Topps Japan - Special Edition WV Retail - Japan (1997)

For 1997, Topps created two special card sets celebrating the Special Edition movies. One card set was created for the retail market, including toy stores, candy stores, and your local Target and Wal-Mart. A second set was created for the Hobby shop market. The American retail set was widely issued in Europe as the only Special Edition wide vision set issued for 1997. The Japanese version of this set, mirrors the American retail version, except that text on the back of the cards is in Japanese. Text on the front remains in English.

The retail version of the cards, also known as Super Wide Movie Cards, features 72 cards, equally divided between the three movies. The cards follow the plot line of each movie with new photos, including many of the new scenes. Six chase cards for the set were the new Topps laser cut cards. These are different from the laser cut cards created for the Hobby version of the set. In the Japanese set, the laser cards are identical to the US version, with no language difference.

The Japanese cards were difficult to obtain and most collectors will not want to attempt to complete a full set of these. A single from the set does make an interesting addition to a card collection however. It's fun to 'read' the Star Wars text on the Japanese version of the cards.