Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s players have waited months, but the Pokemon Home service has finally become available for the latest mainline entry in the Pokemon series. As a mainstay of the modern Pokemon franchise, the Pokemon Home service now allows trainers to transfer their pocket monsters across various games via the cloud. As the primary method for Pokemon to be transferred from the older generation and spin-off titles, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have suddenly been updated with many new creatures, courtesy of other recent games. While the process may sound simple in theory, Pokemon Home has some specific compatibility policies regarding the transfer of Pokemon.
Pokemon Home has connected the modern set of Pokemon releases with its latest update, but there are various rules depending on the game the Pokemon originates from. The natural evolution of the Pokemon Bank service from generations past, this concept of transferring Pokemon between games goes back to the Pal Park and Time Capsules of classic entries. As these kinds of features have always simply focused on bringing older Pokemon into the latest game, Pokemon Home has emerged as the most innovative evolution of the format yet presented in the franchise.
Pokemon Home’s Backwards Transfer and Exclusives
With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet being the latest out of a slew of recent popular Pokemon titles, many players are sure to have beloved creatures scattered across several different regions. Pokemon Home has now come to have the anticipated feature of allowing Pokemon from games between last generation’s Sword and Shield, and last year’s Legends: Arceus spin-off alike to be imported into Scarlet and Violet’s Paldea region.
Intergenerational backward compatibility has also been implemented through transfer from Pokemon Home. This means that any Pokemon the player has in Scarlet and Violet that also existed in a previously supported game is now able to be retroactively sent back into an older game, a first for the series at this scale.
The unexpected depth of Pokemon Home’s features doesn’t end there, however, since its ability to connect with other titles like the groundbreaking Pokemon Legends: Arceus has brought brand-new exclusives into the ninth generation. Despite Legends: Arceus taking place in an ancient version of the Sinnoh region, its unique Hisuian regional forms of Pokemon have somehow become available in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet by transfer from Home.
Furthermore, legendaries new to the game are now accessible for the first time due to recent remakes like Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. While these previously missing Pokemon and new regional forms are transferable and able to be used now, there are also some inherent caveats to obtaining them in the latest games.
Pokemon Go Now Connects to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
New forms like the Hisui variants of classic Pokemon might be here now, but their respective new evolutions aren’t in the local Pokedex. For example, while Ursaluna is technically available in Scarlet and Violet through transferring, an Ursaring will never evolve into an Ursaluna outside its appropriate Legends: Arceus environment.
This extends in a big way to Pokemon Go, from which players can finally send Pokemon into the latest main games. The catch to this feature is that Pokemon can’t return to Go once they have left, so trainers need to plan and make their transfers count.
The recent landmark update to Pokemon Home has come at a perfect time, with the upcoming Scarlet and Violet DLCs set to arrive in the fall and winter of this year respectively. Many players are certain to be revisiting the Paldea region in anticipation of the newest adventure on the horizon, and the addition of favorites from accompanying releases and the ever-popular Pokemon Go can make it a fresher experience than ever.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch. Pokemon Home is also available on Switch.
