and , released in japan as pokémon red and , are two role-playing games. they were made by game freak and published by nintendo, and are the first two video games in the pokémon series. they were first released for the game boy in japan in 1996. they were later released to the rest of the world in 1998 (north america) and 1999 (europe and australia). "pokémon yellow", a special version, was released one year later in each region. these three games ("pokémon red", "blue", and "yellow") and "pokémon stadium" make up the first generation of "pokémon" video game series. "pokémon red" and "blue" have later been remade for the game boy advance as "pokémon firered" and "leafgreen", released in 2004.