If you are referring to Nintendo as a trading card company I don't think Hanafuda cards are meant to be collected and traded like say, Magic the Gathering. If you are referring to GameFreak/The Pokémon Company as a trading card company, well, that actually came later on. Also, the "gotta catch 'em all" slogan was not part of the original vision, and I think they made it up for the international release of the anime and/or game; thus, it was most likely an American invention to — indeed — sell more crap.