The original Vapors were released in mid-2002, just before the World Cup of that year. The first glimpse anyone outside of Nike had of the boots was in the Nike cage advert starring Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry and Roberto Carlos, in which a close-up shot of the boots is taken near the end of the advert. The boot was first released in three colourways: cinder/white/maize; University Blue/white/obsidian; and medium grey/ red. These three colourways were distinctive as they had limited heel cushioning and dimples on the inner heel cup for foot grip. This was upgraded for the remainder of the Vapor I line. A chrome/lime variation (worn exclusively by Ronaldo in the semi-finals and final) was released to the public in limited numbers (just 4,600, across FG, HG and SG variants; quantity split unknown) in the period after the tournament. Other colours included white/ice/black; chrome/black; black/chilli red; dark charcoal/surf blue/white; and shock orange/white. In addition to the NikeSkin Vapors, Nike released its first kangaroo leather version of the shoe in black/grey. The Vapors also continued with the R9 designation on boots that was featured originally in the previous Mercurial lines. Both chrome colourways featured the "R9" brand.