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Authentication · Amada and Ensky · 1996 to 2006

How to tell an Amada sticker’s print run

Four things get used to date an Amada sticker. One dates the brand rather than the run, one dates nothing at all, and two of them work on exactly one set.

The only two runs this archive has proven, front and back. First run: sun-ray streaks in the holo, softer red ink, faint yellow back on slick stock. Second run: clean holo, sharper red ink, whiter matte back.
The only two runs this archive has proven, front and back. First run: sun-ray streaks in the holo, softer red ink, faint yellow back on slick stock. Second run: clean holo, sharper red ink, whiter matte back.
The only two runs this archive has proven, front and back. First run: sun-ray streaks in the holo, softer red ink, faint yellow back on slick stock. Second run: clean holo, sharper red ink, whiter matte back.
The only two runs this archive has proven, front and back. First run: sun-ray streaks in the holo, softer red ink, faint yellow back on slick stock. Second run: clean holo, sharper red ink, whiter matte back.
Consecutive Parts of one series, both 2005, one wrapper under each brand. ADV Part 8 reads AMADA; ADV Retsuden 9 reads enSky.
The kuji hanger the 1996 stickers were pulled from, one sticker for a coin.

Amada Printing had foil packs on shelves the year the games launched, so these stickers predate the trading card game in most Japanese shops. A print run is a separate pressing of the same checklist, told apart only by how it was printed, and sellers assert first print constantly even though nothing on an Amada sticker states a run. This archive proves two runs for exactly one of its thirty-one entries, and the rest is method. [1]

Neither obvious shortcut works. The wrapper mark, AMADA in red or the green-foil enSky mark from 2005, is a corporate event and not a printing one, because Amada moved the Pokemon line to Ensky with the factory, artists and numbering unchanged, so it dates the wrapper and not the sticker inside. [2] [3] The number does not date it either, since the Retsuden lines carry one master number that climbs across Parts, placing a sticker in a product but never in a pressing. [4] [5]

What actually separates the two pressings of Hyper Sticker Collection 1 is physical: the first run has sun-ray streaks in the holo, softer ink and a faint yellow back on slick stock, the second a clean holo, sharper ink and a whiter matte back, and feel is the tell to trust because it survives bad lighting. [6] Two theories die here. The copyright line is identical on both runs, the same 1995 credit and 1996 MADE IN JAPAN on the same plate, so the second run is a plain reprint. [7] And the yellow back is stock, not age, since yellow, cream and white liner are all catalogue stock chosen before the ink went down. [8]

Two runs are proven here for Hyper Sticker Collection 1 and nothing else, so a first-print claim on Super DX or an Advanced Generation Part is neither supported nor contradicted here, and finishes people mistake for runs are usually the set’s own structure. [9] [10] Grading labels are not product names, so match the printed number rather than a slab’s title. [11] What would settle a second set is two stickers of the same printed number, photographed front and back under the same light, where the stock differs by feel. Credit stays with whoever photographs it.

Questions this article answers

Does a PSA or grading label tell you the print run?

No. Nothing on an Amada sticker prints its run, and the two reliable tells are the feel of the backing liner and the streaking in the holo, which a slab puts behind plastic. Grading labels also use their own product names rather than the printed ones, so match the printed number on the sticker to the set page instead of the label.

Which Amada set is the 1997 one?

Hyper Sticker Collection 2, a 217-sticker set. Hyper Sticker Collection 1 is 1996 with 203 stickers, and Collections 3 and 4 are both 2000. A 1997 date on a slab label is usually pointing at Collection 2, but the printed number is what places it.

Does Amada ADV Part 3 start at 001?

No. The Retsuden lines carry one master number that keeps climbing across Parts instead of resetting, so no later Part begins at 001 and a high number does not mean a late set. Match the number and the artwork to the set page rather than assuming a Part’s range.

Which Amada sets are known to have two print runs?

One, in this archive: Hyper Sticker Collection 1. Its two runs are separated by the holo, the red ink and the liner, and they are documented with photographs of both. No other Amada set here publishes print-run evidence, so a first-print claim on Super DX or on an Advanced Generation Part is unsupported rather than disproven.

Sources

  1. Amada Printing Co. held the Japanese Pokemon sticker licence from 1996 and had foil packs on shelves the same year the games launched, so these stickers predate the trading card game in most Japanese shops ... The catalogue here runs 31 entries from 1996 to 2006.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1563, hub prose fold, ’Who made them, and when’
  2. Read the brand on the wrapper first. Amada prints AMADA in red. From 2005 the same lines print a green-foil enSky mark instead.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1563, identification bullet 1
  3. Amada Printing Co. spun off the Pokemon line to its subsidiary Ensky in 2005. The factory, the artists, and the master numbering stayed the same; only the logo on the wrapper changed ... ADV-era and DP-era Retsuden runs straddle the handover, the same number can appear under either brand depending on print year.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-ensky-stickers.astro, ’Brand Handover’ card; repeated in pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1889 FAQ ’Amada or Ensky?’
  4. The Retsuden lines carry one master number that keeps climbing across Parts instead of resetting to 001 in each new Part ... Special Pack 2 is S-01 through S-40 plus one additional laser design, and Special Pack 3 picks up at S-42 and runs to S-82, where S-42 through S-71 supplies the 30 metallic designs and S-72 through S-82 supplies the 11 laser designs. Both packages print the same total of 41 designs.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1563, hub prose fold, ’How the numbering works’
  5. Numbers continue across Parts, so a high number does not mean a late set, and a later Part does not begin at 001.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1563, identification bullet 2
  6. Sun-ray streaks in the holo; softer red ink ... Clean holo, no streaks; sharper red ink ... Faint yellow, slick plasticky stock ... Whiter, matte papery stock ... Feel is the tell worth trusting. First run is slick, almost plastic; second is matte and papery. It survives bad lighting.in-repo published Codex article: src/components/pages/codex-amada-hyper-sticker-collection-1-print-runs.astro:795-812 (the four reference captions) and :836-841 (’Telling them apart’)
  7. It is identical on both runs, the same 1995 Nintendo, Creatures and GAME FREAK credit, the same 1996 MADE IN JAPAN beneath it, the same plate. It cannot separate the runs, and the licensing-change theory does not hold.in-repo published Codex article: src/components/pages/codex-amada-hyper-sticker-collection-1-print-runs.astro:842-846, ’Finding: The copyright line does not help’
  8. Cream and white liner are both catalogue stock (黄セパ・クリームセパ・白セパ), and white is what you specify when the liner is to be printed. Amada printed Pokedex text on both backs, so the white run made the conventional choice. Old paper yellowed is probably wrong.in-repo published Codex article: src/components/pages/codex-amada-hyper-sticker-collection-1-print-runs.astro:847-851, ’Finding: The yellow is not age’; restated in the hub fold at pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1563 bullet 4
  9. Other sets need their own checks, which are on their set pages.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1889, FAQ ’How can I tell a first-print Amada sticker from a second print?’
  10. Super DX 1998 splits its 88 entries across Transparent, Holo Bronze, Holo Rainbow and Gold-name stickers ... Super DX also has a 1999 Gold edition and a 2000 set, which are separate products rather than reprints.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1563 (’What the object physically is’) and :1889 (FAQ ’What is Amada Super DX Bronze?’)
  11. It is a grading company’s label for the 1996 set, not a name Amada printed. The product on the wrapper is Hyper Sticker Collection 1 ... use the printed number on the sticker rather than the slab label.in-repo published page: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-stickers.astro:1889, FAQ ’What does 1996 Amada Pokemon Japanese Sticker Collection mean?’
  12. Hyper Sticker Collection 2 Checklist (1997) ... Complete 217-sticker checklist ... Collection 3 Checklist (2000) ... 222-sticker ... Collection 4 Checklist (2000) ... 175-sticker.in-repo published pages: src/components/pages/pokemon-amada-hyper-sticker-collection-2.astro:12-14, -3.astro:12-14, -4.astro:12-14, -1.astro (203 stickers, per the hub ItemList at pokemon-amada-stickers.astro)

Hidden Temple Codex, 13 September 2026. The two print-run findings are this archive’s own, read off its contributors’ photographs, which remain their property. Codex No. 001 carries the plates and the argument for Hyper Sticker Collection 1 in full.