What Japanese title did the first Pokémon games use when Pokémon Red and Green launched in 1996?

The first Pokémon games used the Japanese title Pocket Monsters Red and Green when they launched in 1996.

Game Freak developed the role-playing games for Nintendo’s original Game Boy. Unlike later international releases, Japan received Red and Green as the paired first versions. Their version-exclusive Pokémon encouraged players to connect two systems and trade creatures.

Japan later received Pocket Monsters Blue as a mail-order edition through CoroCoro Comic in October 1996, followed by a general retail release in 1999. The international Red and Blue versions were based largely on the Japanese Blue revision, while retaining the distribution of Pokémon from Red and Green.

A common mix-up is assuming that Blue was one of the original Japanese launch versions. It was not: Red and Green came first in Japan, while Red and Blue became the familiar pair in overseas markets.