Why Can‘t You Transfer Items to Pokémon HOME?

In short, Pokémon HOME prohibits players from transferring any held items from previous Pokémon games to maintain competitive balance, encourage new gameplay, and due to technical limitations.

When transporting a Pokémon holding an item, the item simply returns to the bag of the original game. This prevents bringing over powered-up Pokémon or amassing excessive items in newer titles.

The Item Types Players Wish To Transfer

While no items can move to Pokémon HOME, players most often ask about transferring these valuable or sentimental held items:

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Developer Rationale On Restrictions

In an interview with GameInformer, Pokémon programmer Masao Taya provided direct insight into why item transfers are prohibited:

"Being able to bring a lot of items with Pokémon has the potential to disrupt the balance and enjoyment of the games by making things too easy or enabling players to exploit item duplication glitches."

Valid concerns given how radically gameplay can shift if players gain mass quantities of rare candies, TMs, or stat boosters.

Long-time designer Junichi Masuda also hinted at this balance perspective:

"We want each new generation to offer excitement in discovering new items and forming new battle strategies."

This philosophy encourages engaging with latest mechanics versus relying solely on existing advantages.

My Perspective as a Gaming Expert

As an avid Pokémon player for over 20 years, I agree with the restrictive approach for maintaining fair and engaging gameplay. Transferring hundreds of stored power-up items could undermine earning rewards or fully experiencing new regions.

That said, the outright ban feels excessive when some basic items could transfer without dramatically shifting balance. Players invest so much time obtaining special Poké Ball variants, evolution stones, and minor stat boosts. Losing these connections feels disappointing.

Suggestions To Allow Some Transfers

Here are potential options to enable selective item transfers in future Pokémon HOME versions:

• Item Lock Feature: Players could mark certain quantities of key items as transferrable or non-transferrable. This allows custom limits.
• Earned Item Transfers: Basic items obtained through gameplay itself like evolution stones or specialty Poké Balls could move over. Protects balance while allowing transfers.
• Rotation Of Items: The Pokémon Company could rotate which SELECT items transfer each generation, so no one category persists forever.

Careful rules around transfer quantities, item types, and frequencies would maintain competitive balance while granting some convenience.

Conclusion

In closing, Pokémon HOME blocks all item transfers to preserve gameplay integrity, incentive to play new titles, and to overcome technical barriers. Players wish to carry over valuable held items for convenience and sentimental value.

Potential middle ground solutions exist to enable selective transfers in future updates, but likely restrictions remain in place for most excessively powerful competitive items. Finding the right balance stands critical.