# Pokémon Red and Blue

> Pokémon Red, Green and Blue sold over 31.38 million Game Boy copies worldwide.

- Owner: Nintendo / Creatures / Game Freak
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 1996-02-27
- Milestone date: Nov 1999
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 53 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Mystery & lore, Platform jump, Sell-out loop, Controversy

## Summary

Red and Green launched in Japan in 1996, followed by a Mew giveaway and anime. A paid US rollout preceded reported game sell-outs in 1998. The November 1999 TIME cover marks a franchise milestone; fans later completed Red together on Twitch.

## Timeline

- 1996-02-27 — Nintendo / Game Freak (Retail) — Nintendo released Pocket Monsters Red and Green for the Game Boy in Japan.
- Apr 1996 — CoroCoro Comic (Press) — CoroCoro announced a Mew giveaway that drew approximately 78,000 entrants for 20 places.
- Oct 1996 — Creatures / Pokémon licensees (Retail) — A Pokémon trading card game launched in Japan, extending collecting and trading beyond the cartridges.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/pokemon-red-and-blue

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Pokémon Red and Blue.” Case HIS-01420. Spread Score v1.2: 53/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01420