Pokémon Bank and Hacked Pokémon

by

pokejungle’s note: We do NOT condone hacking Pokémon, views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer. Any links to hacking sites or software will be removed in the comments. This article is for discussion about the topic only and is not meant in any way to encourage activities which are contrary to the way GameFreak has designed.

Many individuals speculated upon the initial release of Pokémon Bank was that the reason why it was delayed for so long was that it A.) had a ridiculous server load and B.) Didn’t come close to stopping hacked ‘mons. Well, Game Freak finally released it in the west with some impressive results; the servers run (relatively) smooth and there are plenty of checks to block hacked Pokémon from entering. Does it work? Yeah, and it does a decent job. Is it perfect? Far from it.

Why I Hack

I’m a Pokemon hacker. Yes, I admit it. I’ve been hacking ‘mons since the days of Ruby and Sapphire (I only played the rom and never owned a GBA). I’ve never had events readily available until recently, so Pokémon like Deoxys and Darkrai were never in my PC box. Having all three starters was a far stretch of a possibility, as was filling the Pokédex by the means of trading. I used Action Replays and (only recently) programs like Pokégen to experiment with teams and play with some of the more elusive Pokémon in-game. Never have I hacked abilities, moves, and IVs to create some impossible Pokémon to abuse online. I just do it for the fun solo gaming experience and to test out some new teams combinations without the time constraint that often plagues EV training and move breeding.

When Pokémon Bank announced that they would block hacked Pokémon from their servers, I was a bit distressed. How will I manage to obtain the starters without spending time replaying old games and stalking the trade boards? What about all of the cool events that I’ve missed in the past like Shaymin and Keldeo? I immediately started searching online just to see how well this hack blocking worked. If there’s a will, there’s a way, right?

The Hacking Check

It turns out that there is a hacking check in Transporter and in Bank. If you try to transfer a hacked Pokémon like, say, a Shiny Chimchar with perfect nature and maxed out IVs, it will probably be flagged because the chances of obtaining one of that quality are outstandingly low (obviously hacked abilities and moves sets that the original Pokémon can’t learn will be flagged as well). However, if you decide to be modest with the IVs, maybe forego the shiny coloring and tweak the the location / date met, it’ll probably bypass the check. It’s a bit tricky, especially with event Pokémon, but there are sites out there like Pokédit and programs such as Pokégen that have special event Pokémon that are specifically built to bypass any anti-hacking programs. And, as far as I know, these Pokémon can be used online in battles. I haven’t tested these boundaries fully, but I have used a hacked event Meloetta in an online battle to see if it would work, and it passed through easily.

Exceptions

The chances of getting a shiny with perfect stats is low, but not impossible, right? This is a problem that the few lucky trainers out there have been experiencing. I’ve been carousing a few message boards for information and theories of how the hack check works and have found a number of individuals who actually did receive a perfect shiny starter. They did legitimately catch that Shiny Modest Kyogre and it did happen to have amazing IVs. Well, Pokémon Bank flagged their precious teammates as hacked when they were apparently legitimate. I don’t know how honest those few people are, but I recall reading more than one incident of legit Pokémon not being able to be transferring. I suppose that Gamefreak needed to add a no-exception policy as to rule out the numerous hacks out there that ruin the delicate balance of the game. Unfortunately, this does affect those very small few who were actually lucky enough to obtain these excellent Pokémon legitimately. I guess Gamefreak was willing to make this sacrifice. From the looks of it, the fans haven’t been too horribly upset as it seems like a lot of them were only transferring these Pokémon for the sake of transferring them and don’t actually use them in battle, but I’m sure it’s pissed off its share of players.

So, to put it simply, Gamefreak makes a solid attempt to limit the amount of hacking that has overrun the late Pokémon games, but in the end it still exists. It will probably always exist – with new technology comes new loopholes for people to discover and exploit. Hopefully these loopholes will not affect the metagame too much, but I do appreciate the additional accessibility that these sites and services provide!

What do you think about hacking? For it? Against it? Leave your (constructive) feedback below with your personal opinion.

[poll id=”72″]

– Mr. Bojingles

Supporters

Nick F

Smearg

Foil Island

Conglome NERD

alcremie sundae

Radiant Blutle

Zachery

Dragoniteo

Austin John Plays

Help support our work by becoming a Patron on Patreon! Swadloon Platoon members and above will be added to our site supporters list!

2,369 thoughts on “Pokémon Bank and Hacked Pokémon”

  8. Guys I just remembered something that debunks the whole religious war theory between Kalos and a “German” region. (Of course, game freak could have just chosen to represent Lumiose city with modern Paris, rather than the bacteria-ridden, unsanitary, and barricaded Paris of the 17th and 18th centuries.)

    Paris. You know the whole nice and winding boulevards and stuff? And the Eiffel Tower? These changes occurred in the 19th century, during the time of the 2nd French Republic (under the rule of Napoleon III), long after the religious wars in Europe.

    However, this does not mean that the next region isn’t based on Germany. Instead, I believe the Kalos wars could be either:

    a. The Franco Prussian War in the 1870’s; after Germany was already partly unified, it invaded France, sieged Paris, and established the 3rd French Republic. Also, afterwards France literally fought itself (another gov. had been established in Paris that claimed it was the legitimate government)

    b. World War I; here, Germany intended to fight France through neutral Belgium and capture Paris. Germany, for a while, had also been trying to isolate France from the other Eu. states through the alliance system. Tensions had also been rising in the German’s establishment of colonies and rising industrial power.

    c. World War II; This seems to make the most sense to me. Again, Germany invaded France (and actually succeeded). Remember that whole war that was mentioned in Gen I? You know, the one about how Kanto fought in “World War II” (because Japan had also done so). Maybe Kalos was a part of it too? This also makes sense because the war partly happened in France (iirc, in x/y it states that the Kalos wars were fought in France). Also, the Ultimate Weapon could symbolize the Atomic Bomb (even though it wasn’t used in Europe during WWII)

    Reply

    • definitely the franco war… here goes someone’s theory that backs up yours. I take no credit for it though

      due to the fact that Kalos is based on France and the location and architecture of the Parfum Palace is recognisable as the Palace of Versailles, let’s look into some French history shall we? According to Wikipedia the Palace of Versailles is a symbol of absolute monarchy which means that one individual has unlimited power in his owned territory. So in this case we are referring to a King! And who started to order build the Palace of Versailles? Louis the thirteenth. But when he died in 1643 his successor Louis the fourteenth expanded the build and in 1697 the outer build was completed. The sole purpose was, like in Pokemon X and Y, for the King to emphasise his authority and power.

      So what does this knowledge have to do with finding out where the new region will take place? Well if we have found even a minor link to “our world” then maybe we will find more clues! In the Parfum Palace you will find a tourist who explains when the castle was built! “This castle was built after Kalos won a war with neighbouring regions.” Well if we can confirm the official completion year was around 300 years ago for the Palace of Versailles and for the Parfum Palace, maybe there was a war in that small timeline? And there was. It really depends how one defines the completion date of the Palace of Versailles. If the outer date is true (1697) then we must analyse the “Brulez le Palatinat” a massive slaughter which takes place on south-west Germany or an earlier victory of 1678 the “Franco-Dutch War” which soon escalates into a European War including Germany as well. If we where to state the interior completion date to be true (1710) then we’ll have to look at the “War of Spanish Succession”. But this isn’t necessary! The French succeeded in the “Brulez le Palatinat” and “Franco-Dutch War”, but lost the “War of Spanish Succession”. Because the two palaces where built after victories and successful kings, it wouldn’t make any sense! So our clue lies in either the Netherlands or Germany…

      Well to answer the question we must hop back to the Kalos region and wander from town to town. In many towns you will find a Hotel. In the second floor you might be lucky and find a backpacker! Now he says something rather interesting: “The Kalos region is nice and all, but you should really check out my region!” Well to be honest that doesn’t prove anything now does it? But let’s pay attention to his clothing! His hair is black, his shirt is red and his backpack is yellow… That could be the description of either a Belgian or a German flag. But because the order is corresponding from top to bottom on the same order as the German flag, we could conclude that this is a referral to Germany!!! Not only that but geographically it makes sense also! If the war which is mentioned by the tourist is between neighbouring regions then the “Franco-Dutch War”

      Reply

  20. also to those with awesome flygons, what ev spread did you put on it? scarf while being adamant? jolly with choice band? cant tell which it is

    Reply

  24. What if the next region is split into two?
    Like to the northeast would be the Germany Region, but then there would be a southeast path to a Region based on Italy!
    They are the biggest countries in that region after all.
    But wait, what if the Germany and Italy regions were combined, with a mountain rising from the center surrounded by water on three sides, like a peninsula. And that would be a big part of the storyline.
    Or also, there could be a “mainland” in the middle where you could meet your friends on your friend list if you are both online.
    Just picture it.
    ——- Germany based region
    Kalos —-water—–
    ——- Italy based bottom part of region.

    Reply

Leave a Comment