The Five Best Pikachu Cards of All Time

Gold Star Pikachu (Holon Phantoms 104)

Before Alt Arts took over the hobby, there was the Gold Star. If you were collecting in the mid-2000s, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Gold Star Pokémon were the chase cards of the EX era. These cards were shiny versions of popular Pokémon printed at a pull rate of roughly one per every six booster boxes. And sitting at the top of that pile was Pikachu.

The Gold Star Pikachu features a dynamic crossed-arms pose with a yellow-to-white gradient that still looks sharp two decades later.

Grade 10 copies have crossed $77,000, with sales continuing to climb as collectors who grew up in that era rediscovering the card.

*Buy Pikachu cards on TCGPlayer or eBay

Pikachu (Base Set 1st Edition 58)

I can already hear the debate. Is a 40 HP Pikachu that your opponent’s Bulbasaur could sneeze on and knock out truly one of the five best cards ever printed? From a gameplay perspective, absolutely not. But that’s not the point.

This card is the origin story. The 1st Edition shadowless print run, where the drop shadow was removed from the card frame before Wizards of the Coast caught the error, is the most historically significant version of the foundational Pikachu card.

Grade 10 copies often sell for north of $4,000, while raw copies will set you back $150.

Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rare (Scarlet & Violet: 151)

If you want to talk about the modern era then we have to talk about the 151 SIR Pikachu.

When The Pokémon Company released the Scarlet & Violet 151 set as a love letter to the original 151 Pokémon, collectors lost their minds.

The Special Illustration Rare Pikachu features sprawling, painterly artwork that transforms the franchise mascot into a genuine collector’s art piece. It’s honestly a print you’d frame and hang on your wall.

The 151 SIR Pikachu has held its value in a way that most modern chase cards haven’t. You can find graded 10 copies hovering around $500.

*Buy Pikachu ex SIR cards on TCGPlayer or eBay

Trophy Pikachu No. 1 Trainer (Lizardon Mega Battle)

The No. 1 Trainer Gold Trophy Pikachu was awarded exclusively to the winners of the 1997-98 Lizardon Mega Battle, one of the very first sanctioned Pokémon TCG tournaments ever held.

Only about 15 copies exist. The artwork, illustrated by the legendary Mitsuhiro Arita, depicts Pikachu hoisting a gleaming gold trophy in triumph, and that’s exactly what the card feels like.

A graded 10 copy sold in 2025 for $450,000. There are more copies of certain Rembrandt paintings than there are of this card. If you have one of these, you’re holding a piece of history that almost no one on earth can claim.

Pikachu Illustrator (CoroCoro Comic)

The Pikachu Illustrator is not just the best Pikachu card of all time, it’s arguably the best trading card of all time, full stop.

CoroCoro Comic ran an illustration contest in Japan in 1997 and 1998, and the winners received this card. It is the only Pokémon card ever printed with the word Illustrator instead of Trainer, featuring a unique pen icon in the bottom-right corner.

The artwork was drawn by Atsuko Nishida, the original designer of Pikachu herself. Fewer than 40 copies were ever produced, and only one has ever achieved a 10 grade.

That copy sold for $5 million when Logan Paul acquired it in 2022, and he later sold it for approximately $16.5 million, the most expensive Pokémon card ever sold.

No other card comes close. No other Pikachu ever will.