The rumor that “Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald” are coming to Nintendo Switch this fall, in September or October, has me extremely excited! Those games are my childhood, and some of the best in the entire series.

I'd assume that if true, Ruby & Sapphire will release first, then maybe Emerald will arrive later in the year, or possibly be a release for Pokémon Day in February 2027.

Hopefully, we get an official announcement at the end of Pokémon Worlds on August 30th.

Are you guys as excited as I am for these releases?

Hello fellow trainers,

I wish I came to you with better news, but unfortunately, my first publication is a bit of a dreary one. That’s because “The Pokémon Company” has announced that as of February 26th, 2027, our official way to transfer Pokémon from the 3DS/DS/GBA eras will be shut down. As a longtime fan of the series that has been playing since Generation 1, this announcement greatly saddens me, though with the corporate push of an all-digital future across gaming recently, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

With this announcement, the question becomes: what does this mean for future Pokémon preservation? Pokémon has uniquely been a series that has allowed us to carry our digital pals across new hardware for over two decades, and now, that legacy disappears in six months. Well, I believe I have insight into what is actually going on here, and how there is a glimmer of light at the end of what seems like an infinitely dark tunnel.

The Corporate Reality

To start, I believe the simple answer to why this is happening is the massive success of last February’s 30th anniversary experiment: the ports of FireRed & LeafGreen to Nintendo Switch. Those simple ports of games that can be easily emulated on a calculator sold over 4 million copies and made “The Pokémon Company” roughly $80 million in revenue. For games that were released over 20 years ago, that sort of profit is nothing to scoff at, and from its massive success, I can guarantee that some executives had their minds racing about the possibilities of releasing more Pokémon ports to the Switch. However, there was one tiny problem with that strategy: the Pokémon Bank, and the fact that players can still carry over their digital friends from previously released games. This money-making roadblock obviously had to be annoying, so it was time to cut the cord and sever the fan-friendly service that has connected players with their Pokémon of all generations.

Now, as I put my corporate hat on, I totally understand this, and it’s actually quite genius. The FireRed & LeafGreen ports sold individually for $20, so “The Pokémon Company” can easily charge us $20 again for all games between Generations 3-5, $10 for Generations 1 & 2, as they did previously on 3DS, and $30+ for Generations 6 & 7, since those are 3DS games and will take more effort to port over. Basically, “The Pokémon Company” will slowly release these games that we are so nostalgic for over the next few years, add HOME support, and make us completely rebuy our entire collection. Smart, isn’t it?

The Fan Frustration

As I said previously, I’m a longtime fan of this series, and as a longtime fan, I feel like I just had a dagger stabbed in my back, and that’s kinda been my general feeling on the Pokémon franchise in its entirety on Nintendo Switch, one stab after another. First we had the “Let’s Go” controversary, then “Dexit” with the removal of the National Dex causing it so every Pokémon will never be available in one game ever again (wonder why with a yearly HOME subscription to justify), the sub-par Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl remakes, the technical disaster that was Scarlet & Violet, and the Legends games feeling more like early access experiments than full releases. Let’s just say the Switch era of Pokémon hasn’t been the kindest towards its fans, so naturally, they continue the abuse by shutting down Bank’s servers, the one fan-friendly service they had left, burying us even further.

With that being said, as of February 26th, 2027, Generations 1-7 of Pokémon will be completely locked away. 20 years of hardware, of legacy, forgotten to time. It’s tragic if you’re as nostalgic as I am, and honestly, I hate being in this limbo of not knowing what ports of these games are coming to Switch in the future, or when. It’s all a guessing game as fans are left in the dark. And sure, you could make the argument that if you own these original games, you can still play them in their entirety, and although that will always be true, at least for me, a piece of my love of the series was the 20 years of Pokémon I had built up in my collection, and how every game I played or Pokémon I caught mattered, and that will no longer be the case next year when Bank shuts down.

The thing I’ve come to realize about “The Pokémon Company” is that they don’t care about their longtime consumers anymore, cause the consumers are going to consume. We all complain about the quality of the games, and yet, when a new one releases, tens of millions of us are buying it. But that’s because of the loyalty they built up from back when the games were at their peak, the same ones they know we’re all going to rush out and gladly buy again when they’re re-released. And honestly, the funny part is the game sales aren’t even the money maker. We all know they really only care about the card collectors and scalpers that are fist-fighting over cardboard in your local Costco. Though I mentioned that light at the end of a dark tunnel, and for some fans, this could lead to a golden age of the series.

https://nickfirereviews.substack.com/p/the-pokemon-bank-closure-what-it?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=android&r=8ww4td

The rest of my article on the topic can be found here. Thanks for reading!