After nearly 20 years, illusionist and magician Uri Geller has given Nintendo permission to once again use Kadabra on Pokemon cards.Geller, who is perhaps most well-known for his ability to bend spoons with his mind, sued Nintendo in 2000 and asked that Kadabra no longer be allowed to be put on Pokemon cards due to the similarity of Kadabra’s spoon and Japanese name to himself.
In Japan, Kadabra is written in certain variations that include Yungerer and Yungeller, which are both similar sounding to Geller.
Now, almost 20 years after Kadabra’s last appearance on a Pokemon card in 2003, he has changed his mind.
“I am truly sorry for what I did 20 years ago,” Geller wrote on Twitter. “Kids and grownups I am releasing the ban. It’s now all up to #Nintendo to bring my #kadabra #pokemon card back. It will probably be one of the rarest cards now! Much energy and love to all!”
Speaking to TheGamer, Geller expanded on his decision, saying that “due to the tremendous volume of emails I am still getting begging me to allow Nintendo to bring back Kadabra/Yungeller, I sent […] a letter to the chairman of Nintendo giving them permission to relaunch the Uri Geller Kadabra/Yungeller worldwide.”
Geller also said that his letter was received by “two Nintendo representatives,” so now it appears to be in Nintendo’s hands to bring back Kadabra to the Pokemon Trading Card Game.
Considering Kadabra evolves from Abra and to Alakazam, working around the lack of this Pokemon was tricky. In the past, The Pokemon Trading Card Game has given Abra the ability to skip Kadabra and evolve right into Alakazam and has offered a premium Alakazam card that needs no prior evolutions.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.