Get these Pokemon before Pokemon Bank shuts down

Get these Pokemon before Pokemon Bank shuts down

Posted on October 2, 2026 by Ethan in Features, Switch, Switch 2

After almost 14 long years, Pokemon Bank is unfortunately shutting down in February 2027. That means, for the foreseeable future, there will no longer be a way to transfer Pokemon from the first seven generations to any Nintendo Switch game. Furthermore, you won’t even be able to transfer Pokemon from the first five generations to X and Y or Sun and Moon – that requires Poke Transporter, which is also shutting down.

That means it’s a better time than ever to go through your Nintendo DS and 3DS games and transfer over the Pokemon you’d like to save. If not, they’ll be stuck there forever – and you can’t just use a hacking program like PKHex to transfer them to a Nintendo Switch game, either. Pokemon are assigned Home trackers when they’re transferred via Pokemon Home, and simply popping a file into Sword and Shield and then trying to deposit that Pokemon into Home won’t work because it won’t have a valid tracker.

In other words, make these six months count – catch as many Pokemon as you can and start those Shiny hunts you were procrastinating on! We’re starting today with the one and only Pokemon that cannot be obtained on Nintendo Switch.

Spinda

Starting off strong here, if you want a Spinda for your Living Pokedex or anything of the sort, it needs to come through Pokemon Bank. Spinda is available in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but ILCA messed up the coding that pertains to its spot patterns. In other words, any Spinda caught in Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl cannot come into Pokemon Home, and given that the games haven’t been updated in years, we don’t expect that to be fixed.

My personal Living Pokedex features every Pokemon caught in a Poke Ball with my original trainer ID (that’s doing way too much, I know), but if you ever think you’ll do something similar, now’s the time. All Spinda from previous-generation titles can be transferred into Pokemon Home, and if you want it Shiny, I’d recommend the Poke Radar in Pokemon Platinum. Though, Spinda only appears there via swarms on Route 227, so you’ll have to wait until you get lucky enough for a Spinda swarm. If the rumors are true and Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are heading to Nintendo Switch, Spinda from those games should be able to be moved into Home.

Partner Cap Pikachu

Plenty of Pikachus in hats have been distributedscanning a QR code (here’s the one for the Americas) in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. So when Pokemon Bank shuts down, this specific Pikachu will be impossible to get outside of trading

Fun fact: this can be Shiny if you reset! The developers must have messed up the Shiny lock, because Shiny partner cap Pikachu is completely identical to the regular form – no color differences at all. It probably wasn’t meant to be Shiny, given that this is the case, but it’s a neat hunt nonetheless. It’s also full odds and unaffected by the Shiny Charm, so if you want to do this one, do it sooner than later. It might take six months just for the Shiny to show up!

Shiny Type: Null, Silvally, Poipole, and Naganadel

These guys are all event-only, and they were only distributed in Pokemon Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Moon. However, you can actually Shiny hunt the ones you receive as gifts in-game, without events. Gift Pokemon are unfortunately unaffected by the Shiny Charm, so they’re 1 in 4096 per reset, but if you’re super patient you can wind up with an awesome Shiny Type: Null or Poipole in a standard Poke Ball and your OT rather than a Cherish Ball.

For whatever reason, Pokemon Sword and Shield has Shiny-locked the Type: Null and Poipole you can get in the game there, and neither are obtainable in any other Pokemon game on Nintendo Switch right now. If you want them Shiny, now’s the time. It’s a long, repetitive hunt, so start now.

Victini

Many Mythical Pokemon have been made obtainable on Nintendo Switch, especially in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. But Victini is not one of them. It was distributedy unobtainable by legitimate means alongside Zarude, Walking Wake, and Iron Leaves. If you happen to have an event Victini in your older games – either a GF one or a Liberty Garden one – you might want to transfer that over

Shiny Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi

Outside of events, these are all really difficult hunts. Celebi is the most straightforward, as you can do it in Pokemon Crystal’s Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console release. Mew is tougher, requiring a Japanese copy of Pokemon Emerald with the Old Sea Map event item unlocked. Jirachi could be the toughest, as it requires a GameCube, Pokemon Colosseum’s bonus disc, and a mountain of patience. In fact, if you were to start Shiny hunting Jirachi now via the bonus disc, it’s very likely you don’t even get it before Pokemon Bank shuts down. Mew and Celebi are both 1 in 8,192 full-odds hunts, so they’re going to take a long time. You might be cutting it close!

Battle Bond Greninja

Also known as Ash-Greninja, this special Greninja was distributed to players who cleared Pokemon Sun and Moon’s demo version. In these games and in Pokemon Sword and Shield, Battle Bond Greninja would transform into Ash-Greninja after getting a KO. But it seems Pokemon knew they’d wind up making Mega Greninja, and began retconning Ash-Greninja a few years ago. Scenes from the anime that contained Ash-Greninja in flashbacks were redrawn to have its normal form, and Battle Bond Greninja does not transform at all starting in Scarlet and Violet. Still, Battle Bond Greninja is sort of a separate form of it, so it’s technically required for the most complete Living Pokedex.

Poke Ball Vivillon

This is quite possibly the rarest Pokemon right now, because Poke Ball Vivillon has been completely unavailable since its original event distribution 12 years ago, all the way back in 2014. There has not been a single way to get it since. If you have one sitting in Pokemon Bank, transfer it up – we don’t expect to see this one again for a very long time.

Miscellaneous fun Pokemon

To finish up our list, we’ll rapid-fire a few more. For one, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon remain the best place to hunt most Shiny Legendary Pokemon. The Ultra Wormhole Legendary encounters have 1 in 1,365 odds with the Shiny Charm, and each reset is relatively quick. Dynamax Adventures are the only place to hunt Shiny Legendary Pokemon on Switch, and they take much, much longer. You’re better off using Dynamax Adventures only for its exclusive Shiny Legendaries like Zygarde, the Tapus, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma. This is also your last chance to transfer Pokemon owned by in-game characters, like N’s Pokemon from Black and White 2 or Shauna’s starter from X and Y. Furthermore, after Pokemon Bank closes, it will be impossible to get Alolan Rattata or Raticate with your own trainer ID. The only one you can get on Nintendo Switch is an in-game trade in Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee, and you can’t breed Pokemon in that game. 

Are there any other pre-Pokemon Home Pokemon we missed here that you think are worth a mention? Let us know in the comments down below.

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