>>58622684>pokemon cards were created because nintendo wanted to jump in on the 90s hype for sports cards90's and well into the 00's were huge for trading card games specifically
MtG was already a thing by then, though it was still niche in Japan and mainly played by college students, I forgot when it first got translated in Japanese, but it was known enough to get parodied in Yugioh.
Monster Collection was the first Japanese TCG and it was a big enough hit to get noticed by Nintendo, by the late 90's everyone had a card game, even SMT.
nta btw, you're right that people have been paying too much for cardboard for over a century, but at least those were usually rich guys with nostalgia
