Paras

Numbered 59 of 64 in Jungle, released in June 1999, Paras is a Common, a Basic Grass-type carrying 40 HP.

As a Basic Pokémon, Paras needs no prior evolution to put into play, which made it a practical card in the era's decks.

Illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Sugimori is the lead character designer of Pokémon itself, so his card art carries the tight, on-model look that defined how the creatures appear in the games.

Paras carries this Pokédex flavor text: "Burrows to suck tree roots. The mushrooms on its back grow by drawing nutrients from the bug host."

A small crab Pokémon with mushrooms growing on its back. Jungle Common. Low collector demand.

Paras is a Common, so raw copies trade for very little and most of the print run survives. The only real value is in pristine, high-grade copies, where even a Common can reach low triple digits in 1st Edition PSA 10. See the live price above for the current figure by grade.

Jungle shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The Edition 1 stamp under the artwork separates the scarcer 1st Edition Paras from the Unlimited copy. The set also has the famous No Symbol error from its first print run, which adds a premium when the lower-right set symbol is missing.

Paras is the most forgiving tier to grade in the set. Centering on the framed border is the usual cap, and the soft Wizards-era cardstock picks up edge whitening easily, but high print runs keep clean copies affordable.

Raw copies of Paras are inexpensive enough that grading rarely pays unless you have a clearly pack-fresh example. For set completion, a clean sleeved Paras is the practical move.