Jungle Set: Pokémon Trading Card Game 

Paraspectre drinking game: 1. He shows the photo of him playing games with his friends - do a shot 2. He uses the phrase 'Shroom" or Shroomy"' - do a shot 3. He says "But come on" - down your drink. Add any other rules I've missed! P.s. love you and your content ❤❤❤

Love this set, so many good cards like scyther, Licky, mime, wiggly, executor, and some underrated ones like seaking and dodrio.

Wigglytuff was great back in the day. Definitely the best one.

Lickitung is an absolute beast. It is THE staple in all stall decks I’ve played.

Haha! I bet you will like the comments on this video too. The Japanese packs are visually so much cooler; also Pinsir is hiding up in the trees. I'm a fan of Electrode and chain lightining in the GB TCG game. I've never had it hit me, mostly because I'll use it in a colorless deck which helps with that. I also enjoy Fossil Zapdos for the same type of effect. It seems so strong to damage spread; of course its little damage all over versus a big blast to the active. Stalling to me is also a boring way to play, but there have been times, yes against the computer in the GB TCG game so probably wouldn't work irl, when you "sacrifice" a tanky mon up front while you power Exeggutor to 8+ flips on a big eggsplosion and then when the tank takes its last hit, its time to launch a few eggs baby. I know there are more detailed and more real versions of stall decks, but minor small tactics to ready and then counter is a fun aspect to the overall stall strat.

Yay! You will get to fossil soon! I freaked out so happily when in my first pack I got Holofoil first editiin Aerodactyl!!!

Mr.Mime unfortunately has another drawback. It can negate its own damage as well if it’s 30 or more on meditate

Every time I see that Jolteon art, my first thought is that it has little stubby legs as opposed to one paw just being really close to the camera...

You were not guaranteed a holo in the base set, only one rare. I remember pulling many non holo trainer cards for my rates in base set. Wasn’t until fossil set that I pulled my first holo

Thanks for the bedtime story papa Paraspectre

Nice use of the "Jungle Boogie" midi

Despite being such a small set, Jungle is really fucking good. Wigglytuff, Scyther, Mr. Mime, Lickitung, etc, though it is a shame that there's only 1 trainer, and it's not even a good one. It's also a cool set cause it introduced the eeveelutions, and kickstarted my appreciation for them. I had all 3 of them back in the day, though they were all the non-holo versions (or at least I hope they were all the non-holo versions considering their prices now). I'm surprised by their prices though. I figured Vaporeon was the most popular and liked of the 3, with Flareon being the least popular, but price wise, it's the exact opposite of that. Maybe it has to do with the artwork or something, idk.

love these videos

look what all the low number of mons challenge runs have done to Wigglytuff 😅 starting against lickitung with a bad hand is just the pit worst

Nice

I don't really see Exeggutor as being that good. Not a terrible card but not I don't think it's close to being the best card in the set. On average you get 10 extra damage for 1 energy card which is not a great rate and I don't think human players would allow you to build it up with half a dozen energy cards or more without knocking it out. Anyway looking forward to Fossil now,

Vileplume :)

Me: Jigglypuff is the best. Him: Jigglypuff is the worst. Welp, time to stop the video.

53rd comment swag

If I had a nickel for every time Paraspectre vastly underestimated a powerful pink Colorless Pokemon in these retro reviews, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. That said I do love these, because Paraspectre's opinions are unique to him and it's fun to hear his take on these cards just based on his own experiences and nothing else. It's just a good time all around.

27:16 a small error Butterfree’s Mega Drain heals for half the amount rounded up not the full amount dealt.

Oh my friend, you underestimate Wigglytuff’s power. That thing is NASTY in battles. An easy 60 damage 3 turns in

Fun thing to note: Clefairy and Clefable's Metronome were actually mistranslated and WotC made no effort to offer an errata for them. You can see that Metronome plays very differently in the Japanese version of the TCG and the Game Boy game, as Metronome still requires effects like discarding cards in order to use the attack it's copying. While its effect in English reads as "Metronome copies that attack except for its Energy costs and anything else required in order to use that attack, such as discarding Energy cards," the attack is supposed to be translated as "Metronome copies that attack except for its Energy costs. You must do anything else required in order to use that attack, such as discarding Energy cards."

Sorry to be here correcting you again. You are absolutely entitled to your opinions, but I hope you don't mind some explanations for why other people might disagree with some of your rankings. Colorless: Dodrio is a good choice for the best uncommon, for the reasons you stated. But I'm pretty sure that it was mostly overlooked at the time, and it's only modern reexaminations of the format that really realized how good it is. But Lickitung is definitely the next best, though it was also overlooked at the time. You don't have to like stall strategies, but you have to realize that they are very effective. Kangaskhan is a solid choice for best rare. It was never really the main focus of any deck, but it saw consistent play in all sorts of decks because of Fetch. Pidgeot is cool, and I do like how unique Hurricane is. Unfortunately, most decks in this era preferred to use basic Pokemon as their attackers, so Hurricane wouldn't hurt them as much as you'd like. In fact, Scoop Up was very commonly used to effectively Hurricane yourself to avoid knockouts. And of course being a stage 2 Pokemon really didn't help things either. Clefable is solid, and did see some play. Fun fact: Clefable and Clefairy's Metronome attacks were mistranslated, and the Japanese versions do require you to discard energies and pay other costs when you use them. I'm guessing they work like that in the GBC games too? Snorlax is very good, but saw much more play a few sets into the future. Wigglytuff honestly competes with Kangaskhan for the top spot though. It was the focus of several top decks through these early formats, and IIRC, it was one of the only meta-defining evolved Pokemon of the era. You have to remember that there were a lot of options for drawing and searching at the time, so it wasn't very hard to fill up your bench for Do the Wave, and if you found a PlusPower along the way, that's enough damage to knock out all of the Haymaker threats. Fighting: Your ranking seems good to me. With how strong Hitmonchan was, I could almost imagine Marowak being used to search it out, if the format was slower and didn't have so many draw cards. Though even then, its energy cost does seem high for that. Fire: Not much to say here either. But you know, even if you wanted to use Flareon, Base Set Charmeleon is basically the same thing, but slightly better. Grass: Your uncommon rankings seem fine, though I think you are overestimating how good Exeggutor is. (And I say this as someone who did try using it in a budget version of this format.) It definitely has the potential to do mass damage and win a game out of nowhere, but the luck required makes it unlikely to do so, unless you get a lot of energies on it. Like, you need at least 7 energies to have a 50% chance to knock out the main threats of this format with their 70 HP. And to get that many energies, you're going to have to stall for quite a while, since I'm pretty sure there aren't any ways to cheat energies onto it at this point. I agree with your rare rankings, but honestly, Scyther is even better than you described. Because its stats were so solid, and its important attack used colorless energy, it could, and did, get used in any deck. Lightning: I can't help but see Jolteon's extended paw as anything but a fist, and that's weird. That's all I have to say here. Psychic, Water, and Trainers: ...What do you want from me? Type rankings: While Grass is definitely the star of the show, I'd actually say that Colorless is the best type. Scyther is the only Grass type that really did anything, and while it is probably the best individual card in the entire set, especially when the set was release, I think that Colorless had more cards that were almost as good as Scyther, and saw just as much play as it.

If I was asked to rank every card in Jungle, it would be this: 1st place. Scyther. 2nd place. Wigglytuff. 3rd place. Mr. Mime. 4th Place would probably be Lickitung, due to Tongue wrap being super annoying. Especially in the Gameboy games! 5th Place would be Kangkashan. Another big basic, Just like Lickitung but provides some nice draw power. Honorable mentions should go to Exeggutor for being able to do INFINITE damage! And Dodrio for its Retreat Aid!

2:10 long-necked Exeggutor? they were foreshadowing Alolan Exeggutor.

Life is always a bit better whenever Paraspectre posts a new video. Jungle is super nostalgic… I remember really liking the CGI illustrations of the Oddish line. Also I think someone in Japan got a good placement at a tournament with a Fearow deck! Absolute Chad!

Putting Wigglytuff last is WILD. Wigglytuff and Scyther were the most impactful Pokemon to the game when Jungle was released. Wigglytuff created an entire deck archetype that dominated competition. Potential turn 2 70 damage to instantly KO Hitmonchan and Scyther. Wigglytuff is so so strong, way better than all the crap you put above it lol

Love love love your suggested lore for Jungle set. I feel like lore wasn't really a thing for the TCG before, like, Team Rocket or the Gym sets. It became an increasingly larger focus with the later Wizards and Nintendo sets. Cool to see the TCG eventually establish its identity, though it does feel a bit funny thinking back to these sets that I grew up with. Kind of the same thing you get with Legendary Pokémon in the main games; subsequent generations would emphasize the Legendaries as mythological figures or embodiments of ideologies, which makes the legendary birds feel less mighty in comparison. Ah, well, I don't mind the series I grew up with.

I know you said it's your opinion and stuff, but BOY is Wiggly great in a Haymaker deck- easily being able to start throwing out 60 damage a turn on turn 2, with the crazy amount of draw present in the early TCG. It's actually in the deck I've been piloting in the TCG for GBC release on Switch Online!

The picks seem so trolly, i know you preface with its "opinion" but for all three normal categories com, unc, and rare you last place choice was literally the most played and best option. Jiggly most hp let it survive things most basics dont. Lickitonge same reasoning plus could never be knocked out in one hit by hitmonchan. Wigglytuff do the wave was literally a top 5 attack even through rockets.

I agree with everyone else, Wigglytuff does not deserve to be last out of the colorless. It's one of the best cards in the set with it's Do-the-Wave attack doing loads of damage

Also, I have a Mankey in every deck I make. He lets you make informed decisions about which prizes you draw

Its funny that you put lickitung last because it was found to be a surprisingly good haymaker card

Yay for new content!

I very clearly remember my Mother taking us to Dollar General to buy us a pack of Pokemon Cards as a kid every Friday if we made an A on our spelling test when I was in Kindergarten and jungle was the set that I remember getting off the shelf. I don't remember base set as clearly in my head as in I can't ever remember picking it off store shelves. I had a lot of base set cards so we had to have bought them at some point. Your memory is kind of in and out that young. I remember getting really annoyed as a kid because I kept pulling the same holos over and over from Jungle when I really wanted one of the big 3 like Blastoise or Charizard. I didn't understand that not all the cards could be in the pack and there was only 48 possible pulls. I probably had 2 of every colorless holo, Victreebell, Venomoth, Nidoqueen and Mr.Mime. As a kid you were just stoked to even pull a holo, but I really wished I could have got one of them. I only ever saw them in person at my neighbors house. Some older kids in 3rd grade had them.

Wake up honey its a new Paraspectre video where he makes wild and probably wrong takes on old Pokémon card formats, but neither of us were old enough to play back then so we won't know any better.

I can't tell if you're trolling or not. Wigglytuff is absolutely the best pokemon in the whole set but you ranked pokemon like snorlax over him. he has the potential to do 60+ damage on turn two.

Funny story, for Christmas I got 3 first edition booster packs as a kid and I got, no foolin', Wigglytuff (foil), Scyther (foil), and Flareon (non foil)

Can’t wait for the Team Rocket set review. It’s my favorite set!

Omg yes a new retro card video!!! Extra nice since I have covid, thank you Paraspectre!

Keep doing these kind of vids! This was good

Jungle was my favorite set!

As someone who never had cards as a kid (though I did eventually get a few hand-me-downs during the Johto sets), I only saw this set when it was covered in magazines. I always associated it with that scene in the beginning of the Pokemon movie, when they venture into the jungle to find that fossilized Mew brow - in fact, I couldn't help but think of both expansions as modeled after the movie. I only just realized Mewtwo and Mew weren't actually part of the Jungle set. My favorites are definitely Tauros and Pidgeot in this set. Both feature really cool artworks, but Pidgeot's also looks amazing in pixelart - and since I only really experience the TCG through the GB games, that's a bunch of extra points. Tauros is one of those mons I stick into any deck that has a few spaces left. It's just a really nice card to throw out. Dodrio was actually the center piece of my very first complete deck in the Gameboy game, since back then, retreat costs were the bane of my existence. I recently grew to love the Nidos too, but only in TCG2, since a Nido focused deck actually becomes very viable there - Nidoran F fills your bench and then evolves into Vending Nidorina to have a cheaper Do the Wave style attack.

I love how every single video includes that same picture of you as a kid

Wow! Dodrio seems like the first evolution card that actually seems worth it to me! It pairs super well with its basic counterpart since you can have doduo out as your first Mon, tank a couple hits while powering up another Pokémon then retreat for free into it. THEN, you can evolve into dodrio for a surprise free retreat from that Mon into a powerful rage attack. Really neat

Kind of surprised to see flareon as the most expensive Eeveelution, seeing as how Flareon is the worst in-game Eeveelution, and also since Charizard is probably the most popular starter, even disregarding the relative power of the Eeveelutions, you'd expect people with nostalgia for their in-game teams not to pick Flareon, but maybe the fact that Charizard was most popular meant that, for the TCG, anything that fits in a fire type deck is at a premium.

I came across a German-language Water Blast theme deck at a Dollar General in the early 2000s; I was in the American Midwest so I have no idea how it ended up there.

Base Set and Jungle are my 2 main favorites. I got Pokémon Blue right at the time it came out in the USA and the excitement with those sets gave me some of the best memories. Buying them when they came out at the local game stores was epic and I remember when they were 2.99 a pack.

Cant wait to see more of my childhood cards! I remember butterfree bejng one of my first cards i ever had so it holds a special spot in my heart. Eevee, jigglypuff, persian and meowth are also super nostalgic to me. Seeing their art just makes me so happy

Wigglytuff was viable competitively all the way to BASE-NEO. In fact, it was the most stable of all archetypes until it was rotated out. You could splash Muk, Dodrio, full trainer disruption, and so much more. You would see more Raindance decks overshadowing Wave Decks due to linear line of play for children piloting it in the states in the 2000s. How Wigglytuff isn’t over Snorlax seems like a hot take.

great needle drops in this video Clefable was the best in my neighborhood but (and i didn't know this until watching retrospectives as an adult so i can't blame you) do the wave was a whole paradigm, up there with rain dance and haymaker as the deck du jour for a time

Wigglytuff!! AHHHH!!! I'm just kidding lol. It's fine. Looking forward for the next one (Fossil, yeah?). That should round out the 3 sets for the GBC TCG game. The game was part of my childhood and yeah, back then I thought Wigglytuff sucks too lol.

my first jungle purchase was power reserve and 3 booster packs. my godmother, who was as old as a great-grandma, understood what the cards meant so she bought me a free base set pack. i pulled non-holo electrode and holo scyther and vaporeon. the base pack had a clefairy, and at first my nana was like that card is too girly for you. i explained about clefable. i managed to find some extra change at the mall to buy a 4th pack, holo clefable. i used that as part of my deck for awhile, with clefable and electrode (and scyther) or a blastoise/vaporeon deck (with scyther). i still had my beedrill deck too so scyther was like, THE THING. everyone tried to get my holo scythers, i got a full 4 before i got my first non-holo

I wonder if Mr. Mime would be overpowered in the modern TCG. Basically nothing can hit for under 30, and I don't think there's an easy way to status it? I dunno, haven't really played the TCG since XY.

As a kid, I’d always get the wigglytuff booster because for whatever reason I’d always get a holo

Nice music selection, as expected.

Just minutes ago I was wondering when there would be a new Paraspectre video! It’s been some time since I’ve heard from my favorite southern Ohio RU-vidr!

So the big thing about the pokemon you describe as being "stall tactics." The idea isn't to whittle down the opponent with them or mill them out or anything like that, but rather to have them in the active slot while you build up your bench. Chansey' scrunch off a double colorless lets you get your evolutions to get Blastoise's Rain Dance active, or fill the rest of your bench for a Do the Wave, or better yet, once Alakazam is out, lets you push all your active sweeper's damage counters onto her. Lickitung is similar, buying extra turns with a single of any energy at the cost of having less HP to soak hits, but it should be evident with how much hype Exeggutor has that getting as many turns to stack it up with Double Colorless and other energies for the Eggsplosion can be devastating.

Bench Attack deck playthrough when? (Electrode/Hitmonlee/SelfDestruct/ect.)

I still have my original 1st Ed flareon. And it's wierd jungle has the most nostalgia for me as well.

Great Vid, love coming back to this when I am cooking or playing the TCG on the GBC

All I want to do is play the tcg when I see these cards. As a kid I play a little bit, but it was mostly just collecting. Now, that we know how to play with more strategy, it would be neat to build decks and battle.

To be honest, the Water blast deck would be much weaker with goldeen and seaking and cubone.

Mankey and Dodrio are my favorite bench sitters just to keep their abilities for the match. The retreat cost reduction is great when needed, and peek can be great for figuring out which prize card you should pull after a knockout.

One of my favorite bits of trivia about this set is the misprint unlimited holofoil cards. The first run of the holofoil sheet without 1st edition stamps also accidentally omitted the set symbol. These actually made it into the wild before it was caught and corrected.

Insane parkour in your ad

Add chapters so we can watch the parts we want and not ur thoughts or game strategies

My first ever special box I got was Power Reserve

I think you should keep going after the WoC era. I think the 3rd and 4th gens had some of the best sets and I would love to see them covered in depth!

Nice video, hope to see more of this, i love them, also did you know that some years ago was discovered that a strategy with lickitung is the best deck, beating almost everytime the haymaker strategy, crazy

Exeggutor is easily the most slept on card. It sweeps the entire TCG GBC game by itself. 1 stage evolution, 1 energy cost, with no cap on damage. Two double colorless energy gives him 80 damage output. And you can keep adding to it in order to get more flips. It's absolutely absurd, it can clear out Chansey in a single attack.

Parasect got so shafted, compare it to Jigglypuff. They have the exact same sleep attack, but Parasect's costs TWO COLORED energy while Jigglypuff's costs only one colorless!!

So glad I have this video to watch tonight

Subbed

I’ve always wondered if you can freely mix and match sets and publication years in the card game or if there’s restrictions (not including banned cards)

It speaks to the potency of the Jungle set that despite being middling in the normal uncommons, that lickitung all these years later has become a staple pillar of the neo-haymaker decks.

SWEEEET JUNGLE SET!

Random suggestion for a future inclusion, I'd love to hear the Star Soldier Vanishing Earth music playing in the background sometime, it's the same composer Ichiro Shimakura and a lot of the tracks past stage 1 sound like straight outta TCG GB 1+2. Underrated soundtrack and a connection many don't know.

This probably doesn't apply to the gameboy game, but mirror move has a use as a deterrent. Your opponent might think twice about using a stronger move if it could knock out their active pokemon or give you access to a useful utility move.

Shoutouts to Alolan Executor on the boxart.

Jungle set best set

Excellent video. Love the idea of exploring every single card in the set. Keep up the great work!!

Jungle Boogie

I love this series

We need more structure deck runs on the TCG GBC game. Like the two mentioned in this video.

Great video as always, love that you fit in the unused goldeneye jungle theme.

15:00 a timid Fairy Pokemon

5:00 Excuse me, sir. Aren't you missing someone?

Hi

I hope this is profitable for you so that you can continue with this series. I very much enjoy it.

I understand these are just your preferences and I think that’s awesome and unique. That being said, it would only take 10 min to google the meta cards. It might be fun to talk about how your opinion varies from the pics at the time. (And calm the comment section) haha. Keep up the good work❤

Sup para! Hope there's a good lookin ivysaur in here