Town Map
The Town Map is the first and most basic of the map devices used by players of the Pokémon games, and is the navigational item for all Generation I games, FireRed and LeafGreen, and Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. In these, it is a key item, but they can also be found in Pokémon Centers next to the PC in Generations III and IV. In Generation II, the player receives a map card for the PokéGear after taking a tour of Cherrygrove City which serves the same purpose.
Kanto
In Pokémon Red and Blue, Green and Pokémon Yellow, and their Generation III remakes Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Daisy Oak will give it to the player after he or she receives his or her starter Pokémon and delivers Oak's Parcel to the Professor. If it is not obtained here, then it will be given by Celio at Knot Island in Generation III.
At first, the map will only display the Kanto region. During Generation III, after the player has ventured into the Sevii Islands, Celio will give them an upgraded map, featuring Knot, Boon, and Kin Islands. After defeating the Elite Four and getting the National Dex, Celio will upgrade the map to its complete extent, revealing the final four Sevii Islands. The map display can be changed among the four sections (mainland Kanto; Knot, Boon, and Kin Island; Floe and Chrono Island and Navel Rock; and Fortune, Quest, and Birth Island) at will after getting each new map.
In FireRed and LeafGreen, certain locations in Kanto and the Sevii Islands have a small flavor text, referred to in-game as a "guide". This would be expanded on for every Sinnoh location in Generation IV.
Sinnoh
A new, separate Town Map was introduced in Sinnoh, and serves as a complimentary map application to the Pokétch. The Sinnoh Town Map offers flavor text descriptions of all visited locations in the game, and of all routes, visited or not. It resembles a Nintendo DS.
The Map is obtained in Jubilife City, when visiting the Trainer's School. The player receives it from his or her rival, Pearl, upon giving him the Parcel from his mother.
Interestingly, Platinum's Town Map appears to have been taken directly from Diamond and Pearl: this is evidenced by Route 212's description including a reference to the house where shards can be traded for TMs. However, in Platinum, the TM-trading woman has been replaced by a move tutor.
