TM

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

A Technical Machine, or TM for short (Japanese: わざマシン Move Machine), is an item that, like an HM, is used to teach a Pokémon a move. A TM is a machine used by Pokémon Trainers to teach a a new move that it might not learn otherwise. Prior to Generation V, TMs were single-use items, 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 or game Corners. Some are also given away by Gym Leaders as prizes for defeating them in addition to a Badge. Silph Co. has distributed a pamphlet containing information on TMs and HMs, indicating they are, at least partially, developed or produced by the company.

Prior to Generation VI, TM moves will also be passed down through if the baby Pokémon can learn that TM (such as passing  from a father  to a baby ). Prior to Generation V, there were also several Pokémon that could not learn certain TM moves directly from a TM but could learn them via breeding, such as with.

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 from onwards, they have been depicted as s that are inserted into the TM Case and the case itself teaches the Pokémon the move. In Pokémon Origins, TMs and HMs resemble s, but how they work is never shown.

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

Generation I
Generation I featured 50 TMs, with an additional. Move Tutors in teach several of the moves that were removed from the TM list between Generation I and Generation III.

Generation II
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.

Generation III
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.

Generation IV
Due to 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 was at an even 100.

Generation V
In Generation V, TMs have changed from being single-use items to having unlimited uses, making them akin to HMs. In this generation only, when a Pokémon learns a move from a TM or HM by overwriting an old one, the new move takes on the current PP of the forgotten move. This prevents repeated usage of machines for the purpose of PP restoration. The prices of the purchasable TMs are also much higher to reflect the fact they can be reused, and they can no longer be held or sold. (However, they can be sold in Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity.) In, there are 94 TMs available normally; among the ones numbered 92 and lower, many of them teach different moves from their Generation IV counterparts. With the number of HMs reduced to six, there are once again an even 100 machine-learnable moves. In, the previously event-only TM95 was made normally available, bringing the number of machine-learnable moves in Generation V to 101.

Generation VI
In Pokémon X and Y and, TMs continued to be multiple-use items. Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, however, has both types of TMs, where regular ones can only be used once, and rainbow colored ones have infinite use, and all HMs are TMs instead. Most TMs contained the same moves that they did in Generation V, with the exceptions of TM19, TM51, TM83, and TM88. Five more TMs were added, bringing the number of TMs up to an even 100. As there are only five HM moves in Generation VI, there are now 105 machine-learnable moves. In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, two more HMs were added. Additionally, in X and Y was changed to  to reflect the fact that Rock Smash was an HM once again. This is the only time a TM has changed in the middle of a generation. As a result, there are now 107 machine-learnable moves.

Generation VII
In Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon, HMs no longer exist. However Fly, Waterfall, and Surf, previously HMs, became TMs. The only TMs that were changed between Generation VI and Generation VII are TM01, TM28, TM59, TM67, TM70, TM76, TM94, and TM98. With HMs no longer existing and all new TM moves replacing old ones, the total number of machine-learnable moves is at 100.

In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, every TM differs from the Alola games, and there are now only 60 TMs. Like in the Alola games, there are no HMs.

List of TMs
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Incompatible Pokémon
Although most Pokémon are able to learn a wide range of TM moves, there are 15 Pokémon who cannot learn any. Typically, these Pokémon are low in their evolutionary line or rely on a set moveset.

Formerly incompatible Pokémon
Starting in Generation VI, several Pokémon that were capable of learning moves that can be taught by TM only by leveling up now are able to learn those moves through TM as well.

Near-universal TMs
With few exceptions, all Pokémon who are compatible with TMs can learn the following moves:

TM-exclusive moves
In all seven Generations, there have been moves exclusively taught by TMs:

Returning moves
Several moves taught by TM in an earlier generation returned as TMs later on after being absent but assigned with a different TM number.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series
In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky, most TMs that exist in the corresponding core series games of that generation also exist in the Mystery Dungeon games. After use, a TM becomes a Used TM; a Used TM can be turned back into a usable TM by a Pokémon with the move, except for a Used TM of Recycle, which will remain a Used TM permanently.

In Sky, TMs can be sold to Kecleon for 250 Poke.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, all TMs are infinite use. Special TMs for moves usually learned through a move tutor in the core series games are also present.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, regular TMs are one-use only and disappear after being used, while rarer rainbow-colored TMs can be used infinitely. Rainbow-colored TMs can be bought from Kecleon shops from certain post-game dungeons, and can also be bought from Kecleon shops in towns after Kecleon has been recruited, which unlocks the "Treasures" section in the shop.

Pokémon GO
In Pokémon GO, there are two kinds of TMs: Fast TMs and Charged TMs. TMs were introduced to Pokémon GO on June 22, 2017.

Using a Fast or Charged TM on a Pokémon randomly changes its Fast or Charge move (respectively) to a different move that the Pokémon may have. If a Pokémon only has one possible Fast or Charge move, the player will not be able to use a respective TM on it.

In the main series
Although TMs have not appeared in the, they were mentioned once in the Japanese version of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate!. While talking with the Brothers,  of Team Go-Getters mentioned TMs among other things the Kecleon Shop was sold out on. This reference was not included in the dub.



In Pokémon Origins
appeared in File 1: Red. Much like in, it was given to by Brock as a reward for defeating him in a Gym.

Another TM,, also made a brief appearance in File 2: Cubone, where Red retrieved it from a who had stolen it.

In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
In To Evolve or Not to Evolve, That Is the Question!, used TM31 to teach Mikey's , allowing it to win a battle against Sparky's  and thus let Mikey join the Knights of the E Stone.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
In Wartortle Wars, a fake TM was seen amongst the many fake items sold to by.

In Omega Alpha Adventure 10, it was explained that TMs are machines that contain the essence of the move they teach to a Pokémon. Before this technology existed, other items served the same purpose. Such items are the rings Ultima carries on her staff, which contain the ultimate moves, , and , and a scroll held by the Draconids, which contains the move.

In the TCG
In the TCG, Technical Machines are types of TCG Trainer cards. Unlike the games, they do not follow any specific numbering.

Trivia

 * 170 different moves have been available as a TM, adding together the TMs from every generation.
 * Gym Leaders who give out a TM on their defeat typically give out one containing a move of their specialty type. However, in their respective first generation of an appearance each, Brock and Falkner do not, giving out (a  move) and  (a  move), respectively. This is rectified in the remakes of their debut games with Brock giving away  while Falkner's prize is . Likewise, Cilan, Chili, and Cress do not give out TMs matching their specialty type, instead giving out the , regardless of which of the three is battled.
 * Prior to Generation III, TMs given out by the starting region's Gym Leaders teach moves that no Pokémon learns naturally. There is one exception: in, learns  in place of.
 * TMs, , , , , , , , , and have contained the same move in all seven generations.
 * Generation IV is the first generation in which there is at least one TM that teaches a move of each Pokémon type.
 * Generation I had no TMs for Bug- or moves, Generation II had none for Flying, and Generation III had none for Bug.
 * Generation VI and VII are tied for the most TMs, with 100, and Generation I, II, and III are tied for the fewest TMs, with 50.