Pokémon HOME Now Compatible With Pokémon Legends: Arceus & Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl
It’s been nearly four months since the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus and six months since Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. I’m happy to say that Pokémon HOME has finally been updated to allow players to transfer their Pokémon between those games. I’ve gotten somewhat far in Arceus, but I only obtained one Gym Badge in my Brilliant Diamond save file before deciding to wait for the HOME update. In the mean time, I had the privilege of playing and reviewing some great indie games.
I certainly would have liked to have Pokémon HOME compatible with each game as soon as they came out, but I do appreciate the hard work put into updating the app. Here’s how it works with these games:
The Pokémon HOME website indicates that the following games are “mutually compatible”:
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl
- Pokémon Sword/Shield
Be advised that Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee! allows you to transfer Pokémon to the other version OR to Sword/Shield BUT once they’ve gone into Sword/Shield they cannot be transferred back to the Let’s Go games. Pokémon transferred from the 3DS Pokémon Bank to HOME can’t be returned to the Bank, either.
Transferring Pokémon FROM Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl or Sword/Shield INTO Arceus will result in them arriving in Strange Balls. Pokémon FROM Arceus INTO Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl will also arrive in Strange Balls.
Mystery Gifts For Using HOME
If you link your copy of Arceus, Sword/Shield or Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl with HOME, you’ll get 9 Mystery Gift Pokémon (three for each title) in the smartphone version of HOME.
- Sword/Shield: Grookey, Scorbunny, & Sobble
- BD/SP: Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup
- Arceus: Rowlet, Cyndaquil, Oshawott
Compatibility With Older Games
We are getting closer and closer to having 1,000 different Pokémon! There are ways to move Pokémon from previous generations onto your Switch console. However, this will require games and consoles from prior generations.
Bringing your old Pokémon to your 3DS and then Switch is a lengthy process explained in this Reddit post by user bagszilucas:
You’ll require the Premium Plan for Pokémon HOME as well as a paid Pokémon Bank plan to transfer games from 3DS. I still have my vintage games and consoles so it was worth bringing my previous teams to the more modern consoles!
As a reminder, the Pokémon games on Switch are NOT compatible with the Save Data Cloud Backup feature available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Save data for Switch games unfortunately does not save to the cartridge, instead saving to the console’s system memory. Saves “cannot be saved or copied to a microSD card.” In other words, if something happens to your Switch, all of your Pokémon will disappear. As such, you may want to consider transferring your beloved Pokémon into Pokémon HOME once you’ve finished playing one of the games.
There is a risk of your payment plan lapsing, which would downgrade your account down to the free basic plan that only holds 30 of your Pokémon (as opposed to the 6,000 allowed in the premium paid plan). If the payment lapses, the 30 most recently deposited Pokémon will remain in the Basic plan, but the rest of your Pokémon “will remain in Pokémon HOME for a certain period of time. You will not be able to view or withdraw any Pokémon that are not in your Basic Box.” It’s up to you to decide if you want to keep your Pokémon in their original game’s save data or if you want to try to keep them in HOME.
I have to say that I think the HOME functionality is amazing – I remember using Link Cables with the Game Boy Color to trade Pokémon. It’s incredible and almost unbelievable that we can now view Pokémon transferred from a game console on our phones. 😮 Hopefully we will have the functionality up and running for Scarlet/Violet sooner when they come out. I can’t wait to play them and add previous teams I worked hard on to the mix!
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