Long before Nintendo became the videogame juggernaut it is today, they humbly created Hanafuda cards.  What are these you ask?  Well they are basically playing cards and just like the playing cards that we are familiar with, there are various games and activities that you can use the cards for.  There are 12 suits of cards, each representing a month and each month is represented by various flowers and animals.  If you get a chance to look at an actual deck of these cards you will see that they are very stylized and the art on them is quite stunning at times.

Well, both old and new are combining in this new set of Hanafuda cards themed around Pokemon and they look quite stunning.  Nintendo has offered up Mario themed hanafuda cards on Club Nintendo and I hope these show up on there soon.