Wizards Era Card Erratas

Approximately 50 cards from the Wizards of the Coast era were mistranslated when they made their way overseas from Japan. Most of these errors were small things, like simple printing errors (usually the wrong Energy symbol). However, a few were more significant. Though nearly all of these went uncorrected during their time (many weren’t even noticed until years later), I recommend playing these cards as they were originally intended to be played.

Table of Contents

Blaine’s Charizard (Gym Challenge)

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Blaine’s Charizard’s Roaring Flames attack contains several errors. Given how complicated the proper attack text is, it isn’t hard to understand how some things came out wrong in the translation process. Let’s start with the obvious one: the Fighting Energy symbol should of course be a Fire Energy symbol. Moving on to how the attack actually works, though, it should only require the user to discard extra Fire Energy cards. It should read as follows:

Does 20 damage plus 20 more damage for each Fire Energy attached to Blaine’s Charizard but not used to pay for this attack’s Energy cost. Then, discard all Fire Energy cards attached to Blaine’s Charizard not used to pay for this attack’s Energy cost. If any Fire Energy cards attached to Blaine’s Charizard provide 2 Fire Energy, discard all of them.

You should not discard all Fire Energy cards as the card reads, but rather only any extra Fire Energy not used to pay for the attack cost. This means if you only had only one Fire Energy attached to Blaine’s Charizard, you would simply deal 20 damage and discard no Energy. If you had two Fire Energy, you would discard one to deal 40. Three Energy, discard two to deal 60, and so on.

If you continue to read through Roaring Flames’s text, you’ll notice a peculiar sentence: If all Energy cards attached to Blaine’s Charizard provide 2 Fire Energy, discard all of them. The reason this sentence was included is because of the possibility that Blaine’s Charizard could have an Electrode attached to it as an Energy card, or in case a Ditto uses a Double Colorless Energy to perform a Roaring Flames attack. In both of these cases, it wouldn’t otherwise be clear if these single Energy cards providing two Energy counted as extra Energy that needed to be discarded. This sentence clarifies how to handle that, indicating that they would be discarded. (If Roaring Flames was played as written, where all Fire Energy needed to be discarded, there would have been no need for this clarification since you would be discarding all Fire Energy anyway.)

Bulbasaur (Base Set) & Exeggcute (Jungle)

Leech Seech’s healing should not be written with an optional may; the healing aspect of the attack is compulsory.

Charity (Gym Heroes)

Charity returns to your hand at the end of your opponent’s turn, not yours.

Chinchou (Neo Revelation)

Negative Ion is an effect on the Defending Pokémon and should only end when the Defending Pokémon is benched or Evolved. The effect should not end when Chinchou is benched or evolved.

Clefairy (Base Set), Clefable (Jungle) & Smeargle (Neo Discovery)

Metronome was mistranslated on both Clefairy and Clefable. While it does allow you to copy an attack without needing the usual Energy required, you must still do anything else required to use that attack, such as discarding Energy cards. The same is true for Smeargle’s Sketch attack. The Japanese text emphasizes this, while in English, the translation was botched to indicate the exact opposite. This means that if you used one of these attacks to copy an attack like Charizard’s Fire Spin, Clefable would still have to discard two Energy cards. (If your attacking Pokémon did not have two Energy cards attached to it, the attack would then have no effect.) It’s also worth pointing out that when Metronome or Sketch copies an attack that requires a player to discard all of a certain type of Energy, such as Dark Ampharos’s Shock Bolt, you must discard at least one type of that Energy. Note that some versions of Metronome attacks, like Togepi’s Mini-Metronome and Togetic’s Super Metronome, feature the proper translation indicating you meet an attack’s requirements.

Dark Ampharos (Neo Destiny)

Dark Ampharos’s Conductivity should still work even if you have more than 1 Dark Ampharos in play. This disclaimer text was intended to specify that you can only use 1 Conductivity Power each time your opponent attached an Energy card from their hand, even if you had more than 1 Dark Ampharos in play.

Dark Exeggutor (Neo Destiny)

Besides the obvious misspelling of its name, Dark Exeggutor’s MAX Burst should flip a coin for each Energy attached to your opponent’s Pokémon, not Energy card. This means that your opponent’s Double Colorless Energy will allow you to flip two coins.

Dark Forretress (Neo Destiny)

Armor Up should perform a coin flip immediately, not when it is knocked out. If the coin flip is Heads, Dark Forretress will obtain the effect until the end of your next turn.

Dark Haunter (Neo Destiny)

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Call Back cannot be used if your opponent’s Bench is full. Your own Bench size does not matter.

Dark Vileplume (Team Rocket #30)

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Dark Vileplume should be weak to Fire, not Fighting. (The holo version has the correct weakness.)

Dark Weezing (Team Rocket)

Mass Explosion should apply Weakness & Resistance. The sentence instructing you not to was likely meant to be parenthetical reminder text instructing you not to apply Weakness & Resistance for Benched Pokémon.

Eevee (Promo #6)

Eevee’s Chain Reaction can only be used on your turn when one of your Pokémon evolves. It cannot be used when the opponent evolves.

Energy Charge (Neo Genesis)

Energy Charge must choose 2 Energy cards (not up to 2) in the discard to shuffle back into the deck. (You may only choose 1 if there is exactly 1.)

Energy Flow (Gym Heroes)

Energy Flow can return only Basic Energy cards to the owner’s hand.

Erika’s Bellsprout (Gym Challenge)

Erika’s Bellsprout’s Soak Up must choose 2 Grass Energy cards on the chosen Pokémon, not up to 2. You may, however, use this Power to move 1 Grass Energy if the chosen Pokémon has only 1 Grass Energy.

Feraligatr (Neo Genesis 5/111)

Feraligatr’s Riptide will only deal additional damage if the Water Energy cards are shuffled back into the owner’s deck.

This clarification exists on the Japanese version of the card, but was omitted on other versions. The distinction is important because it means that Parasect’s Allergic Pollen prevents Water Energy from being returned to the deck, resulting in a Riptide attack that will deal only 10 damage.

Focus Band (Neo Genesis) & Giovanni’s Machamp (Gym Challenge)

Both Focus Band and Fortitude should only trigger when these Pokémon are knocked out by damage from an opponent’s attack. This means that attacks that place or move damage counters will bypass them.

Giovanni’s Pinsir (Gym Challenge)

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Snapping Pincers should do +20 on heads. It should read as follows:

Flip a coin. If heads this attack does 10 damage plus 20 more damage; if tails, this attack does 10 damage.

Goop Gas Attack (Team Rocket) & Sabrina’s Gengar (Gym Challenge) & Magby (Neo Genesis)

Goop Gas Attack, Magby’s Sputter and Sabrina’s Gengar’s Dark Wave only affect Pokémon Powers that are in play at the time of use. This concept is one of the most interesting (and also confusing) mistranslations from the Wizards era. Those that played Pokémon back in 2002 may remember the famous “come into play” ruling issued by Wizards of the Coast:

Q. Does Muk prevent Come into Play Pokemon Powers [such as Dark Golbat’s Sneak Attack]? Magby? Goop Gas?

A. It does not. (May 2, 2002 WotC Chat, Q168)

This ruling confused players for an obvious reason: if a card reads ignore all Pokémon Powers, why would come-into-play Pokémon Powers be treated differently? But it turns out that while Wizards was wrong on Muk and that Muk’s Toxic Gas does indeed stop all Pokémon Powers, they had it partially right for Goop Gas Attack and Magby’s Sputter. The reason for this was the true text of these cards in Japanese only targeted Pokémon Powers in play at the time of use. Any Pokémon that would come into play could not have been in play at the time of Goop Gas Attack or Sputter being used, so these would always get around these effects. However, what Wizards missed is that this concept extended further; it applied not just to come-into-play Powers but more broadly to any Pokémon that entered play. In other words, it didn’t have to be a “come-into-play” Pokémon Power to get around Goop Gas Attack or Sputter (or presumably, Sabrina’s Gengar’s Dark Wave). Rather, it only had to be a Pokémon with a Pokémon Power that came into play after these effects were used. For example, if your opponent played Goop Gas Attack, and then on your next turn you evolved your Wartortle in Blastoise, that Blastoise could use Rain Dance since it wasn’t in play at the time Goop Gas Attack was played.

Remember that these effects work against both players, so they work the same way against your opponent as they do against yourself. If, for example, you used Magby’s Sputter, and then on your next turn evolved an Ivysaur into Venusaur, you would still be have access to Venusaur’s Energy Trans. This is because Venusaur was not in play when Sputter was used.

Grimer (Team Rocket)

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Poison Gas should poison the Defending Pokémon, not leave it Asleep.

Kabuto (Neo Discovery)

Kabuto’s Work Together attack should include Aerodactyl as a Pokémon that adds damage to its attack. It should read as follows:

Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 10 damage plus 10 more damage for each Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops and Aerodactyl on your Bench.

Metal Energy (Neo Genesis)

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Metal Energy should only reduce damage from attacks. This means Pokémon Powers like Dark Golbat’s Sneak Attack or Elekid’s Playful Punch should not have their damage reduced by Metal Energy attached to either them or attached to the Pokémon receiving damage.

Ledian (Neo Genesis)

If you have any Grass Benched Pokémon, Baton Pass must move all Energy cards attached to Ledian to one of these Pokémon, not just its Grass Energy cards.

Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz (Gym Heroes 27/132)

Charge must take 2 Lightning Energy cards from your discard pile and attach them to Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz, not up to 2. (You may only choose 1 if there is exactly 1.) It’s worth noting that a bit surprisingly, this errata does not apply to all such attacks; Movie Promo Mewtwo’s Energy Absorption does not enforce such an errata and allows its user to select only 1 Energy from the discard pile.

Mew (Promo #47)

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Psyshock should leave the Defending Pokémon Paralyzed, not Confused.

Mew (Southern Islands)

Mew’s Rainbow Wave can only choose a type from Basic Energy attached to it. It should read as follows.

Choose a Basic Energy card attached to Mew. This attack does 20 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokémon of that type (including Benched Pokémon). Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance.

Murkrow (Neo Genesis) & Umbreon (Neo Discovery)

Feint Attack’s damage should not be affected by effects on any of your opponent’s Pokémon, not just the Defending Pokémon. For example, if you used Feint Attack on a Benched Pokémon with a Metal Energy attached to it, the Metal Energy would not reduce Feint Attack’s damage.

Nidoking (Aquapolis)

Nidoking’s Crystal Type should reflect the Energy costs of its attacks; its type should be changeable to Grass, Lightning or Fighting (not Fire).

Pikachu (Neo Genesis)

Pikachu’s Quick Attack should do +10 on heads, not +20. It should read as follows:

Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 10 more damage; if tails, this attack does 10 damage.

PlusPower (Base Set)

PlusPower will increase damage done to both Active Pokémon. This means attacks that damage the attacking Pokémon (like Arcanine’s Take Down) will have the damage dealt to themselves increased. It should read as follows:

Attach PlusPower to your Active Pokémon. At the end of your turn, discard PlusPower. If this Pokémon’s attack does damage to an Active Pokémon (after applying Weakness and Resistance), the attack does 10 more damage to that Pokémon.

Politoed (Neo Discovery)

Politoed’s Frog Song should activate if there are 3 or more Poliwags, Poliwhirls, Poliwraths and/or Politoeds in play.

Professor Elm, Time Capsule & PokéGear (Neo Genesis)

All three of these Neo Genesis Trainers technically do not allow you to play Trainers until the end of your opponent’s next turn. While the term play is deliberate, meaning you can still use Trainers your opponent failed under Chaos Gym, there is one situation in which the Trainer limitation extending until your opponent’s turn makes a difference: when you use one of these Trainers under a failed Chaos Gym attempt from your opponent, you will still be bound by its no-Trainer clause when your next turn begins.

Potion & Super Potion (Base Set), Hyper Potion (Skyridge)

Though most people familiar with retro Pokémon already knew this, Potion & Super Potion should technically remove 2 and 4 damage counters, respectively, not up to these amounts. Hyper Potion works the same way, technically requiring the user to remove exactly 3 or 5 damage counters. Only when less than these specified amounts of damage counters are present will these Trainers remove less than the indicated amounts.

Rocket’s Minefield Gym (Gym Challenge)

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The amount of damage counters was omitted on the English version. It should read “…put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.” A small percentage of these cards from a later print run do actually have the correct text.

Rocket’s Secret Experiment (Gym Challenge)

Rocket’s Secret Experiment does not allow you to use any Trainers until the end of your next turn, which includes using Trainer cards your opponent flipped Tails for under Chaos Gym. Note that this is different from Professor Elm, Time Capsule and PokéGear.

Sabrina’s Drowzee (Gym Challenge)

Sabrina’s Drowzee’s Energy Support attack should attach a Psychic Energy card from the deck to one of your Benched Pokémon. It should read as follows:

Search your deck for a Psychic Energy card and attach it to one of your Benched Pokémon. Shuffle your deck afterward.

Scizor (Neo Discovery)

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Double Claw should have a base damage of 20 (as suggested by 20+, but contradicted by its attack text). It should read as follows:

Flip 2 coins. This attack does 20 damage plus 20 more times the number of heads.

Slowking (Neo Genesis)

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Slowking’s Mind Games Pokémon Power should only work when Slowking is Active. If you play this card as written, it becomes one of the strongest (and most oppressive) Pokémon cards of all time.

Unown A (Neo Discovery) & Unown X (Neo Destiny)

Both Unown A’s Anger and Unown X’s XXXXX Pokémon Powers must be activated (once during your turn) for you to use. This trivial errata only matters for rare situations, where you would prefer to do less damage, like when facing Mr. Mime.

Unown C (Neo Destiny)

Unown C’s Chase should not apply Weakness and Resistance. Note that anytime an effect places damage counters, Weakness and Resistance are never applied, as it is different than dealing damage.

Unown D, Unown M & Unown N (Neo Discovery)

All three of these Pokémon Powers should only protect your Unowns:

  • Unown’s D’s Pokémon Power, Darkness, should only reduce damage done to your Pokémon with Unown in their name.
  • Unown M’s Pokémon Power, Metal, should only reduce damage done to your Pokémon with Unown in their name.
  • Unown’s N’s Pokémon Power, Normal, should only reduce damage done to your Pokémon with Unown in their name.

Additionally, all three of these Pokémon Powers should still work even if another of the same Unown in play. Rather, this disclaimer text should simply state that only one Dark/Metal/Normal Power can be used at a time.

Errata Scans

Felipe Oñate, who goes by Linkinboss online has made custom scans of all Wizards era errata cards showing their corrected text. Check out his awesome high quality images here! Credit to nick15 from pokemonaaah for providing the templates Felipe used to create these!

Bizarre & Incorrect Rulings

In addition to several mistranslations, Wizards of the Coast also issued a variety of almost surely incorrect (and often bizarre) rulings. You can read about these here.

Update Log

  • Dec 30, 2024: Erratas added for Focus Band & Giovanni’s Machamp.
  • Dec 23, 2024: Erratas added for Unown C and Crystal Nidoking. Hyper Potion errata matching Potion & Super Potion added.
  • Oct 2, 2024: Erratas added for Potion & Super Potion.
  • Oct 1, 2024: Erratas added for Professor Elm, Time Capsule, PokéGear and Rocket’s Secret Experiment.
  • Sep 30, 2024: Erratas added for Chinchou’s Negative Ion, Dark Exeggutor’s MAX Burst, Dark Forretress’s Armor Up, Exeggcute’s Leech Seed, Unown A’s Anger, Unown X’s XXXXX, Charity
  • Sep 29, 2024: Erratas added for Smeargle’s Sketch & Ledian’s Baton Pass
  • Sep 25, 2024: Erratas added for Bulbasaur’s Leech Seed, Sabrina’s Gengar’s Dark Wave, “up to” erratas added for Lt. Surge’s Electabuzz, Erika’s Bellsprout & Energy Charge
  • Sep 11, 2024: Roaring Flames errata text rewritten, clarification added for damage calculation
  • May 23, 2022: Errata added for Dark Ampharos’s Conductivity, Unown D/M/N added secondary errata that only 1 Power can be used at a time