TM
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 the original 50 TMs with an additional five HMs. Move Tutors in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald teach several of the moves that were removed from the TM list between Generation I and Generation III.
Generation II, with more moves, overhauled the list of TMs. There were additions and removals to the list, with a majority of newly-added TMs being new moves introduced in Generation II. There are still 50 TMs, however. Several moves that were contained in TMs in Generation II that are no longer contained within TMs during Generation III can be taught by move tutor in Pokémon Emerald.
With even more moves added Generation III, the TM list needed to be readjusted once again. The 50-TM limit remains, however, and unlike in Generation II, several older moves became TMs.
Because of the compatibility with the Generation III games, as well as the ability to let Pokémon hold items, the 50-TM list could not be redone in Generation IV. However, a solution was at hand: the TM list was expanded from 50 to 92, with several moves that were TMs during Generation I and II added back to the list, such as Swagger, Generation II's TM34, now at TM87. With the eight HMs, the number of machine-learnable moves in Generation IV is at an even 100.
In Pokémon Special, it is shown that HMs look like Poké Balls instead of the discs that are shown in the games.
For the in-game locations of TMs, see Locations of TMs.
List of TMs
Move tutor moves
- Main article: Move tutor
Though technically not TMs, move tutor moves are moves which were often formerly contained in TMs. This type of move began 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. Most often, these moves were available in TMs in the Red, Blue, and Yellow versions, but because FireRed and LeafGreen use the same TM set as other Generation III games, these moves were no longer able to be taught at will.
In Emerald, the same moves were able to be learned via move tutors, but some Generation II TM moves which were no longer available by TM were now added to the mix.
Trivia
- If every TM were still in use, and new ones were added-up per Generation, there would be a total of 140 different TMs.
- 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.
- TMs Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, Template:M2, and Template:M2 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.
- Rock Smash, which was TM08 in Generation II, became HM06 in Generation III and IV.
- Flash, which was HM05 in Generation I, II, and III became TM70 in Generation IV.
- Several moves taught by TM in an earlier generation returned as different TMs in Generation IV:
Move | Old TM No. | Gen. | New TM No. |
---|---|---|---|
Endure | 20 | II | 58 |
Explosion | 47 | I | 64 |
Thunder Wave | 45 | I | 73 |
Swords Dance | 03 | I | 75 |
Psych Up | 09 | II | 77 |
Rock Slide | 48 | I | 80 |
Dream Eater | 42 | I and II | 85 |
Swagger | 34 | II | 87 |
Substitute | 50 | I | 90 |