Tag: Black and White

Catch Celebi When You Download ‘Pokemon Bank’ and ‘Pokemon Transporter!’

by Josh Jackson

Pokemon trainers like myself are eagerly counting the days until December 27th. This date will be remembered as the day that the world of Pokemon X and Y changed forever. For on this day of days, Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Transporter will arrive on the eShop, letting us import our companions from Black, Black 2, White and White 2 versions, which potentially includes everything from Ruby and Sapphire onwards. You’d be crazy not to download it, but if you were on the fence, (and why would you be?) it looks like the pot has just been sweetened.

Every person who downloads Bank and Transporter will receive Celebi, an event exclusive Pokemon who debuted as #251 back in Gold and Silver. The grass/psychic type has been a fan favorite for years, including yours truly who still considers it the best of the event exclusive series.

Celebi will be available until September 30th, which is plenty of time to gather the $4.99 necessary for the annual fee for the storage service. Remember, once the service releases, a 30 day free trial will be given to those who download it before January 31st, so there’s little reason why online shouldn’t be flooded with the things come release.

While I love Celebi, I’ll be “that guy” and complain about a free giveaway. I have to point out that it’s been given out so often that this feels a little unnecessary, especially when I can’t remember the last time Jirachi was distributed… unless they’re saving it for something big in the future. Hoenn confirmed!?!?

Ahem… anyway, as mentioned, Bank and Transporter will release on December 27th. Confused about any of it? The trailer below gives you all the juicy details on how it will work. We have nine days to catch em all! Let’s get to it!

‘Pokemon Bank’ and ‘Pokemon Transporter’ Announced

by Josh Jackson

At the completely logical hour of 4 AM this morning, Nintendo held a special Direct conference dedicated to the upcoming 3DS monstrosities, Pokemon X and Y. A slew of new announcements and revelations were made, but perhaps most importantly, were the revelations of two 3DS apps that will make the lives of Black and White players much easier.

Introducing Pokemon Bank, this app will allow players to hold up to 3000 different Pokemon using cloud storage. Taking the concepts of Pokemon Box, My Pokemon Ranch and the storage feature of Pokemon Stadium to new heights, Bank has more storage than one would ever need. I mean, seriously, cheaters can’t even hack that many characters, (don’t worry hackers, we won’t tell.) Whether or not the game will give rewards for storing certain amounts like the previously mentioned storage apps has yet to be announced.

As a supplemental app for Bank, Pokemon Transporter is designed to give you a head start in filling those 3000 slots by allowing trainers to mass transfer characters from Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 from Bank. Sadly, Diamond, Pearl and Platinum won’t be compatible, but it’s still better than that six at a time Pal Park crap.

Like with most good news, there’s a catch. While pricing wasn’t discussed, there was a smidge of small print snuck into the video stating that an annual fee must be paid to access Bank. As if Pokemon didn’t make enough money, charging for storage is a new way for the series to make bank, (pun not intended… okay, I lied.) Satoru Iwata quickly explained that the fee is necessary to maintain the servers, since the benefit of the cloud would allow trainers to access their teams like never before. And just like that, I broke into a PTSD fit thinking of the Xbox One launch.

Pokemon DollarShawty what chu drank?

So we’ll take the good with the bad, mostly because we don’t have a choice. I’m thrilled with the ability to mass transfer, but I hate that we’ll have to pay to transfer. Oh well, ’tis the age of DLC, AKA “the future.” What do you think? Do you got Poke’s in the bank waiting to be deposited? Let us know below!