Nintendo's 3DS and Wii U stores are now closed, taking access to a lot of games along with them if you didn't already own them. That wasn't supposed to include Pokemon Bank as its creators assured users it would continue to function. However, those who tested Bank and its Poke Transporter in the early hours of Tuesday morning have discovered something isn't right.
Pokemon Bank is a hub on the 3DS in which trainers have been able to keep Pokemon from as far back as gen three, and even gens one and two through the virtual console, using its Transporter to bring them to modern games and onto the Switch through Pokemon Home. However, it appears those with an expired subscription at the time the 3DS store went down have been locked out.
Bank users have previously needed to pay to use it, but The Pokemon Company revealed it would be free for all after the 3DS store closed. That naturally led many to let their subscriptions expire. However, a number of people are being met with a “your pass for Pokemon Bank has expired so you can't use Poke Transporter” message.
It seems the few who did have an active subscription when the 3DS store closed are still able to access the Poke Transporter. In fact, there even appears to have been confirmation that this was all one big bug and not an unfortunate miscommunication. According to Serebii's Joe Merrick, the bug has now been fixed and everyone, whether you had an active Bank subscription when the 3DS store shut down or not, should be able to access and use the Poke Transporter.
Even though the stores are closed, Bank and the Poke Transporter are big reasons why the 3DS will continue to remain relevant. Currently still the only link between the Pokemon games available on Switch and everything to have come before them. Hopefully older Pokemon games will eventually be added to the NSO library.