Dark Raichu (Team Rocket 83)

Dark Raichu LV.31 わるいライチュウ Bad Raichu

Illus. Mitsuhiro Arita

Evolution stage Stage 1 Pokémon Evolves from Pikachu Card name Dark Raichu Type Lightning HP 70 weakness ×2 resistance None retreat cost English expansion Team Rocket Rarity English card no. 83/82 Japanese expansion Crossing the Ruins... Japanese rarity TCG GB2 set Team Rocket's Ambition TCG GB2 ID H19 Expansion Legendary Collection Rarity English card no. 7/110 For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Raichu.

Dark Raichu (Japanese: わるいライチュウ Bad Raichu) is a Lightning-type Stage 1 Pokémon card. It was first released as part of the Team Rocket expansion.

Card text

Surprise Thunder びっくりサンダー 30

Flip a coin. If heads, flip another coin. If the second coin is heads, this attack does 20 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. If the second coin is tails, this attack does 10 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Pokédex data

Raichu - Mouse Pokémon
No.	Height	Weight
026	2'7" (0.8 m)	66 lbs. (30 kg)
Pokédex entry
Stores up electricity in its body, then suddenly releases it to surprise and shock everyone.
電気がたまってくると、筋肉が刺激され、いつもよりこうげきてきになってしまう。

Release information

This card was released as a Secret card in the Team Rocket expansion, having been made especially for the English set by Wizards of the Coast. It was later printed in Japanese as a Super Rare in the Crossing the Ruins... expansion. The text in the top-right corner of the card reads "Put Raichu on the Basic Pokémon", as opposed to the proper "Put Dark Raichu on the Basic Pokémon". It was reprinted in English in the Legendary Collection with this text corrected. An exclusive Non Holofoil version of this print was present in the set's Turmoil Theme Deck. The interior of this card's evolution box is light gray, not dark gray, as opposed to other Dark Pokémon from the Team Rocket set. It appears this way even on the Legendary Collection print.

Trivia

• This card was the first Secret card in a TCG set. It was also the first card that was released internationally before it was released in Japan.
• This card caused the Team Rocket expansion to be delayed, due to Dark Raichu needing to be approved by Nintendo.
• When the Team Rocket expansion came out, it was the 4th non-reprint set of the TCG. Raichu became one of the 3 Pokémon to be featured on 3 different cards (Base Set, Fossil and Team Rocket). The other two were Magneton and Electrode.

Origin

This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.