How to Transfer Your Old Pokemon to Sun and Moon

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

By Kallie Plagge, Lucas Thomas, & Justin Davis

Trading Pokemon with friends has been a staple of the franchise from the beginning. That's kind of the whole point.

But moving Pokemon between generations, from game to game? That's a different matter entirely. It was easy enough in the beginning. Using a Game Boy Link Cable, Gen 1 Pokemon could be imported into Gen 2. Unfortunately, due to a restructure in how Pokemon stats work and a platform switch there is a hard stop between Gen 2 (Gold and Silver) and Gen 3 (Ruby and Sapphire) - no trading is possible.

But, impressively, from Gen 3 all the way to the upcoming Sun and Moon, it's possible to trade Pokemon up from game to game. It isn't always a simple or user-friendly process, but it is doable This means that you'll be able to potentially battle with Pokemon you caught 13 years ago in Sun and Moon this fall. Pretty crazy.

Below is a chart that breaks down which Pokemon can be traded, by what method, and whether the trade is one-way or not. Of special interest is the Virtual Console version of the original Gen 1 games, which allow trading into Sun & Moon via the 3DS Pokemon Bank app. If Gen 2 hits the 3DS virtual console and contains similar Pokemon Bank support, it'll be the first time ever that all 700+ Pokemon could be caught in their original game and traded up all the way into the most current Pokemon release.

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