If you thought you knew everything there was to know about the original Pokémon trading cards, perhaps not. Twitter user @FanamelT has supposedly tracked down the source images used in the background artwork of the original series.
It seems these images come from Datacraft Sozaijiten, a series of stock photos that is apparently used in a lot of Japanese media and Nintendo games. In the clip below, you can see rolling hills for Ponyta, the treetops featured on Scyther's card, the beach shot Wartortle appears in, and even the background for Professor Oak's card.
"The images come from a series called Datacraft Sozaijiten, yes even the ones that look handpainted lol. This series is used in a lot of Japanese media and Nintendo games which is how I found them."
So there you go - if you've ever wondered where these lovely but stock photos come from, now you know. FanamelT further says others who investigate are bound to find more matches, like the ones above.
Did you ever wonder where these backgrounds originated from? Did you already know? Do you have any original Pokémon trading cards yourself? Tell us down below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 21
scyther holographic was so dope
I always knew those earlier cards were so random for a reason... it's strange seeing older cards slapping a png over a stock photo, but it tells of an earlier time before pokemon was a multi trillionaire franchise that could get unique art for every card
I'm not too sure what to do with this infomation. Hasn't this chap got anything better to do lol?
@GrailUK lol I think we can safely assume this person doesn't work for the NHS.
Aw man, it’s like seeing how the sausage was made. 🥺
Imma go on Twitter and tag Saved You a Click Video Games, seems like the kind of article better communicated by them
@GrailUK do we have anything better to do than reading about his endeavours xD?
@Sidon_ZoraPrince Hahaha. Good point, well made!
Lol. That's so bizarre. I guess when you look at the Ponyta card it is definitely a real image in the background, but a lot of the other backgrounds I thought were original artwork.
I’m a cool important guy with cool important things to do. That’s why I’m here on the internet, spreading my cool important opinions about pictures of fire ponies on children’s trading cards.
Nice fire pony!
Honestly, I found this very interesting. Interesting and weird. I can't tell I'm happy or sad knowing that
Neat. Strange to think someone went through the effort of doing that just to put it on twitter.
Great research
@Sidon_ZoraPrince I thought the same thing as @GrailUK, Then I thought the same thing you wrote. It is kind of a pointless article and information. So writes that is just what we need in our lives.
@PBandSmelly I don't think Pokemon is a multitrillion...
I'm pretty sure Apple is the only company with $1t.
Could be wrong.
So Professor Oak was the imposter!
I love how Farfetch'd and Mew get watercolor-esque paint blotches and Vulpix gets SPARKLES.
Not that I'm complaining. It gave Vulpix a more refined aura that would carry over to its evolution. These cards are what first got me into Pokemon.
From the "someone with too much time on his hands" department.
They arent hunting down these images form google or anything, these are images sold together in japaneese cds that are commonly used by companies for video games such as mario 64, ocarina of time and, sonic adventure at the time. the main reason they are finding these is for hd texture packs.
To be fair, such Stock Material was and is used by Companies since ever.
For Example the famous Dragon Sound that was nearly everywhere.
Here is also a great Video for the origin of the Sounds in Doom
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9bgFpss0YFE
But where are the real world locations that's what we wanna know
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