The end of the 3DS eShop may open new opportunities forPokemonfans as the Pokemon Bankservice will become free to use the same day the eShop closes. From its launch until now, the transport and storage app cost $4.99 for a year-long subscription in the United States, but that will cease being the case very soon.
Pokemon Bankand its partner applicationPoke Transporterallow players to freely move their companions between all of the 3DSPokemongames, as well asbring over everyone they caught in the DSPokemongames. Once Generation 8 came around, Pokemon Bank also became the tool for bringing all previous generation Pokemon over to the Nintendo Switch.
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The news of Pokemon Bank becoming free to use came a little over a year ago, but more details have come out about what exactly that will look like recently. A tweet from the officialPokemonJapanese Twitter account gave a more in-depth look at what exactly it will look likewhen the Nintendo 3DS eShop closesandPokemon Bankbecomes a free service. It is notable for anybody interested in utilizing this service once it becomes free that both Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter need to be downloaded before the eShop shuts down on March 28th, when the possibility to get both apps expires.
Once March 28th hits and the eShop officially closes forever,Pokemon Bank will stop counting how many days are left on players' subscriptions and start reading “?XX days remaining.” It’s great that this service will continue to run after the tragic closing of the eShop because transferring Pokemon over from the older titles remains the only way for players to truly “catch ‘em all.” As long as Pokemon Bank is around, players can always fill uptheir Pokemon Home appon Switch with every single thing that can still be found in the DS/3DS titles.
Pokemon Bank represents the last era when it was possible to move the entire collection ofPokemonfrom one game into another with no restrictions whatsoever. Generation 8 and 9 both have limited Pokedexes and many Pokemon from older generations are still yet tobecome available in any Nintendo SwitchPokemongame. The upcomingScarlet and VioletDLC expansions promise new Pokemon that are not currently available in the Generation 9 games, and this includes some that haven’t been seen since the Switch era like Zebstrika. It’s unknown if the community will ever see another mainline entry with every Pokemon available again, but as long as Pokemon Bank is around, players can always have every creature up to Generation 7.
Pokemon Bankis available for download until March 28.
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