Pokemon fans revive old, official "Rescue Team" initiative to help players free 23-year-old GBA 'mons from their Gen 3 prisons – and beyond – and get them on Switch

Transferring your beloved Pokemon up from the older games and into the newest ones has become increasingly difficult over time, and one group of fans is unofficially reviving an old Pokemon Company "Rescue Team" initiative in order to help.

If you hear the phrase "Pokemon Rescue" team, your mind might jump to the Mystery Dungeon spin-off games, but it was also the name of an official event held in Japan in 2017 to help Pokemon fans transfer their 'mons from their old games to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon – the newest installments at the time.

There were even trailers depicting a team of people acting like paramedics, showing up at players' homes and digging out their old games before dramatically running back to their van to start the Pokemon transfer process and reunite the 'mons with their trainers in the latest games.

That event, held in Japan's Pokemon Center Skytree Town, has obviously been and gone, and YouTube trailer uploads don't even exist anymore from official channels (although people have kept track of them here), but that's not stopping fans from bringing it back themselves. "In 2017, TPCi formed the Pokemon Rescue Team to help players save their Pokemon from older games. We haven't heard from them since DEXIT," Pokemon content creator Professor Rex writes on Twitter, referring to the controversy of Pokemon Sword and Shield not allowing you to own the entire National Pokedex of 'mons for the first time in the series.

"Now, in 2025, we have BROUGHT IT BACK!" Professor Rex continues. "Bring any Pokemon game to Worlds in Anaheim and we will help you bring it HOME. [...] We will help you rescue any Pokemon from Gen 3 right up to the Switch!"

Although the service will only be available to those attending this year's Pokemon World Championships, there's a reason for that – the massive stack of hardware required to do a big transfer. Let's say you've got a Mudkip in Emerald that you want on your Switch 2. You'd need a regular Nintendo DS or DS Lite to transfer it from Gen 3 to Gen 4's Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, or SoulSilver. After that, you'd need to have a second DS or 3DS family console to transfer up to Black, White, Black 2, or White 2. Then, you'd need a 3DS family console with both Pokemon Bank and Pokemon Transporter installed to move Mudkip into Bank, an app that's no longer even officially available, and then a smart device or Switch/Switch 2 handy to then transfer to Pokemon Home from there.

Got all that? Well, it doesn't matter if you don't, because like with the original Japan-based event, the Pokemon Rescue Team has everything you could possibly need – they've even displayed it in a first aid-esque case mimicking the one seen in those old trailers.

On top of that, the Rescue Team will even be distributing certain old downloadable events, such as the Eon Ticket (used to catch either Latios or Latias, depending on whether you're playing Ruby, Sapphire, or their remakes), and helping fans fill out their Pokedex, too. "Have a Pokemon you've always wanted to catch but didn't have the games to do so? We will have just about everything you could need to obtain any repeatable Pokemon - please reach out via DM if you'd like to plan to catch a specific Pokemon," Professor Rex adds.

All in all, it's a really cool community-led effort, and even if not everyone will be able to make it to the event in California (which itself runs between August 15 and 17), hopefully this might inspire more people to set up their own Rescue Teams. Just how many old friends will they be able to rescue next week?

While you're here, be sure to check out our roundup of the best Pokemon games.