Pokémon Bank and PokéTransfer revealed in latest Pokémon Direct

Today’s Ninténdo Direct was little light on actual Pokémon X & Y content but instead a few new support applications were revealed.

Pokémon Bank was announced by Junichi Masuda, Tsunekazu Ishihara and Satoru Iwata in a small Pokémon Direct.

Pokémon Bank will essentially be your link to storing Pokémon in the cloud, you know on the internet. It will be a free app from the Nintendo 3DS eShop will allow you to store 3000 Pokémon in the cloud and transfer them to and from Pokémon X and Y at any time. There will be a free trial to get you started but after that a fee of around $5 a year will be required.

Worried about transferring your Pokémon from Black/White or Black 2/White 2? Well worry no more as well as PokéTransporter was also announced. It will suck the Pokémon out of your Pokémon Black/White or Black 2/White 2 cartridges and upload them to the internet. You can then transfer them to Pokémon X and Y if you wish. Once they’re uploaded too the Pokémon cannot return to the older DS titles.

Hacked or modified Pokémon will also not be able to be uploaded to the Pokémon Bank via the PokéTransporter.

[quote]In a surprising twist announced this morning during a special Nintendo Direct presentation, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y players do not receive Chespin, Fennekin, or Froakie from Professor Sycamore but are in fact given the choice of a classic partner Pokémon—Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle—from the very first Pokémon games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue! Adding to the excitement, once a player has evolved this Pokémon into Venusaur, Charizard, or Blastoise and obtained its unique Mega Stone, the Pokémon will be able to Mega Evolve while in battle. Mega Venusaur, Mega Charizard, and Mega Blastoise will possess overwhelming powers never before seen in a Pokémon game. Players can choose fan favourite Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle when Pokémon X and Pokémon Y launch worldwide October 12, 2013, for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

More secrets about Mega Evolution were also revealed today. It was previously announced that certain Pokémon needed to hold a unique Mega Stone in order to Mega Evolve, but now it’s known that there is a second requirement players must fulfil for Mega Evolution to occur. Trainers must also obtain a bracelet called the Mega Ring that holds a mysterious stone called a Key Stone. The Trainer’s Key Stone resonates with the Mega Stone held by his or her Pokémon, and together they trigger the Evolution that is normally impossible—Mega Evolution.

Director from GAME FREAK inc., Mr. Junichi Masuda, also announced Pokémon Bank—a new Nintendo 3DS application and service that allows Pokémon X and Pokémon Y players to safely and conveniently store up to 3,000 of their beloved Pokémon on the Internet. Available in Australia and New Zealand from December 27 2013, Pokémon Bank dramatically expands storage capacity for a Pokémon game, giving players the flexibility to store and deposit 100 Boxes worth of Pokémon. This is in addition to the Boxes found within Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, just like in previous Pokémon titles.

Additional features of Pokémon Bank include the ability to deposit and withdraw Pokémon from multiple copies of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. Once a Pokémon X or Pokémon Y Game Card is inserted into a Nintendo 3DS system or the downloadable version of the game is opened, the Pokémon Bank software can be turned on for use. Players can then transfer Pokémon from multiple copies of the game via Pokémon Bank to one copy of Pokémon X or Pokémon Y.

When players download the software, they can also download its linked application, Poké Transporter, which makes transferring many Pokémon caught in other Pokémon games easy. What used to be a lengthy process to transfer Pokémon from a previous Pokémon game to the latest titles is now a breeze with Poké Transporter—just insert Pokémon Black, Pokémon White, Pokémon Black 2, or Pokémon White 2 into your Nintendo 3DS system and use Poké Transporter to transfer Pokémon from those games into Pokémon Bank.

An annual service charge will apply when players download the Pokémon Bank software to their Nintendo 3DS system. This charge will support maintenance of the online server that allows players to store up to 3,000 Pokémon safely and conveniently, and will provide the application’s support for future Pokémon titles. Poké Transporter can be downloaded free of charge once the Pokémon Bank software has been downloaded first. More details will be on Pokemon.com about a free 30-day trial period for individuals who both download and activate the Pokémon Bank service between December 27, 2013 and January 31, 2014.

Also announced in this morning’s Nintendo Direct presentation were details for the release of two special limited edition Nintendo 3DS XL hardware designs featuring imagery from Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. These systems come in Red or Blue, feature brand new Legendary Pokémon Xerneas and Yveltal and will be available at SRP AU$249.95 on September 27.[/quote]