Pokémon Red, Blue And Yellow European Pricing Is Confirmed

£9 for a virtual console game...

I'll be picking up Yellow and Red on my N3DSXL and then Blue on my normal 3DS so I can trade between them won't be getting all on launch day though.

Not to bad considering going on eBay for £20+ for originals

Very good. Hey mogster that's a great idea!!

That's a bit steep...

Hmm, not so sure now.

A bit expensive for a GB game, but I'll still be getting blue and yellow.

I still don't really understand why people are clamoring for virtual console versions of these games. With most VC games they're more convenient than the originals, but the only advantage the VC version offers is that the save battery can't dry up. The original GB cart can be played in the Super Gameboy for a colorful border on the side of the screen and can be used via the transfer pak on Pokemon Stadium. Yet people are making a HUGE deal about gimped VC versions. Unless there's something I don't know about... Being able to play these games on Pokemon Stadium was a huge plus for me, so unless they actually find some way to let us do that via the virtual console, I fail to see the point.

That said, they are much cheaper than buying them online, but you can find these all over the place for 5 dollars a piece. Just go to any fleamarket and you'll probably find a whole bunch of Pokemon games just sitting there. (Assuming you already have the hardware to run it, of course)

Let's not forget that a lot more work went into these than standard VC titles. The Link Cable is something which would drop you out if a single packet is dropped, and so emulating that over wireless is a tricky proposition.

I just got an old GameBoy Color and Pokemon red for £17. Cheaper to get the games than on the 3ds VC

I am still wondering how I will trade Pokemon to myself when I get the New 3DS bundle. I will buy Yellow on it but I guess I will have to buy Red and Blue again on one of my other 3DS's to catch em' all

Bloody rip off merchants. Also quite a bit more expensive than in the US. You know, for a change.

I'm so willing to pay 10€ for this that as soon as I read the article I rushed to check my old cartdridges XD;;;
Not sure how, but my Red and Blue version still works (despite Gold being dead) so I'll try to play with them, even tempted to place new batteries on my original GameBoy, but playing with a screen with no retroillumination is not something I think I can handle anymore ^_^;;;

I love these games but just like Earthbound this is a rather cheeky tactic on Nintendo's part using nostalgia to charge us more then the standard rate of a GB VC game.

wow other gameboy games on vc cost 3-4€
i will not pay so much for a digital version. f* u, nintendo. seriously

Completely unreasonable price but I'll still pay it because I'm a sucker.

@Serebii
This. I'm sure it's the same for Earthbound. There was an extra work done with the ports unlike the other VC ports.

It's not about nostalgia. Else SMB 1, 2, 3 and World would have been more expensive than other VC games.

Edit:
I think I'll go with Yellow.

This pricing is just greedy. It wouldn't be a problem if all the other GB games wouldn't be around 3-6€ each, they just know people are going to buy these games way more than others so they ramped up the price. Not really sure if I want to get any of these at launch, if the price would have been similar to the other ones I could have bought both Blue and Yellow with a smile Day One.

Well on the Cdn eShop they are $12.49 so I'd count yourselves lucky that only have to pay under $10

I'll wait for a massive discount if it ever comes.
I'm sure Ninty could have bought in any one of a number of pre-teens to add link cable functionality in a few hours.

Getting that yellow 2ds so I'll get red and blue on my new xl! That way I can trade about and catch em all. I'm hyped though I've been needing to get a 2ds for a while so I have a system that I don't mind getting a few scratches at school or whatever, I'm getting a GBA micro so I'll proabaly end up playing sapphire on it hahaha ( I'm stuck in the league I keep running out of pp and my Pokemon are a little underleveled ) Still I've got to get something to celebrate one of my all time favourite series! Still I'm not sure I want to scratch that yellow 2ds hahaha

I think it'd be pretty sweet if they let iu use Pokémon box for the old vc games so you can trade between them if you only have one system that's why I loved it for x and y as it finally let me catch them all without 2 systems! I'm at the point where I've it multiple systems but Pokémon box is still wayy easier I still think a transfer from black and white should be free!

Price wise I'm cool with it they've made a little extra effort with them and it'll be awesome to have them all

@Onion While you have your point there (N64/stadium connectivity), having the game on a modern system, a system than you take with you everywhere, is a major plus (and I know how trouble some is to carry around several gaming systems suited for different weather and daytime just to play on the bus or tram). The price is also a little bit lower than for the real card (though I belive it will cost equally expensive as the original in my country, sigh). Also: nostalgia googles. In my case, I am also wondering about the glitches - I simply want to test the software.
Note: we own two Blues, two Yellows, two Golds, two Crystals and one Silver. We have two GameBoys Colors, Link Cable and N64 with Stadium 2 game. Everything is working, yet we will be still buying those ;P

@BakaKnight GSC batteries tend to dry out faster due to the in game clock (:

@Serebii Sure... but having them cost almost three times the price of a normal VC game is a bit much. Maybe if they included each version... Also, some other VC titles had multiplayer as well, and they didn't really charge extra money for that.

@Krisi Not GameBoy games there haven't. This is the first game with emulated Link Cables.

Loving all the cries of 'this is so expensive! I'm only buying all three!!'

I was actually expecting this one to retail at £9.99 or more; the hype is real for a start and what does hype make? Money! Plus, there's extra development needed with trading and such. Plus I think anyone who buys this is getting ther fair share of fun. And the original games go for quite a lot on the secondary market. You're looking at £20 for a copy with the label ripped off. So there you go!

I'm probably not gonna get them anyway. I'll go with FireRed or LeafGreen for my Generation 1 nostaliga kicks. If I do get one, it's probably gonna be the Yellow Pikachu Version.

I might have bought Red or Yellow for nostalgia's sake (since the batter in my copy of Red is empty) if they had been €5 a piece but €10 is a bit too much just for a nostalgia trip.

It's going to be hard for me to justify the prices. Yeah, people can go ahead and say "Oh, but the physical is $20," well, I am sorry, VC titles are not collectors items.

@Dakt I like the term Nintendo tax, think we should use it more often

I know more work went into these games than usual but I don't think it in any way justifies the price tag for an old game which has already had a remake on GBA. People will still buy the games though I reckon.

@ikki5 So true.

@Pokefanmum82 It's much worse. The £9 price point converts to nearly $18 Canadian (or $13 US). It's yet another ridiculous price from Nintendo.

This time last year Sony put up digital versions of Suikoden and Suikoden II, games that are extremely rare and expensive to buy physically. The price? £3.99 each, and they've been on sale for 50% off several times since.

Remember whe nVirtual consols 3DS games were around 4 pounds...

Really they will be $18 AUD?
I'm hoping that the games will be cheaper than that in Australia as £8.99 converted into AUD is $18 and that seems a bit much. I was hoping for a $10-$12 each game max.

Kinda understandable. I mean a small staff team had to be assembled in order to get the link cable emulating working and up to the Nintendo standard everyone would expect.

Hope you all get ready when they expect £20 for that Mother 3 release you all wanted...

@GH05T
It won't be 18AUD. 9£ is like 12€ but it's only 10€ outside UK. It depends on regional pricing, not exchange rates.

@Angelic_Lapras_King

An entire team for one function... I find that hard to believe. At most, I could see 1-2 people for the coding and then another for testing. That's all.

@Splatburst I hope so

@ikki5 Yes, but this is Nintendo we're talking about, not anyone else.

For a Pokemon game, you've got to admit, that's not bad. That's 50+% off eBay price. But lack of Wifi battling just...really hurts me...so much...

^ Wait, no, I was wrong. Didn't know USD to Pound conversions. :/

@Peach64 lol Sony being used as the beacon of playing old games on new systems. The moment I saw they wanted me to pay £12 for Final Fantasy VII amongst other games I already own on PS3 to play them on my PS4 they lost any credit they might've had in this area. PS Now is also toilet, crap, overpriced, a waste of time/money and basically crap.

But sure Nintendo are the only rip-offs here.

The Australian price is $13.00. I just read on Serebii.net

@TheLastLugia
Actually you have to pay full price for all PS1 and PS2 classics to get them on your PS4.
Sony doesn't offer an upgrade price.

In the U.S. FFVII (PS1) on PS4 is $15.99 + tax (first PS1 game on PS4 and it came out in December).
The PS2 games on PS4 range from $12 - $20.

There is no upgrade price for those who own them on PS3.

Sony claims this is due to the emulators having to be rewritten for PS4 and all the licensing issues.

This also applies to all digital games released on PS4.

Wow DS games are finally on VC ;D no wait it's just an overpriced gb game.

@KTT Extremly fair point, mistery solved!

I just blew £6 on a McDonalds and i'm still hungry. £9 for Pokemon doesn't seem all that bad.

You can always count on Nintendo to overcharge for everything!

@Xenocity my point was more the fact that you have to pay at all for games you already own on their previous system. PS1, PS2 or PS3 it matters not as far as Sony are concerned, you want to play them on PS4? £££££££££££££/€€€€€€€€€€€/$$$$$$$$$$$

@TheLastLugia
Yet not many are making an issue out of it, let alone talking about it.

Microsoft does the same thing for Xbox 360 digital purchases on Xbox One.
Still no one complained.

Some are defending Microsoft and Sony over it.

Everyone is up in arms about Nintendo having the upgrade prices for NES, SNES and N64 games.

The prices for Pokemon Gen 1 VC are getting media outrage, social media outrage, and gamer outrage across the board as being GREEDY and RIP OFF.
It's being decried as TYPICAL NINTENDO!

@RainbowGazelle
It's no worse than how Sony treats digital releases of retro titles on PS4.
You have to pay full price for them to get them on PS4, even if you already own them on PS3, PSP, and PS Vita.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Then Nintendo is being highly inefficient.

@Xenocity exactly, heaven forbid Nintendo charge £10 for one of the most iconic games ever, yet that much won't get you a month's subscription to PS Now nor is it enough to get most of the worthwhile games on the Xbox One's backwards compatibility list.

We're talking about £3-4 here in terms of it being excessive. There's games that aren't finished being released for £50+ with Season Passes every month it seems in the 'AAA' market. Maybe that's more worthy of complaint, maybe I dunno?

@TheLastLugia
Well to be fair Gamefreak did put a lot of work in these games and has a say in the price.

So technical side, it's probably worth $10 price tag in the U.S.
But since you cannot see most of the technical stuff done to them, people won't understand the work and value in them.

My posts had to do with the fact that people are still complaining about 3DS and Wii U VC pricing, when it is better than Sony and Microsoft's digital pricing for retro games.
Yet for some reason Sony and Microsoft escape the criticism and have people defending them on it.

I have no interested in the VC release of Gen 1 games.
I decided to buy the Cities Skylines: Snowfall expansion pack instead.

If Gamefreak announces Gen 1 remakes in the Gen VI engine, then I'll be more willing to spend money on it.

@BakaKnight Due to Gold / Silver keeping track of the time, it pretty much starts draining the CR0232 battery as soon as you create a save. While Red / Blue only drain the battery when you are saving.

I may download Red, just for the Nostalgia. I really hope they release Pokémon Stadium on the Wii U now.

@Onion Most people don't have or don't care about Pokemon stadium dude. This is an easy cheap way to play Pokemon and that's all we want. Also I fail to see how this is gimped when it still has every feature the originals promised.

@ikki5 Neither are the cartridges lol

@Xenocity Well I guess Sony suck as well then.

@TheLastLugia You raise a very fair point.

The price seems a bit high for me. Since I've still got the old cartridges, I doubt I'll get any of the VC games.

This is a little too expensive for my taste but i will get the Yellow version anyway.
And yes i do understand that i am part of the problem because of it.
At least the Yellow version got colors ^^

Are they pricing these based on their real cart 2nd hand price? I mean I don't see why this has to be more than other Game Boy prices.

The game is like 12 dollars Canadian, which seems a bit steep for a 20 year old GB game that you can literally download on the internet for free (not saying you should support piracy). Heck I can get PS3 games for cheaper at retail and on PSN. I'll still pick up Yellow mainly for nostalgia reason though.

@DoctorOverbuild running out of PP? that happened to my friend on Pearl.

also, I said to myself, "If they cost less than a tenner (£10) I'll get 'em". Then N puts them on for £9. Did they read my mind or something??

I wish they'd release a physical version like they're doing in Japan -

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B01AY4Z1N2/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1#-

Includes download code, map and fridge magnet I believe! Got red and yellow versions per ordered for just under £20, will buy one of the English releases as well, maybe more!

It'll be easier to find than a copy of Super Mystery Dungeon. Local GAME only had 4 copies on launch today

To revisit & experience one of my favourite games ever & no doubt sink in tens or hundreds of hours more time into, I have no problems paying £9 at all. I can understand why others might be more hesitant or not bother at all for a 20yr old vc game at that price though.

Still got my copy of Blue but going to pick up Yellow come next week instead as I've always wished to experience that version being more in line with the anime. Happily pay the money for that than risk paying more & getting a fake or broken copy online.

They'll be 123.99 pesos (almost 7 dollars) in the Mexican eShop.

Lucky, I guess.

And I still haven't decided between Red and Blue ... Yellow will be mine eventually, too, but first Red or Blue.

I bought Pokemon Yellow locally for a fiver a few years ago.

Have prices really gone up that much?

@Pokefanmum82 um that translates to £6.31, cheaper than the UK eshop price...

@Dakt don't forget they tweaked it to use the trading parts, so it makes sense it's more expensive than just a port. also a full game for this much isn't bad, it's not like it's free to play with. hey here you get 3 pokemon for free and have to pay to capture more, or wait 24 hours to get a new one. (you know something like that.)

The only place I can get the games physically without buying online is a records store near me that also used games. I think Pokemon Red was like $15. Not sure what they run on eBay for, and I'm too lazy at the moment to check.

@Peach64 Suikoden isn't a very good example considering it's a 3rd party game. If Sony's store policies are the same as Nintendo's, then they don't set the prices on 3rd party games. If that's not the case, and they do set the prices on 3rd party games, then Sony needs to get with the times and fix that policy.

Just give me a box - put just a download code and manual inside if you must but gimme that damn box. Hate digital at the best of times but this is too pricey for a download of a game from 1999.

@Serebii Okay, you're right about that. I still don't think it justifies the price. I have a feeling that even if they left the link features out, the game still wouldn't be 3-4€.

That's... a lot more than I was expecting. Ah well. Maybe I'll pick them up when there's a sale or something, I haven't been interested in Pokémon since the original Ruby/Sapphire generation, since it's all become way too fancy and convoluted, and I don't like any of the new Pokémon. However these old, simpler games might just persuade me. :]

hope you will still be able to chatch mew in those games

What is this guy obsession to always represent the pokémon games with the loser from the anime series, I'll never know.

Uhm, excuse me? I'm sorry, that's my limit. I'm a huge Pokémon fan, and I get the series is being used as a cash cow with all the mobile games, but this is outrageous. I know they added wireless support and all that, but that doesn't justify more than doubling the price compared to regular VC games. Guys, I really wanted to buy this, and I probably will eventually, but this is just pissing me off. I know that people are willing to pay this for those games, especially the people with nostalgic feelings for these games, but for me this goes too far. This just really rubs me the wrong way, and feels like milking. I just got Firered secondhanded, and I paid the same price for that, including shipping! I'm sorry guys, this may just be me now, but I'm seriously mad.

@Calllack Yup that damn PP keeps me from bloody beating Stevan! I'll grind it out once I get my micro I got 2 40 mins bus journeys to and from school giving me plenty of time! Pretty sweet pricing in my opinion I'll keep my 2ds for yellow and physical games and red and blue on my new XL so I can trade and the xl is better for playing games on!

Are these compatible with Pokémon Bank? Or have I missed it being mentioned?

@Sockymon They don't have any online fuctionality. Just local WiFi for trading and fighting. No connectivity to older Pokémon games.

@Zombo

It's gimped because it lacks features that were present with the original games. You can't do the same things with the VC version that you could do with the original cartridges. I thought I explained that pretty well but perhaps not... The fact that the poster directly above you (RadioShadow) mentions Stadium completely contradicts your comment that "most people don't care about Stadium", which I wasn't aware that you could speak for anyone other than yourself anyway. There are a few other VC titles that suffer this problem but none so blatant as Pokemon RBY. If they had given the game some form of online connectivity I could see the reasoning for all the excitement, but as it stands you're only getting a basic version of the game that you can't do that much with compared the original. Yes, I know they made the link cable functionality work which is definitely impressive (even getting those to work on an emulator is a challenge), but you still can't do everything with it that you could do with the original cartridge. Had they have given it some functionality it didn't previously have (such as wifi battle and trading, which many people were disappointed to find out it would lack), then I'd be hyped too.

@KTT gives the best response and honestly, that's a fair enough explanation. Having RBY on a single format is pretty convenient. I (like many others) just hope this is enough to convince them to release Pokemon Stadium for the Wii U and give it the functionality that the original game had. If they did that, I'd be more than happy to download both as playing with the Transfer Pak can be spotty at best due to the frequency of which the damn thing disconnects from the controller pak.

Would like them all eventually but not all at once - they will join my ever growing eshop watch list 😄
Interesting reading all the price related comments. Not sure where I stand, seems a bit steep but it's Pokemon for heavens sake so ......

@Zombo "Also I fail to see how this is gimped when it still has every feature the originals promised." No colors on R/B is a major feature that I will miss in those VC releases. Also I'm pretty sure many of the other "features" the original English version had were cut.

@Xenocity #55 Not true, playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One is free if you already own the game on Xbox 360 (physical or digital) and is part of the backwards compatibility list. You can only really compare Microsoft's situation with playing Wii games on Wii U only there's less choice because Nintendo put the BC in before the console came out while Microsoft did it afterwards.

Hmm yeah I would of liked it cheaper but meh I'll get one anyway. Not sure what to go for though, I grew up playing yellow but I always liked some of the pokemon you could only get on the other versions. Does anyone know if they are planning on making it compatible to transfer pokemon to current gen games? That would be a nice bonus! But for me anyway being able to play the old pokemon games with the ability to trade and battle wirelessly (ON A BACKLIT SCREEN WOO)! Seems pretty good to me... Anyone remember those crappy game boy light things? They were a pain!

@Sockymon I don't think so

LMAO! That's almost the price of buying them used physically at a retro game store, and modding allows all GB/GBC games to be usable on the 3DS. Pass, pass, and pass.

@Serebii Yeah, except there are programs to emulate a link cable experience for any GB/GBC/GBA game online for free... not just for one game/set of games, either. There's no reason to charge a premium just for link cable functionality that doesn't even have any online features.

@BakaKnight @KTT Not too difficult to replace the bolted coin battery with either another bolted coin battery, or a regular battery with some flat wire and electrical tape, then apply solder with a soldering iron to the metal placement on the top right of the circuit board.

I would have bought one if it was £3.59 like most other game boy titles. I have a red cartridge and a GBC though, so no need.

@PlywoodStick Not too difficult bu troublesome nevertheless. Thankfully we can backup the saves whenever there is a corruption or battery dried out.

@FRANKLIN_BADGE

Hey, I just wanted to let you know that there's a hacked MAME build out there that lets you play the arcade version of Final Fight with the Sega CD music. I figured you'd appreciate it. It's the ultimate way to play Final Fight in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGnL2Kzz68Q

Anyone who thinks £9 is reasonable for 20+ year old game ports with numerous features omitted really needs to explore a bit more.

You know what currently costs that much? Skyrim - and that's when it isn't on sale, a concept lost on the Virtual Console as well.