A local bank system for Pokemon games on Nintendo Switch. Move Pokemon between your save files and local bank storage.
This software is provided "as-is" without any warranty.
While the app has been tested, it may contain bugs that could corrupt or damage your save files.
Use at your own risk.
The author is not responsible for any data loss or damage to your save data.
This is why the automatic backup system exists — always verify your backups before making changes.
If you need to restore a backup, use a save manager such as Checkpoint or JKSV to import the backup files back onto your Switch.
| Game | Tested Version | Save Format | Boxes | Slots/Box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu | 1.0.2 | BEEF blocks (savedata.bin) |
40 | 25 |
| Pokemon Let's Go Eevee | 1.0.2 | BEEF blocks (savedata.bin) |
40 | 25 |
| Pokemon Sword | 1.3.2 | SCBlock (main) |
32 | 30 |
| Pokemon Shield | 1.3.2 | SCBlock (main) |
32 | 30 |
| Pokemon Brilliant Diamond | 1.3.0 | Flat binary (SaveData.bin) |
40 | 30 |
| Pokemon Shining Pearl | 1.3.0 | Flat binary (SaveData.bin) |
40 | 30 |
| Pokemon Legends: Arceus | 1.1.1 | SCBlock (main) |
32 | 30 |
| Pokemon Scarlet | 4.0.0 | SCBlock (main) |
32 | 30 |
| Pokemon Violet | 4.0.0 | SCBlock (main) |
32 | 30 |
| Pokemon Legends: Z-A | 2.0.2 | SCBlock (main) |
32 | 30 |
| Pokemon FireRed | 1.0.0 | GBA sectors (FireRed_*.sav) |
14 | 30 |
| Pokemon LeafGreen | 1.0.0 | GBA sectors (LeafGreen_*.sav) |
14 | 30 |
All regional versions of FireRed / LeafGreen are supported: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. The save file format is identical across all languages — only the title ID and save filename differ.
Note: Moving Pokemon between different games is not supported. Banks are separated by game family because transferred Pokemon would lack the HOME Tracker ID required for cross-game compatibility.
On Switch, pkHouse loads all user profiles from the system.
Select your profile, then choose a game.
The app detects which games have save data for the selected profile.
Your profile name is shown alongside the game name in all views.
In title override mode, the main view displays your game save on the left and your bank on the right, side by side.
In applet mode (bank-only), both panels show banks, allowing bank-to-bank transfers.
Navigate freely between both panels to move Pokemon back and forth.
Browse banks across all your games from a single screen. On the game selector, navigate below the game cards to the "View All Banks" option.
Banks are displayed in a grouped list organized by game family (e.g. "Sword / Shield", "Scarlet / Violet"), in the same order as the game cards.
Selecting a bank opens it in dual-bank mode — no save file needed. After picking your first bank, you're prompted to pick a second bank from the same game for side-by-side management.
Press A on a Pokemon to pick it up, navigate to any slot (in either panel), and press A again to place it.
Placing on an occupied slot swaps the two Pokemon.
Press B to cancel and return the Pokemon to its original slot.
Press X while holding Pokemon to delete them (with confirmation). Useful for clearing boxes of rejected eggs.
There are three ways to select Pokemon:
- Tap Y on individual Pokemon to toggle selection one by one.
- Hold Y + D-Pad to draw a rectangular selection across multiple slots at once.
- Double-tap Y to select all Pokemon in the current box (shown in green).
Only occupied slots are selected. Selected slots display a numbered badge showing the pick-up order.
Press A to pick up all selected Pokemon, then navigate to another box and press A to place them.
Regular selections (cyan) place Pokemon into the first available empty slots.
"Select all" selections (green) preserve original positions — each Pokemon is placed at the same slot index in the target box. All matching slots must be empty.
Press B to cancel and return all Pokemon to their original positions.
Selection is cleared when switching boxes or panels.
Press ZL to open a box overview of all save boxes, or ZR for all bank boxes.
Navigate the grid with the D-Pad. A semi-transparent preview of the highlighted box's contents (Pokemon sprites) appears as you move.
Press A to jump directly to that box, Y to rename the box (bank boxes only, max 16 characters), or B to cancel.
Press X on any Pokemon to view detailed information:
- Catch ball icon and species name, level, gender
- National Pokedex number
- Original Trainer (OT) and Trainer ID
- Nature and Ability
- Held item (or "---" if none)
- All 4 moves with type icons (2x2 grid layout)
- IVs displayed as a hexagonal radar chart (perfect 31s highlighted in gold)
- EVs displayed as a hexagonal radar chart
- Ribbons and marks (displayed as sprite icons with names)
- Technical data: PID, EC, raw TID/SID, and TSV
Sprites are form-aware — alternate forms like Alolan, Galarian, Hisuian, Paldean, Origin, Therian, and many others display their correct sprite.
Shiny Pokemon use their shiny color sprites. Both apply everywhere: box grid, detail popup, held overlay, box view preview, and wondercard list.
If a form or shiny sprite is not available, the base sprite is used as fallback.
Shiny names are displayed in gold.
Alpha Pokemon (Legends: Arceus / Z-A) show a dedicated icon.
Use L/R in the detail view to navigate to the next or previous non-empty slot without closing the popup.
Banks are local .bin files stored per game family. Paired games share the same bank folder, so you can move Pokemon between versions (e.g. Sword and Shield).
| Game Family | Bank Folder |
|---|---|
| Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee | banks/LetsGo/ |
| Sword / Shield | banks/SwordShield/ |
| Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl | banks/BDSP/ |
| Legends: Arceus | banks/LegendsArceus/ |
| Scarlet / Violet | banks/ScarletViolet/ |
| Legends: Z-A | banks/LegendsZA/ |
| FireRed / LeafGreen | banks/FireRedLeafGreen/ |
From the bank selector you can:
- Create a new bank (up to 32-character name). On Switch, available SD card space is checked before creating — if there isn't enough room, an error is shown.
- Rename an existing bank
- Delete a bank (with confirmation)
Each bank has the same box capacity as its game family (32 or 40 boxes).
The bank list shows the number of occupied slots for each bank.
You can switch between banks from the main view via the menu. Both the save and bank are saved together before switching to prevent data inconsistency.
If no other bank is available when switching, the app offers to create a new one directly.
You cannot delete a bank that is currently loaded.
When loading a game save on Switch, an automatic backup is created before any modifications:
backups/<profile>/<game>/<profile>_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS/
This is a full copy of the mounted save directory.
The backup is only created once when initially selecting a game — switching banks does not trigger additional backups.
Before backing up, the app checks available SD card space. If there isn't enough free space (2x the save size), a warning is shown with the option to continue without a backup or cancel. If the backup itself fails, you'll see a similar prompt before proceeding.
pkHouse includes 7 color themes:
| Theme | Style |
|---|---|
| Default | Dark blue-gray (original) |
| HOME | Light pastels inspired by Pokemon HOME |
| HOME - Violet | Purple/lavender tones from HOME's Pokedex |
| HOME - Blue | Blue palette from HOME's GTS |
| HOME - Green | Green variant of the HOME style |
| HOME - Red | Red variant of the HOME style |
| Pikachu | Yellow and brown Pikachu colors |
Change themes from the menu (+ button) in the main view, or press Y on the profile/game selection screens.
A live preview is applied as you scroll through the list. Press A to confirm or B to cancel and revert.
Your theme choice is saved automatically and persists across sessions.
Search for Pokemon across both panels (save and bank) using the menu (+ button → Search).
Available filters:
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Species | Alphabetical picker — select a letter, then choose from species available in the current game (with sprites). Letters with no matching species are dimmed and skipped. |
| OT Name | Text search (substring, case-insensitive) |
| Shiny | Toggle to match shiny Pokemon only |
| Egg | Toggle to match eggs only |
| Alpha | Toggle to match alpha Pokemon only (Legends: Arceus / Z-A only) |
| Gender | Cycle: Any / Male / Female / Genderless |
| Level | Min and max level range |
| Perfect IVs | Off / 1+ (at least one 31 IV) / 6IV (all 31) |
| Ribbons/Marks | Off / Has Ribbon / Has Mark / Has Any |
Two result modes are available (selectable in the filter with Left/Right, defaults to Highlight):
- Highlight (default): Returns to the box view with matching Pokemon outlined in color and non-matching Pokemon dimmed. The highlight follows Pokemon as you move them between slots. In box view (ZL/ZR), boxes containing matches are outlined and matching slots are highlighted in the preview. Press B to clear highlights, or open the menu to start a new search.
- List: Results are shown as a scrollable list with status badges ([S] shiny, [A] alpha, [E] egg), species name, level, gender, and location. Press A to jump directly to a result in the box view, L/R to skip 10 results (hold to auto-repeat), X to go back and adjust filters, or B to close.
Inject event wondercard files directly into your save as fully formed Pokemon. Access from the menu (+ button → Wondercard).
Place wondercard files in the corresponding folder on your SD card:
| Game Family | Folder | File Extension |
|---|---|---|
| Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee | wondercards/LetsGo/ |
.wb7 / .wb7full |
| Sword / Shield | wondercards/SwordShield/ |
.wc8 |
| Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl | wondercards/BDSP/ |
.wb8 |
| Legends: Arceus | wondercards/LegendsArceus/ |
.wa8 |
| Scarlet / Violet | wondercards/ScarletViolet/ |
.wc9 |
| Legends: Z-A | wondercards/LegendsZA/ |
.wa9 |
The wondercard list shows each card's species, level, and shiny status. Select a card and press A to inject it into the currently selected box slot.
The injected Pokemon is fully generated from the wondercard data — PID, IVs, nature, ability, moves, OT, and all metadata are set according to the event's rules, matching official distribution behavior.
Wondercard files can be downloaded from the Project Pokemon EventsGallery repository.
When transferring Pokemon from a bank to a save file, the Pokedex is automatically updated to register the Pokemon as caught. This solves the issue where version-exclusive Pokemon transferred between paired games would not appear in the Pokedex.
| Game Family | What gets registered |
|---|---|
| Scarlet / Violet (+ DLCs) | Caught, seen, heard, gender, language (Pokemon + save), shiny, display, neighbor discovery |
| Sword / Shield (+ DLCs) | Caught, seen (all gender/shiny regions), language, display, battled count, Gigantamax, Alcremie forms, Eternatus |
| Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl | Caught, gender, shiny, language, alternate form tracking (Unown, Rotom, Arceus, etc.) |
| Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee | Caught, seen, display, language, size tracking (height/weight), capture count |
| FireRed / LeafGreen | Caught, seen (with all 3 copy sync), Unown/Spinda PID |
Legends: Arceus and Legends: Z-A are excluded from auto-registration as all Pokemon are obtainable in a single playthrough without trading.
Pokedex completion rewards (Shiny Charm, diplomas) are triggered by the in-game NPC when the dex is complete.
Export Pokemon as decrypted .pk files compatible with PKHeX. Access from the detail view (single export) or the menu (batch export of selected Pokemon).
Exported files are saved to:
export/<GameFamily>/<filename>
Filenames follow the PKHeX naming convention: game tag, national dex number, form name, status flags ([S]hiny/[A]lpha/[E]gg), species name, and checksum.
| Game Family | File Extension |
|---|---|
| Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee | .pb7 |
| Sword / Shield | .pk8 |
| Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl | .pb8 |
| Legends: Arceus | .pa8 |
| Scarlet / Violet | .pk9 |
| Legends: Z-A | .pa9 |
| FireRed / LeafGreen | .pk3 |
The controller notification LED blinks during save and backup operations (save writes, bank saves, backup creation) to provide visual feedback that data is being written.
- Standard / OLED Switch: The Joy-Con or Pro Controller LED pulses briefly during writes.
- Switch Lite: The built-in motherboard notification LED lights up during writes and turns off when the operation completes.
This works automatically with no configuration required.
To disable the LED Indicator, place a
noled.cfgfile in the pkHouse folder (next to the NRO). Remove it to re-enable. The file can be empty — only its presence is checked.
- SCBlock saves (ZA, SV, SwSh, PLA): Decrypted, modified, and re-encrypted. A round-trip verification runs on load to confirm the cycle is lossless.
- BDSP saves: Flat binary with MD5 checksum, recalculated on every save.
- LGPE saves: BEEF block format with CRC16 checksums, recalculated on every save. Storage is compacted before writing.
- FRLG saves: GBA sector-based format (128KB, two save slots). CheckSum32 recalculated per sector on save. Both slots are updated.
- All saves are written in-place to preserve the Switch filesystem journal.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| D-Pad Left/Right | Navigate profiles |
| A | Select profile |
| Y | Theme selector |
| - | About |
| + | Quit |
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| D-Pad | Navigate game grid, chevron buttons, and "View All Banks" option |
| A | Select game / Change page / View All Banks |
| L / R | Previous / Next page |
| B | Back to profile selector |
| Y | Theme selector |
| - | About |
| + | Quit |
When more than 12 games are available, the game selector is paginated. Use L/R or navigate to the chevron buttons on either side to switch pages.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| D-Pad Up/Down | Navigate bank list |
| A | Open bank |
| Y | Create new bank |
| X | Rename bank |
| + | Delete bank |
| B | Back (main view if bank loaded, otherwise game selector) |
| - | About |
When switching banks, the selector appears on the side being switched while the other panel remains visible.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| D-Pad | Move cursor |
| L / R | Switch box (hold to repeat) |
| ZL / ZR | Box view (save / bank) |
| A | Pick up / Place Pokemon |
| B | Cancel / Return held Pokemon |
| Y | Toggle multi-select |
| X | View Pokemon details / Delete held Pokemon / Export (in detail view) |
| + | Open menu |
| - | About |
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Theme | Open the theme selector |
| Search | Search for Pokemon across both panels |
| Wondercard | Inject event wondercards as Pokemon (supported games only) |
| Export Selected | Export selected Pokemon as .pk files (shown when Pokemon are selected) |
| Switch Bank | Save game and bank, return to bank selector |
| Change Game | Save everything, return to game selector |
| Save & Quit | Save everything and exit |
| Quit Without Saving | Exit without saving changes |
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Theme | Open the theme selector |
| Search | Search for Pokemon across both panels |
| Wondercard | Inject event wondercards as Pokemon (supported games only) |
| Export Selected | Export selected Pokemon as .pk files (shown when Pokemon are selected) |
| Switch Left Bank | Save both banks, switch the left bank |
| Switch Right Bank | Save both banks, switch the right bank |
| Change Game | Save both banks, return to game selector |
| Save Banks | Save both banks |
| Quit | Exit |
- devkitPro with the devkitA64 toolchain
- Switch portlibs: SDL2, SDL2_image, SDL2_ttf
dkp-pacman -S switch-sdl2 switch-sdl2_image switch-sdl2_ttf switch-freetype switch-harfbuzzexport DEVKITPRO=/opt/devkitpro
make allProduces pkHouse.nro.
make cleanPlace pkHouse.nro on your Switch SD card (sdmc:/switch/pkHouse/) and launch via a homebrew launcher.
- Title override mode: Full access — game save on the left, bank on the right. Requires launching through a game title.
- Applet mode (album/homebrew menu): Bank-only access — two banks side by side for bank-to-bank transfers. Save data is not accessible in this mode. Use title override mode to transfer Pokemon between your save and a bank.
