The original Pokémon video game series was designed for the Game Boy.
Pokémon Red and Green were released for Nintendo’s Game Boy in Japan in 1996. The handheld’s link cable was especially important because it allowed players to trade Pokémon and battle one another, turning a single-player adventure into a social experience.
The Game Boy’s limited hardware also shaped the first games’ presentation. Players explored using simple pixel graphics, four-color-style visuals, and a small set of sound channels. Despite those limits, the games supported a large collection of creatures and a complex system of types, moves, evolution, and battles.
Later versions expanded the platform family. Pokémon Yellow supported the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, while later generations appeared on systems such as the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. Those later releases are sometimes incorrectly credited as the original platform, but the first games began on the original Game Boy.