied to the anime, things would turn unintentionally hilarious and dangerous.

While trainers can still instruct Pokémon in the anime, the fights are more fluid and flexible. Here, Pokémon can combine some of their moves or work in tandem with another Pokémon to inflict more damage. In doing so, anime Pokémon can get creative with their fighting prowess while also not having to take all of their opponent’s attacks just because it’s their turn to do so.

6 Players Can Only Send One Pokémon Card To Battle At A Time

Since it’s a turn-based game, it only makes sense for the card game to allow one single fight between two Pokémon at a time. Each player can stack up their Bench with five Pokémon at most, and they can send in any of their reserves when the active Pokémon is either too damaged or knocked out.

The anime’s official Pokémon battles follow the same rule, but this doesn’t apply to unofficial fights. To take advantage of the animated medium, there are Pokémon brawls that involve more than just two Pokémon. There are even times when Ash summons his entire bench for the fight, and it’s as fun as it sounds.

5 Pokémon Card Battles Are Fights To The Death

Ignoring the unofficial ones that take place in the wild or between friends, Pokémon battles in the anime are the same as sports. There are set rules for trainers to follow, along with officials and referees who implement said guidelines. Just like in real combat sports, it’s up to the referees to stop a fight if one of the Pokémon is too battered to go on and to avoid fatal injuries.

Meanwhile, in the card game, the objective of a Pokémon battle is to drive the opposing Pokémon’s Health Points (HP) to zero. The card games have referees too, but they don’t determine if a card can keep fighting or not. While it’s not explicitly stated, the implications are clear: Pokémon card battles are brutal fights to the death. The Discard Pile might as well be a graveyard.

4 Trainer Cards Would Be Unfair In The Anime

Whether it activates a healing item or triggers a specific event, Trainer Cards are must-haves for every card player’s deck. Once per turn, players can deploy a Trainer Card to help their chances of winning. Whipping out surprise aces in a card game makes sense, but doing so in the anime’s context can either count as cheating or just look weird.

At best, a Trainer Card’s special effect could be reinterpreted as an unforeseen environmental or Team Rocket event in an episode. At worst, it’s the equivalent of Ash throwing a Healing Potion at Pikachu in the middle of a battle. What would Trainer Cards like “Bill” (which draws two cards) do in the anime? Summon the renowned Pokémon Researcher?

3 Pokémon Cards Don’t Have Free Will

Even if all they could say is their name, Pokémon are characters of their own. Pokémon are capable of experiencing a whole spectrum of complex things, like emotions and choice. Some Pokémon forge unbreakable bonds with their trainers (ex. Ash and Pikachu), others openly defy them (ex. Ash and Charizard), and others do their own thing (ex. The Squirtle Squad).

Since they’re literally pieces of paper, Pokémon in the card game obviously have none of the personality and emotional capacity of their animated counterparts. As a result, sending a tiny Rowlet against a Gyarados or trading a trusty Psyduck for a Dark Energy Card has no emotional impact whatsoever. To call this soulless when compared to the anime is an understatement.

2 Charizard Isn’t The Most Prized Pokémon

Ask anyone what the most prized Pokémon card is, and the answer is almost always a 1st Edition Charizard 1999 holofoil card. This Charizard may not be the most powerful or rarest card in the game, but it’s still regarded as one of the most valuable trading cards in history. In fact, the rapper Logic won one mint condition Charizard for a whopping $183,000 in an auction.

Meanwhile in the anime, not only is Charizard more uncommon than rare, but it’s not nearly as sought out as it is in the trading card scene. Here, the Legendary types are the ones trainers and adventurers dedicate their lives to finding and capturing. Ash is the most well-known anime character to have a Charizard, but he’s definitely not the only trainer to have one.

1 TPCI Executives Can’t Join An Anime Pokémon Battle

One of the Pokémon community’s favorite jokes is how morbidly hilarious it would be to pick a human for a Pokémon battle. This almost never happened in the anime because punching a flaming Moltres is a terrible idea. But when it comes to the cards, picking a person – specifically, a representative of The Pokémon Company International – is actually possible.

A few years ago, TPCI gave its employees exclusive promo GX cards of Pres. Tsunekazu Ishihara and Sr. Vice Pres. Doug Ferguson. They each have a ridiculously large 350HP, though only Ishihara has a combat-ready effect. With luck and the right strategies, a savvy card player could technically best Mewtwo by using a guy named Doug.

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