How to get Meltan and Melmetal in Pokémon Sword and Shield thanks to Pokémon Home

Thanks to Pokémon Home and some crazy, convoluted trading mechanics, trainers can finally get Meltan and Melmetal in Pokémon Sword and Shield—but it’ll require you to own another Pokémon game in the series.

Since Pokémon Go transfers aren’t available to Pokémon Home at time of writing, you’ll need to go through a long drawn-out process using the Let’s Go games to add these creatures to your teams.

First, you need to have captured a Meltan or Melmetal in Pokémon Go through the weird mystery box feature of the game and transferred either Pokémon to Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! on your Nintendo Switch.

Next, after opening Pokémon Home, you need to transfer that Meltan from the Let’s Go games into a Home box. Then, transfer it from Pokémon Home to Sword and Shield, where you’ll finally be able to use it.

Meltan and Melmetal will only receive their abilities after being transferred to Sword and Shield, so you won’t know its stats until then. You also can’t transfer it back to Let’s Go after doing this process.