Is your apartment too small to hold all of your Pokémon? Don’t worry! You can buy more space soon!
On December 27, Nintendo will launch the Pokémon Bank, a cloud-based storage system that can be used to hold Pokémon in the digital world for eternity — or at least until the servers all collapse. There will be a 30-day free trial — if you download the app on your 3DS eShop by January 31, 2014 — but after that, the bank will cost you $US4.99 a year. Cloud costs, and such.
But there are a lot of benefits here. Patricia has already written a lot about the excitement of cloud-based Pokémon storage, and in addition to keeping old creatures safe, the bank could open up a lot of digital possibilities for the future.
You can also use the bank to bring your vicious little critters from Pokémon Black or White to the upcoming Pokémon X and Y, which are both out for 3DS next week. There’s even a convoluted process for getting Pokémon from older ones to new ones, much of which is over my head — read the full FAQ here.
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7 responses to “You Can Soon Pay For Your Very Own Pokémon Storage Unit”
I’ve been really excited about Pokemon Bank/Transporter but now that they’ve announced that you can’t store held items I’m a bit more worried…
Only a week ago Nintendo held an event to get a shiny Giratina with a special held item, myself (and I assume many others) assumed we could transfer it to X/Y but apparently not.
The even bigger issue will be in the future though. Nintendo have been hinting at how Pokemon Bank will ‘futur-proof’ pokemon (i.e. you can store your X/Y stuff there, and it will be compatible will future pokemon titles too). But what about Mega pokemon? The major feature that they keep going on and on about for X/Y? that requires a Mega Stone held item (in the case of the Event Torchic it’s an exclusive item for that event).
So are Mega Pokemon only for X and Y??
I doubt it, you will probably just have to find that item again in the next game. The restriction would be for items which don’t carry between games such as TM’s and berries. They tend to very from game to game.
I think the reason they’re doing it that was is to increase flexibility in the future titles. The bank can probably already introduce new Pokemon, Types and Techniques from future games into X/Y via a download/Pokedex upgrade, those systems are pretty robust already, but even an ostensibly simple item like a Mega Stone would be a nightmare to shoe horn into a previous generation engine.
They probably don’t want people sending over the top shelf items to their level 5 starter Pokemon in the next title either.
They’ll have limited items specifically to make future games harder. If you can get any items from a previous title that easily, you’ve taken almost all challenge out of it.
The bank will be able to hold newer generations without issue though. Only stats and uniques would be saved. The rest is client built.
I get that and agree (with you and the replies from onesixone, DogMan and Beavwa).
I love a challenge and a starting fresh in a new game/generation.
At the same time though Gamefreaks/Nintendo have always emphasised carrying your loved pokemon onwards from game-to-game (thus Pokemon Bank) but now they introduce Mega pokemon evolutions which I expect we will all grow to enjoy and love…and then have to leave behind?
Perhaps late-game in all future generations we’ll be able to buy old megastones or something but what about Version/event exclusive ones like charizard/Mewtwo X/Y and the Blaziken Event stone?
Really I’m fine if they block all other items, I just really hope they think of some way to store/transfer Mega stones in the future.
All transfers from previous games into Black / White had the same restriction – no items.
” What happens to my Pokémon if the no-charge trial period ends or my paid pass expires when my Pokémon are still deposited in Pokémon Bank? Will my Pokémon be lost?
More details about how this functionality will operate will be announced closer to launch. ”
:S
I dislike that they’re “forcing” you to use the system to migrate between games. Sure, you get one month’s free to move from B&W to X&Y, but that’s only a limited time deal. What about when the next generation comes, will they give a free pass again? Or will they say “lol sorry too bad” and make you pay to move your pokemon to it? I mean, $5 isn’t much (I’ll probably pay it), but it’s the principle of the matter that has me worried.
Speaking of worried…
“In order to prevent our players from losing their Pokémon, we will have security measures in place and will be providing regular maintenance to manage this system securely. Regarding the potential of losing your Pokémon due to natural disaster, unexpected incidents, cyber attacks, or other circumstances, however, we ask that you please read the warnings and stipulations for using Pokémon Bank that we will announce in mid-December, and decide for yourself whether you wish to use the service.”
So what I’m guessing is, they’ll have a standard backup system, but if something horrible happens and they lose everything (it CAN happen- a Japanese cloud provider lost all it’s client’s data during maintenance a year or so ago), then Nintendo will be like “lol sorry oh signed the EULA thanks for the money bye” and hardcore pokemon players will be out hundreds of hours of effort.
I hate to be pessimistic, but we are talking about the the gaming world’s worst online service provider here. But I guess Nintendo won’t wanna screw this one up or it’ll burn a looooot of people…
will the game become flooded with hacked-mon?