Pokémon 30th Anniversary: Every Key Release Date Since 1996

Pokémon's 30th anniversary fell on February 27, 2026, exactly three decades after Pocket Monsters Red and Green went on sale in Japan. The trading card game follows later: its own 30th birthday is October 20, 2026. So if you've felt like the celebration has been going on all year, you're right. It has, and it isn't over.

This is the timeline in one place. The original release dates, the anniversary sets that came before this one, everything announced on Pokémon Day 2026, and the rest of the 30th Celebration card schedule running into November. Every date below comes from The Pokémon Company or a named source linked in the text. Where something hasn't been announced, we say so instead of guessing.

Where it started: 1996 to 1999

Red and Green launched on Game Boy in Japan on February 27, 1996. That date is why Pokémon Day exists at all.

The cards came eight months later. Media Factory released the first Japanese expansion, the set English collectors call Base Set, on October 20, 1996. The anime started on TV Tokyo on April 1, 1997.

Then the jump overseas. Pokémon Red and Blue reached North America on September 28, 1998, and Wizards of the Coast published the English Base Set on January 9, 1999. That's the one with the 102-card list, the shadowless first prints and the Charizard holo that still sets the tone for the whole hobby. If you've got an old binder, our guide to shadowless vs unlimited vs 1st Edition will tell you which print you're holding.

Key Pokémon release dates, 1996 to 2026

The Japanese dates matter more than people think. Card history is usually told from the English side, but Japan had more than two years of sets before most of the world saw a single pack.

The anniversary sets before this one

Pokémon has marked big birthdays with special card sets before, and both are worth knowing because they set expectations for this one.

For the 20th, the English game got Generations on February 22, 2016, a reprint-heavy set with a Radiant Collection subset. Later that year, on November 2, 2016, Evolutions brought back Base Set artwork with modern card mechanics.

The 25th anniversary brought Celebrations on October 8, 2021. It was a small set, padded out with a Classic Collection of reprinted fan favourites. Base Set Charizard was one of them, which tells you exactly who the set was for.

Pokémon Day 2026: what was announced

The 30th anniversary Pokémon Presents aired on February 27, 2026. The headline was generation ten: Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, an open-world pair launching simultaneously worldwide on Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. No exact date yet.

A lot shipped straight away or soon after:

• FireRed and LeafGreen, the 2004 remakes of the first games, landed on Nintendo Switch the same day as download-only titles.
• Pokémon Pokopia released March 5, 2026 on Nintendo Switch 2.
• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness came to Nintendo Switch 2 in March through the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.
• Pokémon Champions released April 8, 2026 on Nintendo Switch, with a mobile version to follow.
• The first LEGO Pokémon sets went on sale February 27, including the 2,050-piece Pikachu and Poké Ball at $199.99.

The mobile games joined in too. Pokémon GO ran a 30th anniversary event in early March with nearly every Generation I Pokémon in the wild, and TCG Pocket handed out anniversary rewards through June 26. The 2026 World Championships followed in San Francisco from August 28 to 30.

Honestly, the Presents was the most packed one in years, and a lot of it was aimed squarely at people who played Red and Green as kids. A download-only FireRed on Switch isn't subtle.

Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration

For card collectors, this is the big one. Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration released on September 16, 2026, as a simultaneous global release. Collectors in every participating market opened the same set on the same day, which is not how Pokémon usually does it.

Every card in a booster pack is foil, Basic Energy included. Each pack also guarantees one of 30 different Pikachu cards, drawn by artists including Atsuko Nishida, Yuu Nishida and OKACHEKE. Thirty years, thirty Pikachu. It's a little on the nose, and I love it anyway.

The set also debuts a new rarity, the Futuristic rare, with the first ones showing Mewtwo and Mew by the artist YOSHIROTTEN. Illustration rares include Espeon, Umbreon, Lapras, Drifloon, Zorua and Lycanroc, and the new Pokémon ex cards are Greninja and Sylveon.

Then there's the Classic Collection, the anniversary tradition carried over from Celebrations. It reprints iconic cards such as Base Set Charizard and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX from Team Up. They aren't legal in Standard, so these are for binders more than decks.

What's still coming in 2026

The launch day lineup was only the first wave. Here's the full schedule from the official 30th Celebration product showcase:

The October wave is the cheap way in. Mini Tins hold two packs each and come in ten different artworks, which is either a nice touch or a trap depending on how completionist you are.

November is where the collector boxes live. The Figure Collection comes with a sculpted Mew or Mewtwo, and the Ultra-Premium Collection has 29 booster packs plus one Classic Collection pack. We broke those down separately in the Ultra-Premium Collection guide, the Battle Decks guide and the Elite Trainer Box comparison. The full product list with contents is in our 30th Celebration products roundup.

Is 30th Celebration worth collecting?

Our take: if you only buy one set this year, this is the one to have in your binder. The worldwide launch and the all-foil packs make it feel different from a normal expansion, and anniversary sets have a track record. Celebrations and Evolutions both get talked about years later.

The catch is the same as always. Anniversary hype pushes early prices up, and reprint waves often bring sealed product back down. Opening packs for fun is great. Paying scalper prices on week one rarely ages well, and we've written about why that happens.

If you're pulling from 30th Celebration, you can check what a card is worth for free on the Pokémon card value page, or browse Pikachu cards across every set to see where the new ones land against the classics. Scryda's scanner reads Pokémon cards straight from your camera and keeps a running value of the collection, which is handy when a box's worth of foils hits the table at once.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Pokémon 30th anniversary?

February 27, 2026. Pocket Monsters Red and Green released in Japan on February 27, 1996, and Pokémon Day marks that date every year. The trading card game's own 30th anniversary is October 20, 2026.

When did Pokémon cards first come out?

October 20, 1996 in Japan. The English Base Set followed on January 9, 1999, published by Wizards of the Coast.

When did Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration release?

September 16, 2026, worldwide on the same day. More products follow on October 2, October 30 and November 6, 2026.

What is the 30th Celebration Classic Collection?

A set of reprinted classic cards, including Base Set Charizard and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. They aren't legal in the Standard format. The same idea appeared in Celebrations for the 25th anniversary in 2021.

When do Pokémon Winds and Waves come out?

In 2027, on Nintendo Switch 2. The Pokémon Company hasn't announced an exact date yet.