TM: Difference between revisions

If you were looking for the Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion sometimes abbreviated as TM, see EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua (TCG).

A Technical Machine, or TM for short (Japanese: わざマシン Move Machine), is a machine used by Pokémon Trainers to teach a Pokémon a new technique, or move that it might not otherwise learn. TMs are good for only one use, unlike Hidden Machines, which can be used over and over again on many different Pokémon. TMs can be found on the ground or bought at department stores. Some are also given away by Gym Leaders as a prize for defeating them in addition to a Badge.

Mutually-compatible TMs (such as Flamethrower from a father Typhlosion to a baby Torchic) will also be passed down through breeding, though there are several Pokémon that can only learn certain moves contained in TMs via breeding, such as Vulpix with Energy Ball.

Generation I featured 50 TMs with an additional five HMs. Move tutors in FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald teach several of the moves that were removed from the TM list between Generation I and Generation III.

Generation II introduced several new TMs, a majority of which were new moves introduced in this generation. There remained 50 TMs, as some Generation I TMs were removed. Several moves that were contained in TMs in Generation II but were no longer contained within TMs during Generation III can be taught by a move tutor in Pokémon Emerald.

In Generation III, more moves were introduced, and the TM list was again adjusted. The 50-TM limit remained, and several older moves became TMs—including some that lost their TM status between Generations I and II.

Due to the connectivity with the Generation III games, the 50-TM list was not redone in Generation IV. To include new moves and incorporate older moves as TMs, the TM list was expanded from 50 to 92, leaving the first 50 TMs intact. With the eight HMs, the number of machine-learnable moves in Generation IV is at an even 100.

In Generation V, TMs are no longer one use only making their use like HMs with the only difference being HMs can be used outside of battle (aside from a select number of TMs).

For the in-game locations of TMs, see List of TM and HM locations.

List of TMs

Move tutor moves

Main article: Move tutor

Though technically not TMs, some moves can only be obtained via a move tutor: a non-player character who teaches the desired move to a single Pokémon. Often, these moves are moves which were formerly contained in TMs. They first appeared in Crystal, where outside of the Goldenrod City Game Corner a man would teach a compatible Pokémon Flamethrower, Ice Beam, or Thunderbolt for 4000 coins on certain days of the week.

This was continued in FireRed and LeafGreen, where Trainers could encounter NPCs who would offer to teach a Pokémon a move that was not otherwise available to it. All but three of these moves (the elemental Hyper Beam variations) were available as TMs in Red, Blue, and Yellow; FireRed and LeafGreen use the updated TM list of Generation III.

In Emerald, the same moves were able to be learned via move tutors, with the addition of some outdated Generation II TMs as well.

Incompatible Pokémon

Although most Pokémon are able to learn a wide range of TM moves, there are some Pokémon who cannot learn any. Typically, these Pokémon are low in their evolutionary line, or rely on a set moveset.

#	Pokémon		Type
010		Caterpie	Bug		Poison
011		Metapod	Bug		Poison
013		Weedle	Bug	Poison
014		Kakuna	Bug	Poison
129		Magikarp	Water		Poison
132		Ditto	Normal		Poison
201		Unown	Psychic		Poison
202		Wobbuffet	Psychic		Poison
235		Smeargle	Normal		Poison
265		Wurmple	Bug		Poison
266		Silcoon	Bug		Poison
268		Cascoon	Bug		Poison
360		Wynaut	Psychic		Poison
374		Beldum	Steel	Psychic
401		Kricketot	Bug		Poison
412		Burmy	Bug		Poison
415		Combee	Bug	Flying

Trivia

• 140 moves have been available as a TM.
• Gym Leaders who give out a TM on their defeat typically give out one containing a move of their specialty type. Only Brock and Falkner do not, giving out TM34 (Bide) (a Template:Type2 move) in Generation I and TM31 (Mud-Slap) (a Template:Type2 move) in Generation II, respectively. This is rectified in the remakes of their debut games with Brock giving away TM39 (Rock Tomb) while Falkner's prize is TM51 (Roost).
• TM01 has always taught a move that involves punching; it was Mega Punch in Generation I, DynamicPunch in Generation II, and Focus Punch in Generations III and IV.
• Many TMs have remained the same for several generations:
  • TMs 06, 14, 15, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 38, and 44 have contained the same move in all four generations.
  • TMs 05 (Mega Kick/Roar), 10 (Double-Edge/Hidden Power), 11 (BubbleBeam/Sunny Day), 17 (Submission/Protect), 18 (Counter/Rain Dance), 19 (Seismic Toss/Giga Drain), 21 (Mega Drain/Frustration), 23 (Dragon Rage/Iron Tail), 27 (Fissure/Return), 30 (Teleport/Shadow Ball), 36 (Selfdestruct/Sludge Bomb), 37 (Egg Bomb/Sandstorm), 45 (Thunder Wave/Attract), 46 (Psywave/Thief), and 47 (Explosion/Steel Wing) have contained the same move since Generation II.
  • TMs 13 (Ice Beam/Snore), 24 (Thunderbolt/DragonBreath), and 33 (Reflect/Ice Punch) are the only TMs that taught one move in Generation I, a different one in Generation II, and then returned to the move they taught in Generation I in Generations III and IV.
  • TMs 39 (Swift/Rock Tomb) and 42 (Dream Eater/Facade) had the same move in Generations I and II, but a different one in Generations III and IV.
• 24 of the 50 TMs in Generation I taught Template:Type2 moves, and no TMs taught Bug- or Template:Type2 moves. In Generation II, all types had a TM except for Flying, and finally, in Generation III, Bug was again without a TM. Generation IV is the first generation in which there is at least one TM that teaches a move of each Pokémon type.
• The only Template:Type2 move that exists in the main series games is taught by TM03 in Generation II.
• Flamethrower is the only move tutor-exclusive move of one generation to become a TM in a later generation.
• Rock Smash, which was TM08 in Generation II, became HM06 in Generation III and IV.
• Flash, which was HM05 in Generations I, II, and III became TM70 in Generation IV.
• The depiction of TMs has changed over time. In the TCG, they are shown as small boxes that the Poké Ball would be inserted into, but beginning with FireRed and LeafGreen, they have been depicted as discs that are inserted into the TM Case and the case itself teaches the Pokémon the move. Thus, the one-use nature of the TMs can be seen as analogous to DVDs that destroy themselves after use.
• There are seven moves that are exclusively taught by TMs as of Generation IV: Grass Knot, Stealth Rock, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Skill Swap, Secret Power, and Rock Smash.
• Several moves taught by TM in Generations I and/or II returned as TMs in Generation IV, but assigned with a different TM number:

See also

• List of TM and HM locations
• HM
• TMs in the Trading Card Game