On which Nintendo console did the first Pokémon games appear?

The first Pokémon games appeared on Nintendo's Game Boy.

Pocket Monsters Red and Green launched in Japan in 1996 for the original monochrome handheld. Their design centered on portability, letting players carry their teams and connect two systems with a Link Cable.

The hardware was technically modest, but the Link Cable gave the games a social feature that many single-player role-playing games lacked. Some Pokémon could only be obtained by trading with another version, encouraging players to connect their Game Boys.

Pokémon Yellow later supported the Game Boy Color's palette, but it was not the first Pokémon release. The original games also should not be confused with Pokémon Stadium, which arrived later on the Nintendo 64 and connected with Game Boy titles.