Fifteen years after their release, Black and White still play very well, as long as you have the right console and a real cartridge. Here is everything you need to know to (re)discover Unova today, and to send your Pokémon on their way to Pokémon HOME.
🎮Compatible consoles
| Console | Compatible | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo DS and DS Lite | Yes | The original consoles. |
| Nintendo DSi and DSi XL | Yes | Compatible with all features. |
| Nintendo 3DS and 2DS | Yes | Reads DS cartridges, with no 3D effect. Essential for the transfer to HOME. |
| Nintendo Switch | No | Black and White were never adapted for it. |
📵What no longer works
- The Pokémon Dream World and the Pokémon Global Link (closed in January 2014);
- the GTS, and online trades and battles (Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection closed in May 2014);
- event distributions (Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect…), which ended long ago.
Local trades and battles, by infrared or wirelessly between two consoles, still work.
📦Transferring your Pokémon to HOME
- On a Nintendo 3DS, open Poké Transporter, which retrieves the Pokémon from the first box of your Black or White cartridge.
- They arrive in Pokémon Bank, the 3DS storage service.
- From Pokémon Bank, transfer them to Pokémon HOME, from where they can join recent games on Switch.
⏮️Importing older Pokémon
Once you have the National Pokédex, the Poké Transfer Lab on Route 15 lets you import Pokémon from Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver into Black and White, using two DS consoles. The transfer is final: the Pokémon can’t go back.
And for the continuation of the story, see Black 2 and White 2.
