Continuing the tradition of an annual spring and summer tournament circuit, Pokemon announced Battle Road 2002. These tournaments continued the structures set in place by previous tournaments like Challenge Road 1999, World Challenge 2000, and Neo Spring / Summer Road 2001 with a few differences.
Starting from 2002, the major regional tournaments would all rebranded into “Battle Roads”, doing away with the unique tournament circuit names of years past. This branding would be re-used from 2003 – 2009, after which the tournament series was rebranded again. The event logo for 2002’s tournaments would feature the Generation 2 starter Pokemon final evolutions: Typhlosion, Meganium, and Feraligatr.
Tournament Structure
Battle Road 2002 was the first year that the tournament circuit would be open to all ages. In previous years, only children in elementary and junior high (up to age 16) were eligible to participate in the juniors and seniors divisions. Battle Road 2002 introduced the “Masters” league, open to all players ages 16+.
Entry
Both the spring and summer tournaments required players to pre-register to be entered into a lottery. Each venue had its own specific lottery, which could be entered either via mail or from the official Trainers website.
If players entered via mail, they would able to cut out a small piece of the magazine, known as the “BR Application Ticket” and include it with their postcard application. This magazine piece would give them preferential treatment in the lottery. Since only Pokemon Fan Club members received the Trainers magazine, this preferential lottery was only available to Pokemon Fan Club members.
Both the spring and summer tournaments also offered players the chance to win guaranteed entry into the regional tournaments via a “player representative” spot. To earn this spot, players had to be selected by their local “Official Gym”, which were local game stores part of Pokemon’s officially licensed network.
Each store had different criteria for how to earn this spot, but likely it was a prize for doing well in the regular weekly tournaments over the course of a league.
Various Official Gyms around Japan also held “Pre-tournaments” for Battle Road Spring 2002.
These local tournaments allowed up to 8 juniors and 8 seniors players per event, and 14 events were held from February 10, 2002 to March 3, 2002.
Additionally, another 30 store-sponsored pre-tournaments were held from February 10 – 24, 2002. These smaller events only allowed 4 players total from all age divisions at each local shop to enter.
Winners of these tournaments would be guaranteed entry into the spring tournament.
The summer tournament offered an additional way to guarantee entry: placing in the top 3 of a Battle Road Spring 2002 regional tournament.
Qualifiers & Final Tournament
Similar to previous years, each tournament had a qualifying round before the main tournament. This qualifier round was meant to cut down the total number of participants for the main tournament.
During the qualifier round, players were split into smaller groups and played a 3 match round-robin tournament within each group with a 30-card half deck. Points were awarded based off total match records (ex: 2-1, 3-0), and the player with the highest point total would advance to the Final Tournament.
During the Final Tournament, players switched to full 60-card decks and played a four round, single-elimination tournament to determine the top standings.
Deckbuilding
Players had to bring both a 30-card deck and a 60-card one. The qualifier would be played with the smaller 30-card deck, while the Final Tournament would use the full 60-card one.
The 2002 tournaments were held at a transition point in the Pokemon TCG’s history. Cards with the new back design had begun to be printed with the Pokemon eSeries release, but many players still had cards from 1999 – 2000 with the old card back.
To facilitate this transition, Pokemon allowed players to mix-and-match the old and current back cards with various restrictions and changes.
The 30-card decks for the qualifiers in all age groups had to use only current back cards. The 60-card decks used for the Final Tournaments players to mix old and current back cards. If a player was playing without card sleeves, they had to have 30 cards from each card back design. Those playing with sleeves were allowed to use any ratio of cards.
Hall of Fame System
Battle Road 2002 utilized Neo Spring & Summer Road 2001’s Hall of Fame system to restrict deckbuilding and promote a more balanced metagame. The cards on the Hall of Fame list were all old back cards, and were assigned a star rank of 1 – 4 stars.
Players were allowed to have a total star count of 4 stars in their deck. This meant that they could run a single copy of a 4-star card, two different 2-star cards, or any combination of cards that totaled 4 stars.
Battle Road Spring 2002 List
The spring tournament had Hall of Fame a list for juniors and seniors. This list was a much smaller version of the list that masters league players used.
★★★
Sneasel (Neo Genesis)
★★
Cleffa (Neo Genesis)
Magcargo (Neo Revelation)
★
Gust of Wind (Intro Deck Neo)
Feraligatr (Neo Premium File 1)
Elekid (Neo Genesis)
Pichu (Neo Genesis)
Focus Band (Neo Genesis)
Gold Berry (Neo Genesis)
Double Gust (Neo Genesis)
Recycle Energy (Neo Genesis)
Tyrogue (Neo Genesis)
All old back promo cards
The masters league expanded this list greatly, added numerous cards from older sets since they were allowed in their division’s Final Tournaments.
★★★
Blastoise (Base Set)
Wigglytuff (Jungle)
Dark Vileplume (Team Rocket)
Erika’s Jigglypuff (Gym Heroes)
Sneasel (Neo Genesis
★★
Electabuzz (Base Set)
Hitmonchan (Base Set)
Chansey (Base Set)
Item Finder (Base Set)
Double Colorless Energy (Base Set)
Scyther (Jungle)
Clefable (Jungle)
Magmar (Fossil)
Muk (Fossil)
Mr. Mime (Expansion Sheet 1)
Chaos Gym (Gym Heroes)
Rocket’s Zapdos (Gym Challenge)
Cleffa (Neo Genesis)
Magcargo (Neo Revelation)
★
Electrode (Base Set)
Gust of Wind (Base Set)
Computer Search (Base Set)
Feraligatr (Neo Premium File 1)
Elekid (Neo Genesis)
Pichu (Neo Genesis)
Focus Band (Neo Genesis)
Gold Berry (Neo Genesis)
Double Gust (Neo Genesis)
Recycle Energy (Neo Genesis)
Tyrogue (Neo Genesis)
All old back promo cards
Battle Road Summer 2002 List
The summer 2002 tournaments didn’t have a Hall of Fame list for the junior and senior divisions, as by the summer, those divisions no longer allowed old back cards. However, the masters league still allowed them.
Several cards changed in ranking with the updated list, which are highlighted (green means moving up a tier, red means moving down, and purple means new to the list.).
★★★★ (New tier added)
Dark Vileplume (Team Rocket)
Sneasel (Neo Genesis)
★★★
Muk (Fossil)
Aerodactyl (Fossil)
Mr. Mime (Expansion Sheet 1)
Erika’s Jigglypuff (Gym Heroes)
★★
Blastoise (Base Set)
Chansey (Base Set)
Item Finder (Base Set)
Double Colorless Energy
Wigglytuff (Jungle)
Clefable (Jungle)
Rocket’s Zapdos (Gym Challenge)
Chaos Gym (Gym Heroes)
Cleffa (Neo Genesis)
Magcargo (Neo Revelation)
★
Electrode (Base Set)
Electabuzz (Base Set)
Hitmonchan (Base Set)
Gust of Wind (Base Set / Intro Deck Neo)
Computer Search (Base Set)
Scyther (Jungle)
Mr. Mime (Jungle)
Magmar (Fossil)
Gastly (Expansion Sheet 3)
Feraligatr (Neo Premium File 1)
Gold Berry (Neo Genesis)
Focus Band (Neo Genesis)
Recycle Energy (Neo Genesis)
Double Gust (Neo Genesis)
Pichu (Neo Genesis)
Elekid (Neo Genesis)
Tyrogue (Neo Genesis)
Ho-oh (Neo Premium File 3)
All old back promo cards
Allowed Cards
During the qualifiers, both the juniors / seniors league and the masters league players were restricted to cards with the current card back for their 30-card decks.
Only up to 2 copies of a card with the same name were allowed to be included (besides basic energies), and there was no “Hall of Fame” limit since only current back cards could be used.
In the Final Tournament, the card pool differed between the juniors / seniors league and the masters league. Masters league players had a greatly expanded set of cards that they were able to use, with all old back cards (with some severe restrictions) allowed for play. These old back cards were subject to the “Hall of Fame” system.
Modified Cards
Several old back cards were also modified to make them balanced when playing with the current back cards. Many of these were trainer cards that were converted to Supporters, meaning that only one could be played per turn.
Additionally, the Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal trainers were modified to reduce their power level by making them involve coin flips.
Pokemon Powers were edited to be disabled with any status condition like poison and burn.
The cards modified for the spring tournaments remained modified for the summer ones, and no other cards were additionally changed.
Battle Road Spring 2002
Battle Road Spring 2002 ran from March 9, 2002 to April 7, 2002. The regional tournaments were hosted at 7 venues around Japan, each representing a different prefecture. The Kanto and Kansai tournaments were 2 days each, for a total of 9 tournaments.
- Kantō tournament: Hamamatsuchō House, Tokyo on March 9 and 10, 2002.
- Tōhoku tournament: Sendai Wasse, Sendai on March 17, 2002.
- Kyūshū tournament: Nishitetsu Hall, Fukuoka on March 26, 2002.
- Chūgoku/Shikoku tournament: Hiroshima General Exhibition Center, Hiroshima on March 28, 2002.
- Kansai tournament: Asia & Pacific Trade Center (ATC), Osaka on March 30 and 31, 2002.
- Chūbu tournament: Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya on April 2, 2002.
- Hokkaidō tournament: Sapporo Factory, Sapporo on April 7, 2002.
Each venue was set up with a small stage where announcements would be made. It also served as the stage that winners would come up to for their rewards.
Special guests like Imakuni? were present at each venue. Imakuni? in particular wore a new silver costume for this year’s events.
The 2002 Battle Roads were the final events that issued No.1 – 3 Trainer cards customized with the winner’s name and regional tournaments. Starting with Battle Road 2003, winners of the regional tournaments would be given un-personalized trophy cards instead.
Similar to the Neo Spring / Summer Road tournaments in 2001, these trophy cards were different for boy and girl winners.
As the winners for the tournaments was published in the Trainers magazines, it is possible to find the exact number of each boy or girl numbered trainer trophy card distributed for the Battle Road Spring 2002 tournaments.
- No. 1 Trainer : 1-2 girl(s), 25-26 boys.
One winner does not have a photo and as a masters league player, the suffix is genderless. - No. 2 Trainer : 2 girls, 25 boys
- No. 3 Trainer : 4 girls, 50 boys
The No.1 – 3 trainer cards would be presented in a dark blue folio with a certificate and a sleeve for their card. The cards were not personalized at the venue itself. The winners would be presented with the folio on stage for photos, then event organizers would take the folio and prize cards back.
The winners would be mailed with the personalized card a few months after the event in May 2002.
The winners from the Battle Road Spring 2002 tournaments would be guaranteed entry into the Battle Road Summer 2002 tournament circuit.
They would also get a special baseball cap, as was tradition from previous tournaments for winners.
A letter was also included in the envelope mailed to winners. Translated, it reads:
Notice of sending prizes for “Pokemon Card Battle Road Spring 2002”
Congratulations on winning the “Pokemon Card Battle Road Spring 2002”. We are pleased to inform you that the certificate of commendation has been completed. Please display it proudly in your room.
This summer, starting from July 20 in Hokkaido, “Battle Road Summer 2002” will be held at 7 venues nationwide. We would like to invite all of you to participate. Join us with the aim of winning another prize (for information on how to participate, see the May issue of Trainers).
Well then, I hope you can make it to the big match again in the summer.
May 10, 2002
Battle Road Spring 2002 winner letter
Pokemon Co., Ltd.
All the staff of the Promotion Department
Battle Road Summer 2002
Battle Road Summer 2002 ran from July 20, 2002 to August 11, 2002. Similar to the spring tournament, it was held at 7 venues on 9 days across Japan.
- Hokkaidō tournament: Sapporo Community Dome, Sapporo on July 20, 2002.
- Tōhoku tournament: Sendai Wasse, Sendai on July 24, 2002.
- Kantō tournament: Tokyo International Exhibition Center, Tokyo on July 27 and 28, 2002.
- Chūbu tournament: Port Messe Nagoya, Nagoya on July 31, 2002.
- Kansai tournament: Intex Osaka, Osaka on August 3 and 4, 2002.
- Chūgoku/Shikoku tournament: Hiroshima Sun Plaza, Hiroshima on August 9, 2002.
- Kyūshū tournament: West Japan General Exhibition Center, Fukuoka on August 11, 2002.
Battle Road Summer 2002 was held at the same time as another even, “Pokemon Festa 2002”.
This was a general admission nationwide event where attendees could play the Pokemon video games, watch movies / anime, and play the TCG.
All tournaments except for the Tohoko and Chugoku / Shikoku ones were held at a Pokemon Festa 2002 venue. Battle Road participants still had to complete the lottery process to enter the tournament, but the general public attendees of Pokemon Festa were allowed to spectate and play in side events.
Side events at Battle Road Summer 2002 also rewarded players with points. These points could be traded in for prizes such as card sleeves, Imakuni?’s signature, and one of 3 holographic promo special energy cards.
Additionally, attendees who brought a voucher from page 21 of Trainers Magazine Vol. 17 were able to receive 2 promotional “Touch Generation Change!” cards at this event. These were used to play in the New Kangaskhan Rule tournament, and could also be claimed by mail after the event.
Those who made it through the qualifiers and final tournament were brought on stage to receive their prizes. The stages at the summer tournaments were much larger and grand than the spring tournaments, with enough room for finalists to play on stage in front of spectators.
Similar to the spring tournaments before them, winners received personalized No.1 – 3 Trainers depending on their placement.
These winners were again published in Trainers Magazine. From this, we can calculate how many copies of each No. 1 – 3 Trainer cards were distributed from this event.
- No. 1 Trainer : 3 girls, 24 boys.
- No. 2 Trainer : 1 girls, 26 boys
- No. 3 Trainer : 4 girls, 50 boys
Winners were presented with a black folio containing the trophy card and winning certificate. This folio differed slightly from the Battle Road Spring 2002 ones in that it was black instead of dark blue, and the embossing on the exterior was gold instead of silver.
Similar to the spring tournaments, event organizers would collect the folios after the photos and then mail them back to winners with their personalized names later in September 2002.
Junior league winners of Battle Road Summer 2002 were also invited to the International Tropical Mega Battle 2002 in Hawaii, USA.
The letter that accompanied the Battle Road Summer 2002 folio differed slightly from the Battle Road Spring 2002 one. It reads:
Notice of sending prizes for “Pokemon Card Battle Road Summer 2002”
Congratulations on winning the “Pokemon Card Battle Road Summer 2002”. We are pleased to inform you that the certificate of commendation has been completed. Please display it proudly in your room.
Additionally, we will introduce all the winners in the Pokemon Fan Club magazine “Pokemon Card Trainers Vol. 18” (scheduled to be released 9/13), so look out for that.
We look forward to your continued support with Pokemon Cards.
September 9, 2002
Battle Road Summer 2002 winner letter
Pokemon Co., Ltd.
Promotion Department Event Team
All the staff
Post-Battle Road 2002 Events
There were several tournaments after the regional tournaments. These would be both national-level within Japan, and international.
Best in Japan Battle
As was customary after the regional summer tournaments, a national championships for junior, and senior age divisions was held on August 17, 2002 in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo.
The 9 junior league and 9 senior league 1st place winners from each regional tournament were invited to compete. Games were played with full 60-card decks in an 8 match round-robin tournament, meaning that each player faced each other once. Points were awarded based on match record for each game, and these were totaled up to determine final placements.
With the introduction of the masters league, an additional “Grand Master League” event was held for the regional winners of the 16+ division. The top 4 winners of this were crowned as the “Four heavenly kings” (known in English as the Elite Four).
2002 was the only year that the “Grand Master League” was held, as starting from 2003, the top 4 winners of the Champions League events would be crowned the “four heavenly kings” instead. These 4 winners were each given a trophy card with their photos on them.
The only known photo of this card is a second place trophy. It’s possible that each card had identical art with the photo of the 4 winners, but the text denoting the placement at the top was different.The trophy has a eSeries format border, but has no barcode to scan.
International Tropical Mega Battle 2002
As with previous years, junior league winners were invited to Hawaii, USA to compete in the International Tropical Mega Battle 2002.
This event was the final Tropical Mega Battle ever held, as the World Championships would begin in 2004 (after 2003’s licensing fight with Wizards of the Coast).
5th Champions League
Since being established after the Champion Road 2000 event, the Champions League has occurred every year. Champions from the current and previous years are invited to compete against each other to determine a “true champion.
In 2002, this occurred on August 18 in Tokyo. The eventual winner was Toshiki Ohara, a winner from the 2001 Neo Spring Road tournament.
No.1 – 3 Trainers
The numbered trainers from Battle Road Spring & Summer 2002 were the final No.1 – 3 trainers given away at a regional level. Starting in 2003, the numbered trainer trophy cards would only be given to winners of world championships.
In total, we can add together the spring and summer tournament numbers to get a view of how many total trainers of each gender were issued.
- No. 1 Trainer : 4-5 girl(s), 49-50 boys. (54 total)
One spring winner does not have a photo and as a masters league player, the suffix is genderless. - No. 2 Trainer : 3 girls, 51 boys (54 total)
- No. 3 Trainer : 8 girls, 100 boys (108 total)
The numbered trainers given away in 2002 were unique in that they also included an eReader barcode strip. When scanned, each of the 3 different placements have their own unique messages.
Below are the messages for 1st and 2nd place. A No. 3 trainer has not yet been scanned and archived.
The text also varied by genders, as evidenced by the scan of the No.1 Girl trainer
No.1 Trainer (Boy)
Words of humor
It’s the words of Imakuni? to you, the winner. Thank you!!
Pampakapan! Congratulations on your victory! You did your best! I’ve lowered my head [in respect] and wouldn’t be able to raise it! Nice to meet you from now on! Champion!
Translated Boy No.1 Trainer barcode contents
No.2 Trainer (Boy)
Words of humor
It’s the words of Imakuni? to you, the winner. Thank you!!
Congratulations on 2nd place!! You might think it’s awkward coming in 2nd place. However, there seem to be some girls in the world who say No.2 is cooler! What can you do?!
Translated Boy No.2 Trainer barcode contents
No.1 Trainer (Girl)
Words of humor
It’s the words of Imakuni? to you, the winner. Thank you!!
Congratulations! You are the winner! I hope you will continue to lead all the girls in the country with your strength! Don’t let the boys beat you!
Translated Girl No.1 Trainer barcode contents
The scanned barcodes reveal special “words of humor” from Imakuni?. His sprite in the video represent the silver costume he wore for these tournaments.
Side Events
Like the previous year’s tournaments, Battle Road 2002 featured multiple side events at both the spring and summer tournaments.
Since the summer tournament was also held at Pokemon Festa 2002 locations, there were more side events available at the summer events. The summer official tournament and side events also awarded points, which could be traded in for prizes.
Players Gym
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002, Battle Road Summer 2002
Players Gyms were attendee-run side events. Local play groups could organize their own “gyms” with rules and challenges for other attendees to play through. Helping run a Players Gym as a Fan Club member would gain extra GET points.
Dodrio Team Battle
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002
This side event was a 3v3 tag team tournament, with no age restrictions on who could play together. Each of the 3 players on each team would use a 30-card half deck built to the same rules as the qualifiers for the official tournament (only current back cards). After a 3-round qualifying tournament, a final tournament would be played with 60-card decks.
New Kangaskhan Rule Battle
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002, Battle Road Summer 2002
This side event was a 2v2 tag team tournament that had each team construct 2 decks: one with only old back cards, and another with only current back cards. This side event had its own restrictions on cards allowed in each deck.
Old Back Deck
- Only Neo Series cards allowed
- Cards from the Hall of Fame up to 1 star
- All promo cards count as 1 star
- No Baby Pokemon cards are allowed
Current Back Deck
- Pokemon VS, Pokemon Web, Pokemon e-Starter deck, and Pokemon eSeries cards allowed
- Current back promotional cards distributed up to a certain date allowed
- McDonalds e-Minimum cards not allowed
Players would use 2 special trainer cards to switch places during the match. These were provided to players during the side event if they were competing.
Free Battle
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002, Battle Road Summer 2002
As its name would imply, this was an area at each venue where players could play freely against each other.
Teaching Corner
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002, Battle Road Summer 2002
This side event has been around ever since the 1st Official Tournament. Here, parents and players new to the game can learn how to play the Pokemon TCG.
Baby League
Available at: Battle Road Summer 2002
This side event was a beginner-friendly league for those who had just learned how to play. All participants got 3 points and a Pichu coin, and top winners got additional prizes.
This Pichu coin was likely identical to the ones given away at previous years’ events.
Challenge the Gym Leader
Available at: Battle Road Summer 2002
This side event was staffed by event organizers, posing as Gym Leaders and Pokemon Card Laboratory (PCL) researchers. PCL was the Pokemon TCG’s design and balancing team.
Attendees would bring a 30-card deck to challenge these staff members, and winning would get them a badge.
Sales Corner
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002, Battle Road Summer 2002
This “side event” was a place where attendees could purchase official Pokemon merchandise. At some events like the spring tournaments, exclusive or overseas merchandise from the Pokemon Center New York was available to purchase.
Fan Club Corner
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2002, Battle Road Summer 2002
As with all large official tournaments, there was a corner for the Pokemon Fan Club so new players could register as members, and existing members could get additional GET points for visiting. Players were also able to directly redeem points here while supplies lasted instead of having to mail things in.
Legacy
Battle Road 2002 was the last year that regional winners were issued personalized cards. In Battle Road 2003 and onwards, winners were given non-personalized trophy cards, the Victory Ring and Victory Orb.
In addition, this tournament was the final year that the competitive TCG rules allowed the usage of cards with the old card back. From 2003 onwards, all cards had to use the new cardback, effectively retiring all the cards printed from 1996 – 2001. This also effectively retired the “Hall of Fame” system used to balance the usage of the old back cards.
Sources
- https://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/dogfoods/10005/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20020411022509/http://www.pokemon-card.com/event/sp2002_pre_tournament.html
- https://efour.proboards.com/thread/19915/exact-number-girl-trainers-back
- http://web.archive.org/web/20020408155600/http://www.pokemon-card.com/event/sp2002_tuika_henkou.html
- Trainers Magazine Vol. 14 pg. 11, 22-27
- Trainers Magazine Vol. 15 pg. 20 – 23
- Trainers Magazine Vol. 16 pg. 20 – 26
- Trainers Magazine Vol. 17 pg. 20 – 25
- Trainers Magazine Vol. 18 pg. 21 – 23
