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

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I mean, I was kinda joking about the game boxes. I find working all this stuff out really interesting but then at the same time I’m not sure I’d *really* care so much for myself if my double-ended boxes are from 1998 or 1999 :stuck_out_tongue:

It just makes the sealed market funny because you can’t figure this stuff out. It’s the same for Yellow - if you really want “first production” Yellow, you’d want a white-ESRB box with a 990729 date code on the tab (not 990817 or 990914). But if it’s sealed you can’t tell!

Of course, this probably just means WATA will spend a billion dollars on an electron microscope or something so they can read the date stamp without breaking the seal…:grin:

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BTW, all of my “Red text” Blue boxes either have the flap or look like they had it at some point and it got torn. None of my double-ended Yellow boxes (no ESRB or black ESRB) look like they ever had one; the designs do seem a bit different now I’m looking out for it. So that seems to support your theory. I’ll have to go back over the listings of double-ended boxes with -1 manuals and black carts and see how many of them show clear pics of the inside of the box.

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does anyone have any info on what the blue versions that have a red strip running down it are??https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254883348106?hash=item3b583b3e8a:g:Z3YAAOSwTSlgO3Ih

are they more sought after/ rarer? are they 1st print? as far as i can tell they are UK printed but have no idea wether or not they are 1st print an so on, also not sure how to price these in comparison to other blue variants

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Sorry, I don’t know a lot about the UK prints. The red strip is a tear strip on the seal; I *think* the “feature” of a red strip is more as an indicator of the seal’s authenticity than any kind of precedence, but I’m not 100% sure.

There definitely are multiple prints of the UK boxes, I did look at them enough to establish that at some point, but I haven’t sat down and cataloged them yet.

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@weeabruh , so I’ve been looking back over my listing DB and by George, I think you’re right. I checked every listing I have of Red “first print” with a U/-1 manual, and of the ones where the insert style is visible, none seem to be the flap style. It can be a little tricky to be sure as the reverse end of both styles looks fairly similar, and we know that sometimes they got glued in the wrong way round so you can’t be sure the top of the box is really the ‘top end’ of the insert, but most of the listings show the cartridge inside the box, and you can’t do that from the reverse end (it’s too short) so I’m pretty sure those ones really are no-flap.

I have a lot more listings with non-rev manuals and I’m still going through those, but so far all of the ones where the insert is visible seem to be the flap style. So it’s tracking very well together so far.
BTW, here are pictures for reference. Here’s flap style (this is a Blue “Red text” box, so we know for sure it’s early):

Image of flap style box
Image of flap style box3264×1521 832 KB

Here’s no-flap style (this is a Yellow double-ended black-ESRB box, so we know it’s later):
Image of no-flap style box
Image of no-flap style box3264×1338 421 KB

The reverse end of both looks similar to the top of the no-flap style, but the piece of cardboard is shorter. The way this works overall is that the bends in the top and bottom pieces of cardboard are offset from each other, so there’s a sort of pocket created; the cartridge sits in the space created at the top end, and sits on top of the fold in the bottom piece. On the flap style, the ‘top’ end cardboard piece is the longest of all, and the ‘bottom’ end piece is very short; the cartridge sits quite deep inside the box, and the flap sort of pushes shut on top of it, such that the top of the flap (the bit you can pull or push on) winds up even with the top of the box. On the no-flap style, the ‘top’ end piece is shorter than on the flap style, and the bottom end piece is longer (but still not as long as the top piece); the cartridge sits a bit higher in the box, such that the top side of the cartridge is almost even with the top of the box.
As I mentioned, sometimes the inserts got glued in the wrong way round, so the short piece is at the top of the box and the long piece is at the bottom. If you get one of these boxes you have to put the cartridge in and take it out from the bottom. My Red is like this.

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Final count: of five Red Sandshrew listings with a U/-1 manual where the insert style is visible, all five look to be the flat style. Of 18 Red Sandshrew listings with U/ non-rev manual where the insert style is visible, 17 are definitely the flap style; one looks like it may be the flat style, but the listing is missing the consumer safety and player’s guide offer inserts, so could be a newer box Frankensteined with older cart and manual. 17/18 and 5/5 seem…pretty strong!

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That’s pretty incredible. I genuinely wonder how the prices will get once all your research becomes more well-known. It amazes me this hasn’t really been explored further much sooner. Right now I just want to collect as much variants as possible before it potentially spreads haha xD.

Yellow variants are definitely the most intriguing. I ran into a guy at a local swap meet selling a black-ESRB double-ended Yellow CIB for $450 (probably $400 with a little haggling). Seemed high at the time but now knowing it’s a little harder to find, im not sure if that’s an unfair price. It was in very good condition with a minor dent on the top left corner and I believe came with all the inserts. Do you think it would merit such a price?

I also wanted to ask where you place the flat-topped / no-flap variants on the timeline?

I’m also getting really sucked into all this variant stuff and am now seeking out DMG-APEE-USA Player Offer Guides because I rarely see them xD. The normal ones (APAE) seem to be going for around $50. Wonder where it places the newer variants at, although I doubt we’ll run into one loose any time soon likely.

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There are three versions of the Red/Blue player’s guide offer, actually: U/DMG-APAE-USA, DMG-APAE-USA, and DMG-APEE-USA. The first came in all Sandshrew boxes (both Red and Blue, even though APAE is Red’s code), so is pretty common (but still isn’t sold on its own very often). The other two only came in later Red and Blue (respectively) black-ESRB boxes so are quite uncommon; I didn’t even know they existed till a couple of weeks back. *Earlier* Red and Blue black-ESRB boxes come with a generic Nintendo Power ad, but they seem to have started reprinting the game-specific offer in Japan from maybe 2000 or so onwards, with game-specific print codes. I don’t have either yet - I’ve only seen them in very clean CIB copies which sold for crazy prices, so far, and I already have black ESRB boxes for both games so paying nearly four figures just to get a player’s guide offer seems excessive :grin:

It’s really hard to price non-first-print variants because it *is* a pain to find some of them (especially in good condition), but a lot of collectors probably don’t care. I have certainly paid over the odds for a few just to get them and not have to keep looking for them, heh. If everyone in the market wanted every variant, logically speaking, the price for something like Yellow #3 (the double-ended black ESRB variant) would be quite high, because it’s quite uncommon. But when a lot of people in the market just want “a copy of Yellow” (or, if they care about variants at all, want a “first print”) it’s harder to put a number on it.

The market price for a nice condition copy of Yellow right now is $400+, so if it really is in nice shape, that’s not a bad deal regardless. I’d probably go for it. I got two copies of that print - both from Italy, weirdly enough - one in pretty rough shape, one in pretty decent shape. I paid about $260 for each, which I figure is a good deal for the one in decent shape. That was a BIN price. The last one that sold in good shape - eBay item #324555644497 - sold for $520. The last one that sold at all was in pretty rough shape and missing all packins, and it sold for $350 - that’s #324577940727 . So yeah, I’d probably go with that $400 one if you want to be sure of getting it.

BTW, the most interesting games for variants in my opinion are actually FireRed and LeafGreen. There are six prints of each, of which three are quite tricky to find and one barely exists. I also recently figured out a way to figure out almost exactly how many copies of each print exist for each game. It’s a lot of fun for the variant nerd. :grin:

For the two runs of Sandshrew we’re theorizing: the first run (with the flap/tab-style insert) was clearly the release print, so I’m figuring it was done around mid-1998. The second run (with the flat insert) I’m guessing happened around fall 1999, in this big rush of production I’ve been theorizing Nintendo had to do because demand was super high. I don’t think it can possibly have happened earlier than mid-1999, because remember we believe it had manuals and carts with black ESRB logos, and those logos were not printed on *anything* before mid-1999.

I actually believe they basically had the US and Japan churning out copies of all three games at that time; I think that between July and December 1999, *all of* the following prints happened:

US

* Second run of Red and Blue Sandshrew
* All no-ESRB Yellow
* At least some of the double-ended black-ESRB Yellow

Japan

* All white-ESRB Yellow
* All white-ESRB / Rattata Red and Blue
* Some black-ESRB y-fold Yellow, Red and Blue

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I Think you might have been missing one Yellow variant, there is one with black E, flat bottom that can be opened, and a built in game holder inside for the game itself. look at the attached pics.

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Edit: new pics where you can see is a 100% recycled version (first ones)

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We have that one? That’s the one I call #3 - black ESRB, double-ended. #4 is black ESRB, y-fold. “Double-ended” is that style of box, “y-fold” is the other type.
edit: if you mean the OP in this thread is missing it, yes, it is, it’s missing a few things and hasn’t been updated yet :blush: Please refer to my guide at www.videogamesage.com/topic/6629-pokemon-generations-i-to-iii-us-box-printvariant-guide-with-contents-and-population-survey/ .

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@adamw, yes I meant the OP of this post, but still thank you for sharing your post it will be of great help. I’m about to buy the one in the pictures I posted later today, and that’s why I was doing some quick research to find out if it was indeed original as you state in your post Yellow is tricky because there are so many different variations, but it seems this one I’m going to buy is indeed original.

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Yup that looks legit to me. Be aware it’s missing some packins, though, if you care about that. It’s definitely missing the game-specific player’s guide offer - the sheet with “FREE PLAYER’S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE” and a picture of Pikachu on the side usually shown, print code U/DMG-APSE-USA (not DMG-APSE-USA) is correct for this box - and I believe it should also have had a “POKEMON STADIUM MARCH 2000” ad coded CGB-S-UCPS-USA (not J/CGB-S-UCPS-USA for this box).

If that doesn’t bother you, it’s fine :grin:

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@adamw, yes is kinda sad that is not complete, but I think I’ll be able to get them loose over time. or maybe with other copy in the future, right now I dont own a Yellow copy so this seems like a good start. Thank you very much!

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I had to pay $40 for a loose player’s guide offer for one of my boxes, and I’ve never yet seen the Stadium ad sold on its own :slightly_frowning_face:

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I always like to have them CIB…but when is a good offer i just grab it. Hopefully I can get the missing insert later.

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hey @adamw would you say $125 is a fair price for the pictures I posted above?

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yeah, that seems pretty reasonable in current market to me.

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@adamw, thank you you have been really, really, helpful! today I’ll get the game, kinda excited to add it to the collection.

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Quite a bit of information to add haha, my apologies for the delays :sweat: thanks all for sharing your findings :blush:

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@weeabruh, here’s an interesting insert case:

www.ebay.com/itm/203437869251

white-ESRB cart, non-rev manual, looks like the newer insert style (I don’t think it’s upside-down because of where the vertical part is). It does have a U/DMG-USA-7 (not -6) consumer safety.

So…one thing this could possibly mean is they did *even more* batches of Red at least? An intermediate batch, with the newer insert style, but before the update to the carts and manuals?

Or it could mean the theory is wrong, of course. Still, the thing that’d really blow the theory away is finding a tab/flap on a definitely-later box, and I still haven’t seen that yet.