How to Transfer Pokémon From FireRed and LeafGreen to Pokémon HOME (Before Bank Closes in Feb 2027)

On October 7, Pokémon HOME finally opened its doors to FireRed and LeafGreen — the Game Boy Advance remakes that launched 22 years ago. The transfer is one-way and irreversible, so it's worth getting the rules straight before you move anything. And if your real collection is still sitting in Pokémon Bank, there's a second deadline that matters more: the Bank-to-HOME bridge closes on February 26, 2027.

What changed on October 7

On October 7, 2026, Pokémon HOME went down for maintenance at 9:00 AM and came back as version 4.1.0 — with FireRed and LeafGreen connectivity switched on for both the Switch and mobile apps. The announcement had been telegraphed a month earlier by The Pokémon Company, but now it's real: the Switch re-releases of the 2004 Game Boy Advance remakes are finally part of the cloud-storage ecosystem.

Context matters here. The Switch ports of FireRed and LeafGreen moved over 4 million copies in a matter of weeks (per Nintendo's fiscal-year results, pushing the pair to roughly 16 million lifetime sales and a top-10 all-time spot in the franchise). All of that Kanto nostalgia has been sitting isolated — until now. The transfer flow itself is simple: update the game and the HOME app, open HOME, and deposit your Pokémon into your HOME boxes. They're removed from the game the moment they land. From HOME, you can push them forward into other titles in the series — Scarlet, Violet, Legends Z-A, and Champions (though for Champions, The Pokémon Company describes it as a "visit," so don't plan a permanent move there).

Two quieter changes came with the same update. Premium Plan subscribers can now store up to 9,000 Pokémon, up from 6,000, with no price change. And Pokémon caught in GO Safari Balls can finally move into HOME starting in October — they just show up in Strange Balls once they arrive.

How to move your Pokémon, step by step

There's no hidden menu or arcane ritual. Update both the game and Pokémon HOME to the latest versions first — the transfer option simply doesn't appear otherwise. Then:

• Open Pokémon HOME on your Switch and choose the "Move Pokémon" option.
• Select your FireRed or LeafGreen save from the list of linked games.
• Pick the Pokémon you want to transfer and confirm. They move into your HOME boxes and are removed from the game's storage.
• From HOME, send them onward to any compatible game — Scarlet, Violet, Legends Z-A, or Champions.

The Pokémon Company hasn't listed a Premium Plan as a requirement for moving Pokémon out of the games — the hard constraint is box space. That's why the 9,000-slot Premium bump matters: big collections hit the ceiling fast.

The rules that bite

This is the section to read twice before touching anything. The transfer is one-way in two directions at once, and The Pokémon Company was explicit about both:

• Once a Pokémon leaves FireRed or LeafGreen for another game, it can never return. This mirrors the old Virtual Console-to-Bank rule from the 3DS era, but it still catches people out — the move out of the game is permanent the moment you send it onward from HOME.
• No Pokémon from other games can enter FireRed or LeafGreen. Your Kanto team can't get reinforcements from Scarlet, and there's no trade-back loop to exploit.

So plan your boxes. If you want to keep a playable Kanto team on the Switch port, don't move the team — move duplicates. If you've been EV-training something since you were twelve, make sure its next destination is the game you actually intend to use it in, because there's no coming back.

The free Celebi is the real reward

Complete the Pokédex in either FireRed or LeafGreen and Pokémon HOME hands you a Mythical Pokémon: Celebi, delivered in the mobile version of HOME. The details from the announcement are specific — it arrives at level 50 with the Natural Cure ability, a Quirky nature, and the moveset Heal Bell, Leech Seed, Recover, and Safeguard.

Here's the part people miss: you don't need to transfer anything to earn it. Once HOME is connected, any Pokémon registered in your in-game Pokédex gets registered in HOME automatically. You can fill the gaps with HOME's GTS trades — which, given how few people own a complete living dex in a 2004 game, is probably the intended path for most players.

The bigger deadline: Pokémon Bank closes in February 2027

Buried in the same announcement was the sentence that made players angrier than anything about the new feature. The ability to transfer Pokémon from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME ends February 26, 2027. After that, Bank can no longer store, deposit, or withdraw Pokémon through the app — and anything still sitting in your Bank vault faces an uncertain fate.

This matters far more than the Switch-port news, because Bank is the only bridge left for your actual cartridges — the GBA, DS, and 3DS-era Pokémon that made the multi-console Pal Park journey over the years. When that bridge closes, those collections have no official road to the Switch at all. The 3DS eShop has been closed since December 2023, so nobody new can even download Bank anymore; the people affected are the ones who still have boxes full of old teams and assumed they had forever.

The stakes aren't abstract. Several Pokémon simply don't exist in the Gen 8 and Gen 9 games — Furfrou, Patrat, Watchog, and the elemental monkeys (Pansage, Pansear, Panpour and their evolutions) among them. Players who moved them into Bank years ago now have a hard deadline to bring them home. The reaction was predictable: one trainer wrote that the ability to carry childhood teams forward "has been one of the charms of Pokémon for years," and called ending it a horrible choice. Another pointed out they have four full Bank boxes and no room left in HOME to receive them — hence, presumably, the 9,000-slot bump arriving in the same update.

What to do this week

Two lists, depending on which Pokémon you care about:

Switch FireRed/LeafGreen players: update everything, move duplicates before your main team, and if you're close to a complete Pokédex, finish it — the Celebi is free and one-way transfers mean no second chances on the dex entries you trade away.

Anyone with old cartridges and a Bank account: you have until February 26, 2027, but don't treat it as generous. Open Bank now, inventory what you actually have, and start the Bank-to-HOME move in batches. Premium HOME's 9,000 slots exist precisely because so many people have been screaming about full boxes for years.

References

• Nintendo Life — Pokémon HOME FireRed & LeafGreen compatibility update arrives (maintenance Oct 7, 2026; HOME v4.1.0): nintendolife.com
• Nintendo Everything — Pokémon HOME details FireRed and LeafGreen support, Celebi reward, GTS note: nintendoeverything.com
• Siliconera — Pokémon HOME works with FireRed and LeafGreen Switch now (live Oct 7, 2026): siliconera.com
• games.gg — FireRed and LeafGreen compatibility date confirmed (one-way rules): games.gg
• games.gg — FireRed and LeafGreen join Pokémon's best-selling games list (4M+ Switch copies): games.gg
• GamingBible — Pokémon Bank shutting down, Feb 26, 2027 transfer cutoff: gamingbible.com