Pokemon GO Trainers have been able to transfer certain creatures over to other games for some time now, but the monster and title selections have been rather limited. As of today, Niantic's mobile hit is fully compatible with Pokemon Home, which means players are now free of those restrictions.
Until now, players have only had the option of transferring Generation 1 Pokemon over from Pokemon GO to Pokemon Let's GO Eevee/Pikachu. With full Pokemon Home connectivity now available, players will be able to send their favorite Pokemon GO teammates over to the latest games in the series, Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Aside from full connectivity between Pokemon GO and Home, this update comes with the gift of a free Melmetal. Pokemon Trainers will receive a free Melmetal, capable of Gigantamaxing, upon their first transfer from Pokemon GO to Pokemon Home.
Pokemon Trainers must use Mystery Gift on the mobile version of Pokemon Home to redeem the free Melmetal, but aside from downloading the app and making a Pokemon transfer, there are no added steps. If there isn't any particular teammate players would like to transfer, Pokemon Trainers can simply catch a random common Pokemon in Pokemon GO and transfer it away; any Pokemon will trigger the reward.
Meltan and its evolution, Melmetal, are the Steel-type Mythical Pokemon featured in Generation 8. Meltan was originally introduced by Pokemon GO as a mysterious metallic Pokemon that was spotted by Professor Willow. Trainers have been able to catch the elusive Pokemon in Pokemon GO by using a "Mystery Box" that functions as an Incense. However, the Mystery Box can only be obtained by connecting with a copy of Pokemon Sword and Shield, and must be recharged after use by re-connecting to a copy of either game.
Meltan and Melmetal's Shiny forms were also made available upon their initial release, but it has since been locked away. At the moment, Pokemon Trainers can only obtain Shiny Meltan during special events. Although the Mythical Pokemon and its Shiny form have been around for over a year now, Gigantamax Melmetal has remained unspoken for since Sword and Shield's release. Players have known of its existence, but there has been no legitimate way to obtain a Gigantamax Melmetal up until now. Even Pokemon Trainers looking forward to Max Soup in The Crown Tundra DLC were disappointed to discover that Melmetal is unaffected by the wholesome stew - only Melmetal received via Mystery Gift from this event are capable of Gigantamaxing.
Melmetal aside, many Pokemon Trainers are simply rejoicing the ability to ferry their precious Shiny Pokemon over from GO to one of the "main" series titles, like Sword or Shield. Pokemon GO hosts monthly Community Days that feature swarms of Shiny Pokemon, so players often find themselves with too many copies of Shiny Pokemon that they just can't bear to transfer away. Now, players can free up their GO inventories and put those Shiny, or Legendary Pokemon, to use on their Galarian adventures.
Pokemon GO is available now on the App Store and Google Play.
Source: The Pokemon Company