When the game was initially released in Japan, it was only available to people who bought a copy of the November 1996 cover-date issue of Japanese magazine CoroCoro Comic and filled out a mail-order form for the game. This promotion lasted from the day the issue was released on October 15 until December 27, 1996. As a result, on some official Japanese Nintendo and Pokémon websites, October 15, 1996 is listed as Pokémon Blue Version's first release date in Japan before it received a wider retail release there on October 10, 1999.