some tips. sf embarcadero from fisherman's wharf, pier 39 to the ferry terminal building is the hotbed of all kinds of newly released and rare critters. because the niantic office and developers are nearby, they release many from the lab and test rare and difficult-to-catch ones around the area. in one hour i caught 16 unique critters beside the many magikarps, psyducks and tentacools near the waterfront. and there's tauros which is supposed to be only available in the u.s.
to catch as many critters as you can (common ones appear every second, medium rare every 1 minute, and rare ones every 5 minutes) at the hot poke area in a couple of hours, be prepared to arm yourself with a lot of poke balls, great balls, and razz berries in your bag. clear or transfer low cp and multiple common critters from your pokemon collection. without buying coins and paying to expand both your bag and pokemon collection, you have a limit of up to 350 items in your bag and 250 critters in your collection. you need to manage inventories in these two containers wisely depending on the phase of the game you're in.
if you are a mid level player and only thinking of catching rare or new critters to fill up your pokedex without sparring in the gym, do not stock up on potions and revive crystals. stock the heck up on poke balls, great balls, and razz berries. use red poke balls on common or low end critters, and use a combination of razz berries and great blue balls on rare difficult critters. my recommendation is at least 150 red balls, 120 blue balls, and 25 razz berries. if you are in the gym phase where chalking up gym credits and empowering your champion critters are key, stock up on potions and revive crustals. these two items are required when you train or sparr in the gym. and only stock up on hyper potions and revive crystals. the other 2 types of potions are less effective. after every sparr, you'll need to revive and heal your champion critters. stock at least 6 vials of hyper potion and 6 revive crystals minimum before a gym fight. this is because you may use up all top 6 champions to win the gym fight, and only up to 6. in this phase, i recommend multiples of 6 in hyper potions and revive crystals: 36 hyper potions, 36 revive crystals.
also, hatch as many eggs as possible as some eggs especially those which require 10km of walking or cycling to hatch will yield rare or uncaught critters.
go poke go. my rare critter collection phase of the bag....
