CGC Gears Up for Pokémon's 30th Anniversary with Signings, Graded Highlights and More

Updated February 23, 2026: Check out an exclusive opportunity from CGC Signature Series featuring some of the original talent behind the English Pokémon anime!

On February 27, 1996, a small Japanese video game developer called Game Freak released two brand new titles to the Game Boy family of Nintendo consoles. These two games, called Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green — released internationally as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue — took players to the Kanto region, where they would receive their very first Pokémon.

With more than 150 creatures to collect, battle and trade, Pokémon Red and Green encouraged players to not only complete the game’s progression of collecting badges and defeating the Elite Four in exciting battles, but also to connect with other players with the opposite version to “catch ‘em all” using the Game Boy’s link cable, a process that was very innovative at the time.

Unbeknownst to Nintendo and Game Freak, Pokémon Red and Green would be the catalyst to creating one of the largest pop culture phenomena the world has ever seen. Since 1996, Pokémon has evolved into one of the best-selling multimedia franchises in the world, including video games, anime, movies, toys, apparel, trading cards and much more.

To celebrate Pokémon’s upcoming 30th anniversary and the future of the franchise, we’re showing off some of the Pokémon-related rarities that CGC has certified among more than 8 million. Read on to see some of the cool things we’ve seen and done!

CGC Signature Series Signing Opportunities with Pokémon Stars Coming Soon!

Celebrate Pokémon's 30th anniversary with three of Pokémon's most acclaimed voice actors! CGC Signature Series is welcoming some of the original talent behind the English Pokémon anime. These luminaries have voiced some of the anime's most popular and influential characters — can you guess who they are?

Who's That Pokémon Voice Actor?

That's right — Tara Sands, Veronica Taylor and Eric Stuart are joining CGC Signature Series for a exclusive Private Signings in June 2026! Stay tuned for details, including submission instructions, pricing and deadlines.

Graded Highlights

In the past year, CGC has certified some truly exceptional Pokémon cards. In June 2025, CGC certified a Mew ex from the Simplified Chinese Collect 151 Lottery Campaign graded CGC Pristine 10. This card is one of the rarest Chinese Pokémon cards to be released, with only 1,510 examples given out during the lottery campaign that it was promoted in. You can read more about this Mew ex card here.

Additionally, CGC has certified several numbered Trainer promos from past tournaments. One of them was a 2025 No. 4 Trainer promo from the latest Pokémon World Championships competition. This card was certified in October 2025, just a few weeks after the tournament had taken place, making CGC one of the first to certify a promo from that specific tournament. CGC also certified two numbered Trainer cards from early Pokémon tournaments, including two signed by the legendary Mitsuhiro Arita!

Auction Results

Collectors trust and value CGC’s grading process and the CGC Guarantee, which leads to increased premiums when CGC-certified cards are sold at auction. CGC-certified Pokémon cards often offer savvy collectors a significant return on investment. In 2025, two Japanese 64 Mario Stadium Best Photo Contest promos graded by CGC each realized six-figure prices in Fanatics Collect Buy Now sales. A Chansey graded CGC 9 realized $150,000, while an Articuno graded CGC 9 realized $100,000.

Pokémon Illustrator is considered the rarest and most valuable Pokémon card in existence. CGC has certified 23 examples of Pokémon Illustrator, according to the CGC Cards Population Report. In March 2025, two Pokémon Illustrator promos certified by CGC each realized six figures in auction. One example graded CGC Gem Mint 10 realized $390,001 in an Alt auction, while another example graded CGC 9 realized $195,200 in Goldin’s February 2025 auction.

Company Growth

CGC continues to add to and improve its services to further empower card collectors. Throughout 2025, CGC introduced several new services to make collecting easier, including Quick Submit, which makes it faster to submit collectibles through the Online Submission Form. CGC has also started accepting submissions of both plastic and metal Pokémon coins in China, opening the door for more Pokémon collectibles to be submitted for CGC’s expert authentication, grading and encapsulation services.

CGC continues to serve the Pokémon collecting community with helpful free online tools, including the CGC Cards Population Report and the CGC Cards Registry.

As Pokémon begins its 30th anniversary celebration, CGC looks forward to seeing what new collectibles will be released and what the year will bring for Pokémon collectors and enthusiasts alike. Be sure to stay tuned, as we’ll be going over new Pokémon-related collectibles as they are revealed during the anniversary in February.

About CGC

Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.

CGC is part of the Certified Collectibles Group, a global provider of expert and impartial authentication and grading services for collectibles. Since 1987, the Certified Collectibles Group companies have certified more than 110 million collectibles, including coins, banknotes, comic books, cards, autographs and stamps.