The first Pokémon games, Pocket Monsters Red and Green, were released for the Game Boy.
Nintendo’s monochrome handheld provided the hardware for Pokémon’s original adventure in Japan in 1996. Its link port was especially important because it allowed two Game Boys to connect with a Game Link Cable for trading and battling.
That communication feature helped make Pokémon different from many other role-playing games. Players could not obtain every original species in one version, so exchanging Pokémon with another player became part of completing the Pokédex.
The games were later remade and reissued on newer Nintendo systems, which can cause confusion about their original platform. Pokémon Yellow also began on the Game Boy before later versions appeared on the Game Boy Color. Internationally, the first games were released as Pokémon Red and Blue, but their original Japanese versions were Game Boy titles called Red and Green.