Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version were the first Pokémon games to be released outside of Japan, becoming available in North America on September 28, 1998,[1] in Australia and New Zealand on October 23, 1998 and in Europe on October 5, 1999.[2][3] In North America, the pair closely followed the debut of the anime's English dub, which began airing on September 8, 1998,[4] and within a year, Pokémon was well known as a popular Nintendo franchise.
