HM: Difference between revisions

HM moves, like Fly, have effects outside of battle.

A Hidden Machine (Japanese: ひでんマシン Secret Machine), HM for short, is an item that, like a TM, is used to teach a Pokémon a move.

The difference between a TM and an HM is most pronounced in the earlier games in the series, where TMs were single-use items while HMs could be used an unlimited amount of times after they were obtained, and unlike TMs could not be tossed or sold for money. Additionally, the moves contained within an HM can not be forgotten by Pokémon under normal circumstances. An HM move can be used in the field by a Pokémon even if the Pokémon has fainted during battle or has run out of PP (using it in the field does not consume PP).

All HM moves have the ability to be used outside of battle in the games they are HMs in, though a move's ability to be used outside of battle does not mean that it is necessarily an HM move. Except for Generation V, specific Badges must be obtained by the player before they can use an HM move outside of battle to advance the game's storyline.

A Pokémon knowing an HM move cannot be sent forward from Generation III to Generation IV or from Generation IV to Generation V unless the HM move is removed (via Move Deleter). Dive prevents sending forward from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen despite not being considered an HM by those games, while Defog and Whirlpool only prevent Pokémon being sent forward from the games they are an HM in. Pokémon with Whirlpool can freely be sent into Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver from Generation III, while Pokémon with Dive can freely be sent into Generation V games. In Generation V, Pokémon knowing an HM move cannot be traded via infrared communications if they are in the player's party, to prevent a player from potentially becoming stuck somewhere that requires an HM move to escape.

Unlike in previous inter-generational transfers, Pokémon sent from Generation V to Generation VI that know HM moves do not require these moves to be deleted. Pokémon that know HM moves can also be freely deposited and withdrawn from Pokémon Bank.

Generation I

In Generation I, five of the 165 moves are HM moves, of which three (Cut, Surf, and Strength) are required for completing the game. Of these five, four of them remain as HM moves even through Generation VI, while the fifth, Flash, retains the ability to be used outside of battle (to light dark caves in Generation V, or reduce encounters with wild Pokémon in Generation VI).

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	S.S. Anne	Cascade Badge
HM02	Fly	Route 16	Thunder Badge
HM03	Surf	Safari Zone	Soul Badge
HM04	Strength	Fuchsia City	Rainbow Badge
HM05	Flash	Route 2	Boulder Badge

None of these moves are able to be forgotten in Generation I, and a Pokémon with these moves cannot be raised by the Pokémon Day Care on Route 5. Unlike in later generations, all of these moves must be selected from the Pokémon screen to be used.

Generation II

In Generation II two new moves become HMs. The five HMs from Generation I return, while a new move, Whirlpool, becomes an HM, and an old move, Waterfall, becomes another HM.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	Ilex Forest	Hive Badge
HM02	Fly	Cianwood City	Storm Badge
HM03	Surf	Ecruteak City	Fog Badge
HM04	Strength	Olivine City	Plain Badge
HM05	Flash	Sprout Tower	Zephyr Badge
HM06	Whirlpool	Rocket Hideout	Glacier Badge
HM07	Waterfall	Ice Path	Rising Badge

A Move Deleter was added to the games, mostly with the intention of making possible the ability to delete Generation II moves that a Generation I Pokémon had learned in order to be able to trade it back, though with the side effect of HM moves now being able to be forgotten.

From this generation on, Pokémon with HM moves are allowed in the Day Care, and fathers with HM moves will pass the moves down to their children as they would a TM move. HM moves can also be used just by checking the obstacle that the HM will clear, such as surfable water or a movable rock.

Generation III

Hoenn

In Hoenn one of the Generation II HMs lost its status, while another two moves became HMs, raising the number of HMs to eight.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	Rustboro City	Stone Badge
HM02	Fly	Route 119	Feather Badge
HM03	Surf	Petalburg City	Balance Badge
HM04	Strength	Rusturf Tunnel	Heat Badge
HM05	Flash	Granite Cave	Knuckle Badge
HM06	Rock Smash	Mauville City	Dynamo Badge
HM07	Waterfall	Cave of OriginRS	Rain Badge
		Sootopolis CityE
HM08	Dive	Mossdeep City	Mind Badge

Kanto

In Kanto, due to a lack of use for Dive, HM08 is unobtainable and can only be accessed through cheating. The first five HMs can be acquired through the same methods as in Generation I, while HM06 and HM07 can be found in the Sevii Islands later in the game.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	S.S. Anne	Cascade Badge
HM02	Fly	Route 16	Thunder Badge
HM03	Surf	Safari Zone	Soul Badge
HM04	Strength	Fuchsia City	Rainbow Badge
HM05	Flash	Route 2	Boulder Badge
HM06	Rock Smash	Ember Spa	Marsh Badge
HM07	Waterfall	Icefall Cave	Volcano Badge

Generation IV

Sinnoh

In Sinnoh, for the first time, one of the original HMs lost its status to a new move, while HM08 was brought back as a different move.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	Eterna City	Forest Badge
HM02	Fly	Veilstone City	Cobble Badge
HM03	Surf	Celestic Town	Relic BadgeDP
			Fen BadgePt
HM04	Strength	Lost TowerDP	Mine Badge
		Iron IslandPt
HM05	Defog	Great MarshDP	Fen BadgeDP
		Solaceon RuinsPt	Relic BadgePt
HM06	Rock Smash	Oreburgh Gate	Coal Badge
HM07	Waterfall	Sunyshore City	Beacon Badge
HM08	Rock Climb	Route 217	Icicle Badge

Johto and Kanto

Defog lost its HM status in Johto for the return of Whirlpool; all other HMs retained their status from the prior Sinnoh games.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	Ilex Forest	Hive Badge
HM02	Fly	Cianwood City	Storm Badge
HM03	Surf	Ecruteak City	Fog Badge
HM04	Strength	Route 42	Plain Badge
HM05	Whirlpool	Team Rocket HQ	Glacier Badge
HM06	Rock Smash	Route 36	Zephyr Badge
HM07	Waterfall	Ice Path	Rising Badge
HM08	Rock Climb	Pallet Town	Earth Badge

Generation V

HMs were reduced to six in Generation V; HM07 and HM08 no longer exist in the coding of Pokémon Black and White. Dive returns for use in Unova. This generation marks the first time that HM moves do not require Gym Badges for use outside of battle. Although most HM moves cannot be obtained before earning certain Gym Badges, if the player obtains a Pokémon that has learned an HM move through other means (via level-up, trading, etc.) the player will be able to use the HM in the field without restrictions.

When a move is replaced by an HM, the HM move takes on the current PP of the replaced move until healed or replenished. The same also applies for replacing old moves with TMs.

HM	Move	Location found
HM01	Cut	Striaton CityBW Virbank City B2W2
HM02	Fly	Driftveil City BW Route 5 B2W2
HM03	Surf	Twist Mountain BW Route 6 B2W2
HM04	Strength	Nimbasa City BW Castelia Sewers B2W2
HM05	Waterfall	Route 18BW Victory RoadB2W2
HM06	Dive	Undella Town

Generation VI

HMs have returned to requiring a Badge to use them.

When a move is replaced by an HM, the HM move takes on the current PP of the replaced move until healed or replenished. The same also applies for replacing old moves with TMs.

Kalos

HMs were reduced to five in Kalos, with HM06 being removed. The HMs are the same as Generation V.

Though Rock Smash is not an HM, it can still be used outside of battle, unlike in Generation V.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	Parfum Palace	Bug Badge
HM02	Fly	Coumarine City	Plant Badge
HM03	Surf	Shalour City	Rumble Badge
HM04	Strength	Cyllage City	Cliff Badge
HM05	Waterfall	Route 19	Iceberg Badge

Hoenn

HMs were increased to seven in Hoenn. Rock Smash and Dive regained their HM status.

HM	Move	Location found	Badge required
HM01	Cut	Rustboro City	Stone Badge
HM02	Fly	Route 119	Feather Badge
HM03	Surf	Petalburg City	Balance Badge
HM04	Strength	Route 112	Heat Badge
HM05	Waterfall	Sootopolis Gym	Rain Badge
HM06	Rock Smash	Mauville City	Dynamo Badge
HM07	Dive	Mossdeep City	Mind Badge

In the anime

HM01 in Pokémon Origins

In Pokémon Origins

HM01 (Cut) made an appearance in the Pokémon Origins episode File 2 - Cubone. Much like in Pokémon Red and Blue, it was given to Red by the captain of S.S. Anne after helping him recover from his seasickness.

In the manga

HM03 in Pokémon Adventures

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

In What a Dragonite, Red was revealed to have already obtained HM01 (Cut) for his Ivysaur, HM04 (Strength) for his Snorlax, and HM05 (Flash) for his Pikachu. When he tried to get his hands on HM03 (Surf), he ran into some trouble with a wild Dragonite, eventually leading to the Hidden Machine getting destroyed. To help him, Misty gave Red her Gyarados in exchange for his Krabby, since it already knew Surf.

It was also revealed that Blue had found HM03 before Red, fueling the young Trainer's determination of finding it too.

Trivia

• Rock Smash is the only HM with a unique type. All other HM moves share their type with at least one other HM move.
• Tracey's Scyther is the first Pokémon belonging to a main character of the anime to have used a current HM move, Cut. It wasn't until the Diamond & Pearl series that one of Ash's Pokémon used a current HM move; Ash's Grotle used Rock Climb.
  • Although debatable, other Pokémon may have used Surf, Dive, and Fly throughout the anime; although, they were not directly ordered to use the move.
• The only current HM moves that are able to be learned by Pokémon by level-up are Fly and Waterfall. Former HMs Flash, Whirlpool, Defog, Rock Smash, Rock Climb, and Dive, are also learnable by level, but only since their loss of HM status. Moves that regain their HM status, like Whirlpool and Dive did, remain learnable by level-up. Waterfall remains the only HM move that has been learnable by level-up since it was introduced as a move, prior to gaining HM status.
• In Generation IV, all moves that were at one time an HM are learnable, with Flash being available by TM70 and Dive being available by Move Tutor. Defog and Whirlpool, which replace each other in the Sinnoh- and Johto-based games, are both HM05.
  • Generation IV is the only generation in which two moves share the same HM number.
• HM moves have so far been only of the Flying, Fighting, Water, and Normal types.
• The only HM moves that are status moves so far are related to accuracy: Flash decreases the foe's accuracy while Defog decreases the foe's evasion.
• In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, on Route 20, Swimmer Lori states "Surf is no longer the only HM move you use in water" when she is defeated. This is a reference to Generation I, where the only HM usable in the water was Surf.
• The only way for the player to delete an HM move in the handheld games is to use the Move Deleter. Note that "HM moves" are not always HMs in every game, and can be replaced freely in games where they are not HMs:
  • Pokémon Stadium 2, Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD allow any move to be replaced.
  • Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen allow Dive to be forgotten.
  • Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum allow Dive, Flash, and Whirlpool to be forgotten.
  • Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver allow Defog, Dive, and Flash to be forgotten.
  • Pokémon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 allow Flash and Rock Smash to be forgotten.
• A Pokémon knowing an HM move that is left in the Day Care may forget the HM move in favor of a new move; see Day Care.
• The first four HMs, Cut, Fly, Surf, and Strength, have existed in every main-series Pokémon game. Out of these moves, only Fly is able to be learned in any way aside from using the HM.
• The Mineral Badge of Johto is the only Badge, prior to Generation V, which does not enable the use of an HM in any game it is present in.
• Dive is the only HM in Generation V that is not found in a different location between Black & White and Black 2 & White 2.

In other languages

Language Title Danish Skjult maskine French Capsule Secrète (CS) German Versteckte Maschine (VM) Italian Macchina Nascosta (MN) Korean 비전머신 Secret Machine Spanish Máquina Oculta (MO)

See also

• TM
• HM slave

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.