There is good news for Pokémon trainers, as it is now possible to transfer the fruits of your real-world hunting in Pokémon GO over to the Pokémon Home storage service. With this, you will also be able to forward your precious pocket beasties onto Pokémon Sword and Shield. And yes, this also means you can shift those low-CP shiny Pokémon you’ve been hanging onto like some sort of humanoid magpie as well.
The service is currently only open to the highest-level players, with Serebii reporting that as of November 11, 2020, you have to be level 40 in Pokémon GO in order to qualify for the service. If you are one of those dedicated elite, then you can link Pokémon GO to your Nintendo account through the in-game settings. After that the world’s your Cloyster, except for one small thing…
You see, in order to transfer your Pokémon you must first make use of the GO Transporter, a new mechanic that requires energy that recharges over time, to move your ‘mons. The GO Transporter also requires different quantities of energy, depending on the Pokémon’s rarity, CP, and whether the outgoing Pokémon is shiny or not. Of course if you cannot wait for the GO Transporter to recharge, it is also possible to pay to refill it with PokéCoins.
Trainers taking advantage of the new system will also receive some tantalising treats in return for their patronage. Upon transferring a Pokémon, you will of course be able to open the Mystery Box in Pokémon GO, prompting the appearance of the Mythical Pokémon Meltan for a limited time. For the low, low price of 400 Meltan Candy, you can then evolve the adorable Steel-type into the much heftier Melmetal.
But that’s not all.
As an extra-special reward, you will also receive an already-evolved Melmetal. This particular Melmetal is unique however in that it is the first to be able to Gigantamax in Pokémon Sword and Shield. Melmetal can be obtained via Mystery Gift in Pokémon HOME, before being forwarded to Sword and Shield using the Switch version of the HOME app.
If all this talk of mythical ‘mon has inspired you to get out (or stay in) and hunt down some of your own, then why not check out our handy guide on legendary Pokémon in Pokémon GO and Sword and Shield?