Pokemon X and Y ‘s Bank and Transporter are coming in December. While the release of the latest generation of Pokemon looms ever closer (October 12 to be exact, only a week from now), it appears those pocket monsters you’ve been keeping ready to transfer from Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 will have to wait until December to make their journey to full 3D.
Yup, those Pokemon you’ve been grabbing at GAME are going to have to sit on your copy of Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 for a couple of months after you get your new generation in X and Y . The Bank and Transporter are applications heading to Nintendo’s eShop December 27, according to a recent tweet from Nintendo’s verified account.
The Pokemon Bank will be a paid app, but you will be given a month free access to store your pocket monsters online. This means that starting the end of January, you will have to start paying to save your Pokemon from Pokemon X , Y , Black 2 , and White 2 to the Bank.
The Pokemon Transporter is a free companion app that allows Pokemon to be transported between Pokemon X , Y , Black 2 , and White 2 . Unfortunately the Transporter app will not work without the Bank app, so unless you just decide to trade with friends, you’re going to have to settle with the pocket monsters on your version of the game.
. @Pokemon Bank and Poké Transporter will launch in the Nintendo eShop on Dec. 27! For more info, visit
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 4, 2013
This also means that you might need to time your Pokemon Bank usage to get your Shiny Legendary Pokemon into Pokemon X and Y within a month of creating your Pokemon Bank “account.” You might even consider just using it once to do the transfer and then worry about it later when the next generation is released.
The Pokemon Bank fee will be $4.99 a year, which isn’t much in general, though we doubt parents will pony up the dough to pay an extra few dollars on a new game they probably had to buy twice (for both versions). Gamers paying their own way, however, could see it as a tenth of what they would pay for Xbox Live Gold and happily give Nintendo the extra money.
Pokemon X and Y are getting their Bank and Transporter apps in late December, so be prepared to have a little extra money for that fee.