THE FUSE

Yesterday, The Pokémon Company announced that it’s officially ending support for Pokémon Bank, the cross-generation storage system that connected games as far back as the GBA entries to modern ones on the Switch 2. Though trading Pokémon between pre-Switch games is definitely a niche activity at this point in the series’ life, it was, for many fans over the past 30 years, a key memory of their experiences with the franchise. However, fans aren’t just mourning the past, as this move will also effectively switch off some features and completionist elements in the old games for anyone who plays them now or in the future.