The first Pokémon games, Pokémon Red and Green, were released in Japan for the Game Boy.
Game Freak developed the role-playing games, and Nintendo published them. Their design used the Game Boy's portability and Link Cable to make trading Pokémon between players a central feature. That connection helped distinguish Pokémon from many other handheld role-playing games of the period.
The original Japanese releases were Red and Green, while an enhanced Blue version followed later. For international markets, Nintendo released Pokémon Red and Blue; the original Japanese Green version was not released overseas in its original form.
The Game Boy platform is sometimes confused with the Game Boy Color because Pokémon Yellow used color features and Pokémon Gold and Silver were designed for the Game Boy Color. However, the franchise began on the original monochrome-capable Game Boy in 1996.