You live in a world inhabited by Pokémon, wild creatures that can be tamed by Pokémon Trainers for use in battles. It is your first day as a Pokémon Trainer. As you set out from Pallet Town, Professor Oak, the local Pokémon expert, gives you your first Pokémon.
Catch Pokémon with Poké Balls and take them into battle against other Trainers to level them up, learn new attacks and evolve them into stronger forms. Earn the Gym badges and challenge the Elite Four to become the Pokémon Champion.
You can also trade Pokémon with other players and battle them using the Game Boy Link Cable.
| Region |
Name |
Red |
Green |
Blue |
 |
ポケットモンスター 赤・緑・青
Pocket Monsters Aka / Midori / Ao
|
27 Feb 1996 |
27 Feb 1996 |
15 Oct 1996 |
 |
Pokémon: Red Version / Blue Version
|
Sep 1998 |
- |
Sep 1998 |
 |
Pokémon: Red Version / Blue Version
|
05 Oct 1999 |
- |
05 Oct 1999 |
Re-releases
| System |
|
|
|
| Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console |
27 Feb 2016 |
27 Feb 2016 |
27 Feb 2016 |
Ports & Remakes:
Hero & Rival's Japanese Names
In the Japanese version of Pokémon Red, one of the default names for the hero is "Satoshi", and one of the default names for your rival is "Shigeru". These names refer to Satoshi Tajiri, the Game Freak designer who developed Pokémon, and Shigeru Miyamoto, the world-renowned Nintendo developer. The names are reversed in Pokémon Green. Satoshi Tajiri has gone on record saying he always wanted to produce a game as popular as one of Shigeru Miyamoto's.
It is also worth noting that these names were selected for the hero and rival in the Japanese anime series.
Head to the Mimic Girl's house in Saffron City and check out her SNES console. You get the following description of the game she's playing:
"A game with MARIO wearing a bucket on his head!"
This refers to Mario & Wario, a Japan-only SNES puzzle game that was developed by Game Freak, the developers of Pokémon.
In Celadon City, you can find the Game Freak development room in one of the buildings and talk to the staff who worked on Pokémon, including a programmer, artist, musician and director. You receive a diploma from the director if you catch all 150 Pokémon.
In Japan, the ship S.S. Anne is named the Saint Anne. This was also the name of the computer that created the hero in the Game Freak game Pulseman on the Sega Genesis.
