Amada
| Stickers | Menko | Product Listing |
The Amada Printing Company has worked with Nintendo since at least the 1980's, making menko sets of popular franchises including Donkey Kong and Mario, though details are limited and dates are hazy, thanks to a lack of records kept by both Amada and Nintendo. What is known is that collaborations between the two came to a pause around 1985, likely due to the collapse of the video game industry and a decline in interest in menko.
Stickers
Starting in 1996, Amada signed into a multi-year collaboration with the Pokémon franchise to create sticker sets, though they would eventually add in other products later down the line.
The first sticker set was released in blind-boxes of 10 stickers for 100円 each. The stickers proved massively popular, and additional sets would be regularly released until late 2005, at which point the work was handed over to a subsidiary company, Ensky. Ensky (also known as Ensky Plus) had been freshly founded by Amada in June 2005. Ensky continues to make Pokémon stickers today (as well as many other products including figures, stamps, and puzzles), which have obtained a level of notoriety amongst collectors due to the large size and quality of the sets and the blind-box nature of their releases.
These stickers were often different than your standard everyday sticker, as they included stats and rules for battle minigames to play with your classmates and friends! For early sets, the minigame rules are:
(courtesy of KarlSellsThings) |
A game for 2 players. Each player sets down a sticker at the same time. If your Attack Power ① is higher than your opponent's Defense ②, you win that battle. If your opponent's sticker matches the Typing ③ on the right, the damage is doubled. In case of a draw, compare the Level ④. |
Menko
By 1998, Amada would return to menko, with the Hyper Menko set (often left in the transliterated Japanese Maru Menko).
In 2003-2004, they combined menko and stickers into one product with the Amada ADV sets (originally packaged as Pokémon Kakumen Retsuden, or more literally "rectangular menko intense story"), which were packaged individually and given as lottery prizes. In 2005, this was followed by Kakumen Retsuden Kai ("Kai" meaning "a revision" but is often used for sequel titles to imply "improved"), distributed through similar means in 2 parts. These could also be used in two battle minigames:
|
Menko Rules
1. Each player takes 5 menko into their hand. 2. Each player has 10 points. 3. Each player places one menko from their hand together (Pokémon-side up) 4. Play Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide the play order (winners first). 5. In order, choose another player's menko to attack with your own. If your menko has two typings, choose only one to use and announce it to the other players. 6. Players' point changes depend on the result. If your opponent's menko does not flip over, there is no change in points. If your opponent's menko flips, deduct points as follows: Compare your typing with your opponent's typing. If either has two typings, the one with greater damage is given priority: → If both player's menko have the same type, deduct 2 points. → If your opponent's menko type is weak to yours, deduct 3 points. → If your menko type is weak to your opponent's, deduct 1 point. → If your type match-up is invalid (e.g. ghost vs normal type), the points remain unchanged. Remove the flipped menko from play; it cannot be used for the rest of the game. 7. The player who lost their menko adds another one from their hand. 8. Repeat steps 5-7 until a player either loses all 10 points or not longer has any menko in their hand. 9. The player left with at least 1 point and 1 menko in their hand wins. Silhouette Quiz Rules Place the menko down, sihlouette-side up. Guess the name of the Pokémon. For each correct guesses, the player collects that menko. The player with the most at the end wins. |
(courtesy of divajoanne) |
Product Listing
While difficult to fully list every sticker set released, I have collected a truncated list:
| 1996 | Hyper Sticker Collection 1 | Amada |
|
|
| 1997 | Hyper Sticker Collection 2 | Amada |
|
|
| 1998 | Attack Set 1 | Amada |
|
|
| 1998 |
Super Deluxe
The Deluxe sets were fancier reprints of prior sets. |
Amada | ||
| 1999 | Super DX Gold | Amada |
|
|
| 1999 | World Hobby Fair Part 1 | Amada | ||
| 2000 |
Hyper Sticker Collection 3
The first set to showcase Gen 2 Pokemon |
Amada | ||
| 2000 | Hyper Sticker Collection 4 | Amada | ||
| 2000 | Super Deluxe 2000 | Amada |
|
|
| 2000 | World Hobby Fair Part 2 | Amada | ||
| 2001 | Attack Set 2 | Amada | ||
| 2001 | World Hobby Fair Part 3 | Amada | ||
| 2003 |
Amada ADV Part 1 (sticker menko)
has gold metallic silhouette backs |
Amada | ||
| 2003 | Amada ADV Part 2 (sticker menko) | Amada | ||
| 2004 |
Amada ADV Part 3 (sticker menko)
has green or red metallic silhouette backs |
Amada |
|
|
| 2004 | ADV Part 4 | Amada |
|
|
| 2004 |
Amada ADV Part 4 (sticker menko)
has green or red metallic silhouette backs |
Amada | ||
| 2005 | Attack Set 3 | Amada |
|
|
| 2005 | Amada ADV Kai Part 1 (menko) | Amada |
|
|
| 2005 | Amada ADV Kai Part 2 (menko) | Amada |
|
|
| 2007 | Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl | Ensky |
|
|
| 2012 | Pokémon Pokédex 3D Pro | Ensky |
|
For more detailed information on individual sets and full sticker listings, check out Pokemon Stickerpedia.