Before Pokemon cards were sold in stores, they were stapled inside a comic book — the origin of CoroCoro Pokemon promo cards.
CoroCoro Comic has been bundling Pokemon TCG promos with its monthly issues since the very first year of the game, and the practice has recurred across the decades — it just moved from bonus inserts for kids to high-value magazine-exclusive collector cards. But “CoroCoro promo” gets used loosely online, and a couple of high-value XY-era cards get filed under that label when they actually came from something else entirely.
Magazine promos occupy a specific spot in the Japanese TCG market. Unlike a set-pulled card, a CoroCoro promo’s only original source was a single dated issue on a newsstand — there’s no booster box to open and no ongoing print run to fall back on. That makes tracing the actual distribution channel, whether it’s a specific issue, a store-opening box, or a dedicated special pack, the most useful thing a buyer can do before paying a premium for one. It’s also where two commonly misattributed XY-P promos come from.
CoroCoro Comic has bundled Pokemon TCG promos since 1996. The PSA10 Charizard EX PROMO 030/XY-P is the original holo promo bundled with Monthly CoroCoro Comic. Two other high-profile XY-P cards, 150/XY-P and 247/XY-P, are commonly mislabeled as CoroCoro promos; they aren’t.
- Set reference: Pokemon card list.
- Graded Japanese Pokemon singles are listed on our store as of this update.
USD figures convert at ¥154/USD, approximate.
What Are CoroCoro Promo Cards?
CoroCoro Comic is a long-running Japanese monthly manga magazine, and since the Pokemon Card Game’s earliest days, individual issues have shipped with a physical trading card stapled or bagged inside — no purchase of a booster pack required, just the cover price of the magazine. That distribution model is what separates a CoroCoro promo from a set-pulled card: it never came out of a booster pack at all, and its only original source was a specific dated issue of the magazine.
Because each CoroCoro promo is tied to one issue, on-sale date, and print run, these cards function more like a dated snapshot than an ongoing product line. Some issues bundled cards that were later reprinted through other promo channels; others produced cards that have never appeared any other way. That’s also where the confusion starts — two high-profile XY-era Japanese promos are frequently described online as CoroCoro cards when their actual distribution was a Pokemon Center campaign, not a magazine issue.
For identification purposes, the printed card number is the most reliable marker. CoroCoro and other magazine or campaign promos use a promo-specific suffix — here the “/XY-P” range — rather than a standard set’s numbered checklist position, and the corner of the card is marked “PROMO” instead of a set symbol. That numbering tells you a card is a promo of some kind, but it doesn’t by itself tell you which promo campaign produced it. For that, you need the issue date or campaign name.
The First Tie-Ins: 1996–97
CoroCoro’s Pokemon card tie-ins go back to the very beginning of the franchise. The November 1996 issue, on sale October 15, 1996, included Pikachu and Jigglypuff (Purin) cards as a bonus insert — five days before the Pokemon Card Game’s starter deck reached general retail on October 20, 1996. It’s a small detail, but it places CoroCoro’s promo history at the actual origin point of the physical card game rather than as a later marketing add-on.
A Mew promo followed as part of the magazine’s early Pokemon tie-in campaigns around 1996–97. Sources differ on its exact issue.
Shining Mew: A Landmark Early CoroCoro Promo
One of the best-documented early CoroCoro promos is Shining Mew (Hikaru Mew), the bonus card for the magazine’s May 2001 issue, distributed April 15, 2001. It’s an old-back print carrying the shiny, color-swapped styling that defined the original “Shining Pokemon” cards of that era, illustrated by Hironobu Yoshida, and numbered No. 151 — matching Mew’s Pokedex entry rather than a set checklist number.
Shining Mew sits at the intersection of two collecting threads: CoroCoro’s magazine-promo history and the broader “Shining Pokemon” mechanic that ran through the Neo era and was later revived. It’s a genuine CoroCoro card in its own right — distinct from the two XY-era promos which get filed under CoroCoro incorrectly.
Thirteen years separate Shining Mew’s April 2001 distribution from the Charizard EX promo. CoroCoro’s role as a Pokemon promo source didn’t run continuously at the same intensity across that whole stretch, but the practice of bundling a genuine, magazine-exclusive card with a dated issue carried through from the old-back era into the XY era essentially unchanged in concept, even as the card frames, mechanics, and print technology moved on.
The CoroCoro Promo: Charizard EX 030/XY-P (2014)
![Charizard EX [030/XY-P] (XY-P Promotional Cards)](https://samuraiswordtokyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/img_corocoro_xyp_30_r_jp_96f7bd862cd1-1.webp)
Charizard EX 030/XY-P was the original holo promo bundled with the March 2014 issue of Monthly CoroCoro Comic, on sale February 15, 2014. This is a magazine-exclusive promo, not a set-pulled EX card.
Charizard EX 030/XY-P is a Fire-type card with 180 HP. Its second attack deals 120 damage for a Fire-Colorless-Colorless-Colorless energy cost, with a Water weakness and a retreat cost of 3. The artwork is credited to 5ban Graphics.
The PSA10 Charizard EX PROMO 030/XY-P is offered as a PSA 10 back order at ¥137,280 (~$891), and the PSA10 Shining Mew Old Back neo-P No.151 at ¥10,086,666 (~$65,498) — both sourced to order; the product pages show the current terms. For a wider view of how this fits into the graded Charizard market, our PSA10 Charizard Japanese cards buying guide covers grading and condition factors across the lineup, and our top 10 Charizard Japanese cards ranked guide places this promo alongside the rest of the Japanese Charizard field.
The card number 030/XY-P and the “PROMO” designation in the corner are what confirm this is the magazine promo rather than a booster-pulled EX card. If a listing doesn’t show that numbering, it isn’t this print.
Not CoroCoro: Two Commonly Misattributed XY-P Promos
Two other high-value cards in the XY-P promo range get called “CoroCoro promos” in listings and forum posts fairly often. Neither one actually came from the magazine. Both are still worth knowing if you’re building out an XY-P collection — they just belong to a different chapter of that story.
![Magikarp [150/XY-P] (XY-P Promotional Cards)](https://samuraiswordtokyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/img_corocoro_xyp_150_r_jp_30a1fd1956e3-1.webp)
![Pikachu Libre [247/XY-P] (XY-P Promotional Cards)](https://samuraiswordtokyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/img_corocoro_xyp_247_r_jp_c3e5c1d26e9f-1.webp)
Magikarp “Pretend Pikachu” (150/XY-P) — known in Japanese as Koiking Gokko Pikachu — was packaged in the “Pokemon Card Game XY Special Box: Koiking Gokko & Gyarados Gokko Pikachu,” released June 26, 2015 to mark the opening of Pokemon Center Hiroshima. The box paired this promo with a companion “Gyarados Gokko Pikachu” card, five packs of the Bandit Ring expansion, and a deck case. It’s a Lightning-type Basic Pokemon with 60 HP: a first attack for Colorless energy dealing 10 damage, and a second attack for Lightning-Lightning-Colorless dealing 80, with a Fighting weakness, Metal resistance, and a retreat cost of 1. The artwork is credited to Kouki Saitou.
Pikachu Libre (247/XY-P) — the Masked Pikachu print — came from the “Masked Pikachu Special Pack,” released June 17, 2016 through Pokemon Center, not a magazine issue. It’s a Lightning-type card with 80 HP: a first attack for Colorless-Colorless dealing 10-plus damage, and a second attack for Lightning-Colorless-Colorless dealing 50, with a Fighting weakness, Metal resistance, and a retreat cost of 1. The artwork is credited to Yoshinobu Saito.
| Card | Number | Actual Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charizard EX | 030/XY-P | Monthly CoroCoro Comic, March 2014 issue | 2014 |
| Magikarp “Pretend Pikachu” | 150/XY-P | Pokemon Center Hiroshima opening Special Box | 2015 |
| Pikachu Libre | 247/XY-P | Masked Pikachu Special Pack | 2016 |
150/XY-P and 247/XY-P share the XY-P promo numbering range with the CoroCoro Charizard, which is likely why they get grouped under the same “CoroCoro” label online. Their actual distribution was a Pokemon Center store-opening box and a dedicated special pack, not a magazine issue — so treat “CoroCoro” attributions for these two specifically as inaccurate.
For the full numbering range these two cards sit within, our XY-P promo best cards guide covers the wider XY-P lineup in detail.
The broader lesson for anyone shopping XY-P promos: a shared numbering range doesn’t mean a shared origin story. 030/XY-P, 150/XY-P, and 247/XY-P all use the same “/XY-P” suffix, but they came from three different distribution channels — a magazine, a store-opening campaign, and a dedicated special pack — released across three different years. Checking the specific issue or campaign behind a promo, rather than assuming from the numbering alone, is the only way to know what you’re actually buying.
Where to Buy CoroCoro and XY-P Promo Cards
We ship Japanese sealed product and graded singles from Tokyo.
The best Japanese Pokemon promo cards guide covers the broader field of Japanese magazine and store-campaign promos, and the PSA10 collection lists other graded pieces.
The PSA10 Magikarp “Pretend Pikachu” 150/XY-P and the PSA10 Pikachu Libre 247/XY-P sold out at the time of this update — sourcing requests go through Quick Order.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CoroCoro promo Pokemon card?
A CoroCoro promo is a Pokemon TCG card bundled inside a specific issue of CoroCoro Comic, a Japanese monthly manga magazine, rather than pulled from a booster pack. The practice dates back to the game’s launch year, 1996, and has continued at various points since.
Are Magikarp “Pretend Pikachu” (150/XY-P) and Pikachu Libre (247/XY-P) CoroCoro promos?
No. Both are frequently mislabeled as CoroCoro cards, but 150/XY-P came from a June 2015 Pokemon Center Hiroshima opening Special Box, and 247/XY-P came from a June 2016 Masked Pikachu Special Pack. Neither was distributed through a CoroCoro Comic issue.
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