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Pokemon Bank now available on North American 3DS eShop
A day after its European debut, Nintendo has released the beleaguered Pokemon Bank application to the North American eShop. Simply fire up your 3DS, visit the online store, download the free program and it's yours. As its name suggests, the Pokemon Bank is an electronic storage service for the legions of pocket monsters you've gathered in Pokemon X and Y – up to 3,000 of the adorable critters. More crucially, however, the Bank brings with it Pokemon Transporter functionality, which allows you to transfer Pokemon from the Nintendo DS Pokemon games into Pokemon X and Y. While the Pokemon Bank download is free, the service itself is not. Nintendo is imposing a $5 annual fee for use of the Pokemon Bank, though if you download the application prior to March 14 you'll receive a free 30-day trial. [Image: The Pokemon Company]
Pokemon Bank launches in Europe, Australia, New Zealand
The Pokemon Bank finally opened branches in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand today, but there's no word yet on when it'll deposit in North America. Nintendo delayed the X and Y Poke-storage add-on after the chaotic launch in Japan, when servers crumpled beneath unexpectedly high traffic back in December 2013. The service lets you store and carefully sort up 3,000 Poke-things in an online bank, ready to transfer to and from your X and Y collection. Meanwhile, a linked Poke Transporter app lets you move 'mon from Pokemon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 into the Bank. The Pokemon Bank carries an annual fee of £4.49/5 euros in Europe, and $5 in North America. The EU version offers a 30-day free trial redeemable before March 14, and if you sign up before September 30 you get the adorable and adorably free Celebi as a bonus - Pocket Gamer has a handy guide on how to add the new critter to your roster. [Image: Nintendo]
Pokemon Bank launched in 'certain Asian countries'
Pokemon Bank, the Pokestorage service for Pokemon X/Y with an annual service fee, has launched in "certain Asian countries," Nintendo of America announced on Twitter this evening. Nintendo of Japan's activity seems to reflect this, noting the Pokemon Bank's current availability on the Japanese eShop. The service was originally set to launch stateside in December, but eShop stability issues near the Pokemon Bank's Japanese launch resulted in a delay of its Western debut. Tonight's update asks fans in other regions to "stay tuned" to Nintendo's social media feeds for future news of Pokemon Bank's more widespread availability. In other words, your quest to capture and store the entirety of your favorite Pokemon species will have to wait just a little longer.
Nintendo eShop going offline until tomorrow morning to fix connection woes
Nintendo is pulling its eShop services offline today starting at 4:00PM Eastern (1PM Pacific), the company announced on its Facebook page. The decision follows a rocky Japanese debut for Pokemon X and Y's Pokemon Bank service, which was part of the blame in crippling Nintendo's servers. The publisher postponed the launch of the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter services in Europe and North America for the time being. The Wii U and 3DS eShops will resume activity at 4:00AM Eastern (1AM Pacific) tomorrow morning, at which point Nintendo expects to have rectified the connection issues users are having.
Rocky Japanese debut delays Western Pokémon Bank release
Pokémaniacs outside of Japan will be waiting longer than expected to see the Pokémon Bank storage application, after it wounded the Nintendo Network at debut. Though much of the blame for the ongoing, worldwide Nintendo Network server outages must be placed on the hordes of new Wii U and 3DS owners spawned by yesterday's holiday, Nintendo of Japan has posted a notice on its website which states that the Bank has been causing more of a traffic crush than its creators expected, and has compounded the company's traffic problems. To regain control of the situation, Nintendo has removed the problematic storage application from the Japanese eShop. If you're able to visit the North American or European eShop despite its traffic woes, you'll now find the Bank bears a "to be determined" release date. It was originally scheduled to arrive today, but Nintendo of America followed suit with an official delay. "As you may know, we are currently experiencing a large volume of traffic on the Nintendo Network service," reads a post on Nintendo's Facebook page. "Due to the high traffic, we are postponing the launch of Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter until further notice. As a Nintendo standard, we strive for the utmost quality before launching any of our applications. We truly regret the inconvenience, and wish to reassure you that providing a solution is our top priority. We apologize for the delay and thank you for your continued patience." We have attempted to contact The Pokémon Company for more information on the delay and possibly a new release date for the Bank. We have yet to hear back.
Use Pokemon Bank by September 30, get free Celebi
Pokefans that download the Pokemon Bank storage app for Pokemon X/Y and access their Pokevault by September 30 will be offered a free Celebi, this morning's Nintendo Direct announced. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata noted that Celebi will "also available during the free trial period" for the storage app, so you won't need to pay the annual $4.99 fee to get your legendary Pokemon.
Plot your favorite species' demise with this Pokemon Bank trailer
Look, we know Eevee is cute, but there's only so much storage space in Cassius' PC. If you're unwilling to halt your plans of capturing the entire species, a trailer for the upcoming Pokemon Bank recaps how the service, complete with its annual $4.99 charge, will aide your plans to catch 'em all.
Transfer critters to Pokémon X/Y this December
Devoted Pokémaniacs will have to wait until December 27 to upload existing teams of Pokémon into Pokémon X/Y, reveals a tweet from Nintendo America. Unlike prior Pokémon games, Pokémon X and Y do not innately include Pokémon transfer functionality. Instead, players will need to download an eShop app known as the Pokémon Bank. This Bank functions not unlike the Pokémon Box released alongside Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, as it serves as a repository for Pokémon, but also allows players to transfer their 'mon between generations of Nintendo's handheld franchise. Information on Pokémon Bank can be found at the app's official site, but the most crucial detail to remember is that Pokémon Bank is not a free app. Players will be granted a gratis trial period, but once that expires Pokémon fans will need to shell out $5 per year to continue using Pokémon Bank. While the wait and pricing information is disheartening, it does offer an excuse to read our newly-published Pokémon X/Y review which describes the game as "hands-down the best in the series."
