Pocket Monsters Red & Green Variant Guide

Greetings friends! This post is a researched guide on what I currently think are the various components & print combinations of Pocket Monsters Red & Green. As time goes on, I will update it as new information is presented & discussed in the collecting community.

I hope you find it useful!

NOTE: This post is supplemental to the database. To see a list of first generation Pocket Monsters print variants as they exist on A Few Games, view them here. A full list of sources can be found at the end of this post.

Box Variants

• First/early prints have large UPC
• Later prints (mid-1996 onward) have smaller UPC

Cartridge Variants

Cartridges can be dated with a combination of label code, chip codes, and the PCB date module.

Label Codes

Label codes have a two or three digit production code on bottom right corner. [source]

	Earliest Known	Early	Mid/Late
Red	22	00, 20	XXA
Green	00	20	XXA

A letter suffix in the code (e.g., A) indicates a software patch revision. There is a mysterious 1M code reported to exist. Unconconfirmed, but this may have been a very late production run of the game.

PCB Codes

PCBs use gold blocks to indicate dates.

	Earliest Known	Pre-Launch
Red	Nov. 1995	Jan. 1996
Green	Nov. 1995	Jan. 1996

The PCB dates use the below block format, from top right (January) to bottom left (December). The production date is the last un-punched dot.

Chip Codes

Chip codes use a different date format.

• Newest code across components is nearest time of production (regardless of Mask ROM date)

  • Parts include CIC, SRAM, battery, and Mask ROM

• YY = Year, e.g. 96 (1996)

• WW = Week, e.g. 06 (mid-February)

Manual Variants

• JPN (1996-1999) used until 1999-2000

  • Codes: DMG-APAJ/APBJ-JPN / G972706

• JPN-1 removes G code and changes customer support number

  • Code: DMG-APAJ/APBJ-JPN-1

Inner pages seem to only show the last page as changing. It has a date code for each year it was printed/revised.

Known codes (YYMMDD format):

• No code
• 970530
• 980218
• 990630
• 001122

Although unconfirmed, there are likely multiple date codes used during a given year.

JPN-1 marks the final design used for the manual in 2000.

Inserts

A useful foreword on inserts: Typically, the Red model code (APAJ) is used for both version's game-specific inserts. This includes the map and some ads.

Map

• One-sided, fold-out
• All copies have the same code for both Green and Red
• Codes: DMG-APAJ-JPN / G505910

Postcard

• Two-sided
• Postcard included only for launch copies
• Codes: DMG-APAJ-JPN / G505928

Link Cable Guide

• One-sided
• Included during 1996 print runs
• Survey data indicates inclusion stopped sometime after 1997
• Codes: T-DMG-04A-JPN / G502768

Anti-Tampering Notice

• One-sided
• Included for mid-production copies starting in 1996
• Code: G508989

Cleaning Guide

• One-sided
• Included late-production copies (1999+)
• Coinciding with Pocket Monsters Kin & Gin (Gold and Silver) release
• Code: DMG-JPN

Ads

Super Game Boy

• Accordion fold-out
• All early copies of Red & Green (Pre-GB Pocket) included this ad
• Code: T-DMG-APAJ-JPN

Game Boy Pocket (early)

• Accordion fold-out
• Included for mid-production copies (1996-1997)
• Code: T-DMG-MGB001-JPN-1

Game Boy Pocket (later)

• Accordion fold-out
• Included for mid-production copies (1997-1998)
• Code: T-DMG-MGB001-JPN-3

Game Boy Camera

• Accordion fold-out
• Included for mid-production copies in 1998
• Code: T-DMG-MGB006-JPN

Game Boy Color

• Accordion fold-out
• Included for mid- and late-production copies (1998+)
• Code: T-DMG-CGB001-JPN-2

Correlated Parts

Part combinations apply uniformly between Red and Green. There may still be missing combinations. This is a "best guess" given date codes and approximate time-frame of when the inserts were used, and is based on a large survey of listings on Yahoo! Japan Auctions, Mercari, and eBay.

Box	Cartridge	Manual	Inserts/Ads
Large UPC*	Label codes: 00 (Green) / 22 (Red); Date codes: 9604 - 9606	No code	Map, Postcard, Link Cable Guide, Super Game Boy Ad
Small UPC	Label codes: 00, 20 (Green) / 20 (Red); Date codes: 96XX**	No code	Same as large UPC; no postcard
Small UPC	Label codes: XXA; Date codes: 96XX - 97XX	No code	Map, Anti-Tampering Notice, Game Boy Camera ad, Game Boy Pocket Ad (JPN-1)
Small UPC	Label codes: XXA; Date codes: 97XX - 98XX	97xxxx	Map, Anti-Tampering Notice, Game Boy Camera Ad, Game Boy Pocket Ad (3 code)
Small UPC	Label codes: XXA; Date codes: 98XX - 99XX	98xxxx - 99xxxx	Map, Anti-Tampering Notice, Game Boy Camera Ad, Game Boy Color Ad
Small UPC	Label codes: XXA - XXM; Date codes: 99XX+	JPN-1 (00xxxx)	Map, Cart Cleaning Guide, Game Boy Camera Ad, Game Boy Color ad

*There is some anecdotal evidence at launch for small UPCs made in parallel, however large UPCs are guaranteed for first production.

**X designation is a placeholder for digits. E.g., XXA could be 00A.

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Huge thanks to Mikaifu Collection on Instagram and Thaane in SACK (Sealed and Collectibles Knowledge) Discord server.