The Death of HMs

Something I'm rather surprised to find that no one has mentioned, Sun and Moon appear to be doing away with the series staple of HMs, through the use of a new system called Pokéride.

Essentially the way these work is, you get a handful of Pokémon at your beck and call throughout your journey. These Pokémon do not join your team and will not battle for you, but can be called to serve a purpose on the overworld at any time.

Known Pokémon for this feature include:
Charizard - Fly and possibly Soar.
Lapras - It's a Lapras. It Surfs.
Sharpedo - Faster Surfing, and the ability to break through rocks in the water and jump.
Tauros - Fast movement on land (maybe replacing bicycle?), can break blocks.
Stoutland - Movement on land, can sniff out hidden items.
Mudsdale - Movement over rocky terrain.

Details aren't fully known. Will Lapras be useless once you get the faster Sharpedo? Or will it be needed for deep water between islands? The full extent of how many there are is still a mystery as well. But given the number of confirmed field uses, I wouldn't be surprised to see them taking the place of the all too familiar HMs.

Honestly? Good riddance, I've never been comfortable with the HM system and I hate how it felt so restrictive in the earlier titles. Sure some moves are great like Surf but who wants to shackle a Pokemon with Flash? Especially when it's mostly used for one or two dungeons. Not to mention it can be annoying having to reshuffle your party because the next area requires an HM skill, so just having a rental service sounds like such a better idea.

Yeah, I'm on board with this as well. Replaying Black now and seeing how they relegated the HM portions to just end game and optional areas basically was a great idea which really made the game much more nice and smooth. Can't wait to see this taken a step further with Sun and Moon!

Really, after all I heard of it so far, gen VII seems like another important step forward after gen V, rather than being an expansion of gen IV, which gen VI honestly felt like.

I hate HMs. I made it through Y without having rock smash and it has kept me from getting items. If they were better battle skills I would probably give them to my pokemon more, but since they're practically useless inside of battle I don't bother.

And from what I remember of early generations once learned it can't be forgotten.

This next gen is really mixing stuff up and I love it.

Good trout. I found HMs annoying most of the time. Like Fynn said, Gen V regulating them for shortcuts, items, and post game stuff was a great switch. I actually thought the hacker did that since I played the hacked version first.

Since their rentals I guess you can't ride any pokemon you choose which is slightly disappointing, but I imagine that's a lot of work for Nintendo. But really, why haven't any of the trainers you play learn how to swim?

I'm another one who is glad of this change, HMs were okay in like Gen 1 but as time passed they only grew more and more restrictive because they occupy a full quarter of a mon's move set. They're rarely bad combat moves admittedly, but they're rarely the best you could have in a slot either.

I just fear they'll revert to HMs when the next gen rolls around.

i hope so..

I made an empoleon trout cos i needed HM moves in pearl.

Even worse is going far. then needing a HM. then none of your 6 can learn it. so you have to go all the way back to a town. ESPECIALLY if you dont have fly

I'm not convinced that I've met anyone who liked HMs. Everything other than Surf and Strength were a sub-par moves. They also restrict your team in multiple ways, either you have a full team that each knows an HM move (which feels terrible), or an almost full team with an HM slave (which also feels terrible).

On top of that, most of them were mandatory for progression, and there wasn't much of an indicator that you needed one sometimes. If you were a kid, and you didn't understand that you needed Cut for the Cut-bush to get to Rock Tunnel, it probably took you a while before you realized it. Ohh, and Flash isn't even mandatory for Rock Tunnel. Just play with cheater-palette.

The only problem anyone should have with this, is that Surf probably takes longer to find and teach, and that you don't have a delicious 90 (95) damage move to teach your Water Pokemon a third of the way through the game.

I am also fine with the death of HMs. On a related note, I like how TMs can be used indefinitely: really means you don't have to hang on to that one TM just in case a pokemon could make good use of it.

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

I am also fine with the death of HMs. On a related note, I like how TMs can be used indefinitely: really means you don't have to hang on to that one TM just in case a pokemon could make good use of it.

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That's another fun thing gen v introduced, Forms :jokey:

I really enjoy using Strength, Dig, Surf and Fly in battles over the years so I wonder if they will replace them with other attacks. They were really good when you first get them in particular, because they had such a solid attack value.

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Originally Posted by Fynn

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

I am also fine with the death of HMs. On a related note, I like how TMs can be used indefinitely: really means you don't have to hang on to that one TM just in case a pokemon could make good use of it.

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That's another fun thing gen v introduced, Forms :jokey:

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Yes, yes. Praise be to Gen V. :roll2

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

I really enjoy using Strength, Dig, Surf and Fly in battles over the years so I wonder if they will replace them with other attacks. They were really good when you first get them in particular, because they had such a solid attack value.

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Well, fear not. Dig always has been, and likely always will be, TM 28, so no worries about losing it if we do get rid of HMs. ;)

I think they'll likely just convert them all to TMs, to be honest.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I think they'll likely just convert them all to TMs, to be honest.

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Indeed, they have already done so to several former HMs. Flash and Rock Smash have both received this treatment; though, Rock Smash is once again another HM in the Gen III remakes.