Does anyone know how many non Mt Fuji Surfing Pikachu’s that ARE indeed glossy from 1997 were distributed? Before I failed at math and research on this I thought I’d ask the pros!
edit: I’ve been reading about it quite a bit and have come to this solution thus far.
But first this card goes by a few names:
-Corocoro “Surfing Pikachu”
-Naminori Pikachu(Naminori meaning “Surfing”)
-and the literal translation of Surfing Pikachu= なみのりピカチュウ
Now, Bulbapedia is wrong:
Details for the first distribution were announced in the October 1997 issue of CoroCoro Comic Special (which was released on August 30, 1997). The application period ended on September 30, 1997. Winners were announced in the December 1997 Special issue.
Details for the second distribution were announced in the October 1997 issue of CoroCoro Comic (which was released on September 13, 1997[4]). The application period ended on October 14, 1997. Winners were announced in the December 1997 issue.
The correct volumes found by me are 1 “special edition” release of this card in October 1997. The correct volumes found by me are 1 “special edition” release of this card in December of 1997.
Why is Bulbapedia wrong? See below for artist credit as Aoki being the proof in each Special edition. Give the artist credit where it’s due and I deserve more Surfing Pikachu’s.
Now:
If it were true that Aoki were given credit here as an artist then Bulbapedia would be correct.
Here are the 2 even numbered(by month number[10 and 12]) Correct issues for both releases.
Seems like you need to figure out how many magazines for both distributions were sold to estimate the number of copies printed. Like most corocoro promos I do not think it is a rare card.
Thank you but it at least you confirmed for us that october special edition and december special edition are the correct ones! Thank you so much! Awesome man.
Since there are only 2,000 copies of glossy keiji kinebuchi corocoro pikachu 1996 and only 30 or so exist or have been populated amongst CGC+PSA POP reports.
So I made this comparative mathematical jump. Bulbapedia says 10,000 copies from the video game release which seems to be accurate in your post with the image you showed following directions right to left.
So if keiji’s pika is only 30 remaining of 2,000 1 year off.
Aokis 1997 surfing pika is about 400 pop but with many remaining bad copies and 10,000 original.
10,000 divided by 2,000=5 right? so the multiplier would be 5x.
5x400=2,000 estimated hypothetical 1997 surfing pikachu corocoro left. seems plausible if u look how many there are on buyee, ebay, mercari, not to mention the ones that aren’t online.
but that’s that the important thing. Let’s deal with facts first. If bulbapedia was right about the 10,000 distribution(not by N64 but instead by gameboy). Could it be right that August Bessatsu (special edition corocoro) would hold the answer? Because then, it stays within the trend of “even numbered months”(august being 8th).
Wow we are discovering a lot tonight aren’t we haha! There was only 1 corocoro surfing pikachu, awesome. Explains why there isnt a similar variant in that time frame like there was for 1996 corocoro pikachu(ivy)
We should feel accomplished my friend. 22 years later we have found another easter egg together. Only 1 corocoro pikachu and that the mt fuji pikachu came before that one. That’s history right there my friend.
Surfing Pikachu was initially distributed in this edition. There may be other distributions. Someone would need to go through all the corocoro issues to confirm.
If I may clarify. I always thought (atleast till yesterday) that the Surfing Pikachu card (non Fuji) was never released as a standalone card but together with the Imakuni? card.
This is the supposed insert / pamphlet with the 1997 CoroCoro Magazine which contains 2 cards that need to be peeled. The Surfing Pikachu and the Imakuni. I was not able to find a sharper image of this nor any indication of dates but this was an insert in the September edition.
I also use the CoroCoro archive resource as you listed above and they have always stated that the magazines sourced by them are second hand which possibly means that these inserts were already removed and hence not archived.
I also see the word lottery a lot while translating the images on my phone and never understood if these were lottery somehow or were distributed with every magazine.
I’m not sure, since there are no primary sources on the archive. What is your source for this sheet?
This page from the same September 1997 issue in question states that you can get the surfing pikachu card in the October special issue. They make a big deal about it being a “new species” of pikachu, implying that this is surfing pikachu’s debut.
Flying Pikachu
The October issue states that the December bessatsu will issue a flying pikachu with each magazine purchase
I think we cannot find an august bessatsu that year meaning they did not fully stixk to the even number regiment monthly quotas. Im not sure. But i think because 1996vpikachu came out in october but had reprints due to incorrect illustrator releases they also did 1997 in october but dis not have reprints due to no error. Before this on sept 17th mt fuji pikachu was released. We can be certain of this at least.
As far as the number of copies given out id have to refer to a few online sources saying 10,000. But then i found this in english for americans. I dont know the difinite answer yet but its aomewhere between 1000 and 10,000.
