This is the Japanese Amada original of Hero Collection, not the later Artbox US reprint, and the two get mixed up constantly. Amada ran it across four parts from 1993 through 1995, following the anime from the Saiyan arc through Cell and into the Fusion-era end of the Buu Saga. Part 1 alone was 159 cards: 144 regular base plus 12 prisms and a few specials. The foil is the whole game here — Goku, Gohan, Cell and the Super Saiyans in that wavy rainbow prism, plus the mirror-finish platina cards in Parts 2-4 that the US Artbox release never fully carried. Each part stamps its own border color, so you can date a card at a glance. Backs are Japanese text. Centering and foil scratching are the usual battle scars on thirty-year-old prisms, so clean ones carry a real premium.
- 1Prisms and platina cards use a distinct stamped foil border color per part, so the border dates the card.
- 2Platina (mirror-finish) cards appear in Parts 2-4 of the Japanese Amada release; the US Artbox reprint carried only a fraction of them.
- 3Card backs are in Japanese — a quick tell for the Amada original versus the English-backed Artbox US reprint.
- 4Part 1 = Saiyan through Cell Saga; later parts run into the Buu Saga and Fusion movie.
Prisms and platina cards scratch and lose foil along edges easily; surface wear is the main grade-killer, not centering. Watch for print lines on the foil. Backs should be Japanese — an English back means it's the Artbox reprint, a different (cheaper) printing.
Every card in the set, across all 4 editions. Pick an edition to narrow the listed copies; listed cards are clickable.
See every Hero Collection card we have in stock.



