Pokemon generations I to III US box print/variant guide, with contents and population survey

[AdamW | 713]

aha, that is interesting. So only the double-ended boxes have those glued-in inserts, AFAIK, y-fold boxes always seem to come with a removable one. Which people frequently lose or break or replace and don't tell you about it, so it gets tricky. And of course, for a sealed copy you can't tell what insert it has.

The inserts in my Blue true-first (error text) and second (corrected text) do seem to be different indeed. I'm not much of an expert on the styles of those glued-in inserts, so I can't really say which one is what type - is there a reference somewhere? Thanks!

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Geez nice catch on the Pokemon Yellow...and the fact you somehow blew right over that given I'm guessing hours of nitpicking the hell out of all 3 versions of that game and their variant changes.  It does definitely line up that's for certain, not hard to find even on a cheap ebay search of paid goods for new or even just complete copies where the back is shown off.

[chuppy44 | 56]

Don't know of any reference but I could take pics if needed. My "error text" box has a glued cart holder the exact size to hold a clear plastic GB case with a long flap designed to close over it while I believe the other box had one the size of a cartridge though I don't recall if it had that flap on it. If it was the same as the one on my Yellow box (which has no extra flap) then the difference is pretty stark as that one doesn't even come close to being able to fit a plastic case.

[AdamW | 713]

Yeah, pics for comparison might be super helpful. I'll take some of my copies tomorrow.

[AdamW | 713]

So my CIB copy of the misprint arrived today. This is how the inside of the box looks:

These were the pack-ins (can't be sure these are *all* the pack-ins, but I'm pretty sure these were genuinely included with this box, or else the seller deserves an Oscar for his performance as "guy who just found this in the attic"):

The white booklet is the "Pokemon times" flyer trying to get you to sign up for Nintendo Power. I think sometimes it's folded differently. The manual code is U/DMG-APEE-USA (no revision and with the U/ prefix that I believe indicates "printed in the USA"). Interestingly the code stamped on the game label is 00. I've heard differing theories about the significance of that code and I'm not sure what to believe - whether it indicates production order or is a factory/print shop ID or something else - but I guess it's possibly interesting that a known early copy of the game has a 00 code.

[AdamW | 713]

The inside of my other copy of the error print is the same style (just more squished). The inside of my second print (still Sandshrew, but corrected text) is indeed a different style, with the flap:

My Red Sandshrew print (of, of course, unknown precedence) is the same style as the later Blue, with the extra flap. EDIT: so it sounds like there isn't a clear correlation here, as from your description I think your error text copy has the same insert as my corrected text copy, right? The one with the extra flap?

Edited February 3, 2021 by AdamW

[Tanooki | 4,932]

One of those red back on blue showed up on ebay in the last few hours with the game, pretty sure no manual/inserts but it did show the rear if you're wanting to take a peek if it's still there, otherwise it'll be in sold history.

[chuppy44 | 56]

5 hours ago, AdamW said:

The inside of my other copy of the error print is the same style (just more squished). The inside of my second print (still Sandshrew, but corrected text) is indeed a different style, with the flap:

My Red Sandshrew print (of, of course, unknown precedence) is the same style as the later Blue, with the extra flap. EDIT: so it sounds like there isn't a clear correlation here, as from your description I think your error text copy has the same insert as my corrected text copy, right? The one with the extra flap?

Yeah, my misprint box looks the same as this pic, which must mean there are multiple variations. Though I can't quite tell what's going on in the pic of your misprint box. Is that from the bottom end? Since it looks like the cart would have to go in the other end (and would then be on the opposite side).

[AdamW | 713]

Yeah, I'm aware of it. It's actually kinda interesting - to my knowledge, three copies have appeared on eBay in the last week, which seems a high number if my survey of sold listings was correct about its prevalence. I'm planning (if I don't lose interest ) to update the survey every so often, and maybe I could try to adjust it to new listings instead of sold copies.

[AdamW | 713]

No, it's from the top end. It fits a cart - no case - on the left.

edit: wait, no. that's wrong. I am now opening fragile expensive boxes way too often :P, but, they're the same insert...just glued in the other way up! If I open my first print from the bottom it's the same as the second print from the top. So...I guess some of the boxes just got glued or printed the wrong way up...?

Edited February 4, 2021 by AdamW

[AdamW | 713]

So here's my notes on Gen II and III so far - curious if anyone has corrections / additions, before I edit the first post.

Gold and Silver, AFAICT, have no true variants. @Hybridnoted the misprint copy he's seen of Gold where some of the front art bled over to the top flap, but I don't know anything further about that; it's hard to get an idea of how common it is since listings rarely show pictures of the flap.

Crystal has two variants. The first print has a typo: the word "series" is mistyped as "se{ies" near the end of the box text (thanks again to @Hybrid, I had already noticed the two prints but didn't realize this was the reason until he pointed it out). That print always comes in a y-fold box. The second print corrects the typo, comes in a double-ended box, and interestingly looks quite different to the first print in several subtle ways if you have them side by side; first print copies seem to be shinier and the colors seem almost over-exposed, and they seem to have a very slight color offset in the printing.

Ruby and Sapphire have no variants, I don't think. I actually expected there may be late prints of both with the post-2003 version of the Nintendo seal (no "of quality"), but if there are, I haven't been able to find any.

Emerald doesn't exactly have any variants, but it had a somewhat little-known limited edition "fat box" version, which some lucky so-and-so got for $12 last year. It was apparently sold only at Walmart but appears to be an "official" bundle, not one of those Walmart specials where they just print off their own boxes and slap some products together - it has a Nintendo product code ("AGB P WOO4"). It contained a copy of the game and a carrying case for the GBA SP. I am very curious whether the game box was the same as the retail one or whether it was a "not-for-sale" variant with the UPC missing (as is often the case in these kinds of bundles); if anyone's seen one or owns one and could say for sure, it'd be super useful.

FireRed and LeafGreen have five variants each. The first three prints came with the wireless adapter included in the box, in a custom insert with room for the cartridge and the wireless adapter. The first says "MADE IN JAPAN AND PHILIPPINES" on the top of the box, and refers to the "Game Boy Wireless Adapter accessory" on the back. The second has "GAME MADE IN JAPAN; ADAPTER MADE IN PHILIPPINES" on a sticker taped over that area of the box (which I presume still says "MADE IN JAPAN AND PHILIPPINES", but I haven't seen an un-taped copy to check). The third has "GAME MADE IN JAPAN; ADAPTER MADE IN PHILIPPINES" printed directly on the box. Second and third prints both refer to the "Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter accessory" on the back. The fourth print does not include the wireless adapter but is *not* Player's Choice; it says "MADE IN JAPAN" on the top of the box and refers to the "Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter accessory". The fifth print is Player's Choice, with no wireless adapter, and is back to the "Game Boy Wireless Adapter accessory". First and fifth are by far the most common prints.

Thanks to anyone who can add to this info

Edited February 20, 2021 by AdamW

[Hybrid | 424]

Yay my misprint knowledge was useful

[AdamW | 713]

Hah, while researching something completely else (what inserts came in what boxes), happened across this thread:

so the error print was possibly first discovered seven years ago...

[AdamW | 713]

So on the topic of inserts...well, it's difficult to be sure since so many listings are clearly put-together jobs. But this is my best attempt to figure it out based on consistent patterns and listings that seem the most authentic.

* Red and Blue Sandshrew prints (so Blue -1 and -2 and Red -1)  came with manual U/DMG-APAE-USA (Red) or U/DMG-APEE-USA (Blue). They included the "Consumer Information" booklet; I think earlier copies have DMG-USA-6 and later have DMG-USA-7, at least CIB copies of Blue -1 (the error print) always seem to have -6. They also included the "Pokemon Times" Nintendo Power ad; that's the one that's often folded to show a red/blue page with "FREE PLAYER'S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE" but can also be folded to show a white page with the Pokemon and Nintendo logos, these are *the same thing* (can be confusing if you don't realize). The same version was used in Red and Blue, with code U/DMG-APAE-USA in both (even though that's the Red product code).

* Red and Blue white-ESRB Rattata prints (Blue -3, Red -2) usually(?) came with manual DMG-APAE-USA (Red) or DMG-APEE-USA (Blue). They came with the consumer information booklet (I think always DMG-USA-7 rev) and the "Hungry?" Nintendo Power ad. I *think* some but NOT all came with the "Pokemon Stadium March 2000" ad, code CGB-S-UCPS-USA (sometimes J-CGB-S-UCPS-USA). They have the CGB(W) tray.

* Red and Blue black-ESRB Rattata prints (Blue -4, Red -3) came with manual DMG-APAE-USA-1 or -2 (Red) or DMG-APEE-USA-1 or -2 (Blue). They came with the consumer information booklet (I think always DMG-USA-7 rev) and the "Hungry?" Nintendo Power ad. I *think* some but NOT all came with the "Pokemon Stadium March 2000" ad, code CGB-S-UCPS-USA (sometimes J-CGB-S-UCPS-USA). They have the CGB(W) tray.

Things I'm not sure of:

* There are three revisions of the Red/Blue manuals (original, -1 and -2) and there seem to be U/ prefix and non-U/ prefix versions of each (FWIW I believe the U/ prefix indicates "printed in USA"), at least of original and -1. It *seems* like Sandshrew prints always had the U/ original-revision manuals, but I'm not 100% sure none came with a non-U/ manual. Similarly the white-ESRB Rattata prints seem to *usually* come with a non-U/ original revision manual but I don't know if they always did. I think the -1 and -2 revised manuals mainly came with black-ESRB boxes but I'm not 100% sure some white-ESRB Rattata boxes didn't come with -1 manuals. I'm not sure what actually changed in the -1 and -2 revisions; I have original and -1 manuals here so I can look carefully through and check at some point, but I don't have a -2 manual at all.

* I'm not 100% sure about the Pokemon Stadium March 2000 ad. I've definitely seen multiple credible listings of the Rattata prints that include it, but I've also seen pretty credible ones that *don't*. I'm inclined to believe it was included at least sometimes, but possibly not always.

Yellow is kind of a nightmare because there's four variants and not much data on three of them. The white-ESRB logo print of Yellow seems to be by a distance the most common. I'm pretty sure it came with manual DMG-APSE-USA, the consumer information booklet (DMG-USA-7 rev), and the Yellow version of the "Pokemon Times" Nintendo Power ad - it's very similar to the Red/Blue one but the "FREE PLAYER'S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE" page (often shown on listings) is yellow with a big picture of Pikachu on it and the "Pokemon Times" page claims to be "Volume no. 2, Issue no. 1" and there are obvious updates to the actual Nintendo Power issue and player's guide featured.

For the other variants I just don't have enough data. I've seen manual revisions all the way to -3 but I'm not sure which boxes may have had which manual revisions. You'd think later prints might have the "Hungry?" ad instead of the Pokemon Times ad, but I'm not sure. And I'm not sure which if any revisions may have had the "Pokemon Stadium March 2000" ad.

Researching this stuff makes it clear that lots of "complete" and "CIB" listings are not. They either just don't have all the stuff or they flat out have wrong stuff (i.e. the seller tried to put together a "CIB" listing but didn't know enough about exactly what should be in it). Buyer beware.

If anyone has a personal copy of Red/Blue/Yellow they're 100% certain is complete with the original inserts, it'd be great if you can check and see what print of the box you have and what the inserts are Thanks!

[AdamW | 713]

Gold and Silver came with: manual DMG-AAUE-USA (Gold) or DMG-AAXE-USA (Silver), tray CGB(W), inserts: ad for "NEW! Pikachu Nintendo 64", "Player's Guide Offer" (Nintendo Power/guide ad like the Pokemon Times thing pretty much, code DMG-AAUE/AAXE-USA), "consumer info" DMG-USA-7.

Crystal 1st print came with: manual CGB-BYTE-USA, tray CGB(W), inserts: "Pokemon Power" Nintendo Power/guide ad (CGB-BYTE-USA), "consumer info" DMG-USA-8.

Crystal 2nd print came with: manual U/CGB-BYTE-USA, inserts: "Pokemon Power" ad (U/CGB-BYTE-USA or U/CGB-BYTE-USA-1 - I've seen both, I don't know what changed, my copy is missing this insert), "consumer info" U/DMG-USA-8. Some copies at least came with a "get $3 back by mail when you purchase Pokemon the movie 3" ad; the ad notes the movie is available August 21, 2001 and the offer expires 1/31/02 (January 31, 2002) so possibly this was omitted in later copies.

I have not seen a copy of Crystal 1st print with the movie flyer in it. With more data the movie ad *might* give some clarity to dates of the two Crystal prints, but I'm not sure. I guess at least we know there were second print copies out there before January 31, 2002 at a minimum.

An interesting tidbit on U/ and non-U/: the more research I do the more U/ manuals and flyers seem to correspond with double-ended boxes. I've got a tentative theory that Nintendo basically had two box production lines, one in Japan that made y-fold boxes and one in the US that made double-ended boxes, and usually the inserts would be produced alongside the boxes.

I've got an *even more tentative* theory that the U/ -1 and -2 revision manuals for Red and Blue never actually came in boxes, but were *replacement copies*. For quite a long time you could call or write Nintendo and order replacement manuals. I think it's possible that this is where the later revision U/ manuals came from (since the later print boxes were all y-fold and seem to normally have come with non-U/ manuals).

[GetTheGreg | 105]

On 2/5/2021 at 11:13 PM, AdamW said:

So here's my notes on Gen II and III so far - curious if anyone has corrections / additions, before I edit the first post.

Gold and Silver, AFAICT, have no true variants. @Hybridnoted the misprint copy he's seen of Gold where some of the front art bled over to the top flap, but I don't know anything further about that; it's hard to get an idea of how common it is since listings rarely show pictures of the flap.

Crystal has two variants. The first print has a typo: the word "series" is mistyped as "se{ies" near the end of the box text (thanks again to @Hybrid, I had already noticed the two prints but didn't realize this was the reason until he pointed it out). That print always comes in a y-fold box. The second print corrects the typo, comes in a double-ended box, and interestingly looks quite different to the first print in several subtle ways if you have them side by side; first print copies seem to be shinier and the colors seem almost over-exposed, and they seem to have a very slight color offset in the printing.

Ruby and Sapphire have no variants, I don't think. I actually expected there may be late prints of both with the post-2003 version of the Nintendo seal (no "of quality"), but if there are, I haven't been able to find any.

Emerald doesn't exactly have any variants, but it had a somewhat little-known limited edition "fat box" version, which some lucky so-and-so got for $12 last year. It was apparently sold only at Walmart but appears to be an "official" bundle, not one of those Walmart specials where they just print off their own boxes and slap some products together - it has a Nintendo product code ("AGB P WOO4"). It contained a copy of the game and a carrying case for the GBA SP. I am very curious whether the game box was the same as the retail one or whether it was a "not-for-sale" variant with the UPC missing (as is often the case in these kinds of bundles); if anyone's seen one or owns one and could say for sure, it'd be super useful.

FireRed and LeafGreen have three variants each. The first prints came with the wireless adapter included in the box, in a custom insert with room for the cartridge and the wireless adapter. (Bonus note: they were the first Pokemon releases to say anything other than "Made in Japan" on the top flap; they say "Made in Japan and Philippines", because the wireless adapter was made in the Philippines). The second print did not include the wireless adapter but was *not* Player's Choice. The third print was Player's Choice, with no wireless adapter. I haven't spotted any variations beyond those. The second prints seem to be quite uncommon - I guess the gap between the wireless adapter pack-in being ended and the sales reaching the "Player's Choice" level was small.

Thanks to anyone who can add to this info

I'm curious what basis you're using for the Crystal misprint being the 1st print?  It's something I've also struggled to figure out but leaned more to the Non-misprint box being 1st due to the built-in holder.  I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Otherwise, everything else you presented aligns with what I know as well.  I will say, the Pokemon Blue "red" text box is absolutely more difficult to find.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it take off with the HA crowd either, especially sealed.

[GetTheGreg | 105]

14 hours ago, AdamW said:

So on the topic of inserts...well, it's difficult to be sure since so many listings are clearly put-together jobs. But this is my best attempt to figure it out based on consistent patterns and listings that seem the most authentic.

* Red and Blue Sandshrew prints (so Blue -1 and -2 and Red -1)  came with manual U/DMG-APAE-USA (Red) or U/DMG-APEE-USA (Blue). They included the "Consumer Information" booklet; I think earlier copies have DMG-USA-6 and later have DMG-USA-7, at least CIB copies of Blue -1 (the error print) always seem to have -6. They also included the "Pokemon Times" Nintendo Power ad; that's the one that's often folded to show a red/blue page with "FREE PLAYER'S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE" but can also be folded to show a white page with the Pokemon and Nintendo logos, these are *the same thing* (can be confusing if you don't realize). The same version was used in Red and Blue, with code U/DMG-APAE-USA in both (even though that's the Red product code).

* Red and Blue white-ESRB Rattata prints (Blue -3, Red -2) usually(?) came with manual DMG-APAE-USA (Red) or DMG-APEE-USA (Blue). They came with the consumer information booklet (I think always DMG-USA-7 rev) and the "Hungry?" Nintendo Power ad. I *think* some but NOT all came with the "Pokemon Stadium March 2000" ad, code CGB-S-UCPS-USA (sometimes J-CGB-S-UCPS-USA). They have the CGB(W) tray.

* Red and Blue black-ESRB Rattata prints (Blue -4, Red -3) came with manual DMG-APAE-USA-1 or -2 (Red) or DMG-APEE-USA-1 or -2 (Blue). They came with the consumer information booklet (I think always DMG-USA-7 rev) and the "Hungry?" Nintendo Power ad. I *think* some but NOT all came with the "Pokemon Stadium March 2000" ad, code CGB-S-UCPS-USA (sometimes J-CGB-S-UCPS-USA). They have the CGB(W) tray.

Things I'm not sure of:

* There are three revisions of the Red/Blue manuals (original, -1 and -2) and there seem to be U/ prefix and non-U/ prefix versions of each (FWIW I believe the U/ prefix indicates "printed in USA"), at least of original and -1. It *seems* like Sandshrew prints always had the U/ original-revision manuals, but I'm not 100% sure none came with a non-U/ manual. Similarly the white-ESRB Rattata prints seem to *usually* come with a non-U/ original revision manual but I don't know if they always did. I think the -1 and -2 revised manuals mainly came with black-ESRB boxes but I'm not 100% sure some white-ESRB Rattata boxes didn't come with -1 manuals. I'm not sure what actually changed in the -1 and -2 revisions; I have original and -1 manuals here so I can look carefully through and check at some point, but I don't have a -2 manual at all.

* I'm not 100% sure about the Pokemon Stadium March 2000 ad. I've definitely seen multiple credible listings of the Rattata prints that include it, but I've also seen pretty credible ones that *don't*. I'm inclined to believe it was included at least sometimes, but possibly not always.

Yellow is kind of a nightmare because there's four variants and not much data on three of them. The white-ESRB logo print of Yellow seems to be by a distance the most common. I'm pretty sure it came with manual DMG-APSE-USA, the consumer information booklet (DMG-USA-7 rev), and the Yellow version of the "Pokemon Times" Nintendo Power ad - it's very similar to the Red/Blue one but the "FREE PLAYER'S GUIDE OFFER INSIDE" page (often shown on listings) is yellow with a big picture of Pikachu on it and the "Pokemon Times" page claims to be "Volume no. 2, Issue no. 1" and there are obvious updates to the actual Nintendo Power issue and player's guide featured.

For the other variants I just don't have enough data. I've seen manual revisions all the way to -3 but I'm not sure which boxes may have had which manual revisions. You'd think later prints might have the "Hungry?" ad instead of the Pokemon Times ad, but I'm not sure. And I'm not sure which if any revisions may have had the "Pokemon Stadium March 2000" ad.

Researching this stuff makes it clear that lots of "complete" and "CIB" listings are not. They either just don't have all the stuff or they flat out have wrong stuff (i.e. the seller tried to put together a "CIB" listing but didn't know enough about exactly what should be in it). Buyer beware.

If anyone has a personal copy of Red/Blue/Yellow they're 100% certain is complete with the original inserts, it'd be great if you can check and see what print of the box you have and what the inserts are Thanks!

Good on you for tackling inserts.  It's a seriously daunting task without much info to go off of.  I hope you can get it all figured out!

[AdamW | 713]

4 hours ago, Maertens29 said:

I'm curious what basis you're using for the Crystal misprint being the 1st print?  It's something I've also struggled to figure out but leaned more to the Non-misprint box being 1st due to the built-in holder.  I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Otherwise, everything else you presented aligns with what I know as well.  I will say, the Pokemon Blue "red" text box is absolutely more difficult to find.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it take off with the HA crowd either, especially sealed.

The typo itself - it seems much more likely it would be wrong at first then fixed later, rather than correct at first then changed later; they didn't change the text in any other way - and also that I've only seen the -1 revision of the Pokemon Power ad in a corrected box. I agree it's not certain though - I should keep reinforcing that all this is just my best guesses so far

edit: on precedence, I've also seen two listings that confidently claimed the no-ESRB-logo print of Yellow is the first, but didn't provide any *evidence* of this, they just stated it as if it were a well-known fact. I'm still trying to pin this down, though again, it's hard. Currently trying to find if any newspapers ran "new Pokemon game release day" stories with pictures where a launch day box was visible...

At first I tended to the idea that the double-ended boxes were generally "earlier", like you, but there just doesn't seem to be any clear evidence of that. I mean, simply the fact that we have y-fold boxes of Red and Blue with white ESRB logos but double-ended boxes of Yellow with black ESRB and Crystal seems to support that. I've not looked into other games as deeply as Pokemon but I do at least look at the boxes for other games I like, and again there there doesn't seem to be any clear precedence. There are y-fold boxes on pretty 'early' games and double-ended boxes on 'late' ones. (I'm pretty sure there are even double-ended boxes with a glued-in insert for *GBA* games, but I'd have to double check that). As I said my current best theory is that there were just two box production lines operating simultaneously and which one printed which boxes was decided at the time based on...who knows what factors.

Edited February 12, 2021 by AdamW

[AdamW | 713]

4 hours ago, Maertens29 said:

Otherwise, everything else you presented aligns with what I know as well.  I will say, the Pokemon Blue "red" text box is absolutely more difficult to find.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it take off with the HA crowd either, especially sealed.

Thanks for your thoughts I may actually have cause to sell one soon, and if I do I'd explain the whole story in the listing, so I'd be curious to see how that goes. Still, the reason I might sell one is that I managed to get another one with the box in much better condition than my first...which I'm happy with, but still, that's yet another copy that showed up in a relatively short timeframe. I'm starting to think my initial survey did undercount them by a bit. I'll re-run it at the end of February and see how it goes. Maybe it's more like 1/7 or 1/8 copies than 1/11...

[AdamW | 713]

Haven't found any pictures yet but here's a great LA Times "what's a po-key-mon?" type story from 1998:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-10-fi-52393-story.html

"Industry observers say the reasons behind the blitz are no mystery.

“Think about the pure number. There are 150 monsters in a game,” said Howard Grossman, editor of Expert Gamer magazine. “If you think of that as a toy line, there are 150 separate toys you can sell.

“Granted, none will be as popular as Super Mario,” Grossman added, referring to Nintendo’s best-known video game character. “But that’s still a lot of little toys and key chains.”"

Heheh...

[AdamW | 713]

OK, now I think I *do* got it.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000118005736/http://pocket.ign.com/news/8823.html

That's an IGN story from July 1999 (long before Yellow came out in October), showing a composite of the release-day Pocket and Yellow bundle - and the Yellow cover image used clearly has the white ESRB logo. The earliest capture of the story is from January 2000, but it seems pretty unlikely the composite image was edited to change the box cover within six months of publication, seems much more likely it's the original image.

edit: it's not totally conclusive as sometimes the pre-release box art image Nintendo released didn't match the actual boxes - pre-release images of the Crystal box front have several differences from the *actual* box fronts - but it seems pretty solid.

Can't find a reliable contemporary pic of the *back* of a Crystal box, unfortunately archive.org didn't archive amazon's *additional* pictures on the listing at release time, only the front box shot, and can't find any anywhere else. People don't often take pictures of the backs of boxes, it seems.

Edited February 12, 2021 by AdamW
more info

[GetTheGreg | 105]

8 hours ago, AdamW said:

The typo itself - it seems much more likely it would be wrong at first then fixed later, rather than correct at first then changed later; they didn't change the text in any other way - and also that I've only seen the -1 revision of the Pokemon Power ad in a corrected box. I agree it's not certain though - I should keep reinforcing that all this is just my best guesses so far

edit: on precedence, I've also seen two listings that confidently claimed the no-ESRB-logo print of Yellow is the first, but didn't provide any *evidence* of this, they just stated it as if it were a well-known fact. I'm still trying to pin this down, though again, it's hard. Currently trying to find if any newspapers ran "new Pokemon game release day" stories with pictures where a launch day box was visible...

At first I tended to the idea that the double-ended boxes were generally "earlier", like you, but there just doesn't seem to be any clear evidence of that. I mean, simply the fact that we have y-fold boxes of Red and Blue with white ESRB logos but double-ended boxes of Yellow with black ESRB and Crystal seems to support that. I've not looked into other games as deeply as Pokemon but I do at least look at the boxes for other games I like, and again there there doesn't seem to be any clear precedence. There are y-fold boxes on pretty 'early' games and double-ended boxes on 'late' ones. (I'm pretty sure there are even double-ended boxes with a glued-in insert for *GBA* games, but I'd have to double check that). As I said my current best theory is that there were just two box production lines operating simultaneously and which one printed which boxes was decided at the time based on...who knows what factors.

Yes, double-ended with built-in definitely exists going into GBA as well.  I wish the timeline was more clear haha but the inconsistencies are maddening.  Thanks for clarifying your thoughts!  

[AdamW | 713]

So Yellow just continues to get more mysterious.

I've been talking to the seller of a copy of Yellow with no ESRB logo that went up recently. He remembers most likely getting the game as a Christmas gift in 1999 (he says birthday or Christmas, but his birthday was before the game came out); he's sure he got it before the game came out in the UK in June 2000, as he imported it and remembers boasting about getting it early. So that suggests it's a fairly early copy.

However, his cart has a black ESRB logo and his manual is the -2 (third) revision, both of which suggest later.

So, I'm wondering if at least the white-ESRB and no-ESRB prints were contemporaneous or very close together. There is a no-ESRB theory out there that the no-ESRB copies came from a *particular store* for some reason - I think Toys 'R' Us was cited - but haven't found anything authoritative or detailed about that.

I did some research on the ESRB logo change (I know, my life is just full of excitement, right?) Broadly speaking, it did indeed happen right around the time Pokemon Yellow was released, which does allow for all the prints to have come very close together, potentially. The earliest black ESRB logo I have found is Jet Force Gemini for N64; multiple sources give the release date as 1999-10-11, and multiple listings of it with no indication of being reprints have black logo on both box and cart. Rayman 2 for Nintendo 64 is another interesting case. It came out 1999-10-29. The box and manual have the white ESRB logo, but the cart label has the black ESRB logo. I've seen four CIB copies in this state and every single cart I've seen has a black logo label, so this seems to be correct and not some kind of fake situation.

There's definitely a lot of overlap. Ultima IX for PC came out 1999-11-24 with a white ESRB logo. The Home World GOTY edition for PC is listed with a release date of 2000 and has the white logo. An interesting late console case is Gran Turismo 2 for PS1, which came out 1999-12-11 (again, per multiple sources) with white logo on both the inlay and the disc (per zillions of listings).

So the transition started at least as early as early October 1999, going by release dates (of course, artwork would be finalized some time ahead of release, and publishers might I guess be more or less amenable to changing the ESRB logo at the last minute, accounting for a lot of the fuzz) and wasn't entirely complete until at least December and possibly early 2000.

Edited February 13, 2021 by AdamW

[AdamW | 713]

Oooh, found a video of someone unsealing a no-ESRB-logo yellow:

 

It exactly matches the recent eBay listing. Black logo cart, U/ -2 rev manual, Pokemon Stadium flyer included.

[AdamW | 713]

Next exciting topic: manual revisions!

I have two Yellow manual revisions handy, DMG-APSE-USA (Japan-printed first revision, seems to have shipped in white ESRB boxes) and DMG-APSE-USA-2 (Japan-printed third revision, AFAICT came in black-ESRB y-fold boxes, at least that's what mine is from). U/DMG-APSE-USA-2, as seen in in the no-ESRB boxes, should have the same contents.

Here's the exciting differences:

1. The ESRB logo is shown on the inside front page. Not surprisingly, it's white in DMG-APSE-USA, black in DMG-APSE-USA-2.

2. The contents of pages 38 and 39 - dealing with linking to another console and starting a trade - were substantially re-arranged, though no wording was changed, in -2. In the original, steps 1-3 are kinda crammed onto page 38 and then 4-6 are on page 39 with a picture of Exeggcute. In -2, only steps 1 and 2 are on page 38, then 3-6 are on page 39 and the picture of Exeggcute is dropped to make room.

3. The price of the Pokemon Player's Guide advertised on the second-to-last page of the manual changed. In the original it's shown as $13.00 ($17.00 for Canadians). In -2 it's $14.95 ($17.95 for Canadians).

4. There's a tiny code at bottom right of the last inside page of the manual (the notes page) that's probably a print run identifier of some kind. On my -2 it's 010411 (interestingly the code on the box tabs is 010409; probably not a coincidence that they're so close). On my original it's 990729 (the code on the tabs of the box that manual came with matches exactly, 990729. I have a *different* white ESRB box that came without a manual whose box tab code is 990817...)

If anyone has a (U/)DMG-APSE-USA-1 manual handy, I'd be curious if you could check those pages and see which changes were in -1 and which weren't!

Edited February 13, 2021 by AdamW