The Pokémon Gallery
Two cartridges in Japan, a third color in secret, and the pair that taught the world to trade.
Pokémon began in Japan on February 27, 1996, as Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green. A third Japanese edition, Blue, followed that October as a mail order special edition, and when the games crossed the Pacific in 1998 the West received Red and Blue, built on Blue's revised code, script and artwork. Green never left Japan at retail.
Every cover below is a door. Behind it sits the history: how Game Freak built a game around a link cable, how each edition was released, and how its own era scored it. Behind that sits the question that started everything: what inspired Pokémon in the first place?
POKÉMON RED, GREEN AND BLUE
Game Freak · Nintendo · Game Boy · 1996 to 1998
Japan · Red · 1996
Charizard on the Japanese Red box: the fire lizard as the cover specimen of the first field guide.
Japan · Green · 1996
Venusaur on Green, the version the West never got at retail. Green stayed home in Japan, where the collecting started.
America · Red · 1998
Charizard again for America, over a red field. Read the line at the foot of the box: Link to Blue Version to catch all 150 monsters.
America · Blue · 1998
Blastoise fronts American Blue, the mascot Japan's special edition Blue had already carried, and its box answers Red back: Link to Red Version.
The History
Red and Green in February 1996, Blue as the special edition, and the Western pair built on Blue: how the first Pokémon games were made, released and received.
The Origin
What inspired Pokémon? A childhood spent catching insects, and a cable between two Game Boys, in Satoshi Tajiri's own account.