When did Pokémon Red and Blue first launch in North America?

Pokémon Red and Blue first launched in North America on September 28, 1998.

These games localized the original Japanese Pokémon Red and Green releases, which had debuted on the Game Boy in February 1996. For international markets, Nintendo used the names Red and Blue and based the localization on the updated Japanese Blue version while retaining the original distribution of obtainable Pokémon.

The North American release marked a major expansion of Pokémon beyond Japan. The games retained the capture, training, battling, and trading systems that had made the Japanese titles successful, while presenting Pokémon names and text adapted for English-speaking players.

Europe received the games later, on October 5, 1999. This difference is why the Japanese anniversary date, North American launch date, and European launch date are often mixed up when discussing Pokémon’s global debut.