Pokemon Home Brings a Few Starters Back to Sword and Shield, but Fans Still Miss Their Totodiles and Chimchars

Today's release of Pokemon Home has players charging up their 3DS systems and mulling over what they can and should transfer through to Sword and Shield. It's the first time a select handful of older Pokemon have been available in the latest games. Still, for some players, the advent of Pokemon Home makes some Galar region no-shows that much harder to bear, especially starter Pokemon from generations past.

Pokemon Home is the new cloud storage app for mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch that lets players transfer certain Pokemon from titles compatible with the Pokemon Bank service, as well Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee, into Sword and Shield. Support in Home for transfers from Pokemon Go is also coming at a later date. The good news for fans of the Kanto and Alola region starters is that all of those Pokemon can now be brought over to the Galar region.

Starters from Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos, though—as well as the few hundred other Pokemon not included in the Galar Pokedex—can only be stored in Pokemon Home at the moment. It's possible that some or all of them will be added to Sword and Shield with the DLC updates later this year, which Game Freak promises will add over 200 returning and "well-known" Pokemon, but no starters are amongst the list of confirmed comebacks so far.

Considering that Pokemon Home gifts players one Kanto starter just for downloading the mobile app, it's no wonder that other starters are near the top of many fans' wishlists. Sword and Shield even had a way to get a Charmander before Pokemon Home, so for folks whose favorites come from generations 2-6, the wait to find out if they're coming might feel like it just got a bit harder.

Still, having access to more Pokemon now is better than having to wait until the first DLC drops in June. The full list of newly-available Pokemon in Sword and Shield, compiled by Serebii.net, also includes some regional forms, a handful of Pikachus sporting Ash's various hats, and the Alola region's star Legendaries.

For more on Pokemon Home, check out USG's guides to moving Pokemon between games, accessing the Global Trade System, and Home's full list of features.