Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version are role-playing games created by Game Freak and released by Nintendo for the Game Boy in 1996. These games are the first in the Pokémon series and were first sold in Japan as Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green. A special version called Pocket Monsters Blue was released later that year. The games were later sold outside Japan in 1998 and 1999 as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. A special version called Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition was released in Japan in 1998 and in other regions in 1999 and 2000.
In the games, players control a character from a top-down view and explore the fictional region of Kanto. The goal is to become the Pokémon League Champion by defeating eight Gym Leaders and the Elite Four, who are the strongest trainers in the region. Another goal is to complete the Pokédex, a game encyclopedia that lists all 151 Pokémon. Players use the Game Link Cable, a tool that connects two Game Boy systems, to trade or battle Pokémon with another player. Both versions have the same story, and while they can be played alone, trading between the games is needed to collect all 151 Pokémon.
Pokémon Red and Blue were praised by critics for their multiplayer features, especially the trading system. They received an average score of 89% on GameRankings and are often listed as some of the greatest games ever made. They have been ranked on top game lists, including IGN’s "Top 100 Games of All Time," for at least four years. These games started a franchise that has sold over 400 million copies worldwide. Later versions of Red and Blue were rewritten for the Game Boy Advance as FireRed and LeafGreen (2004), while Yellow was rewritten for the Nintendo Switch as Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! (2018). The original games were made available again on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016 to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
Gameplay
Pokémon Red and Blue are played from a side view above the action and have three main screens. The overworld screen lets players move around the game world with their character. The side-view battle screen shows battles between Pokémon. The menu screen allows players to manage their Pokémon, items, and game settings.
Players can use their Pokémon to battle other Pokémon. If a wild Pokémon appears or a trainer challenges the player, the game switches to a turn-based battle screen showing the two Pokémon fighting. During a battle, players can choose to attack with one of four moves, use an item, switch to a different Pokémon, or try to run away. However, running away is not allowed in battles against trainers. Each Pokémon has health points (HP); if a Pokémon's HP drops to zero, it faints and cannot fight until it is healed. When an enemy Pokémon faints, the player's Pokémon involved in the battle earn experience points (EXP). Once a Pokémon gains enough EXP, it levels up. A Pokémon's level affects its abilities, moves, and stats. Some Pokémon change form, or evolve, at certain levels. Evolved Pokémon gain more stats when they level up, but they may learn moves later than earlier forms.
Catching Pokémon is an important part of the game. During a battle with a wild Pokémon, players can throw a Poké Ball to try to catch it. If successful, the Pokémon joins the player's team. The chance of catching a Pokémon depends on its HP, any status effects it has, and the type of Poké Ball used. Lower HP, stronger status effects, and better Poké Balls increase the chance of catching a Pokémon. The main goal is to complete the Pokédex, a guide that lists all 151 Pokémon, by catching, evolving, and trading for every creature.
Players can trade Pokémon between two cartridges using a Game Link Cable. This is needed to finish the Pokédex because some Pokémon only evolve after trading, and each game has exclusive Pokémon. The Link Cable also lets players battle against another player's team. When using a Game Boy Advance or SP, the standard cable does not work; players must use the Nintendo Universal Game Link Cable instead. English and Japanese versions of the games cannot trade with each other because they use different languages and character sets, which can damage save files.
Pokémon Red and Blue can trade with Pokémon Yellow and the second generation games: Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. However, the games cannot link if a player's team includes Pokémon or moves from the second generation. Using the Transfer Pak for the Nintendo 64, players can transfer Pokémon and items from Red and Blue to Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2. Red and Blue are not compatible with later games like those in the "Advanced Generation" for Game Boy Advance and GameCube.
Pokémon Red and Blue are known for having many glitches, possibly because the game was large compared to the developer's experience at the time. One famous glitch involves encountering MissingNo., a glitch Pokémon with different forms that appears when certain errors occur. Other glitches let players encounter rare Pokémon like Mew. Another glitch, called the "EXP underflow glitch," allows players to manipulate the game's code to make Pokémon reach their maximum level quickly.
Plot
The player starts their journey in Pallet Town, a town in the Kanto Region (based on, but not the same as, the real-life Kantō region in Japan). After exploring the tall grass, the player meets Professor Samuel Oak, a well-known Pokémon researcher. Professor Oak warns the player that wild Pokémon live in the area and that exploring alone can be dangerous. He takes the player to his laboratory, where they meet Oak’s grandson, a rival who wants to become a Pokémon Trainer. Both the player and the rival choose a starter Pokémon from Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander. Oak’s grandson always picks a Pokémon that is strong against the player’s choice. He then challenges the player to a battle with their new Pokémon and continues to battle them at key points in the game.
As the player travels through Kanto’s cities, they visit special buildings called Gyms. Inside these Gyms, players must battle Gym Leaders to earn eight Gym Badges. After collecting all the badges, the player is allowed to enter the Pokémon League at the Indigo Plateau, where the strongest trainers in Kanto compete. There, the player battles the Elite Four and finally faces their rival in a final match. Throughout the game, the player also fights Team Rocket, a group that uses Pokémon to commit crimes. Team Rocket tries to steal rare Pokémon, and the player must stop their plans.
The games Pokémon Red and Blue take place in Kanto, a region modeled after the real-life Kantō region in Japan. This region has unique areas with different environments, such as forests, mountains, and oceans, where the 151 known Pokémon species live. Human settlements like Pallet Town, Viridian City, Pewter City, Cerulean City, Vermillion City, Lavender Town, Celadon City, Fuchsia City, Saffron City, Cinnabar Island, and the Indigo Plateau are found in Kanto. Most of these cities (except Pallet Town, Lavender Town, and Indigo Plateau) have Gyms with leaders who act as bosses. The player can catch Pokémon in various locations, such as caves (like Mt. Moon, Rock Tunnel, Seafoam Islands, and Cerulean Cave) and the sea. For example, Tentacool can only be caught while fishing or near water, and Zubat can only be found in caves.
Development
In 1990, Satoshi Tajiri, a game developer, shared his idea for a game called Pokémon with Nintendo’s staff. Many employees doubted the idea, thinking it was too big and hard to understand. However, Shigeru Miyamoto, a Nintendo leader, saw value in the concept and encouraged the company to support the project.
The idea for Pokémon came from Tajiri’s childhood hobby of collecting insects. As he grew up, he noticed that his town became more urban, and fewer insects lived there. He also saw that children spent more time indoors than outside. This inspired him to create a video game featuring creatures that looked like insects, which he called Pokémon. Tajiri believed children could connect with these creatures by naming them and using them to express emotions like fear or anger, which could help reduce stress. In the game, Pokémon do not bleed or die in battles—they only faint. Tajiri wanted to avoid adding violence to games, which was common at the time.
The idea of trading Pokémon came from a problem Tajiri faced while playing Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line. He struggled to get a rare item from an enemy, but his friend Ken Sugimori had two copies. Tajiri wished he could trade items with Sugimori but learned that trading between games was not possible on the Famicom. Later, when the Game Boy was released, Tajiri saw the link cable as a perfect tool for trading Pokémon between players. This was a new idea in the video game industry, as cables were usually used only for competition. Tajiri said, “I imagined a chunk of information being transferred by connecting two Game Boys with special cables, and I went wow, that’s really going to be something!” Shigeru Miyamoto suggested creating multiple cartridges with different Pokémon to help with trading. Tajiri was also inspired by The Final Fantasy Legend, a Game Boy game by Square, which showed him that games other than action games could be made for the system.
The main character in the game, Satoshi, was named after Tajiri himself. He said, “Basically, he’s me as a kid.” The rival character, Shigeru, was named after Shigeru Miyamoto, who helped Tajiri. Ken Sugimori, an artist and friend of Tajiri, led the design of the Pokémon. He worked with a small team of fewer than ten people to create the designs for all 151 Pokémon. Atsuko Nishida designed Pokémon like Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Sugimori finalized each design, drawing the Pokémon from different angles to help the graphics team create accurate images.
The game was originally called Capsule Monsters, but it changed names several times due to trademark issues, becoming CapuMon and KapuMon before settling on Pocket Monsters. Tajiri believed Nintendo would reject his game because the company did not understand the idea at first. However, the games became very popular, surprising both Tajiri and Nintendo, especially since the Game Boy was not widely used at the time.
The idea for the Poké Ball came from Ultraseven, a tokusatsu superhero show, which had a similar concept called Capsule Monsters. Nintendo spent $13 million marketing Pokémon Red and Blue in the United States.
The music for the game was composed by Junichi Masuda. He used the Game Boy’s four sound channels to create melodies, sound effects, and the cries of Pokémon. He wrote the opening theme with battle scenes in mind, using white noise to mimic marching music and a snare drum. Masuda composed the music on a Commodore Amiga computer, which only played PCM samples, and converted it to the Game Boy using a program he created.
Release
In Japan, the first versions of Pocket Monsters Red and Green were released. Development was completed by October 1995, and the game was originally planned to be released on December 21, 1995. However, the release was delayed until February 27, 1996, because related products were not ready for sale. After a slow start, the games sold well. Several months later, Pocket Monsters Blue was released in Japan as a special edition for subscribers of CoroCoro Comic on October 15, 1996. It was later sold to the general public on October 10, 1999. This version included updated artwork and new dialogue. The game used Blastoise as its mascot, and the code, script, and artwork from Blue were used for the international versions of Red and Green, which were renamed to Red and Blue.
To create interest, Tajiri included an extra Pokémon called Mew in the games. He believed this created rumors and myths about the game and kept people curious. Mew was originally added by Shigeki Morimoto as a joke and was not meant to be discovered by players. Later, Nintendo decided to distribute Mew through a promotional event. However, in 2003, a glitch was found that allowed players to obtain Mew without needing official events.
During the North American localization of Pokémon, a small team led by Hiro Nakamura renamed the Pokémon for Western audiences based on their appearance and traits, after approval from Nintendo. Nintendo also trademarked the names of all 151 Pokémon to ensure they were unique to the franchise. Translating the games proved difficult because the source code was in poor condition, so the games had to be completely reprogrammed. The finished versions were based on the more modern Japanese version of Blue, using its programming and artwork but keeping the same Pokémon distribution as the original Japanese Red and Green.
As the Red and Blue versions were prepared for release in North America, Nintendo spent over 50 million dollars on promotion, worried the series might not appeal to American children. The Western team suggested redesigning the Pokémon to be more "beefed-up," but Nintendo’s president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, refused and saw the challenge as an opportunity. Despite these issues, the reprogrammed Red and Blue versions were released in North America on September 28, 1998, more than two and a half years after their Japanese debut. The games were well received, and Pokémon became a successful franchise in America. The same versions were later released in Australia in 1998 and in Europe on October 5, 1999, becoming the second-to-last Game Boy game released in Europe before Pokémon Yellow.
In Portugal, Pokémon Red and Blue were officially released on October 15, 1999, in the town of Monte Real (Leiria District). Nintendo’s local distributor, Concentra, partnered with the local government to rename the town "Pokémonte Real" for the day. The launch event, organized by Bago, included about 50 children and cost 5,000 contos. Ricardo Feist, Concentra’s marketing director, chose Monte Real because of the similarity between the town’s name and the game’s title. He also noted that the Pokémon animated series was already airing on SIC television. Concentra aimed to sell 50,000 units of the games by year’s end and planned merchandising efforts, spending 35,000 contos on marketing to create a "Pokémania" in Portugal.
Two years after the release of Red and Green, Nintendo launched Pokémon Yellow, an improved version of Red and Blue, in Japan in 1998 and in North America and Europe in 1999 and 2000. The game was designed to match the Pokémon anime series, with Pikachu as the player’s starter Pokémon and Eevee as the rival’s starter. Some characters in the game resemble those from the anime, such as Team Rocket’s Jessie and James.
Pokémon Yellow changed several features of the original games. Pikachu is the only starter Pokémon and has a voice and personality unique to it. It follows the player and can grow to love or hate them based on their actions. This feature was later used in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, as well as Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. Yellow also includes a "Pikachu’s Beach" minigame, accessible to players who complete challenges in other games or win a Nintendo contest. The game has improved graphics and allows players to print Pokédex entries onto stickers using the Game Boy Printer.
Pokémon Yellow was developed by Game Freak after the completion of the Japanese version of Blue. Nintendo may have considered a "Pokémon Pink" version, based on leaked source code. Yellow was released alongside Pokémon: The First Movie and was first called Pocket Monsters Yellow in Japan. Future Nintendo president Satoru Iwata later said many people thought Yellow was unnecessary because Pokémon Gold and Silver were released later that year. Yellow was released in Japan on September 12, 1998, in Australia on September 3, 1999, in North America on October 19, 1999, and in Europe on June 16, 2000. A Pikachu-themed Game Boy Color bundle was released in North America in October 1999. To promote Yellow, Volkswagen and Nintendo created a yellow Volkswagen New Beetle inspired by Pikachu. Nintendo World Report listed Yellow as a notable handheld release in 1999.
On the 20th anniversary of the first Pokémon games’ Japanese release in February 2016, Nintendo re-released Red, Blue, and Yellow on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. These versions included simulated Link Cable functionality for trading and battling between games. As with the original release, Green is exclusive to Japanese players. These versions can transfer Pokémon to Pokémon Sun and Moon via the Pokémon Bank application.
A special Nintendo 2DS bundle was released in Japan, Europe, and Australia on February 27, 2016, with each console matching the color of the corresponding game version. North America received a New Nintendo 3DS bundle with cover plates styled after Red and Blue’s box art. By March 31, 2016, combined sales of the re-releases reached 1.5 million copies, with more than half sold in North America.
Reception
The games received mostly positive reviews and had an average score of 88% on GameRankings. Special praise was given to the multiplayer features, such as the ability to trade and battle Pokémon with others. Craig Harris of IGN gave the games a "masterful" score of 10 out of 10, saying: "Even if you finish the quest, you still might not have all the Pokémon in the game. The challenge to catch 'em all is truly the game's biggest draw." He also noted the games' popularity among children, calling it a "craze." GameSpot’s Peter Bartholow gave the games a "great" score of 8.8 out of 10. He said the graphics and audio were somewhat simple but were the only drawbacks. He praised the games for being fun to play again because of their customization and variety. He also said the games appealed to many people, writing: "Under its cuddly exterior, Pokémon is a serious and unique RPG with lots of depth and excellent multiplayer extensions. As an RPG, the game is accessible enough for newcomers to the genre to enjoy, but it will entertain hard-core fans as well. It's easily one of the best Game Boy games to date."
The success of these games has been attributed to their innovative gameplay rather than special audio or visual effects. Papers published until 1999 by the Columbia Business School showed that both American and Japanese children prefer the actual gameplay of a game over special audio or visual effects. In Pokémon games, the lack of these effects has been said to help children use their imagination and creativity. "With all the talk of game engines and texture mapping and so on, there is something refreshing about this superlative gameplay which makes you ignore the cutesy 8-bit graphics" commented The Guardian.
During the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Pokémon Red and Blue won the award for "Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development," along with receiving nominations for "Console Game of the Year," "Console Role-Playing Game of the Year," and "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design."
Pokémon Yellow received mostly positive reviews and had an average score of 85% on GameRankings, making it the fifth highest-rated Game Boy game of all time. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune recommended Yellow as a good game for children. RPGFan called it "so revoltingly addictive that any player of it has no choice but to 'catch 'em all.'" They also said Yellow was "insulting" in how limited the additions from Red and Blue were. Giving the game a perfect score, IGN’s Craig Harris praised the mechanics, commenting that Yellow was the best game of the three to start with.
GameSpot’s Cameron Davis called it a "stopgap" to appease players until the release of Gold and Silver, saying: "The new challenges are enough to fill the hole – but only just." GameDaily’s Chris Buffa listed it as one of the best Pokémon games, saying that while it was a rehash, there was enough that was new to warrant playing. Allgame’s Brad Cook said Yellow was good for those who did not play Red and Blue but advised others to wait until Gold and Silver. The Daily Telegraph’s Steve Boxer said the game had good gameplay mechanics but was held back by the lack of features. He described Nintendo’s actions as avaricious, saying Yellow "marks the point where Pokémon ceases to become a game and becomes a marketing exercise/obsession-satisfier."
Pokémon Yellow received two nominations, "Game of the Year" and "Console Game of the Year," during the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.
Pokémon Red and Blue set the precedent for what has become a blockbuster, multibillion-dollar franchise. In Japan, Red, Green, and Blue sold 1.04 million copies combined in 1996 and another 3.65 million in 1997. This made Pokémon the best-selling game of the year in Japan, surpassing Final Fantasy VII. By 1997, about 7 million units had been sold in Japan. In 1998, Red, Green, and Blue sold 1,739,391 units in Japan. By 1998, 10 million units had been sold in Japan. Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue ultimately sold 10.23 million copies in Japan and were the country’s best-selling video games until November 2022. The video games were accompanied by the Pokémon Trading Card Game; both the video games and card game grossed combined sales revenue of more than $4 billion in Japan as of 2000.
In the United States, it became the fastest-selling Game Boy game, selling 200,000 copies within two weeks and 4 million units by the end of 1998. Pokémon Blue first appeared within the top 20 best-selling video games in December 1998, with Pokémon Red debuting the following month. For the rest of 1999 (barring September), it stayed within the best-selling video game chart, selling 6.1 million copies in the United States and becoming the best-selling video game of 1999 in the territory. In 2000, it stayed within the top 20 best-selling video game chart up to September. By 2007, it had total combined sales of 9.85 million in the United States. In Europe, the games had grossed €60,388,924 or $64,362,515 (equivalent to $124,000,000 in 2025) in 1999. In France, over 2.5 million copies were sold within a year. In Germany, they became the first video games to receive two Special Prize awards from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) for sales above 2 million copies by early 2001. In the United Kingdom, Red and Blue received two Platinum awards for sales above 600,000 copies.
Worldwide sales reached over 31 million copies sold. It was "the most successful computer game of all time" according to Joseph Tobin in 2004. In 2009, IGN referred to Pokémon Red and Blue as the "Best-selling RPG on the Game Boy" and "Best-selling RPG of all time," while in 2017, Guinness World Records declared the games the "Best-selling videogame (excluding bundle sales)."
In Japan,
Legacy
The video game website 1UP.com created a list called the "Top 5 'Late to the Party' Games," which highlighted games that showed the hidden potential of gaming platforms and were among the last games released for their consoles. Pokémon Red and Blue were ranked first and called Nintendo's "secret weapon" when they were released for the Game Boy in the late 1990s. Their success helped the Game Boy become popular again during that time. Nintendo Power listed the Red and Blue versions as the third best Game Boy games, saying players kept playing until they caught all the Pokémon. Game Informer’s Ben Reeves called them (along with Pokémon Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal) the second best Game Boy games, noting they had more depth than they seemed. Official Nintendo Magazine named them one of the best Nintendo games of all time, placing them 52nd on a list of the top 100 games. Red and Blue reached number 72 on IGN’s "Top 100 Games of All Time" in 2003, where reviewers said the games "started a revolution" and praised their complex design and trading features. Two years later, they climbed to number 70, with reviewers noting their lasting influence, which inspired sequels, movies, TV shows, and other merchandise. In 2019, PC Magazine included the games on their "The 10 Best Game Boy Games" list. In 2023, Time Extension added them to their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list. In 2007, Red and Blue were ranked 37th on a list, with reviewers saying their unique mix of exploration, training, battling, and trading made them deeply engaging and required players to interact with others to fully enjoy them. The games are widely credited with starting the Pokémon series, which has sold over 300 million copies worldwide.
In 2014, an anonymous Australian programmer started a project called Twitch Plays Pokémon on the website Twitch. The project let viewers type commands in a chat to play a modified version of Pokémon Red. About 50,000 people participated at the same time, and the game took 390 hours to complete.
In 2017, The Strong National Museum of Play added Pokémon Red and Green to its World Video Game Hall of Fame. In 2021, the Japan Sumo Association partnered with The Pokémon Company to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pokémon Red and Blue. Sumo referees wore Poké Ball-themed kimono during a tournament in 2022.
Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version are improved versions of Pokémon Red and Blue. They were made for the Game Boy Advance and require a special wireless adapter. However, they are not compatible with older games outside the third generation of Pokémon. FireRed and LeafGreen were released in Japan in 2004 and later in North America and Europe. They were later sold again as Player’s Choice games. Critics gave them an 81% score on Metacritic, praising their new features while keeping traditional gameplay. Some reviewers thought the graphics and audio were too simple compared to later games like Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. FireRed and LeafGreen sold about 12 million copies worldwide.
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! are improved versions of Pokémon Yellow. They were released in 2018 for the Nintendo Switch and aimed at new players. They include mechanics from Pokémon Go and feature the original 151 Pokémon from the first generation. Players can now have their starter Pokémon follow them in the overworld, a feature last seen in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. These games sold over 13 million copies globally.
A Nintendo 64 game called Pocket Monsters Stadium was released in Japan in 1998. It used a 3D battle system with 40 Pokémon from the first three games. A sequel released in 1999 included all 151 Pokémon.