Pokemon Blue (Game Boy) — Live Deals & Price Guide

What you're looking at

Live eBay listings for Pokemon Blue Version (the original 1998 US Game Boy release, MPN DMG-APEE-USA) — not the GBA-era remakes, not Japanese imports, and not PAL copies. The feed sticks to US-NTSC originals. The box-art mascot is Blastoise, which is why so many seller titles call it the "Blastoise Edition" — that's just a descriptive nickname for the standard US Blue cart, not a separate SKU.

Use the condition chips at the top of the deal grid to bucket what's surfaced:

• Loose — cartridge only. The most common bucket and what most players buy.
• CIB — complete-in-box: cartridge plus the original outer box, cardboard tray, and instruction manual.
• Sealed — factory-sealed or high-grade encapsulated copies. Almost always graded by WATA / VGA / CGC / PSA.

Asking-price summaries in the table render from the last 24 hours of active US listings — they are seller asks, not realized sales. Treat them as the buyer's negotiating floor, not the appraisal.

Variants worth knowing

Pokemon Blue had a long retail life on the original Game Boy. Early and later production runs share the same cartridge shell and label artwork, but collectors track minor differences between the first US production run and later printings. There is no separate "Player's Choice" Gen-1 budget reprint for Blue — the original retail print is what stayed on shelves.

The "Red Text Error" first-print Blue. The most-noted Blue variant is a printing error on the back of the cardboard box from the very first US production run: one of the bullet points mistakenly reads "Collect up to 139 different Pokémon playing the Red version" — copy that belonged on the Red box accidentally ran on early Blue boxes. This is purely a box-print error, not an in-game ROM quirk (the original Game Boy is monochrome and physically cannot render colored text on-screen). A confirmed Red-Text-Error Blue is the most desirable Blue variant for collectors and commands a meaningful premium over standard first-print Blue. The deal feed here does not specifically surface Red-Text-Error copies (the keyword "red" is excluded site-wide to keep multi-game Red/Blue/Yellow lots from polluting the per-game page); if you're hunting a Red-Text-Error first print specifically, you'll want to search that variant directly on eBay rather than relying on this surface.

Spanish-label US-NTSC carts. A small number of Pokemon Blue cartridges shipped with Spanish-language labels for the US-NTSC market — same hardware, same ROM, same MPN region, different printed label. These are genuine US-region carts despite the Spanish label. The deal feed surfaces them; just don't confuse them with PAL Spain copies, which are a different SKU entirely.

The substantive variants are by region, and the deal feed actively filters those out:

• US NTSC (DMG-APEE-USA) — what this page surfaces.
• Japan (Pocket Monsters Ao / Aka / Midori family) — excluded.
• Europe / Australia PAL — excluded.

If you want a non-US copy, search separately — asking prices, included documentation, and the buyer-protection landscape all differ by region.

Loose vs CIB vs sealed for this title

Loose is the working-collector default: a bare cartridge, often with a fresh save battery already swapped by the seller. Asking prices cluster in a narrow band; the spread within "loose" comes mostly from cosmetic label condition and whether the save battery has been replaced. "New battery installed" listings ask more than untested or "dead battery" listings.

CIB is a meaningful step up. A true Pokemon Blue CIB includes the outer cardboard box, the cardboard insert tray that cradles the cartridge, and the instruction booklet (manual), plus the standard Nintendo paperwork inserts of the era. CIB does not include a physical fold-out Town Map poster — the Town Map for Red/Blue/Yellow is an in-game key item received from your rival's sister Daisy, not a packaged insert. If a seller is selling a "Pokemon Blue CIB with Town Map poster", they're either confused or attaching a fold-out poster from the GBA-era FireRed/LeafGreen remake (which did ship with a physical map) — verify against the original box artwork.

You'll also see CIB-shaped listings advertised as "cart + modern production box" — these are loose carts paired with reprint boxes (sometimes acrylic protective cases, sometimes paper reproductions). They aren't original CIBs and should be priced accordingly; honest sellers say "modern box" or "repro box" in the title.

Sealed copies for Gen-1 Pokemon are almost exclusively graded by WATA / VGA / CGC / PSA at this point. Graded-CIB asking prices range from a couple hundred for mid-grade sleeves up to high-CIB territory. True factory-sealed Blue copies in WATA/PSA holders trend into auction-house territory; the deal feed caps the upper price at a level that excludes the very top investment-grade sealed copies by design — those aren't "deals" in the buy-now sense.

Spotting reproductions and bootlegs

Pokemon Blue, like its Gen-1 siblings, is heavily counterfeited. The deal feed filters out listings whose own title says "repro", "reproduction", "aftermarket", "bootleg", or "fake" — but a dishonest seller listing a bootleg as "authentic" will slip past keyword excludes. The verification work is on the buyer.

The most reliable physical tells, in rough order of reliability:

• Cartridge screw type. Authentic Nintendo Game Boy cartridges use a 3.8mm Gamebit security screw (six-pointed star pattern). A Phillips-head (cross-shaped) screw on the back of a Pokemon Blue cart means the cart has been opened — either for a legitimate battery swap by a previous owner, or because it's a bootleg / aftermarket reshell. Phillips on the back is not by itself proof of fake, but it's a flag that the cart's interior is no longer factory-original.
• Label print quality. Compare against a known-good photo: authentic labels have crisp, evenly-saturated printing. Smudged ink, off-center placement, washed-out colors, or label paper that feels wrong (too glossy / too matte vs reference) all suggest aftermarket.
• Shell color and texture. Authentic Pokemon Blue shells are a consistent translucent blue. Off-shade blues, opaque plastic, or visible mold-line differences from authentic photos are bootleg signals.
• Cartridge weight and PCB. If you can request an interior photo (cart open), authentic Gen-1 Pokemon PCBs have specific component layouts and labeling that bootleg boards rarely match. Sellers willing to send an interior photo on request are usually the more trustworthy ones.

When in doubt, ask the seller for a high-resolution photo of the back of the cart showing the screw, the label up close, and (if comfortable) the interior PCB. Sellers who refuse all three are not sellers worth buying from.

Battery life: the universal Gen-1 caveat

Every original Pokemon Blue cartridge has a small coin-cell battery soldered to the PCB that powers the game's save RAM. These batteries are now 25+ years past their original useful life. Plan for a battery swap regardless of what the seller claims about save function — even a cart that saves today will likely fail within months to a couple of years.

• "New battery installed" listings are worth the small premium if the swap was done properly (soldered, not taped).
• "Tested, saves" without a battery-replacement note means the original battery is still hanging on; expect to swap it.
• "Doesn't save" / "battery dead" listings are still useful for collectors — a replacement is a low-cost shop job or a small DIY part if you have the tools.

The Gamebit screw is the only obstacle to a DIY battery swap; the screwdriver bit is widely available online. Check the battery cell type against a known-good reference photo before ordering replacements — Game Boy save batteries are flat coin cells but the exact spec is easy to misremember, so verify against the cart you actually have.

Per-condition verification checklist

Loose

• Confirm the back-of-cart screw is the original 6-point Nintendo Gamebit (or accept Phillips with the seller's explanation).
• Look for label condition: tears, water damage, residue from old price stickers, missing label entirely.
• Ask whether the original battery is still in place or has been replaced.
• "Authentic" should be stated explicitly; "tested" should specify whether saving works.

CIB

• Confirm box presence (outer cardboard, not a "modern production box" or third-party acrylic case standing in for the box — acrylic cases over a genuine CIB are common protective storage and that's fine, just be sure the cardboard box is actually inside).
• Confirm the cardboard insert tray that holds the cartridge — a meaningful piece of "complete" and frequently missing on partial CIBs.
• Confirm the manual is present, not a photocopy or modern reprint.
• Box wear (corner crush, label fade, tape residue) drives a big spread in CIB asking prices.
• Remember: no fold-out Town Map poster in an original Blue CIB. If one is pictured, it doesn't belong.
• If the listing claims a Red-Text-Error first print, the proof is a clear photo of the back of the cardboard box showing the "Red version" wording — verify before paying the premium.

Sealed

• Almost always graded — check the grading label is from a reputable house (WATA, VGA, CGC, PSA) and the population report supports the asking price.
• For ungraded sealed (rare and expensive): inspect the shrink-wrap edges for re-seal artifacts (overly tight wrap, wrap on the wrong axis, modern shrink-film glossiness vs the matte original).
• The sealed market is where forgery risk is highest — go through a reputable grading service or a seller with a long retro-game-specific track record.

Buying gotchas

• "Pokemon Blue Game Boy" can mean the cart OR a console bundle. Listings titled like "Game Boy Color Purple With Pokemon Blue" or "Atomic Purple GBC with Pokemon Blue" are selling the console, not the cart — the feed filters most of those out, but the same phrasing is common on auction sites that don't.
• Region confusion. Sellers occasionally list PAL / AUS / Japan copies under generic "Pokemon Blue Game Boy" titles; the deal feed filters by item-specifics region, but if you're shopping outside this feed, look for the MPN (DMG-APEE-USA for US-NTSC) on the back of the cart.
• Cart + modern reprint box marketed as CIB. "Modern Production Box" / "Repro Box" / "Custom Box" listings pair a loose authentic cart with a non-original box. Honest sellers disclose; dishonest ones don't. If the asking price is well below typical CIB and the photos focus on the box more than the cart, ask.
• Multi-game lots. Pokemon Blue almost always shows up bundled with Red, Yellow, or later-Gen siblings on eBay. Lot listings get filtered out here so per-game asking prices stay accurate, but a lot can be a great deal if you wanted multiple Gen-1 titles anyway — search separately for those.
• "Soft" / "Cartridge Compatible with Game Boy" Japanese-style wording. A handful of US sellers use Japanese-derived listing conventions ("Game Boy Soft Cartridge", "Cartridge Compatible with Game Boy") for US-NTSC carts. Most are legit US copies; the giveaway for an actual Japanese cart is the MPN (DMG-APBJ-JPN or Pocket Monsters Ao) and a "JAN code" reference. Verify the MPN photo before paying CIB-tier prices.
• Strategy guides priced as the game. The 1998-era Prima / Nintendo Power strategy guide for Red & Blue regularly shows up in search results at asking prices that look like cart prices. Read titles carefully — "guide" or "booklet" listings are not the game.
• Seller feedback floor. The deal feed requires the seller to have ≥50 feedback at ≥99% positive. Low-feedback sellers with cheap Pokemon Blue listings are a recurring fraud vector — the feed quietly drops them, but if you're shopping outside this surface, the same heuristic protects you.