The new Pokémon region of Alola is about to feel a whole lot more familiar now that Pokemon Bank has been updated to support Pokémon Sun and Moon.
Pokémon Bank is a service that allows players to transfer their favorite Pokémon from Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, X, Y, the 3DS Virtual Console versions of Red, Blue, and Yellow, and now Sun and Moon between games.
As part of the update Nintendo is also giving away Z-crystals for Mew (that's Mewnium Z in case you were wondering) to all Pokemon Bank users. It’s worth noting, though, that the Z-crystal will only work in Sun and Moon.
One big adventure
Nintendo has said that the crystal will be claimable until October 2, so if you’re a Pokémon Bank user who hasn’t had the chance to buy Pokémon Sun or Moon just yet, that gives you plenty of time to do so and claim your Mewnium Z.
Nintendo has released a useful infographic to help players to keep track of the varying transfer limitations on different games in the franchise. This new update means that you can send your Pokémon from X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire back and forth between Sun and Moon and their original games as often as you please.
However, when it comes to the virtual console titles and Black and White as well as their sequels you’re more limited.
With Red, Blue, and Yellow although you’ll be able to transfer your Pokémon directly to your Sun and Moon game, you should bear in mind that you won’t be able to transfer them back.
With Black and White and their respective sequels, you’ll have to transfer the Pokémon you want to take to Sun and Moon through X, Y, Alpha Sapphire, or Omega Ruby first before then sending them to Alola from here. After you do so you won’t be able to transfer them back to their original games either.
Two new features have also been added to the Pokémon Bank in the update, the Pokédex and adventure records.
With the Pokedex players will now be able to access information about Pokémon registered in each of the Pokémon series games they’ve connected to Pokémon Bank in the National Pokédex, bringing everything into one convenient place.
Adventure Records will act as a kind of memory book, allowing players to look back on their catch and encounter stats across all the games they’ve played in the Pokémon series previously and registered to the Pokemon Bank.
If you’re considering signing up to Pokemon Bank, it’s worth noting that it’s not a free service – it’s a subscription service with an annual fee of $4.99/£4.49/ AU $6.50. For any players that have loyally purchased every game and like to keep track of their adventures across regions, it's probably a worthwhile investment.
