Pikachu hears the news

Boxing Day was an odd day in the world of Nintendo Downloads. Issues with the Nintendo Network continued, while Nintendo disabled Pokémon Bank and withdrew it from the eShop in Japan; it emerged that the launch of the app on 25th December in the company's homeland had contributed to the issues we've encountered.

Nintendo of America also failed to update its press page with the region's download update information, yet despite the ongoing eShop issues the information did appear as a press release on a PR-centric business website. You can see the Nintendo Download Americas information here, but unsurprisingly one detail has proven incorrect. As we suggested may have been the case due to its issues in Japan, Nintendo has now officially delayed the release of Pokémon Bank in the West — both Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe have posted the following message.

Release of Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter postponed due to a large volume of traffic to the Nintendo Network service

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International have postponed the launch of Pokémon Bank and Poké Transporter – two software applications that were originally scheduled to launch for Nintendo 3DS on Dec. 27 – due to a large volume of traffic to the Nintendo Network service. Due to the high traffic, players are having trouble setting up Nintendo Network IDs and downloading content in the Nintendo eShop on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. We truly regret the inconvenience, and wish to reassure everyone that providing a solution is our top priority. We apologise for the delay and thank you for your continued patience.

We've recently been able to access both the 3DS and Wii U eShop platforms on our UK systems for the first time since 25th December, and the updated eShop content is in place.

The Nintendo Network Status pages are still reporting ongoing issues with eShop access, so once the company gives the all-clear we'll update our original article.

Are you disappointed with this delay to the Pokémon X & Y online app?

Thanks to Jack Treese for the heads up.