What was the first Pokémon game planned for release on December 21, 1995?

Pocket Monsters Red and Green were the Pokémon games originally planned for release on December 21, 1995.

The games were developed for the Game Boy by Game Freak. Their planned 1995 launch was postponed because derivative products were not yet ready, and the pair eventually appeared in Japan on February 27, 1996.

Red and Green introduced the first 151 Pokémon and the series’ central systems of catching, training, battling, and trading. Their delayed release became the starting point for the Pokémon franchise’s later growth across animation, cards, merchandise, and films.

International players usually know these games as Pokémon Red and Blue, not Red and Green. The international versions were based on the revised Japanese Blue version, which had updated artwork and other changes. This difference in regional naming is why the original planned release is easy to misremember.