Piplup full art cards in Japanese sets include a 2025 Art Rare and a CHR print, and Piplup doesn’t get the secret-rare treatment that Sinnoh’s cover legendaries get. What it gets instead is consistency — a new Japanese print in almost every era, from a 2015 Common through a 2025 Art Rare, plus one genuine chase card wearing someone else’s name on the box.
The Japanese Piplup prints run across several sets from 2015 to 2025, plus the store’s PSA 10 052/049 CHR print. If you want the wider three-starter view with Turtwig and Chimchar alongside it, our Sinnoh starters guide covers that. We ship Japanese sealed product and singles out of Tokyo.
Six confirmed Japanese Piplup prints run from 2015’s Red Light Flash Common to 2025’s Inferno X Art Rare, including the Double Rare tag-team card Blastoise & Piplup GX.
- New section: Piplup full art cards, a table of the Art Rare and CHR prints with number and rarity.
- The Inferno X booster box links to its product page.
- More Japanese singles and sets are on the Japanese Pokemon card list page.
USD figures convert at ¥154/USD, approximate. Prices checked Oct 22, 2026.
Piplup Full Art Cards: Japanese Art Rare and CHR Prints
Collectors use “full art” for prints whose artwork fills the whole card face. Japanese sets do not print those words: the official card database prints only a rarity code, and the full-art treatments are the SR (full-art ex and Supporter cards), SAR (Special Art Rare), AR (Art Rare), CHR / CSR (Character Rare) and the gold UR and rainbow HR printings.
| Card | Set mark · number | Rarity | Illustrator | Our listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piplup | Inferno X (M2) · 85 | Art Rare | Jiro Sasumo | not listed |
| PSA 10 Piplup | 052/049 | CHR | — | sold out at the time of this update |
For how the treatments compare across species, see our full art Pokemon cards guide.
Every Piplup Print at a Glance
Six Japanese Piplup prints (five solo prints plus one tag-team card) are confirmed on Limitless TCG’s database, spanning three console generations of set design:
| Card | Set (JP) | Set (EN) | No. | Rarity | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piplup | Inferno X | Phantasmal Flames | 27 | Common | 26 Sep 25 |
| Piplup | Inferno X | Phantasmal Flames | 85 | Art Rare | 26 Sep 25 |
| Piplup | Star Birth | Brilliant Stars | 25 | Common | 14 Jan 22 |
| Piplup | Dream League | Dream League | 52 | Common (Reg. Mark C) | 02 Aug 19 |
| Blastoise & Piplup GX | Remix Bout | Cosmic Eclipse | 16 | Double Rare | 05 Jul 19 |
| Piplup | Red Light Flash | BREAKthrough | 18 | Common | 26 Sep 15 |
The Newest Prints: Inferno X (M2)
Inferno X, released 26 September 2025 as the Japanese counterpart to Phantasmal Flames, is the set where Piplup picked up an Art Rare print for the first time in this line-up, alongside the expected Common.
The Common (No. 27) is illustrated by Hideki Ishikawa, who also drew the older Dream League Piplup covered below. The Art Rare (No. 85) is a separate illustration by Jiro Sasumo and sits in the set’s higher rarity slot rather than the base print run. For the full breakdown of what else shipped in this release, see our Phantasmal Flames Japanese card list and our Inferno X booster box buying guide.
Brilliant Stars and Dream League
Between the 2015 original and the 2025 Inferno X pair, Piplup shows up twice more — both times as a Common, both times in sets with well-known English counterparts.
Star Birth (No. 25) is the Japanese release paired with Brilliant Stars, illustrated by Atsushi Furusawa and released 14 January 2022. Dream League (No. 52) predates it by two and a half years, released 2 August 2019 and carrying Regulation Mark C, with artwork by Tomomi Kaneko. Neither is a chase print — both are base Common slots — but they’re the two prints most likely to turn up in a bulk Piplup search from that stretch of the game’s history.
The Chase Card: Blastoise & Piplup GX
The one print in this guide that isn’t a solo Piplup card is Blastoise & Piplup GX, a Double Rare tag-team card from Remix Bout, the Japanese release corresponding to Cosmic Eclipse. It released 5 July 2019 — just under a month before Dream League — and carries artwork by Mitsuhiro Arita.
Tag-team GX cards pair two Pokemon on one card with a shared attack pool, and Piplup’s inclusion here puts it in the same GX slot as far bigger names from that generation. It’s the print worth knowing if you’re building a Piplup collection and want something beyond the base-set Commons. Our Blastoise & Piplup GX card guide covers the tag-team card in more depth.
The 2015 Original: Red Light Flash
The earliest confirmed print in this line-up is Piplup No. 18 from Red Light Flash, released 26 September 2015 as the Japanese release lining up with BREAKthrough. It’s a straightforward Common, illustrated by Kanako Eo, and it’s the print that anchors the rest of the timeline — everything else in this guide is a decade of reprints and new illustrations built on the same starter.
Our PSA 10 Copy: 052/049 CHR
Alongside the six Limitless-confirmed prints above, there is a graded print: PSA 10 Piplup, numbered 052/049, CHR rarity.
If you’re comparing prints, treat the numbering and rarity code on any listing as the identifying detail, not the artwork alone — several Piplup prints share a similar pose across different sets and years.
Why Piplup Keeps Reappearing
Looking at the six confirmed prints together, a pattern holds: Piplup gets a Common in nearly every generation of Japanese sets, then occasionally steps up — the 2025 Art Rare, the 2019 tag-team Double Rare — rather than skipping eras entirely. That’s a different shape to collecting than chasing one specific secret rare; it means a Piplup collection is built across ten years of illustrators (Kanako Eo, Tomomi Kaneko, Atsushi Furusawa, Hideki Ishikawa and Jiro Sasumo among them) rather than around a single flagship card.
If Piplup is one starter in a wider collecting plan, our other regional starter guides cover the same ground for their respective trios:
Where to Buy Piplup Cards from Japan
We ship Japanese sealed product and graded singles worldwide out of Tokyo with tracked delivery. The PSA 10 Piplup 052/049 CHR is sold out at the time of this update — sourcing requests go through Quick Order, including for any other Piplup print.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Japanese Piplup card prints are there?
Six Japanese prints (five solo prints plus one tag-team card) are confirmed on the Limitless TCG database, from Red Light Flash in 2015 through Inferno X in 2025. The store also catalogs a PSA 10 Piplup numbered 052/049 with CHR rarity.
Does Piplup have an Art Rare print?
Yes — Piplup No. 85 from Inferno X (Phantasmal Flames), released 26 September 2025, is an Art Rare illustrated by Jiro Sasumo. The other four solo Piplup prints confirmed on Limitless in this guide are all Commons.
What is Blastoise & Piplup GX?
A Double Rare tag-team card from Remix Bout (No. 016), the Japanese release corresponding to Cosmic Eclipse. It released 5 July 2019 with artwork by Mitsuhiro Arita, and it’s the only Piplup appearance in this guide with the Double Rare rarity label.
What rarity is the store’s PSA 10 Piplup 052/049?
The store catalog shows it as CHR rarity, numbered 052/049.
What was Piplup’s most recent Japanese card set?
Inferno X, released 26 September 2025 — the Japanese counterpart to Phantasmal Flames. It included both a Common (No. 27) and an Art Rare (No. 85).
Which Piplup cards are full art?
Piplup’s Japanese full art cards are No. 85 from Inferno X (M2), an Art Rare illustrated by Jiro Sasumo, and the PSA 10 Piplup numbered 052/049, CHR rarity. The other solo Piplup prints listed are Commons, and Blastoise & Piplup GX is a Double Rare.
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