One of the most unique things about Pokemon has always been the ability to transfer your pocket monsters between different hardware generations and across 30 years of games. Now, with Pokemon Bank’s impending shutdown next year, one modder has created a working adapter to move creatures from the GBA to the Switch.
The Pokemon Company recently announced that Pokemon Bank is ending service on February 26, 2027. That means several life-long Pokemons could be permanently stranded on the Nintendo 3DS in a few months time – five Pokemon will also be completely unobtainable – but not if modders have anything to say about it.
On Twitter, modder and game dev Drewworks showed off their very impressive homebrew solution in the form of a working GBA-to-Switch trade adapter. “Still plenty of work ahead, but seeing a real GBA communicate and trade with the Switch is pretty incredible,” the modder writes. (Good spot, GoNintendo.)
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Trading Pokémon between an original GBA and a Switch 2 😎😲My GBA-to-Switch trade adapter is working!Still plenty of work ahead, but seeing a real GBA communicate and trade with the Switch is pretty incredible.#Pokemon #GBA #Switch2 pic.twitter.com/W09ELMBCM3September 3, 2026
The video above even shows the GBA actively interacting with a Switch 2 console, while Drewworks trades creatures across two different generations of Nintendo hardware. That one random Pokemon NPC was right, technology is incredible.
Cooking up a DIY GBA-to-Switch adapter won’t be an easy solution for most players who want to keep bringing older Pokemons into the modern era, of course, but I imagine quite a few hobbyist modders might jump aboard the trend in the coming months.
In other news, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s Switch ports will become compatible with Pokemon HOME next year as well. Pokemon Winds and Waves is also set to come out sometime in 2027.
