Bringing It Home

Those who recall a certain Pokémon Direct from eight months ago will note that back then, there was an announcement for a service called Pokémon Home, billed as the next-generation Pokémon storage service, but nothing came out of it for a while. The other day, however, more details were announced regarding it as well as its availability, which is the long-awaited information. On the eaves of its availability, it's worth it to discuss those newly announced details to a good extent.

This service will be available starting next month for both the Nintendo Switch and mobile platforms. The main thing that this service allows to do is to move Pokémon around: to import Pokémon from the 3DS Bank, store and shift Pokémon from the Let's Go games, and transfer Pokémon to and fro the Sword and Shield games. Import from Pokémon Go is also slated for inclusion at a later time. As the next-generation service, its import features are understandable, but the storage service should be lucrative for players of the games on the Switch.

Storing Pokémon is good, but trading Pokémon is also just as good, and the service allows for this to occur in four ways. One way is through a Wonder Box as a delayed version of Wonder Trade, while another is through a facilitated GTS with the usual perks. A new way of trading is called Room Trade, where multiple users enter a room, offer a Pokémon to trade, and the Pokémon will be distributed among all users in the room, fulfilling a scenario that I once conceived for Go. Users who are friends with each other can also link up directly for a Friend Trade. Traditions and innovations in trading come together with this service.

The service can also act as an "information center" of sorts, with its own National Pokédex and info for all extant Pokémon; individual Pokémon can also be judged according to its stats. Information will also be available on battle Pokémon rankings and competitions, as well as gifts on mobile. Speaking of gifts, on mobile, the service will be able to receive Mystery Gifts tailored specifically for it or as a proxy for those in Sword and Shield. Task-based challenges for personalization and exchange of service points for Battle Points in the Sword and Shield games on the Switch will also be included. They are all nifty extras for usage of the service.

All of these do not come for free, or at least not necessarily. The free Basic option allows storage of a very limited number (30) of Pokémon with 3 Wonder Box and 1 GTS slots, while the paid Premium option expands these to 6000, 10, and 3 respectively. The latter option, paid with Nintendo eShop credits, also allows for hosting Room Trades, importing from Pokémon Bank, and the judge feature. This is in addition to the extant costs for Pokémon Bank, Poké Transporter, and Nintendo Switch online services. However, to ease transition, during the first month of Pokémon Home availability, the former two will be freely available. Whatever happens, all roads lead to the paid option for best experience.

At this point, it's only a short time before the advent of Pokémon Home. It promises Pokémon storage and yet so much more than that. While its full-fledged features are only available through payment, at least there's still leeway for some free usage of the facilities, perhaps enough that one may in the end expend money for the whole nine yards. One cannot simply ask for much more for a next-generation storage service... but at the least, one can still get storage for their beloved Pokémon for this day and age with it.

One year ago: Three TCG Booster Packs
Two years ago: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Series 2 Figures
Three years ago: Always 21 - Memories of 21