On what date did the Pokémon video-game franchise launch in Japan?

The Pokémon video-game franchise launched in Japan on February 27, 1996.

The launch games were Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green for the original Nintendo Game Boy. They were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, forming the foundation of the wider Pokémon franchise.

The Japanese versions used Red and Green rather than the Red and Blue pairing that became familiar internationally. A revised Japanese Blue version followed later, while Pokémon Red and Blue became the principal first-generation releases outside Japan.

This date is widely treated as Pokémon's anniversary because the games were the franchise's original commercial starting point. The anime, trading card game, films, manga, and merchandise all expanded after the Game Boy games established the Pokémon concept.

The 30th anniversary therefore falls in 2026, three decades after the original Japanese release. The date is sometimes confused with the 1998 international launch, but Pokémon began in Japan two years earlier.