Pokémon Blue Version · Game Boy
Third print — Pidgey and Rattata back
How to identify it
This is a later print, number 3 in the run, not the first. The first print is First print — "Red version" back text.
The back screenshot changes to Pidgey against Rattata, and the box is built differently.
- Box bottom: Y-fold rather than double-ended.
- Insert: a removable white tray, not glued in.
- Folding tab code:
DMG-APEE USA— theU/prefix is gone. - Fiber stamp: 83% / 81%.
- Front ESRB badge is still white and pixelated, and the cartridge is still
DMG-APEE-USA.
If the back shows Pidgey and Rattata, you can stop looking for the "Red version" error. It was corrected two prints earlier.
Traits
- Insert
- Removable white tray
- Box code
- DMG-APEE-USA
- Revision
- Print 3 of 4 documented US box prints
- Back text
- Corrected
- Cart code
- DMG-APEE-USA
- Date code
- 991020 seen — 20 October 1999
- ESRB logo
- White, pixelated
- Box bottom
- Y-fold
- Fiber stamp
- 83% / 81%
- Back screenshot
- Pidgey vs. Rattata
- Folding tab code
- DMG-APEE USA
Notes
About 24% of adamw's survey. The 991020 date code on this print and 990727 on the second are the only dated anchors in the sequence.
Source: Community variant guide, cross-checked against graded auction listings — the Elite Fourum Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow variant guide, with the population survey by adamw (elitefourum.com and videogamesage.com, read 22 October 2026).
Photos
No photos yet. Add one if you have this copy — a clear shot of the tell beats a paragraph describing it.
Other versions of Pokémon Blue Version
- First print — "Red version" back textFirst printNorth America · FP-000295
- Second print — corrected "Blue version" textPrint 2North America · FP-000296
- Fourth print — black ESRB badgePrint 4North America · FP-000298