‘You’ star Penn Badgley once starred in a ‘Pokémon TCG’ training video that’s overflowing with ’90s energy

Penn Badgley might now be known as You‘s Joe Goldberg. But it was recently revealed that the Netflix thriller actor had far more innocent roles in the past. It turns out that he starred in a training video in the ’90s for the popular trading card game, Pokémon.

In an interview with Capital FM, Badgley recalled the time when he was in a Pokémon video where he taught others how to play the popular trading card game. According to the actor, Nintendo found out that people in America were only trading and collecting Pokémon cards, rather than playing them. This makes sense since Pokémon was known for the catchphrase “gotta catch ’em all”.

This led the company to produce a video to teach others how to play the game since the cards were made to be played with, not just collected.

“I think in America at least [the Pokémon Company] realized that nobody was learning how to play the game and they were only trading. That probably had something to do with, let’s be honest, they wanted more money. We need people to play the game and not just trade the cards arbitrarily. And so this was a training video that was probably on VHS.” 

In case you were too young or missed it when the video came out, a VHS recording of the 1999 training video of the Pokémon Trading Card Game was uploaded onto YouTube five years ago. In it, Badgley played a kid named Jimmy who teaches a group of parents and adults how to play the game.

In his first scene, Jimmy was patient as the adults were mostly interested in trading cards with the other adults in the room, which makes sense since in the video, Pokémon cards are described as being like sports trading cards. However, unlike those where they’re just there for collecting purposes, Pokémon cards can be used in battle against other people.

The video is nearly 30 minutes long and it’s still available to be watched on YouTube.

It’s safe to say that the Pokémon Trading Card game training video worked since the card game is now popular in the US and across the globe. Last weekend, the Vancouver Regionals took place, where players in North America competed for a spot in the 2023 World Championships that will take place in Yokohama, Japan. Due to the game’s popularity, The Pokémon Company is doing whatever it takes to ensure that these events are safe spaces for anyone competing.