Game Boy
Pokémon Blue Version
Also known as Pokemon Blue Version · Pokémon Blue · Pocket Monsters Blue
Variants (4)
First print: First print — "Red version" back text (North America)
| Variant | Region | Edition | Product code | Rarity | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First print | First print — "Red version" back text FP-000295 | North America | Standard release | DMG-APEE-USA | Scarce | Unverified |
| Print 2 | Second print — corrected "Blue version" text FP-000296 | North America | Later print | DMG-APEE-USA | Common | Unverified |
| Print 3 | Third print — Pidgey and Rattata back FP-000297 | North America | Later print | DMG-APEE-USA | Common | Unverified |
| Print 4 | Fourth print — black ESRB badge FP-000298 | North America | Later print | DMG-APEE-USA-1 | Uncommon | Unverified |
About
Pokémon Red and Blue reached North American shelves on 28 September 1998, and between them they started the series in the West.
Blue is the interesting one for a collector. Japan got Red and Green first, then a revised Blue; the Western pair put Red and Green's creature line-up on Blue's improved engine. The box art, the screenshots on the back and the box text all had to be reassembled for the West — and on the earliest Blue boxes, one sentence of that text still describes Red.
Four US box prints are documented. They are told apart by the screenshot on the back, one sentence of back-of-box text, the ESRB badge, and how the box is folded and glued.
Print details reported by the Elite Fourum Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow variant guide, with the population survey by adamw, elitefourum.com and videogamesage.com, read 22 October 2026.