Sad times for Pokemon on the 3DS and the end of an era. The Pokemon Bank service, which allowed you to transfer Pokemon across your various titles on the 3DS and later to Pokemon HOME on the Switch and Mobile, is going away early next year.
Nintendo's announcement today lets us know that this means this will be the last opportunity for you to migrate Pokemon from the 3DS family to the Nintendo Switch / Mobile through the Bank to Home transfer. Once Bank is offline, all your Pokemon will be lost that were inside of Bank, so it's probably a good idea to get them moved over today instead of tomorrow.
Yes, We're Losing the Transfer Chain
One of the most absurd things about Pokemon Bank was that you were able to transfer Pokemon from some of the earliest titles onto the more recent ones. This was of course by design, but the amount of time it would take to transfer even just a few Pokemon up was an incredible number of confirmation screens. Worth it though if you have beloved Pokemon from the earlier games that you wanted to keep on your journeys.
Transfer chart created by PatStef back during Gen 8. It's unchanged with Gen 9 and the upcoming Gen 10.
That changes when we lose Pokemon Bank, disconnecting all older Pokemon games from the Nintendo Switch titles.
Generations 3 through 5 are still able to connect together after Bank is removed.
Generation 6 and 7 are both becoming isolated.
However, newer re-releases of games are going to give us new ways to bring Pokemon from older eras into Pokemon HOME on the Switch, which is cool.
Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald Leaks
Earlier this year when LeafGreen and FireRed were released on the Switch, internal code shows that they were able to connect with the main Gen 3 games, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. That's important because Gen 3 was the earliest generation of Pokemon that was able to come through to Pokemon Bank through the transfer chain up to Pokemon HOME.
Recent leaks suggest that these are coming this year and honestly? I wouldn't expect Emerald to show up immediately. Nintendo loves to double dip on everyone as we saw back in the 3DS era with Gold and Silver initially releasing and then Crystal dropping four months later.
Nothing is confirmed yet by Pokemon themselves though, so take all of this with a grain of salt.
Get Celebi in Pokemon Home
Pokemon FireRed Version and Pokemon LeafGreen Version for Nintendo Switch are set to link with Pokemon HOME beginning October 2026! Once linked, you’ll be able to transfer Pokemon in these titles to Pokemon HOME and bring them to other games in the Pokemon series.
How to get Celebi? Complete your Pokedex!
Quote From Pokemon Did you catch them all in Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version? You can now receive the Mythical Pokémon Celebi on the mobile version of Pokémon HOME as a gift for completing the Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version Pokédex.
To complete this Pokédex, you won’t need to transfer Pokémon to Pokémon HOME either. Once Pokémon HOME is connected, if you have registered a Pokémon in your Pokédex in Pokémon FireRed Version or Pokémon LeafGreen Version, it will be registered in Pokémon HOME. Don’t forget—you can always trade using Pokémon HOME’s GTS to help fill out your Pokédex too.
Are you still using Pokemon Bank? Are you sad to see it go? Let us know in the comments.
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