- For a complete list of TMs, see List of TMs.
A TM (short for Technical Machine) is an item introduced in Generation I.
Description[]
A TM is a disc that can teach a specific move to a Pokémon, usually a move it cannot learn through other methods, much like Move Tutors. TMs are differently colored depending on the type of the move it teaches.
From Generations I through IV, TMs can be used only once, unlike the similar HMs. Some TMs can be obtained more than once. In Generation V, TMs can be used an unlimited number of times like HMs, but a consistent difference is that TMs are not field moves, making them usable on the overworld.
Since Generation V, TMs function similarly to key items, so the player can no longer sell, trade, give it to a Pokémon to hold, or throw it away. For this reason, the prices of TMs offered at Poké Marts and department stores are significantly higher. The original functionality of TMs was inherited by TRs in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, since they can only be used once. TMs have returned to becoming disposable items in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl.
Methods for obtaining TMs include defeating a Gym Leader, picking them up at certain spots in the field, receiving them from certain non-playable characters, or purchasing them at department stores in large cities. Some TMs can be exchanged for coins at Game Corners. The TM given by a Gym Leader usually matches the type they specialize in, except for Brock giving out TM34 in Generation I and Falkner giving out TM31 in Generation II.
Some Pokémon cannot learn any TM moves, including Weedle, Kakuna, Ditto, Smeargle, Wurmple, Silcoon, Cascoon, Beldum, Scatterbug, and Cosmog.
Numbering[]
TMs are labeled by numbers and do not necessarily consist of the same move between generations. In Generations I to III, there are 50 TMs each, and many retain the same numbering. There are 92 TMs in Generation IV, of which the first fifty are identical to those from the Generation III games. Three more TMs were added in Generation V, where some of the numbered TMs feature a different attack instead. For Generation VI, a few TMs were swapped out and five more were added, bringing the total to 100 TMs. In Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, a few TM moves were swapped out again, some of which are moves from the HMs that had been removed, but the total number of TMs did not change.
In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!, the previous TM numbering was abandoned entirely for the first time, with a new selection of 60 TMs. With Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, a new selection of 100 TMs was introduced in the eighth generation, with no link to previous numbering, in addition to introduction a new selection of 100 TRs.
The selection of TMs in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl is based on those in Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version, being remakes of said games. However, the TM moves that are unusable since Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield have been replaced by other attacks, with the exception of Flash, and the HMs from the original games have been replaced by new TMs numbered 93 to 100.
The TM whose contents change the most frequently is TM001, changing six times over the generations. The contents of TM003, TM009, TM019, TM034, TM043, TM048, and TM049 have also changed a lot, specifically five times over the generations.
Some TMs retain the same move in nearly all appearances:
- TM006, TM014, TM015, TM022, TM025, TM026, TM029, TM032, TM038, and TM044 from Generations I to VII except Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!.
- TM005, TM010, TM011, TM017, TM018, TM021, TM027, TM030, TM036, TM037, TM045, and TM046 from Generations II to VII except Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!.
- TM019, TM023, and TM047 from Generation II to IV.
- TM013, TM024, and TM033 in Generations I and III to VII except Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!.
- TM039 and TM043 in Generations I and II, retaining another move from Generation III to VII except Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!.
Appearances[]
Core series[]
In Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version, the TV frequently broadcasts a program called Moves for Living, which describes move attributes, and is hosted by a scientist named Dr. Technic Al. Machine.
TMs do not appear in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, unlike other games of the core series.
In Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, there is a new selection and numbering of 171 TMs. The games also introduce the TM Machine in Pokémon Centers, where the player can create TMs using League Points and TM Materials.
Spinoffs[]
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series[]
TMs have been a part of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series since Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team. Many TMs have been retained from the core series, specifically from the same generation as the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games. Furthermore, many Pokémon can learn the same TMs between Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games of the same generation as the core series.
Once a TM is used, it becomes a Used TM, but it can return into a usable TM with the move Recycle, which is ironically the only move cannot be reverted from being a Used TM. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, all TMs are usable an unlimited number of times.
From Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, there are two exclusive TM moves titled Wide Slash and Vacuum-Cut, both of which neither have a type nor in the appear core series.
TMs in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon are divided into single-use and reusable types, the later disc icon being depicted with a multi-colored border. The reusable TMs can be bought from Kecleon Shops in certain dungeons after completing the main story and at Kecleon Shops in towns when the Treasures section of the shop is unlocked by connecting Kecleon to the Expedition Society.
Anime[]
Pokémon Origins[]
In , a TM is first seen in "File 1 - Red," where Red obtains it after defeating Brock in battle. The TM has the shape of a floppy disk.
In "File 2 - Cubone," Red receives the stolen TM Dig after defeating a Team Rocket Grunt in battle.
Manga[]
Ash uses the TM Mimicry on Mikey's Eevee, allowing it to finally defeat Sparky's Jolteon by imitating Needle Rocket . This eventually makes Mikey a "Knight of the Evolution Stones".