Pokémon Red & Blue
Nintendo's Game Boy sensation that turned playground trading into a global phenomenon. Pokémon Red and Blue made 1998 the year school ceased all productive function in the pursuit of catching 'em all.
Designed by Satoshi Tajiri at Game Freak, inspired by his childhood bug-collecting, and pitched to Nintendo in 1990, Pokémon spent years in development under producer Shigeru Miyamoto. Japan got Red and Green in February 1996; America got Red and Blue on September 28, 1998, and school was never the same. The Game Link Cable let kids trade and battle cartridge-to-cartridge — the engine behind the promise itself: Gotta catch 'em all.
The hidden 151st Pokémon, Mew (slipped in by programmer Shigeki Morimoto), fueled endless playground myths about glitch methods and mythical encounters. It was the fastest-selling Game Boy game in US history — 4 million copies by the end of 1998. Counting Red, Blue, and Green versions worldwide, the games shifted over 31 million cartridges — three decades later, still the best-selling entries in the entire series.
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