'Pokemon Bank' Finally Works With 'Pokemon Sun' and 'Moon'

The long-awaited Pokémon Bank update has finally reached Alola’s sunny shores. Pokémon Sun and Moon players will now be able to transfer Pokémon back and forth en masse. Plus, the Pokémon Bank’s companion app, the Poké Transporter, now allows you to transfer the original 151 Pokémon from the Virtual Console versions of Pokémon Red and Blue, as well as other Pokémon games, to the Bank and up to Sun and Moon.

So what’s the big deal? Well, to start, it will add a lot more variety to your team-building options, and we’ll likely be seeing some old, familiar faces in Pokémon competitions. Those Pokémon come with moves that aren’t found in Sun and Moon too, meaning people will be able to breed their Alolan Pokémon with Pokémon from previous generations to gain access to useful moves that could totally shift the way Pokémon battles play out.

The transfer system does carry some restrictions, however. Once you transfer a Pokémon to Sun or Moon, you won’t be able to send them back, making Alola their new forever home. The item transfer restriction from previous Pokémon Bank versions also still holds.

The National Pokédex also got an update as a result. Trainers can now view the hidden stats of Pokémon from previous generations, meaning they’ll be a lot easier to train if you’re serious about the meta game. If these Pokémon hail from Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, or X and Y, the Pokédex will read the saved data from your original game, so you don’t even have to start EV training from scratch again.

As a special bonus, Pokémon Bank subscribers will get Mew’s Z-Crystal, Mewnium Z. Give it to a Mew that knows Psychic, and you will unlock the Z-Move Genesis Supernova. Could this be a lead-up to a special Mew event? We’ll see.

The Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter are premium apps with annual passes going for $4.95. You can purchase the Pokémon Bank app, which includes the Transporter, on the Nintendo eShop.