
It's not often that Virtual Console releases of 20-year-old games have their own hardware bundles and weeks of hype, yet that's the case with Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow ahead of their 27th February arrival on the 3DS eShop. Such is the power of the brand that a nostalgia-tinged release date, combined with a first official download release, are seeing the gen-one trailblazers hogging a lot of attention.
With the upcoming releases supporting trading via local Wi-Fi - replacing link cables - and also including a Mew code, dedicated fans will no doubt be flooding onto Nintendo's servers come release day. We suspect February's going to see plenty of marketing for the titles and brand as a whole, too, best summed up by The Pokémon Company splashing the cash on a Super Bowl ad slot.
As a relatively pleasing but low key start to festivities, then, we have a five minute video from Nintendo's Japanese YouTube channel. It includes plenty of clips from the upcoming downloads for you to enjoy - check it out below.
Comments 37
it's just a fad.... (i bet those people feel really dumb about now XD)
I'm just gutted we're not getting a green 2DS.
Is the Mew code the current gen code being distributed (in the UK at least) by GAME or a code a gen 1 Mew?
@PotatoTheGreat yeah your alone i think, i know many wanted pokemon titles to be re re-release on vc even in wii days tbh. i'm looking forwards to replaying them. after all these are now classic's, new players will learn when people say the pokemon games never changed... oh how wrong they are.
Is Pokemon Yellow going to be in colour here?
@G0dlike Current gen code for X, Y, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire.
Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the pixel-to-pixel resolution with the GameBoy border and the puke-green screen setup. It feels just like the good old days, but just a little more backlit. It's just too bad I have to remember to hold START+SELECT when launching the game--seriously, Nintendo, you couldn't just make a settings menu for these things?
1,111 yen? So it's probably gonna be 10 dollars/euros in the west? That's more than twice as much as other GB games...
I'm certainly showing my age when I say I'd much rather be playing this than X or Y. At least I can catch them all in this game! ....providing they've made Mew catchable in this version. (He'd better be under the truck this time)
I just went onto the store page for the games on the Japan Nintendo website. I translated the page and I cannot believe what they get as a special edition.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendo.co.jp%2Ftitles%2F50010000038658
This is the text at the bottom of the page:
"Only download card, a dedicated download card special edition on sale now!
Listed numbers can download the software, and launched a dedicated download card!
Also, to reproduce the time of the package that was released in the Game Boy, in addition to the dedicated download card, came with a cartridge type magnet manual wind seal Town map as a benefit "special edition" is also on sale!
Such as details about handling stores and a special edition of the reservation store, please check here".
They get a fridge magnet replica of the original Game Boy Cart! And a special edition poster! I REALLY hope that weget this over in Europe but I doubt it
1500¥ = around £8.50.
I don't think that's a good price for it. I can buy the Gameboy cartridge's for less. If it was £5 then yeah, I'd buy blue and yellow. But not nearly £10 for a game.
@RainbowGazelle I doubt it. Unless Yellow uses thw Gameboy Color emulator instead of the gameboy emulator.
@kenrulei As someone who only started playing Pokemon when Crystal was released, I find Gen 1 to be nearly unplayable. But I'm happy for the people who are anticipating this. My comment was poorly worded (Which is why I deleted it), but I just wanted to say that this isn't my cup of tea. If they re-released Emerald, however... I'd buy that instantly, mostly due to nostalgia .
I don't want to play it monochrome I want the Gameboy Color palette.
I played all Pokemon games in the GameBoy Color palettes and I don't understand why there is not the option, here. With the GameBoy Advance we got the widescreen option, additionally. And now we have two widescreen color displays and just get a black/white game???
Seriously, nobody played these games in black and white. Either it was black and green or in GBC color palettes. There is absolutely no reason to restrict the game to these monochrome "colors".
Once again, Nintendo won't even do what even the most basic of emulators are capable of doing. Ultimately, I do prefer Nintendo's own emulation as they are perfect, performance-wise, and there are no annoying fluctuations in frame rate, but no colour? Not even as an alternate option?
I didn't mind so much for previous GB VC releases, but for such a heavily publicised release such as this, it's simply embarrassing.
@AlexOlney : I'm probably crazy for being gutted that I can't buy what is essentially the same game FOUR times. I would have loved for Green version to have finally been localised, warts and all, with all of those gloriously ugly sprites. sniff
@sillygostly Clearly it's the console I'm interested in, hence why I said 'green 2DS'.
I cant wait to play it again after all these years, I bet it hasn't aged well though but who cares

Fitness Pikachu!
In the announcement video there appears to be color for Yellow version at about 00:23 so maybe there's an option for it but all the gameplay I've seen is monochrome.
http://youtu.be/8DNf66hfywM
I'll be getting Blue and using the ditto glitch to get all the unavailable pokemon. I'll finally complete the pokedex in that game ! I might get Yellow next year if I feel like doing another nostalgia trip.
@WillTheLion In Japan, Yellow wasn't a GameBoy Color game. In the west, it was. So, in the west it's in Color but in Japan it is not.
It would be really great to be able to transfer Pokemon from these games to the newer 3DS ones some way.
@Moon Mew is not catchable.
Gen I is the best gen
Currently playing Yellow on the Game Boy Pocket.
Only thing better would be playing it on a Game Boy Light.
Looks good for those who want the games. Me, I would have much preferred a Kanto game made for the 3DS. At the very least, Game Freak, can we get a confirmation or firm denial on the existence of Pokemon Z sometime this year? I'd love to use the new Megas in ORAS in Kalos, and play with new Megas.
Gen 1 is the only way to go. Can't wait.
@Sanicranfast Yellow will have color because the western versions essentially programmed it to use the Super Game Boy palette. (It's not full color like Gen 2 is, but it's not black and white either.)
@Sanicranfast Japanese version of Yellow doesn't have color enhancements, the other versions do. It's the same emulator, it has GB/GBC/NES/GBA support; it's known since ROM swapping became possible. It's technically known since Kirby's Dream Collection, there's a reference file that mentions all platforms and specific settings now used in 3DS VC.
@James_mussell98 They're obviously taking advantage of the hype. I'd rather get Undertale for that money :/
@AlienX That sounds like the most intelligible answer I've heard so far on this subject. I guess that means that I would be most interested in the Yellow Version of the game.
Course that was already true for the ease of getting all the starters and to have Pikachu follow me around.
So that means that this video demonstrating Yellow Version in color supposedly on the Virtual Console might be actual footage and not just some random stuff recorded via another emulator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAGr5ZZvPoI
@Lizuka Almost three times the original price is not just "a bit more" in my opinion. Also, they integrated a wireless feature to other games as well (Contra comes to mind, but I'm sure there were others as well), for no extra cost.
@Lizuka Oh, you said "quite a bit". Sorry. Anyway, I still feel they are way too expensive.
This is just for nostalgia.
Gen I is terrible (the game mechanics and whatnot)
Not to mention, another lazy port. Why cant they implement the Super GameBoy features? IIRC each town switched to a palette corresponding to its name, which was nice.
@Interneto
Mew is catchable via a glitch.
@Moon Unless the patched it out (which frankly, I doubt), there is a glitch to get Mew on the Nugget Bridge north of Cerulean City. It's a bit lengthy of a process but it works like a charm if done right. And all you need to pull it off is an Abra!
@Chandlero I played them in "black and white" and I'm not nobody. My GameBoy Pocket, a thing which existed, did not output in green and black.
@TheLobster: Yes, I agree. But even the GameBoy pocket had a slightly green background which is mimicked by the VC version in some sense. I still find it strange that there is no color option.
@PigmaskFan Again, Mew is no catchable in the way the user mentioned it. There is no intentional addition in this vc games.
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