Background

The Topsun “Green Back” Grimer #88 comes from the 1995 Japanese Topsun (Bandai) Pokémon card set — one of the earliest Pokémon TCG-adjacent card releases, sold as vending/prism-style cards in Japan before the mainstream TCG launched in 1996. These aren’t tournament-legal trading cards; they’re collectible “carddass”-style cards, prized today mostly for being some of the earliest Pokémon cardboard ever produced. The set exists in two color variants — “Green Back” and “Blue Back” — with green backs generally considered the scarcer, more desirable of the two among collectors.

Grimer #88 features standard early Topsun printing: thin stock, glossy coating prone to surface scratches and print dots, which is why high grades are hard to find.

Rarity at PSA 10

With a pop of ~10 at PSA 10, this is a genuinely tough Gem Mint pull. Vintage Topsun cards are notorious for centering issues, surface print imperfections, and edge wear from the cheap glossy stock, so very few survive three decades in Gem Mint condition. That pop count puts it solidly in “vintage grail-tier” territory relative to the rest of the Topsun Green Back set, though it’s not among the single-digit ultra-rarities some chase/promo Topsun cards reach.