Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow Version Variant Guide (Print Runs)

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One more thing, then I promise I’ll stop :stuck_out_tongue: There are actually two prints of Crystal, one y-fold, one double-ended. Here they are, side-by-side. Ten points to whoever can spot the other difference between them (hint: it’s in the box text):

crystal prints
crystal prints5469×1893 1.85 MB
it’s a bit tricky to see from that angle, you might need to look at the full size :blush: I did it at that angle to show the box bottoms. I’m not sure how the print history of these two works; the difference between them is something that’s wrong on the y-fold and right on the double-ended, so you’d think the double-ended came second, but the production date on the flap of my y-fold is some months *after* Crystal came out, so it’s not an early copy. Would need more data to figure it out, I haven’t systematically input Crystal into my db yet (and copies of it aren’t that common anyway).

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So here’s something interesting: I’ve been talking to the seller of a Blue third print (black-ESRB, Rattata) and got them to check the date code on the tab for me. It’s 000918 - 18th September 2000. That’s much later than my copy of the same print (which is 991020). That’s the latest production date I’ve seen for a Red or Blue. It’s also just before the release of Gold and Silver, so it looks like Nintendo again expected some additional demand for Blue (and I’m assuming also Red) when Gold/Silver came out.

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Left box: “…Gold & Silver Se{ies Pokémon cannot be traded…”
Right Box: “…Gold & Silver Series Pokémon cannot be traded…”

Subtle difference indeed!

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correct! here are your points :grin:

I think all y-fold copies have the typo and all double-ended don’t, but I need to go through the listings carefully to be sure.

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Hey folks! So I updated the first post of my thread over at VGS with a *lot* of concrete data covering all (well…maybe…) the box prints for Gens I-III, plus detailed population and box contents data for Gen I and FireRed/LeafGreen. Check it out if you’re interested:

www.videogamesage.com/topic/6629-pokemon-generations-i-to-iii-us-box-printvariant-guide-with-contents-and-population-survey/

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Is there. Way to differentiate the early & mid release Yellow cartridges? I see the codes are the same, both missing the “-1”

Is there different manuals? Or did those stay the same throughout all releases for Yellow?

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Hi there! I’m not sure what you mean by “early and mid release Yellow cartridges”. There are, AFAIK, only two distinguishable ‘types’ of cartridges for the NA release of Yellow, and they differ only in the ESRB logo on the cartridge label. There’s the white-ESRB label with print code DMG-APSE-USA, and the black-ESRB label with print code DMG-APSE-USA-1. There were no other revisions to the label, and there were never any changes to the actual game code for the NA release.

The white-ESRB-logo box print, DMG-APSE USA, always came with a white-ESRB cartridge, so far as I can tell. Both black-ESRB logo box prints, U/DMG-APSE USA-1 and DMG-APSE USA-1, always came with black-ESRB cartridges. My current thinking is that *earlier* copies of the no-ESRB logo box print, U/DMG-APSE USA, came with white-ESRB cartridges, and *later* copies of it came with black-ESRB cartridges - there’s no “correct” cartridge for that box, exactly.

I don’t think there’s any way you can tell a white-ESRB cart that came in a white-ESRB box from a white-ESRB cart that came in a no-ESRB box, or anything like that. We still don’t know exactly what the cartridge stamp codes indicate, but I don’t *think* there’s a clear relationship like “box X always had cartridges with stamp codes 00, 22, 34 and box Y always had cartridges with stamp codes 11 and 15”, or anything like that.

Hope that answered your question!

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As for manuals, yes, there are several. I’m aware of four manuals that exist for Yellow:

DMG-APSE-USA
U/DMG-APSE-USA-1
U/DMG-APSE-USA-2
DMG-APSE-USA-2

I have never seen a U/DMG-APSE-USA or a DMG-APSE-USA-1 in the wild. This is how I believe they correspond to the box prints:

Box #1 (white ESRB, DMG-APSE USA): DMG-APSE-USA
Box #2 (no ESRB, U/DMG-APSE USA): U/DMG-APSE-USA-1 (earlier), U/DMG-APSE-USA-2 (later)
Box #3 (black ESRB, double-ended, U/DMG-APSE USA-1): U/DMG-APSE-USA-2
Box #4 (black ESRB, y-fold, DMG-APSE USA-1): DMG-APSE-USA-2

These are the notes I have on the significant features of each manual:

DMG-APSE-USA: Printed in Japan (stated on back). White ESRB logo inside front cover. Steps 1-3 on Page 38, steps 4-6 on Page 39. Nintendo Power prices: $13 / C$17. Has Notes pages.
U/DMG-APSE-USA-1: Printed in U.S.A. (stated on back). Black ESRB logo inside front cover. Steps 1-2 and CAUTION on Page 38, steps 3-6 on Page 39. No Nintendo Power ad. No Notes pages.
U/DMG-APSE-USA-2: Printed in U.S.A. (stated on back). Black ESRB logo inside front cover. Steps 1-2 and CAUTION on Page 38, steps 3-6 on Page 39. Nintendo Power prices: $14.95 / C$17.95. Has Notes pages.
DMG-APSE-USA-2: Printed in Japan (stated on back). Black ESRB logo inside front cover. Steps 1-2 and CAUTION on Page 38, steps 3-6 on Page 39. Nintendo Power prices: $14.95 / C$17.95. Has Notes pages.

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So you believe the DMG-APSE USA-1 manual belongs in the box with no ESRB?

And the DMG-APSE USA manual belongs in the box with white ESRB?

I assumed the manual without the -1 would have been in the box with no ESRB

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Here’s an unboxing of a missing ESRB yellow, containing a black ESRB. It also has a Y seam, rather than an H seam. I’m not certain, but I’ve been told that seam’s are dependent on the factory they were manufactured in. Also, I haven’t dug deep into the manuals, but I would believe that the USA-1 manual is in the missing/black ESRB box, while the USA manual is exclusive to the white ESRB box.

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@jeffryyyy, no, I think you misunderstood my second block. The first code is the *box* print code. The *second* code(s) is/are the manual code(s). Let me print it again without the box codes, maybe it’ll be clearer to you that way.

Box #1 (white ESRB): manual DMG-APSE-USA
Box #2 (no ESRB): manual U/DMG-APSE-USA-1 (earlier) or U/DMG-APSE-USA-2 (later)
Box #3 (black ESRB, double-ended): manual U/DMG-APSE-USA-2
Box #4 (black ESRB, y-fold): manual DMG-APSE-USA-2

@kinggr U/DMG-APSE-USA-1 I think only ever came in earlier copies of the no-ESRB box. The thing is, that version of the manual has a big mistake: the Nintendo Power and notes pages in the back were left out. The -2 revision is the same as the -1 revision, but with those pages put back in. I think -2 is what they were actually aiming for all along - they wanted to change the ESRB logo from white to black and move things on page 38/39 around a bit, and in -1 they did that, but inadvertently left some pages out. -2 puts them back.

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@kinggr I’ve seen that video, though I don’t think it’s super great evidence because that seal doesn’t look super legit. Not just that it’s not an H seam, it looks really loose. The guy in the video is British, so it may have been a copy that was imported and resealed or something. The contents *are* one of the sets I’d expect to be in that box, as it happens, but I’ve got more confidence in the sheer weight of numbers than a single questionable ‘unsealing’ video :blush:

This is the raw data I have for contents of that box, from surveying eBay listings:

Print #2:

  1. 35/52 (21/28 CC) - U/DMG-APSE-USA-2
  2. 10/52 (6/28 CC) - U/DMG-APSE-USA-1
  3. 4/52 (1/28 CC) - DMG-APSE-USA
    That is, of 52 listings of that box that had a manual, 35 had U/DMG-APSE-USA-2. 10 had U/DMG-APSE-USA-1. 4 had DMG-APSE-USA, which I just don’t believe, I think those listings are Frankensteins (if you examine those actual listings, they aren’t very “plausible” in other ways either). (Three copies had something else - one Blue manual, one European manual, and a DMG-APSE-USA-2).

For packins, I have this:

  1. 35/65 (27/29 CC) - U/DMG-USA-7 (Consumer Information And Precautions Booklet (-7 rev, presumed printed in USA))
  2. 26/65 (19/29 CC) - U/DMG-APSE-USA (U/ prefix: FREE PLAYER’S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE (Yellow version) / Pokemon Times (“Vol. 2” Yellow version), advertises Nintendo Power and the Player’s Guide.)
  3. 12/65 (10/29 CC) - CGB-S-UCPS-USA (Pokemon Stadium March 2000 A New Millennium. A New Way To Battle. (No J/ prefix, print location believed USA))
  4. 11/65 (8/29 CC) - U/DMG-APAE-USA (FREE PLAYER’S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE (Red/Blue version) / Pokemon Times (Red/Blue version), advertises Nintendo Power and the Player’s Guide.)

So I tend to believe those boxes definitely came with U/DMG-USA-7 health/safety, *some* of them at least came with that Pokemon Stadium ad, and early copies had the Red/Blue player’s guide offer (because they didn’t have the Yellow ones printed yet?) and later copies had the correct Yellow player’s guide offer, with U/ code (there is also a version of the player’s guide offer with no U/ prefix, which comes in the y-fold boxes).

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Thanks for all you input.

I find it weird the manual with -1 is in the box with no ESRB

I thought the no ESRB box came out first, so the manual without the -1 would have been in that one.

Am I wrong when I assume No ESRB was the first print?

I think I’m just getting confused cus this this post you have white ESRB as “Box 1”

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No-one outside of Nintendo/TPC, AFAIK, knows *for sure* which box came first, but my belief is that the white-ESRB boxes were printed earliest, which is why I have it #1. There’s a very long post on the previous page explaining my reasoning for this.

Part of the reasoning is exactly the manual thing, yes. The manuals aren’t just my guess, it’s based on research. I have cataloged every listing of Red, Blue or Yellow for sale on eBay since last November, more or less, and the correlations are very strong, as I showed above. Only 4 out of 52 copies of the no-ESRB box that came with manuals had the DMG-APSE-USA manual, and I think those were all later put-together jobs, I don’t think they really came that way. If you want to check for yourself, those four listings are:

  1. www.ebay.com/itm/324259932098?nordt=true&rt=nc
  2. www.ebay.com/itm/164777795915?nordt=true&rt=nc
  3. www.ebay.com/itm/393222499184?nordt=true&rt=nc
  4. www.ebay.com/itm/402771296460?nordt=true&rt=nc

Of those, only the first really reads like it’s claiming that exactly these contents actually came in exactly this box, the others don’t really claim that. The fourth is from a store with a ton of listings, some of which are authentically CIB but some of which definitely aren’t, and besides, it includes the Player’s Guide offer from Gold/Silver, which *definitely* ain’t right. :grin:

On the other hand, 45 of 52 listings for that box had manual U/DMG-APSE-USA-1 or U/DMG-APSE-USA-2. So that correlation is pretty strong.

As for the white-ESRB box, out of 50 listings of that box with a manual, 45 have manual DMG-APSE-USA. So again that’s a very strong correlation. Two had U/DMG-APSE-USA-2 which doesn’t seem plausible to me based on timeframes, one had a Blue manual, and two had only the Canadian French-translated manual DMG-APSE-CAN (they would originally have also had the English manual, I’m fairly sure, and someone just lost it).

So I am pretty sure the white-ESRB boxes came with the no-rev DMG-APSE-USA manual, and the no-ESRB boxes came with U/DMG-APSE-USA-1 (earlier produced ones) or U/DMG-APSE-USA-2 (later produced ones). And that is indeed one factor in why I think the white-ESRB boxes were printed first.

My current best guess is that both white-ESRB boxes and some or all of the no-ESRB boxes were produced before release day, and both types were on store shelves on release day, but I think the no-ESRB ones were printed *very close to release*, in something of a panic (again, see longer post on previous page for reasoning). The white-ESRB ones we actually know quite precisely when they were printed, because they have date codes; so far I know some were printed on July 29th 1999, some on August 17th 1999, and some on September 14th 1999.

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Does anyone know how long the Blue misprint was produced? Also, is it pretty unusual to come across a sealed one? Thanks!

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It was probably only produced for a day or two, but there were still quite a lot of copies produced in that time. The way Nintendo did things, I’m pretty sure by now, is they always did a large print run of the games before release. Like, really large - a million copies or more.

What we think happened with the error print is that the first X copies of this large pre-release print had the error, then at some point during the process of printing those boxes, someone noticed it, so they fixed it up on the fly. This would all be happening within whatever relatively short time it took them to print however many millions of boxes they’d decided to print.

Right now my population survey has the error print at 11.15% of all identifiable box listings of Blue (33 of 296 listings surveyed). According to Wikipedia lifetime sales of Red and Blue combined in the US were 9.85m, so if we give Blue 4m of those (everyone loves Charizard…), you’re looking at about 440,000 copies of the misprint having existed, probably. Very ballpark figure, but should be around that.

I’ve come across three separate sealed copies so far, since I started poking into this stuff back around January. So it is relatively uncommon but probably not stunningly rare. Sealed listings of Red and Blue especially definitely do skew towards later prints in general; it makes sense that more later prints than earlier prints might’ve remained unsold or as dead stock.

Some folks at least have known about the misprint for at least seven years, so there’s certainly been the opportunity for someone to quietly stockpile a few copies if they wanted to play the long game.

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Hi guys, I don’t know if this has been mentioned before. But it seems that there are two variations of the double-ended prints for Blue and Red. One has a flap for the cartridge pocket, and the other does not.

I noticed that a lot of the listings on eBay with the flapless double-ended prints for Red came with DMG-USA-7 Consumer Safety guides. One even came with a manual DMG-APAE-USA 1 Manual but that may have been a Frankenstein? (My guess is no for reasons I’ll explain rn).

I also noticed that a lot of the listings for Blue and Red with flap covers came with DMG-USA-6 consumer safety guides as well as unnumbered manuals. So I believe that that the flapless double-ended prints are actually mid prints, maybe even slightly later? Maybe they were forced to print in the US for some reason for a short time, I’m not sure.

This would also validate Adam’s theory that the no-ESRB Yellow Versions are actually mid prints. Because NONE of the ones that I saw had a flap for the cartridge compartment. They were all open pockets.

I noticed this today when I saw my Red doubled ended box that came in had no flap while my Blue that I got recently did. As far as rarity goes, it seems like I run more into flapless double-ended boxes than ones with the flap.

Sorry I couldn’t post pictures, I’m new to this forum and it doesn’t seem like I can upload images via mobile.

Hopefully this hasn’t been said before so I don’t sound like a fool haha.

Edit: Now thinking about this further, idk if this necessarily makes flapless a mid print. Because the flapless double ended prints still have sandshrew and meowth. So maybe it is right before the mid prints? But being that boxes printed in the US likely have their own layout that is difficult to edit or change, they probably just kept the same sandshrew and meowth layout while printing them on slightly different boxes with the flapless pockets.

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That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought of looking at the flaps.

I do actually also tend to believe there was a later run of the first print boxes, yeah. This is because they quite often show up with a U/DMG-APAE-USA-1 or U/DMG-APEE-USA-1 manual, and a -1 (black ESRB) cartridge. It happens often enough that I’m finding it tough to believe they’re all frankensteins, and even if they were, there’s the question of where *else* those manuals could possibly have come from? They are printed in the US; they should go in a printed-in-the-US box, i.e. a double-ended one. And there’s only one of those.

So yeah, my best guess is that this was all part of this big crazy late-1999 rush around the release of Yellow that I’ve been positing. They also wanted more copies of Red and Blue (we know this because the white-ESRB/Rattata/y-fold copies have date stamps in July-August 1999, and early copies of the black-ESRB boxes have date stamps around October or so). So it seems plausible to me that they basically sent out an order to just print copies of Pokemon, everywhere. Japan was printing all three games. Why not the US too? So I’m guessing that as well as printing the no-ESRB double-ended Yellow, they also printed some extra copies of the double-ended Red and Blue boxes in the US, and shipped them with revised manuals and cartridges.

Now, why they revised the manual but didn’t change the box design, I really don’t know. But hey, we don’t know how the ESRB logo got left off the Yellow box entirely, either :stuck_out_tongue:

There are definitely copies of double-ended Red and Blue with both U/DMG-USA-6 and U/DMG-USA-7. I think that switch actually happened during the true first print run, because you do see quite a few copies with white cart, no-rev manual, but U/DMG-USA-7. I’d guess they just used up their supplies of -6 during the print run and switched to -7 when it ran out. All the double-ended boxes I’ve seen with -1 manual/black cart also had -7, of course.

Of course, one possible confounding factor with the flap is, it can get torn. It’s even perforated - I think this is to make it fold sharply, but of course it could also mean it could get torn off.

Oh, another thing - quite often the insert got glued in upside down, it seems like. You have to check both ends. :grin:

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Of course, this means that if you have a sealed double-ended Red or Blue “blue text” box, you don’t really know if it’s a True First Production™ from mid-1998, or some garbage Later Production from 1999 that you may as well use to line the cat’s litter tray…:grin:

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So one of the Red’s up for auction right now seems to have that situation where it was a flapped box but it appears it was torn. I had the seller take some pics and this is what he sent.

1284×961 74.7 KB

I can tell it is actually torn because of the slant in the edge of the housing. The flapless boxes have a straight edge, where the ones with flaps have a downward slanted edge.

1536×2048 244 KB

1536×2048 259 KB

Of course if we ever see a yellow no-ESRB with a flap then it’ll kind of throw everything out of the water but as it stands now, they all seem to be flapless with the straight edges.

I am actually a little sad because I bought the Red box thinking it was an early print but now it’s looking like that isn’t the case :slightly_frowning_face:. And omg that is sooo true about the sealed copies. That totally makes buying double-ended boxes sealed a gamble. I wonder if there is weight differences actually… I weighed both of them with nothing inside and they came out to 24 grams each. So sadly not enough difference to where you can comfortably guess what one box might be.

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