Pokémon Bank (and Poké Translator) Survive 3DS eShop Shutdown

It has not been an easy month for Nintendo fans. Despite the new gameplay of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it’s hard to take a blow as hard as the closure of the Nintendo eShop for 3DS and Wii U. Yesterday was the last day to download games and programs in both stores.

In other words, any Nintendo 3DS or Wii U user You will no longer be able to purchase games or apps from these digital stores.. This means the loss of lots of games.

Specifically, the Pokémon saga is one of the most affected. Around 75% of the games have been lost after the closure, including classics such as Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon Gold or Pokémon Red.

For now Nintendo has not revealed a possible solution. In recent days we have witnessed numerous tributes, memes and sad reactions to such a gaming event.

The good thing is that some services have survived the shutdown. This is the case of the Pokémon Bank, service for Nintendo 3DS that allows you to store and trade Pokémon between editions.

Pokémon Bank: A New Beginning

All users of the Pokémon Bank (and the Poké Translator) will be able to continue using the service, and also completely free of charge. Yes, for this you must have the application downloaded on your 3DS.

Come on, if you did not download it in time, there is no way to access the Pokémon Bank. This service allows the exchange of Pokémon between Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS games.

Hereinafter, all Pokémon Bank services are free. When logging in, a counter is displayed indicating that it is a 40-day trial version, but Nintendo clarifies that this is not the case.

Thanks to the Pokémon Bank it is possible to exchange Pokémon between the Pearl, Diamond, Platinum, White, Black, X, Y, Sun, Moon, UltraSun and UltraLuna editions.

You should know that this service is also compatible with Pokémon Home. In case it does not sound like you, it is the current service for the exchange and storage of Pokémon. It is used by Scarlet, Purple, Sword, Shield, Let’s Go, Unite, Arceus Legends, Go, or the Sinnoh remakes.

The only “but” is that to connect Pokémon Bank to this service it is necessary to be subscribed to the premium modalities from Pokemon Home.

That is if we want to exchange a Pokémon from DS or 3DS to Nintendo Switch editions, it will be necessary to pay the premium subscription of Home. But at least you can access the Pokémon Bank and the Poke Translator for free.

do you have the app pokemon bank downloaded? If so, you can use it for free in your games in the saga. Nintendo has not specified if one day it will stop being free or if it will close its doors, but everything indicates that this will not be the case.