Pokémon Bank is an expansion of the entire box system in Pokémon games, and as such, it expands upon the concept giving a variety of new aspects and features.

Storage

The main feature of Pokémon Bank is that it has 100 boxes for you to store Pokémon across all generations from X & Y onwards. Each box can handle 30 Pokémon meaning you can store up to 3000 Pokémon on each Bank and share them between games online easily. In addition to this, it has a special Transport Box which holds the Pokémon you transfer from Generation 5 games meaning that you can have up to 3,030 Pokémon in your Bank at any one time.

Each Box can be renamed and placed as part of a group to make sorting even easier.

Restrictions

Despite the ability to store 3,030 Pokémon in Pokémon Bank, there are a few restrictions about what you can and cannot place within the Bank Boxes. Unlike past generations, all Pokémon of all forms can be placed in it, so Therian Forme Landorus and Resolute Form Keldeo are able to be placed in the box and transferred using Poké Transporter without reverting. There are still, however, a few restrictions

  • Items: Hold items cannot be placed in Pokémon Bank. If you move a Pokémon with an item into the Bank box, the item will be returned to your bag. Origin Forme Giratina will revert to Altered Forme automatically.
  • Eggs: Eggs cannot be placed within the box
  • Black Kyurem & White Kyurem: These Pokémon cannot be placed in the box and will need to be defused before being placed in the box.
  • Hacks: If a Pokémon has failed the hack check, it cannot be placed in a box on the Bank side.