Pocket Monsters Red & Green: Variant Updates

Have you missed me? Well, good news: variant updates on the first Pocket Monsters games have arrived!

Since before the first variant guide published to this website, I have stayed in conversations with The Mikaifu Collection on Instagram to get as much concrete information as possible. After all, now that these games sell for tens of thousands of dollars, we better get this right!

Overview

Given light on recent sources, it can be considered more accurate to consider the variants for Red and Green "pre-production" and "launch production," with variants after retaining the usual mid-production and late-production monikers.

Pre-Order Production (LUPC)

The LUPC (large UPC) batch consisted of 100,000 Green and 130,000 Red copies (sources: gamegyokai, mobile-gb, and itmedia. These included survey inserts and were equipped with 00/22 cartridges. No sources exist to indicate continued production of LUPC versions beyond this pre-order batch, which explains the relative scarcity of these very early copies.

Launch Production (SUPC)

Following LUPC, the launch production (SUPC, or small UPC) began, marked by smaller UPC codes. These copies were also shipped with the survey inserts and 00/22 cartridge codes, indicating their close production timeline to the LUPC versions. Notably, by late March 1996, nearly 200,000 copies of Aka and Midori had been sold, suggesting a swift transition to SUPC production to meet ongoing demand.

Thanks for reading! Also check out the early production guide which will soon be updated to reflect this new terminology.