From games to cards to games... and into obscurity.
If you're at least passingly familiar with the Pokémon franchise (and let's be honest, given that it's the most profitable media franchise of all time, you definitely are), you'll know that after the start of the video game series in 1996, a branded trading card game was soon to follow.
Even eclipsing the popularity of the games in some ways, this expensive hobby has become so big that – recursively – it received a video game adaptation in 1998. But did you know that there also was a sequel released three years later?
Taking a simple first step
Like many kids in real life, the protagonist of Pokémon Trading Card Game (1998), a kid named Mark from TCG Island, wants to prove himself as the world's greatest trading card player. Unlike real kids though, he has to beat eight Club Masters, four Grand Masters and the Champion in order to do so, all while being repeatedly challenged by his rival Ronald.
The Hudson Soft-developed title plays like a mixture of "real" Pokémon games and the actual trading card game: Players have to traverse a new region, where NPCs await to challenge them to a card duel, which then uses the same rules as the real deal. There are a total of 228 cards to be found, collected and potentially added to your deck on the way.
While this Game Boy game (with bonus features for Game Boy Color players) already had a somewhat weird premise, it's even weirder that the team apparently felt like the potential of this style of gameplay, these characters and its setting was still not completely fulfilled, which is why in March 2001, shortly after the release of the Game Boy Advance, Japan got another digital adaptation of the Pokémon Trading Card Game on the Game Boy Color.
Returning to TCG Island
In Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR!, Mark (or the newly-introduced female player character Mint) have to overcome much more than the challenges presented in the first game.
While trying to defeat the Club Masters of TCG Island, they are ambushed by the villainous organization Team Great Rocket, which aims to steal as many Pokémon cards as possible (most importantly, the Legendary Pokémon cards) and kidnaps several Grand Masters and Club Masters. Former rival Ronald goes on to infiltrate the organization as a spy and gathers intel revealing that their leader, King Biruritchi, is hiding on an all-new island.
Throughout TCG Island and GR Island, many new foes must be faced and new cards (later runs based on Pokémon Gold & Silver) can be collected, bringing the total up to 441. These additions, along with many improvements in the presentation and general quality-of-life upgrades – including better tutorials and access to deck-managing features – really make this 2001 outing the definitive digital Pokémon Trading Card Game experience. Yes, even when considering 2024's Pokémon TCG Pocket.
Staying on the GBC
Thus begs the question: Why does the inferior predecessor get preferential treatment? After its initial release in 1998, the Game Boy title Pokémon Trading Card Game was re-released digitally on 3DS in 2014 and Nintendo Switch in 2023. Its 2001 sequel Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR! however, remains stuck on Japanese Game Boy Color systems.
The content of the game likely isn't the issue, considering that the company even took the time to censor some cards for the 3DS re-release of the inferior original, meaning they'd likely be willing to put in the work for 2 as well. Neither are technical issues, since the Game Boy Color's infrared functionality of the original was emulatable for the Switch re-release. Nor is the game's status as a Japan-exclusive title, seeing as games like The Mysterious Murasame Castle or Mother 3 eventually were re-released as well.
In the end, we can only assume that the licensing is to blame, just as with other neglected & forgotten sequels like Sonic Pocket Adventure and Mega Man & Bass: Challenger from the Future. Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR! involved none of the rights holders to Pokémon (namely Nintendo, GameFreak and Creatures) directly, instead being developed by Hudson Soft and published by the three's communal front project The Pokémon Company.
Spreading To The World
If everything keeping this unique blend of Pokémon media from reaching a wider audience is truly just some behind-the-doors corporate nonsense, then why not just try to find a way beyond official means?
A full fan translation of the Japan-exclusive game into English was released in June 2012 by user Artemis251 and has been downloaded more than 100,000 times from its original site alone. A Spanish version by Shinichi999 followed suit in 2021. If you don't like the Game Boy Color gameplay (although the system has enough fans to still receive new homebrew titles) some of the decks in the game have been modded into other titles as well, such as Tabletop Simulator in 2022.
If you're interested in finding the game itself, but Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR! yields no results, that's because the name is just a fan translation of the Japanese name ポケモンカードＧＢ２ ＧＲ団参上！(Pokémon Card GB 2: GR-dan Sanjō!). Maybe we'll see what the actual localized title will be someday, if The Pokémon Company decides that we are worthy of getting an official re-release.