Cameos by the numbers
PokéCameos tracks 854 Pokémon hiding in the artwork of 2,235 Pokémon TCG cards from 245 sets, drawn by 242 credited illustrators. Pikachu is the most frequent cameo with 173 cards, ahead of Psyduck with 41. The busiest year for cameos was 2023, with 178 cards.
854
Pokémon with cameos
2,235
Cards with cameos
245
Sets
242
Credited illustrators
Most frequent cameos
Cameo cards per year
178
19982026
Show as a table
| Year | Cards |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 3 |
| 1999 | 17 |
| 2000 | 67 |
| 2001 | 39 |
| 2002 | 41 |
| 2003 | 55 |
| 2004 | 29 |
| 2005 | 30 |
| 2006 | 19 |
| 2007 | 29 |
| 2008 | 27 |
| 2009 | 38 |
| 2010 | 53 |
| 2011 | 25 |
| 2012 | 11 |
| 2013 | 85 |
| 2014 | 30 |
| 2015 | 67 |
| 2016 | 149 |
| 2017 | 52 |
| 2018 | 57 |
| 2019 | 152 |
| 2020 | 51 |
| 2021 | 108 |
| 2022 | 171 |
| 2023 | 178 |
| 2024 | 109 |
| 2025 | 150 |
| 2026 | 105 |
Cards hiding the most cameos
- Pikachu ex (30th Celebration)25 cameos
- Pikachu ex (30th Celebration)23 cameos
- Captain Pikachu (Pokémon Center promo)19 cameos
- Champions Festival (SM Promos)19 cameos
- Clive (Paldean Fates)18 cameos
- Paradise Resort (SV Promos)13 cameos
- Garganacl (Paradox Rift)12 cameos
- Pikachu (151)12 cameos
- Inkay (XY-P Promos)10 cameos
- Kricketune (Crown Zenith)10 cameos
Illustrators with the most cameo cards
- 5ban Graphics110 cards
- Ken Sugimori99 cards
- Naoki Saito58 cards
- Ryo Ueda57 cards
- Keiji Kinebuchi40 cards
- Kouki Saitou40 cards
- Sanosuke Sakuma37 cards
- Akira Komayama34 cards
- Mitsuhiro Arita32 cards
- kirisAki30 cards
By generation
| Generation | Pokémon | Top cameo |
|---|---|---|
| Gen 1 | 143 | Pikachu (173) |
| Gen 2 | 87 | Ho-Oh (19) |
| Gen 3 | 106 | Wingull (30) |
| Gen 4 | 82 | Arceus (18) |
| Gen 5 | 120 | Oshawott (12) |
| Gen 6 | 54 | Dedenne (13) |
| Gen 7 | 54 | Wishiwashi (9) |
| Gen 8 | 63 | Corviknight (11) |
| Gen 9 | 61 | Terapagos (28) |
Using these numbers? Link to this page as the source. Fan sites can also embed a live cameo-count badge for any Pokémon from the bottom of its page.