About this game
Pokémon Red and Green launched in Japan on February 27, 1996, after six years of development by Game Freak and creator Satoshi Tajiri. The games challenged players to catch, train, and trade 151 species of pocket monsters — with trading requiring a physical Link Cable connection between two Game Boys. The concept was radical: a game whose content could only be completed by connecting with another person. It became the second best-selling Game Boy franchise of all time, after Tetris.
Key Features
Catch and train 151 Pokémon species across a top-down RPG world. Turn-based battles using type matchups (Water beats Fire, Fire beats Grass, and so on) with four moves per Pokémon. Trading and battling via Link Cable — some Pokémon evolve only through trading. Version-exclusive Pokémon: Red and Green each have species unavailable in the other version, requiring both games to complete the Pokédex. Eight Gym Leaders and the Elite Four, culminating in the Pokémon League. Hidden items, secret Pokémon (Mew), and a post-game objective of completing the Pokédex.
The Story Behind
By the time Pokémon launched in 1996, the original Game Boy was seven years old. The hardware landscape had moved on: the Game Boy Pocket was imminent, and the colour era was approaching. Most developers had stopped targeting the original hardware for ambitious projects. Game Freak did not. Tajiri had conceived Pokémon specifically for the Game Boy's Link Cable — the ability to connect two devices physically was the entire premise. The game spent six years in development, during which Game Freak nearly ran out of money multiple times. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi greenlit the project personally. The first print run in Japan was modest; word of mouth built it slowly over months. By the time Pokémon Blue — a revised version released later in 1996 — was packaged with a CoroCoro Comics mail-in offer, the franchise had become a cultural phenomenon.
Tricks & Tales
The original Red and Green versions had numerous bugs, including the infamous "MissingNo." glitch — a corrupted Pokémon sprite that appeared when specific surf/item duplication steps were performed. Nintendo never patched it. The later Pokémon Blue version (1996, Japan) fixed many of these and used higher-quality sprites; it became the base for the international Red and Blue releases. Mew — the hidden 151st Pokémon — was added to the game data near the end of development by programmer Shigeki Morimoto without the project director's knowledge, hidden to be freed through a future promotional event. Its discovery by players before any official event was announced became one of gaming's great urban legends.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Pokémon Red and Green are Japan-exclusive. The international releases were Pokémon Red and Blue (1998 North America, 1999 Europe), based on the revised Japanese Blue version. Green version is the rarer of the two Japanese originals and is often sought by collectors. All versions require a Game Boy or compatible hardware to play.
Maintenance Tips
Pokémon Red and Green use a CR2025 3V coin battery for save data. Battery life is typically 10–20 years, meaning many original cartridges from 1996 have depleted batteries. Symptoms: save data erases when power is removed, or the game cannot save at all. Battery replacement requires opening the cartridge with a 3.8 mm Game Boy security bit and soldering a new CR2025. The circuit board contacts should be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol before reassembly. Japanese-market cartridges use the DMG-APAJ-JPN (Red) and DMG-APCJ-JPN (Green) board labels.
Available in our shop
Hand-cleaned and tested units shipped worldwide from Toyohashi, Japan. HP direct purchase exclusive: we include a printed shop owner's note card with every order.
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