Pokemon fans beg for Pokemon Bank Switch port after loss of 3DS Online

The end of the Nintendo 3DS online servers is nigh, and fans want a physical version of Pokemon Bank for the Nintendo Switch to give fans a chance to keep the service alive.

The Nintendo 3DS/Wii U servers will close on April 8. The exception to this will be Pokemon Bank, which will continue for the foreseeable future. However, once Pokemon Bank is gone, players won’t be able to bring over any more Pokemon from Gen 3-7, as they need the app to connect to Pokemon Home.

A user on the Pokemon Reddit has offered a potential solution by asking for Pokemon Bank to be given a physical release on the Nintendo Switch, similar to how Pokemon Box worked on the Nintendo GameCube.

“The solution already exists. They made it almost two decades ago,” the OP said, “Pokemon Company, please. Just do this again, but put it on a Switch cartridge and make it act as if it’s Pokemon Bank. It’s totally possible. Should be safe, and still make you a profit.”

“And, most importantly, will satisfy Legacy Player’s disdain for the loss of connectivity via Pokemon Bank. Which, you know, with connectivity being one of the primary pillars of the whole series, and trading up becoming part of that. That’s a big chain to break.”

“So the idea would be to have game cart use the Switch as the Pokemon Bank server?” one player wrote, “Honestly a pretty elegant solution to the problem. Nintendo sells some games to hardcore fans, continuity stays alive, everyone wins.”

“I’d love something like this but they’ll never do it for the same reason virtual console is dead,” one fan lamented, “They’ll make much more money from subscriptions.”

A Pokemon Bank equivalent that runs on the Nintendo Switch (and presumably its unnamed successor) would help keep interest in the old games alive, as players would have an incentive to track down Pokemon in the Gen 3-7 titles.

Whether The Pokemon Company is interested in these older games when it could be monetizing new ones is a whole different matter.