A quick bug fix saves Poké Transporter, and the only way to move Gen 1 Pokémon to your Switch

For a few brief hours, the future of Pokémon looked bleak.
Image via The Pokémon Company

When the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops were closed yesterday, they took with them a plethora of games and software that have been a massive blow to Nintendo fans. Among the titles that were removed from the sale were Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter, causing much distress to avid Pokémon fans worldwide. This issue has since been fixed, but it’s still a precarious time to be a Pokémon fan.

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Following the closure of the Nintendo 3Ds eShop, it’s no longer possible to pick up Pokémon Bank. This service allowed you to transfer Pokémon between all Generations of Pokémon games, even your Gen 1 Blastoise if you wanted to use them in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It previously required a subscription, but The Pokémon Company announced last year that the fee would be waivered in March 2023. This allowed anyone who remembered these details to pick up Pokémon Bank and sign up for a subscription.

You needed that free subscription because, without a live Pokémon Bank subscription at the time the 3DS eShop was closed, players wouldn’t be able to access Poké Transporter, which is the tool that allows you to move Pokémon between games. Many fans who thought they’d done the right thing were suddenly shocked when the 3DS eShop was closed, and they couldn’t access Poké Transporter. Instead, being greeted with a message telling them they needed an active Pokémon Bank subscription.

However, this was a bug that has now been fixed. For a few short hours, around 38 Pokémon were locked out from being accessible on the Nintendo Switch. Now though, all Pokémon can be moved across all games as long as you had a Pokémon Bank subscription in the past and have previously downloaded both Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter. All you need to do is download these apps again, and you’ll be able to use them.

Fans are still concerned that the 3DS eShop’s closure has made this niche service even more inaccessible. They’re unsure if The Pokémon Company will do something to make Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter available to those who never had them in the future. If you’re just getting into the games and want to collect all Pokémon in a single game, at the time of writing, you’re out of luck.

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The issue Pokémon fans now face is who will maintain a working version of Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter. The Pokémon Company won’t want to support these titles forever, meaning modders or fans with development experience may need to step in to produce bug fixes or host fan-made versions of each title so they can continue to be accessible to anyone. The 3DS is a popular console for modding, so there’s a good chance the number of users interested in using these applications is only going to grow now that modding is the only way to get new digital games on a 3DS console.


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Author
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp is a Staff Writer at Gamepur. He's been writing about games for ten years and has been featured in Switch Player Magazine, Lock-On, and For Gamers Magazine. He's particularly keen on working out when he isn't playing games or writing or trying to be the best dad in the world.