How To Get TM26 Earthquake in Pokémon Platinum

by Chris Haygood

TM26 Earthquake can be acquired in three different ways in Pokémon Platinum:

One copy is found inside Wayward Cave by using the hidden entrance under Route 206’s Cycling Road. The Bicycle and the Hidden Move Cut are required to reach this TM’s location.
Unlimited copies can be purchased at the Battle Frontier. Each copy costs 80 BP.
Unlimited copies can also be found by Pokémon with the Pickup Ability. This has a 1% chance of success after every battle, and for the Earthquake TM you need the Pokémon with Pickup to be between levels 91 and 100.

TM26 Earthquake Locations

Method #1: Wayward Cave (Step-by-Step)

TM26 Earthquake’s primary location on the Town Map.

The first available copy of TM26 Earthquake is located inside the Wayward Cave’s hidden entrance under Cycling Road.

The Bicycle and HM01 Cut are both required to reach it.

The quickest way to reach the Wayward Cave’s hidden entrance is by starting at the Oreburgh City Pokecenter, and then heading toward the northern entrance of town.

Heading north on the main street from Oreburgh City’s Pokémon Center.

So just keep heading north and then take the stairs to leave the city for Route 207.

Leaving Oreburgh through the northern entrance and entering Route 207.

You’ll then see a small staircase leading to a pit, where there is a muddy slope in the middle of the north wall.

Go into the pit and then take out your Bicycle. Make sure it’s in fourth gear (the faster one), and position yourself against the south wall.

Then charge at the muddy slope with as much momentum as you can generate to make it to the upper ledge.

Riding the Bicycle in fourth gear to climb the muddy slope.

Once at the top, continue heading northward.

Heading north after riding up the muddy slope.

When you’re almost at the gate to Cycling Road, veer right and turn onto the side path.

Use Cut on one of the small trees blocking your way and then head north.

Using Cut on a tree to the east to pass through.

Continue north down the stairs and up the side path.

Continuing north past the stairs.

Keep going north, crossing the bridge when you come to it.

Crossing the bridge to the north.

Make your way straight north past the honey tree.

Moving straight north passing a honey tree.

Go a few steps past the Hiker trainer NPC, and then turn left to cross under Cycling Road.

Moving under the Cycling Road.

Pass all the way under the overpass, then head north as far as you can go.

You’ll want to position yourself on the left-hand side of the overpass, as close to the Cycling Road as possible, while still remaining visible on screen (see the screenshot below).

Heading north and standing one tile to the left of the overpass.

The reason for this is because there’s a second entrance to the Wayward Cave hidden under the Cycling Road.

From your position to the immediate left of the road:

Take two steps east
Then take five steps north

This should allow you to enter Wayward Cave’s hidden chambers.

Taking two steps to the east and five to the north.

The cave is completely dark, limiting your visibility to a small circle around you.

You can use Flash if you want, but the darkness really only affects this one small chamber. So Flash is not required but can help.

Using Flash to light up the cave.

Head left and go downstairs to B1F.

Heading downstairs in the newly illuminated cave.

At the bottom of the staircases on this next floor, ride your Bicycle in fourth gear at top speed to clear the muddy slope above you.

Heading for the muddy slope on the Bicycle.

Then ride north to go down the stairs and up the next slope.

Riding up the muddy slope on the next hill.

Then go down the stairs and you should see a small slope to your right.

You’ll need to pedal the Bicycle at top speed to successfully jump the ramp to your right.

Jumping the bike ramp.

Keep holding Right on the D-pad to jump the next two ramps as well.

Jumping the first three ramps to the east in rapid succession.

When you’re in midair after the third ramp, let go of the D-pad; this should slow you down enough that you will come to a stop before jumping the fourth ramp.

Stopping the Bicycle right before the fourth ramp.

Switch to third gear on your Bicycle to jump the next ramp; the slower speed will prevent you from clearing the boulder, which is what you want.

Then head down to follow the path and turn to go as far eastward as you can go (basically hitting the far-right wall). Then turn to the north and head up alongside the eastern wall.

Making a small third-gear jump over the last ramp and heading northeast.

You’ll see a few more jumps on your left-hand side.

So switch back to fourth gear and jump the next ramp to the west (should be just 1 ramp).

Then head up the stairs by continuing west and ride westward across the fallen log.

Jumping another ramp and crossing the log to the west.

Keep going west to pass over the log, go down a set of stairs, and then climb another set of stairs onto a small hill.

At the top of this westernmost hill you’ll want to stop and turn north towards a muddy slope.

With your Bicycle in fourth gear, race down the stairs to shoot up the muddy slope to the north.

Crossing the logs and staircases to reach the western muddy slope.

After riding up the slope, start heading east past the staircases and onto the next fallen log.

Riding up the next muddy slope and riding eastward.

Ride quickly down the set of stairs to the east of the fallen log to jump two more ramps and clear the boulders.

Jumping the ramps to the east.

Then head to the northeast corner of the little section where the 2nd ramp drops you.

From here, you’ll need to ride your Bicycle in fourth gear to the south, turning to the west without breaking your momentum to clear the next ramp.

This can be very tricky to pull off. See the image below for a diagram:

Riding south from the northeast corner and turning west to clear the ramp.

Make sure you hit Left on the D-pad right before the wall has a chance to stop you—if your timing is off even a little, you’ll be too slow to jump over the ramp and you’ll have to try again.

Once you can get over that jump you should be surrounded by rocks where the only path forward is a small staircase.

Head south up the staircase.

Heading straight south across the staircases.

Continue southward as the path becomes more of an enclosed corridor.

Moving steadily southward.

Just keep going south and then once you reach the southern wall, turn east and climb the staircase there.

Turning east to head upstairs.

These stairs lead to a tiny cave chamber, and on the floor is a Poké Ball item containing TM26 Earthquake.

Obtaining TM26 Earthquake.

Note: This is the one free copy of TM26 Earthquake in Pokémon Platinum, and it takes by far the least amount of time to acquire.

Method #2: The Battle Frontier (Repeatable)

The location of TM26 Earthquake on the Town Map.

Unlimited copies of TM26 Earthquake can also be purchased at the Battle Frontier, which is the huge building to the northeast of the Pokémon Center in the Battle Zone’s Fight Area.

Heading northeast from the Fight Area Pokémon Center to enter the Battle Frontier.

After entering the building, go straight through the Entrance Hall and head through the door to the north.

Passing northward through the Battle Frontier’s Entrance Hall.

In the middle of the Main Hall will be several kiosks making up a central marketplace. This is the Exchange Service Corner.

Speak to the clerk at the southeastern kiosk with the red and white striped canopy.

Approaching the southeastern Exchange Service Corner kiosk.

Scroll through her inventory until you find the listing for TM26 Earthquake.

TM26 Earthquake’s listing at the Exchange Service Corner.

TM26 Earthquake is among the most expensive of any prize at the Battle Frontier (along with three other TMs).

Each copy of TM26 costs 80 Battle Points (BP) which you can win by fighting in the Frontier’s various battle facilities.

Method #3: The Pickup Ability (Repeatable)

A level 91 Ambipom with Pickup.

The last method of obtaining TM26 Earthquake requires a Pokémon between levels 91 and 100 with the Pickup Ability. This ability provides a Pokémon a ten percent chance of obtaining one new held item after battles.

The item that the Pokémon obtains ultimately depends on both the Pokémon’s level and its luck; in this case, a level 91-100 Pokémon has about a 1% chance of acquiring a copy of TM26 Earthquake after a battle.

When you consider that there’s only a 10% chance of Pickup successfully activating in the first place, this gives a Pokémon a 1-in-1000 chance of finding Earthquake after any given battle.

As a percentage this would be a 0.10% chance after each battle.

This method is endlessly repeatable, but can take a long time because of its low success rate.

Note: There is no notification displayed when a Pokémon finds an item with Pickup. So you will need to check on the Pokémon manually to see if it’s suddenly holding a new item after each battle. Pickup will also fail if the Pokémon is already holding an item by the end of a battle.

Ambipom has a new held item after a battle.

Checking the item and finding TM26 Earthquake.

Earthquake Details and Uses

In-game description of TM26 Earthquake.

Earthquake is a damage-dealing Ground-type physical move that hits all grounded Pokémon on the battlefield.

Earthquake Move Details
Type	Ground
Category	Physical
Power	100
Accuracy	100%
PP	10 (max. 16)

Earthquake has been one of the most popular moves since Generation I, and it’s easy to see why:

It has a high base power
Perfect accuracy
And has the ability to deal area damage

It has no self-sacrificing drawbacks like recharge turns, stat debuffs, or self-inflicted damage to complicated it.

In fact, Earthquake is the only 100 power/100 accuracy move with no such complications.

Ground-type moves are super-effective against the most other types in the game (tying with Fighting). This adds to Earthquake’s versatility.

And the move can be taught to a surprisingly high number of Pokémon. This includes tons of non-Ground types, which means a major boost in type coverage for Pokémon like Lucario and Garchomp.

The only tricky part of using Earthquake is in double battles.

Earthquake hits all Pokémon in battle besides the user, and this includes any comrades battling on the user’s side. But this is a minor inconvenience, and there are plenty of workarounds for this – such as partnering with a Flying-type Pokémon or one with the Levitate Ability.

This is such a good move that it is sometimes accused of being overpowered, and there really aren’t many adequate defenses against it besides the aforementioned Flying/Levitate strategies.

But many Earthquake users also know a Rock-type move, which can pose a deadly threat to a Flying-type Pokémon.

Other types of Pokémon that are strong against Earthquake are Bug—which are also weak against Rock moves—and Grass. The safest counter against an Earthquake user would likely be either a Grass-type or a Pokémon with Levitate.

Miscellaneous Info about Earthquake:

Earthquake can hit a Pokémon in the semi-invulnerable phase of Dig, and the damage to that Pokémon will be doubled.
A copy of TM26 Earthquake can be sold for 1,500 Poké Dollars.
Using Earthquake in a Pokémon Contest will earn the user 2 Appeal Points, plus 2 bonus Appeal Points if the user is the last to perform in that turn.

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Chris Haygood

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Chris is an American freelance writer and lifelong gamer. RPGs have been his genre of choice ever since he got Pokémon Blue in 1867, but if he finds a good rhythm game, he will prioritize playing it over both eating and breathing.

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