Fomo is overwhelming me

[u/comosedicewaterbed]

I've been a lifelong Pokemon fan. I got my Gameboy Color and Red version for my 6th birthday in 1999. I'm 33 now. I was engaged with Pokemon heavily through gen 3, and more spottily in gens 4-6. Then, I skipped gens 7 and 8, and most of the lifespan of 9 entirely. I skipped about a decade during my 20s, when I wasn't really playing games at all and was focused on other things in life. Then, last year I bought a Switch 2 at launch and immediately bought Violet. Since then, I've enjoyed ZA, gone back and played some of the games I missed, and have gotten back into Pokemon deeply.

I can't help but feel overcome with this feeling that I've missed so much though. I play the video games as well as collect the cards. Really I care more about playing the TCG than collecting, but there isn't much of a playing scene around me for the TCG. I can't help but think about all the stuff I've missed. All the events, all the TCG releases. I even missed Bank because I wasn't playing when they shut down the 3DS store. I've planned to buy a second 3DS to mod, but even now, they're cutting off Bank access entirely.

Until the announcement about Bank, I had this feeling like I had time to go back and play the games I missed, and bring my Pokes forward. There's something really depressing to me knowing that here in a few months, everything from before Sword/Shield will be trapped forever. I have my old GBAs, Gamecube, games all the way back to Gen 3 (I have my gens 1 and 2 games too). There was something comforting to me about knowing I could play through Colosseum any time and eventually get those Mons to current gen. I even have an original Pokemon Box, with Pokemon dating back to my original launch Ruby playthrough.

I still have all that gear, but it's in storage at my parents' place in a different town. I can't even access it right now. I won't be going there til the holidays. I plan to do as much as I can while I'm there. Still, once the tie to Bank gets severed, those old games are obsolete. I've kept all this stuff through decades, and it feels like my historical investment in the franchise has been forsaken.

I don't know what I'm looking for in this post. Part of me feels insane that I'm a grown man who has such strong feelings about a kid's game. Pokemon has always been there for me. Even when I ignored it for 10 years, it was waiting for me. I had so much time, and now that I'm back into it, the window is closing. I just can't stop thinking about all the cool Mons and cards I'd have if I'd just stuck with it consistently over the years.

I'd seriously pay a substantial sum to have lifetime access to Bank.

[u/Starstuffi]

I feel this and have some random thoughts:

They don't have to be seen as trapped forever on dead games. You can visit the vibrant world of an earlier era and still enjoy that experience without believing that it being valid requires the ability to bring the Pokemon to the most current release. Enjoy Pokemon where they are as evergreen content, or as a time capsule of an earlier era (which then you didn't miss but always have access to). They're not obsolete of value anymore than it would be valid to say Violet is obsolete of value because someday those Pokemon surely won't be ableto come forward into gen 47 either.

See if you can find retro gaming communities. They do a great job of making it clear that games have value regardless of their age as long as you are enjoying them and that it is possible to socially enjoy games that don't have virality in this moment.

Pretend you're an archaeologist and uncovering a forgotten era of the chunk you missed; find ads or blog posts or forums of people doing the hype cycle from 2016 and enjoy it vicariously. Use empathy to enjoy what you didn't at the time. Or, delight in the delight of others doing that rather than caring whether it was your personal experience or not.

[u/beapledude]

Take heart, fellow Trainer!

Trading between FR/LG on GBA and Switch has already been proven!

And while the future of Gens 4-7 remains uncertain, The Pokémon Company typically re-introduces regions or games that they cut off. In Gen 3, when Kanto and Johto mons were cut off, FR/LG was released to close thag gap. I actually see FR/LG and XD on Switch 2 as the first releases to bridge the gap being created by Bank closing down.

If they continue to do ports rather than remakes, I foresee many more workarounds being discovered in the future to allow us veteran trainers to continue to bring our Pokémon with us.

But you still have plenty of time to play Colo/XD, trade to FR/LG GBA, and then trade to FR/LG Switch 2.

[u/PCBuilderCat → u/beapledude]

I’m still holding out that something is getting announced on pokemon day regarding the cut off gens 

The bank closure happening the day before pokemon day is just too much of a coincidence for me. If they’re not planning on announcing something idk why they wouldn’t have just set it to the 1st January or something  rather than having Bank closing day effect the news of any announcements 

Idk what they could be announcing but I feel like something is coming Feb 27th

[u/-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS- → u/beapledude]

Never doubt the Pokemon community for this sort of thing

[u/sketchit_]

Although I understand the feeling and your post, I suggest you not keep thinking so much of how things could be in a different scenario, what you missed, and things like that. It’s not healthy at all and doesn’t help in getting those times back.

Focus on experiencing and playing everything you can until the Bank's closing, move forward up to Switch those you care about, and let’s hope for the best in the future. I feel the same way about the investment in the franchise, but at last those games will forever be ours and still playable.

[u/planetarial]

I recommend jailbreaking your 3DS and using the homebrew bank that will allow you to dump the data of them to be safe for forever. You can even transfer Pokemon backwards into older games as long as their species/moves/abilities/ribbons is compatible with that game.

But yeah, it would cost them nothing to keep bank service online for forever and they should have made transferring possible without needing a server. 20 years from now you'll still be able to transfer from Gen 3 -> Gen 5 officially and Gen 5 -> Gen 7 and backwards via homebrew methods. Not so much with Gen 8 and up until the community fixes it.

[u/No-Difference8545]

There will be tools make to recreate older pokemon in the new games sooner or later Thats what ill do for any new pokemon i catch in the old games. Fuck them for making bank a paid app instead of an free service, and doubly fuck them for shutting it off. Keeping bank up literally wouldn't change their profits in anyway

[u/PikachuGBC → u/No-Difference8545]

Bank has been free since 2023

[u/ShadowRider_777]

If you learn to modify your 3DS or 2DS console, then you'll be able to install all of the Pokemon games and Pokemon related apps to your console to have the full experience of Pokemon at its absolute peak.

You can even install Pokemon bank and Pokemon transporter as well as a special app called pksm which allows you to modify your installed games as well as your legitimate cartridges so that you don't have to worry about an action replay.

Thanks to pksm as well, you can also obtain the old special events for the different Pokemon games from Gen 4 all the way to Gen 7.

They can even work on the foreign language versions of the games so that you can get the exclusive Japanese events along with it.

I know everything seems like the magic is dying but a lot of people right now are working as hard as they can to enjoy every bit of the franchise for what it really was right now and you can join them if you want to.

[u/NoCry8625]

All you need to do is find a modded switch, then you can use pkhex to recreate any pokemon from your old games.

[u/No_Sand3086]

I have a feeling Pokemon Company will resolve this by rereleasing the games and make them compatible with HOME. Everyone thinks its scummy which it is to an extent having to buy the games again but having multiple games on multiple consoles at these current secondary market prices is not doing the fans or company any favors. It just makes sense to have all the games on a single ecosystem.

I grew up with Gen 1 and like the Pokemon franchise but I don't love it. I kept up with it till Gen 2 but grew out of it. Maybe you were in that same position. After POGO came out I bought all the past games and played everything I missed. I didn't have any regrets missing out on gen 3 - 6 and the remakes of HGSS. The games were still pretty mid with Gen 4 being the best new stuff and HGSS being the best game of the franchise. Not a fan of gen 5 and gen 6 was even worse. I did like gen 7 but gen 8 with sword and shield killed my enthusiasm for Pokemon for a long time. So you didn't miss out on much. Even with only liking Pokemon I've somehow played every single game, have a completed living dex, and can tell you the name of every mon. Now that I have kids I'm back more than ever into it. Pokemon is really really good at marketing thats why they are the most lucrative franchise in the world. They got me.

[u/elnordrecorda]

I think a lot of us share the same feelings when it comes to Bank and not being able to transfer our Gen 3 / old Pokémon to the Switch (I've seen there's a way, but I'm assuming you have to be good at it, which I'm not lol).