Hello. I'm Suica, a fan of retro Pokemon TCG.
Which version of Pokemon series did you play first? In my case, my first Pokemon was Red version in 1996 in Japan when I was 7 years old. Whichever version or generation you played, you must have experienced Hall of Fame after the final battle against the champion.
Pokemon TCG in Japan also once had Hall of Fame Format during 2001 - 2002. This format is recently getting popular again among players in Japan who play retro cards such as Base Set - Neo format. This article introduces what this format is and some differences of the card pool between Japanese and other languages (mainly English).
I’m Japanese, not a native English speaker, so there will be some wrong sentences or misspellings in this article. Tell me if you can’t get anything.
The History of Hall of Fame Format
According to Jason Klaczynski, the age from Gym series to first Neo series was the most degenerate time in the history of Pokemon TCG because of lots of interrupting cards like Rocket’s Sneak Attack, The Rocket’s Trap and Chaos Gym and quick destroyers like Erika’s Jigglypuff and Sneasel.
In Japan, 2000 - 2001 was that age. Most players, especially children under 10, just enjoyed games in their closed group without the Internet, so they didn’t notice how the format was broken (including me). But the official tournaments at that time were undoubtedly overshadowed. The cards above had potential enough to end the game in two or three turns. In addition, Japanese version of Brock’s Ninetales’ Shapeshift allowed shifted Pokemon to use its Pokemon Power, so it could easily activate Dark Vileplume’s Hay Fever or Aerodactyl’s Prehistoric Power and could stop them by quitting Shapeshift at any timing!
The official team thought this format should be repaired. After half a year since Brock’s Ninetales was released, the errata was announced that Shapeshift doesn’t allow shifted Pokemon to use its Power, as well as the English version, released later.
Announce of change rule
This was not enough to produce a good format. In 2001, one more rule was announced. That was Hall of Fame Format. This format restricted some overwhelming cards by adding some points to them and forced players to build a deck within certain points.
This is the first official Hall of Fame Format point list published in March 2001, Base Set to Neo Revelation format.
In this format, you are allowed to spend up to four points to build a deck. For example, Sneasel has three points, so if you add one copy of Sneasel in your deck, you have one point left, while Dark Energy has one point, so you can add only one copy of Dark Energy for Sneasel and the rest of the cost for Beat Up is no choice but with Rainbow Energy – though Dark Energy turned to unlimited later. Or if you add four copies of Energy Removal, you have spent all points and can't add any other limited cards. This is Hall of Fame Format system.
This format heavily limited heinous archetypes like hand interrupting and made much more farm team cards playable, especially 2nd stage Pokemon. I think the most boring scene in the unlimited format is to face Cleffa and Cleffa with Focus Band both, – How about you guys? – but it rarely occurs in this format. Not only Cleffa but also much other baby Pokemon is on the list later, so you don’t have to be so lucky to overcome many coin flips, and the game can get more competitive.
You might think some cards are not very strong for their point like Hitmonchan and Electabuzz. In my opinion, those cards are just pointed to emphasize the title of "Hall of Fame", praising the glory of early years when Haymaker was tier 1. They might have been a scapegoat to distract attention from more guilty cards. I don’t know the truth.
This format officially continued to e-card series, changing its list several times. After EX series (called ADV series in Japan) started in 2003, Base - Neo sets were not legal in the standard, which meant the end of Hall of Fame Format.
Time Passed. Around 2012, some players felt nostalgia for retro cards and began to hold events of Base - Neo format regularly, contacting toward the Internet and gathering offline. Hall of Fame Format was picked up again at the events. But Hall of Fame Format was last updated at the time of e-card series, where Support rule was already introduced – Professor Oak was also Support at that time, so it didn’t work well in Base-Neo only.
By the way, one more reason why Japanese players tend to tell "until Neo" and "after e-card" apart clearly is the difference of the back of cards. Some of you guys might not know and most of you guys can’t believe that Japanese Pokemon TCG changed its back in 2001! Neo series ended with the back change. Of course it brought a devastating damage to the TCG market in those days, but this story should be omitted in this article because it must need much more words…
Anyway, we call the former back cards "旧裏 (Kyu-ura)" and all cards in Hall of Fame Format are Kyu-ura ones, Base - Neo only. The players in 2012 thought the last updated version of Hall of Fame Format was not appropriate for Base - Neo only. So they designed new Hall of Fame Format as a local rule, where Base - Neo was already out of official support.
Three Choices of Hall of Fame Format
At present, we have three kinds of Hall of Fame Format (hereafter HoFF). Many players follow these formats (every player enjoys one or more).
1. New HoFF (from 2014)
2. Suginami HoFF (from 2018)
3. Takatsuki HoFF (from 2019)
It looks ironic that "New" HoFF is the oldest of the three, but it was just named against the last updated official version. This format is fundamentally based on that last version, but the biggest feature is to subdivide the whole points from four into eight. For example, Typhlosion was strong but not enough to add a point at the official age, but New HoFF treats it as if it were 0.5 point. You can choose how to spend the points more strategically. New HoFF has not changed its list after it was first designed.
Suginami HoFF is an updated version for New HoFF. Suginami is a name of a city in Tokyo, where a player who designed this format holds HoFF events regularly. Suginami is a long name, so you can just call it S-HoFF. Unlike New HoFF is based on the official version, Suginami HoFF boldly changed the list and aims for more balanced format. For example, this format strictly limits some strong combos discovered after New HoFF was designed in 2014, such as Tickling Machine and Impostor Professor Oak or Shining Raichu and Electrode, while some attackers simply strong long time ago like Blastoise, Wigglytuff and Rocket’s Zapdos are lower than New HoFF. Suginami HoFF makes it a rule to update its list in January every year. Some players enjoy this format, some still enjoy New HoFF, and some enjoy both (me, too).
Takatsuki HoFF is also an updated version for New HoFF. Takatsuki is a name of a city in Osaka Prefecture, where a card shop holds a Base - Neo tournament as an official event every month. You can just call it T-HoFF. While Takatsuki HoFF is based on New HoFF, it is updated once in some months and getting closer to Suginami HoFF gradually, along the change of whole meta games. This format has its unique rule for the number of Pokemon in a deck, where a deck must contain at least 15 Pokemon (basic, evolved and/or baby). This format was usually played for the card shop tournament in Osaka, but due to a social problem you know, the tournament is suspended now, and it’s being played in unofficial online events on Skype or Discord as well as New HoFF and Suginami HoFF.
The Card Pool Available in HoFF
I have used a word "Base - Neo" many times in this article, but the exact card pool in this format is quite different between Japanese and other languages. In this chapter, I show the HoFF card pool in which we usually play, compared with the English releases.
Released both in Japanese and English
Base Set
Jungle
Fossil
Team Rocket
Gym Heroes
Gym Challenge
Neo Genesis
Neo Discovery
Neo Revelation
Neo Destiny
Southern Islands
Wizards Black Star Promos
Every expansion is the same in both Japanese and English. Although some cards in Gym two sets in English are only in theme decks in Japanese, the whole card list is the same anyway. And Wizards Black Star Promos are all playable in HoFF, while some promos in Japanese are not released outside Japan,
Released only in Japanese
Vending Machine series
Intro Pack
Intro Pack Neo
Premium File 1-3
Charizard (PF2)
Pichu (PF2)
Some sets are released only in Japan / Japanese. Vending Machine is a big series which has over 100 kinds and all of them are unique ones, not printed before nor again. Some of them have important roles in HoFF.
Intro Pack (/Neo) was a set for beginners, but it contained some useful basic Pokemon such as Squirtle and Chikorita. Magby and Pichu are also used as few baby Pokemon with no HoFF points.
Premium File 1-3 was a small series released between each Neo expansion. Each file contained nine cards and most of them were printed in expansion sets in English. But only Charizard and Pichu were not printed without Japanese. Especially Charizard is strong in HoFF but Charizard itself is very popular among collectors and its price is getting higher and higher.
The rest is all promos only released in Japan. Refer the list below and this page (until 2001). Most of these cards are not very strong, so you don’t necessarily need to get them, while some of them such as Porygon and Steelix have had good scores in some tournaments. Unfortunately Porygon is very rare and too expensive now. I recommend you to print its proxy instead as long as you play casually.
Other promos
Slowpoke (playmat)
Imakuni? (later printed outside Japan around XY)
Mew (World Hobby Fair 1998)
Hungry Snorlax (Nintendo 64)
Meowth (Corocoro Comic)
Jynx (Corocoro Comic)
Cubone (Corocoro Comic)
Kangaskhan (Kangaskhan Parent/Child Tournament)
Diglett (How to Play Book)
Dugtrio (How to Play Book)
Dragonite (Pokemon TCG for the Game Boy Color)
Magicarp (Magazine exam campaign)
Omastar (Communication Evolution campaign)
Alakazam (Communication Evolution campaign)
Genger (Communication Evolution campaign)
Golem (Communication Evolution campaign)
Flying Pikachu (ANA, All Nippon Airlines)
Giovanni's Nidoking (Corocoro Comic)
Koga's Ninja Gym (Corocoro Comic)
Exeggutor (later printed outside Japan around XY)
Tropical Wind (later printed outside Japan around 2004?)
Hama-chan's Slowking (Corocoro Comic)
Murkrow (Trainers)
Wooper (Corocoro Comic)
Steelix (Trainers)
Porygon (Fan Club campaign)
Dance!Neo Imakuni? (CD promo)
Marill (ANA, All Nippon Airlines)
Togepi (ANA, All Nippon Airlines)
Unown R (Corocoro Comic)
Smoochum (Corocoro Comic)
Dunsparce (Information Pack)
Bellossom (Information Pack)
Shining Mew (Corocoro Comic)
Note: Pryce's Lapras is listed in 2001 releases on Bulbapedia, but not playable in HoFF because it was printed after the back was changed and is regarded as in VS series.
Extra playable cards
Cards initially banned in official tournaments
Great Rocket's Mewtwo (Pokemon Card GB2 for the Game Boy Color) *Released only in Japan
__’s Pikachu (calender / comic)
__’s Chansey (Challenge from the Darkness : expansion for Gym Challenge in Japanese) *Released only in Japan
Imakuni?’s Doduo (Challenge from the Darkness : expansion for Gym Challenge in Japanese) *Released only in Japan
Lugia (Pokemon Card GB2 for the Game Boy Color) *Released only in Japan
Ancient Mew (movie flyer of "The Power of One" in 1999)
Dark Fearow (Card GB2 Guidebook) *Released only in Japan
Misty's Treatment (CD promo) *Released only in Japan
Trade Please! (Trade campaign) *Released only in Japan
Some cards like __’s Pikachu (Birthday Pikachu) were printed as banned ones for official tournaments at that age. But now we’re playing just unofficially, so each HoFF allows you to play these tournament banned cards.
Note 1: Takatsuki HoFF is played in card shop tournaments officially approved, so this format doesn’t allow to use them, except for Ancient Mew, which was reprinted in 2019 and got officially playable in the present standard format.
Note 2: If you play on Skype or Discord, Trade Please! is too difficult to play physically. Many online tournaments treat this as an extra banned card.
What’s Next?
Thanks for reading this article! I hope I have let you know how HoFF is fun. I don't think you guys can decide which HoFF to start with yet. In Japan, these three formats are being played almost equally. Each has its unique feature and attraction, so it’s very difficult for me to recommend only one of them. I leave it to you which to choose.
For reference, I’m planning to introduce major cards among three formats and some decklists with difference from the unlimited format in the next article. If you can’t wait, my blog has many articles of HoFF decks and reports in Japanese, where you might see some decklist pictures or read introductions using a translator, though not completely.
See you next time. Until then, may you find much more attraction for the retro cards.
↓ Review of all 1080 cards in HoFF with rank A - E.
↓Comments on the points of each card in each HoFF.
↓ My decklists from 2012
↓ My (unofficial) tournament reports from 2012
↓ Other blogs of my friends
