The original Pokémon Red and Green releases in Japan were hosted on the Nintendo Game Boy.
Game Freak developed the games for Nintendo’s handheld system, using its monochrome display, cartridge format, and Game Link Cable connectivity. The hardware allowed players to explore Kanto, battle wild Pokémon, and trade creatures between two Game Boy systems.
The link feature was particularly important because Red and Green contained version-exclusive Pokémon. Players had to connect compatible systems with a cable to trade species that could not be found in their own version. This made communication between players part of the game’s intended completion path.
Pokémon later appeared on the Game Boy Color in enhanced releases such as Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon Crystal. Those games are sometimes mistaken for the original platform because the franchise became strongly associated with color-screen handheld play. The first Pokémon games, however, were Game Boy titles.