Chocobo

Related Topics:
Chocobo's_Dungeon_Series :: Chocobo_Racing :: Chocobo_no_Fushigi_Dungeon :: Chocobo_no_Fushigi_Dungeon_2

A Chocobo is a large emu-like ratite of fictional origin first featured in the video game Final Fantasy II. Chocobos have starred in subsequent Final Fantasy games and several spin-offs, including Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, Chocobo Racing, and the Legend of Mana manga by Shiro Amano.

Description

A Chocobo is a large, usually flightless bird capable of carrying a human. Their specific abilities vary somewhat from game to game. Most dwell in forests. While timid in the wild, and vicious if threatened, they tame rather easily and make good transports. Chocobos tend to be capable of crossing shallow water and are noted for their high speeds. They have occasionally been sighted as lightly armoured war mounts in which case they can assist their riders with beak and claw. Overall, the species is a very versatile and useful bird, which comes in handy because — inconsequential random encounters aside — in most Final Fantasy games, horses are non-existent.

Wild chocobos can be captured and ridden and used as a form of transport over otherwise inaccessible terrain, usually escaping after the player dismounts. Trained chocobos can be hired in some games. The chocobo's main attack in Final Fantasy Tactics is a peck. Final Fantasy IV introduced a few different "colors" of chocobos, a theme that was later expanded upon in Final Fantasy VII. The Final Fantasy IV chocobos are as follows:

Yellow Chocobo: The first and most common type in all games. Allows for accelerated movement over land and streams without random monster encounters.

White Chocobo: While it cannot be ridden, the white chocobo will restore each party member's Magic Points to their maximum.

Black Chocobo: These can only be found in two locations - in the Chocobo forest north of Troia, and in the Chocobo forest Southwest of Baron; the one near Baron is only available if the party is on Baron's continent and all other means of transportation are NOT on Baron's continent.

The Black Chocobo cannot walk, but instead has the ability to fly over most terrain without random monster encounters. It cannot pass over mountains and can only land in forests. Once dismounted it will remain where it is left; any attempt to ride it again and the Black Chocobo will automatically transport the party back to the forest where it was first found it in.

Final Fantasy VII further elaborated on the "color" motif, giving each Chocobo different abilities both in the racing minigame and on the world map. Most of the colored versions are faster than the avereage normal Chocobo in the racing minigame. All types prevent random monster encounters. They are as follows:

Yellow Chocobo: The first and most common type in all games. Allows for accelerated movement over land only. No special attributes in the racing minigame. There are many different "quality" ranks of the Yellow Chocobo that determine their speed, stamina and intelligence in the racing minigame. Different "ranks" are found in different areas, and certain ranks are required to mate with each other in order to breed the colored versions.

Green Chocobo, also known as "Mountain" Chocobo: Retains the properties of a yellow, but also has the ability to scale mountainous terrain. The Green Chocobo will also travel at normal speeds through the "water" regions of the Chocobo racing minigame; why this quality was given to the Green Chocobo and not the Blue one remains unclear.

Blue Chocobo, also known as "River" Chocobo: Also has the running capabilities of a yellow breed. In addition, they have a basilisk-like ability to run on shallow water (although it cannot cross oceans). No apparent special qualities in the Chocobo racing minigame.

Black Chocobo, also known as "Mountain-and-River" Chocobo: This Chocobo has the capabilities of all three of its predecessors; the only things it cannot traverse are deep ocean waters. The Black Chocobo will travel at normal speeds through the "water" regions of the chocobo racing minigame. Can only be obtained via mating a Blue and Green Chocobo. A "rival" Joe in the racing minigame also has a Black chocobo mount named Teioh, although his speed is based on the party's current Chocobo's.

Golden Chocobo, also known as "Ocean" Chocobo: The rarest of all breeds, and also the most coveted, this Chocobo can travel anywhere on the map, including over deep Ocean waters. The Golden Chocobo is the only thing that can take the party to the cave that contains the "Knights of the Round" Materia. In the racing minigame, the Golden Chocobo will travel at normal speeds through the "water" regions.

The Golden Chocobo can be found in two ways in the American version of FF7; either via breeding by having a Black Chocobo and a high quality Yellow Chocobo mate, or by defeating one of the American Weapons. A bred Golden Chocobo is always very fast and intelligent, whereas the one given to the party as a reward for beating the Weapon is pitifully slow and stupid.

Final Fantasy Tactics featured Yellow and Black Chocobos, and also introduced a new breed, the Red Chocobo. Yellow Chocobos had the ability to heal themselves and any nearby units, friend or foe. Black Chocobos, like their counterparts in other games, had the ability to fly, but also had the ability to shoot fireballs. Red Chocobos had the unique ability to summon meteors and drop them on their targets. Friendly Chocobos could be ridden by other party members, combining the Chocobo's movement ability with the attacks of the rider. Red Chocobos are especially noted for being dangerous even to a high-level party, capable of wiping out powerful characters in a single hit.

There is a chocobo "variant" that appeared in Final Fantasy III, IV, V and VII. It resembled a yellow chocobo with a serious weight problem that would humorously stock items for the player's party in its stomach (FF III & IV) or appear randomly when summoning a chocobo during battle (FF V & VII). The party could also summon this Chocobo at any time in Final Fantasy IV by using a Ghysal Whistle.

The onomatopoeia for a sound a Chocobo bird makes in the Final Fantasy series of video games is either "kweh" or more commonly "wark" (in English versions only) or "kue" (which is actually just another spelling of "kweh").

The design for the Chocobos is said to be based off of Hayao Miyazaki's Horseclaws, which appear in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. ^*

Appearances

Final Fantasy II

Chocobos first appeared in the game Final Fantasy II. They were colored pink, as opposed to the later yellow, and were found at only one point in the game. Updated versions of the game for the WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance recolored the chocobo yellow.

Final Fantasy III

In Final Fantasy III, Chocobos play a larger role. In particular, there is a small minigame involving a Chocobo: players who ride one of the birds around the floating continent on which the first part of the game takes place are rewarded with a special item. Also appearing for the first time is the Big, or Fat, Chocobo, an extra-large-sized variation who can be summoned via Gysahl Greens, an item featured in every subsequent Final Fantasy title. It should be noted that Gysahl Greens are named after the town of Gysahl from this game, although some translations incorrectly translate it as "Gishal". The Big Chocobo acts as an item bank for player characters: excess potions, weapons, armor, and other materials can be stored within the bird's stomach. This was before a system that allowed players to carry up to 99 of most items was implemented in the Final Fantasy series. There are two chocobo themes in this game — Chocobo and Big/Fat Chocobo.

Final Fantasy IV

In Final Fantasy IV, there are multiple species of chocobo. There is the standard yellow chocobo, which is captured in a chocobo forest and escapes when dismounted. The black chocobo can be caught in later forests, and is capable of flying between forested areas. The black chocobo is the only way for the player to arrive at one plot-specific destination. Unlike the yellow chocobo, it waits for the rider to return after dismounting; when mounted again, it returns to its home forest. The white chocobo can be found wherever there are other chocobos, and though it cannot be ridden, it can restore MP. The Fat Chocobo also makes a return appearance. There are three chocobo themes in this game: Enter Fat Chocobo, Chocobo-chocobo and Samba de Chocobo. Rydia has the ability to summon a chocobo in combat.

Final Fantasy V

One of Final Fantasy V's supporting characters was a yellow chocobo named Boco (sometimes translated as Boko), a companion to the main character, Butz/Bartz. Later, Boco met a female chocobo named Coco (Koko) and had choco-babies. Black chocobos, as in Final Fantasy IV, could be captured in chocobo forests and flown. The Fat Chocobo appears as a summoned creature.

Overall, Final Fantasy V was the first Final Fantasy game where chocobos really began to play a major role in the plot. Butz/Bartz uses Boco to go from place-to-place at the beginning of the game and later leaves him with Faris's pirate group when he goes out to journey to save the world. The black chocobos are necessary at times both to get to certain locations and to reveal hidden secrets.

The character Cara/Krile in this game is able to understand what chocobos are saying. She proves helpful to the party by interpreting what was "said" by Boco and his wife Coco.

Final Fantasy V has two chocobo themes — Mambo De Chocobo and Go Go Boco.

Right at the end of Final Fantasy V, Butz/Bartz, Lenna/Reina and Faris hop onto chocobos. They take off on them as the ending theme starts and can be seen riding them throughout the closing credits. Cara/Krile opts to ride on a dragon.

Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI features yellow chocobos, which can be hired in chocobo forests and some towns. These chocobos are not available all that often and do not play much of a role in the plot, although the player is required to ride one at least once. The character Setzer Gabbiani can also summon chocobos to attack using his "Slot" skill. A pet chocobo is also offered in an auction, unfortunately at a ridiculously high price, and no chance is given to bid on the bird.

Final Fantasy VI features only one chocobo theme — Techno de Chocobo. As its name suggests, this is a trippy, upbeat chocobo theme with a very "techno" and "electric" sound to it. A track called Milan de Chocobo is also available on the Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale album.

Final Fantasy VII

In Final Fantasy VII chocobos play a much larger role. They're found around chocobo tracks while using a special lure Materia as parts of ordinary random encounters and received by defeating all enemies before they run away. When riding a chocobo, random battle encounters do not occur. Chocobos usually escape when dismounted, but if the player has free space rented from the chocobo farm on the eastern continent, birds can instead be sent there to be housed and tamed. These chocobos can be fetched and ridden at will, won't escape and can be carried in the airship.

A large mini-game/side-quest available in the game is for the player to capture and breed more advanced Chocobos. The obvious goal in breeding and raising chocobos is to improve their performance in racing at the Gold Saucer, a gambling area within the game. Breeding chocobos can also produce a chocobo of a different color, which allows the player to traverse terrains to areas otherwise inaccessible even by airship, such as materia caves, that required the traversal of mountains, shallow water, and the ocean.

The first summon in the game is Choco/Mog, which calls a chocobo with a moogle rider to smash into the enemies as a "Deathblow!" attack that does damage and sometimes inflicts Stop status. There's a small chance of a fat chocobo dropping on the enemies instead for somewhat increased damage.

The game has several chocobo themes. Farm Boy plays at the Chocobo Ranch, Electric de Chocobo in a battle featuring a chocobo and Cinco de Chocobo plays while riding a chocobo. There is also the Waltz de Chocobo, which the chocobos perform at the Chocobo Ranch before giving the player the Choco/Mog summon. "Place Your Bets" can be heard at the Chocobo Races, when the player is given the opportunity to bet on the races or when entering their own chocobo. Finally, Fiddle de Chocobo plays during the racing itself.

Chocobo racing

The Chocobo Races not only allow the player to upgrade their chocobo and access new locations, but also feature great prizes. Chocobo Race winners can obtain a variety of great items for their wins and can also simply choose to cash in their prize ticket for GP to use elsewhere at the Gold Saucer. In order to raise a chocobo's statistics for the races, the player must feed it special types of greens at the chocobo ranch. Chocobos start out with a race Rank of C, followed by B, A and the coveted S rank. Joe and his black chocobo Teioh usually appear at the A and S rank races. Teioh's stats are always higher than the players' chocobo, but he is easily defeated by an experienced player.

Chocobo breeding

Besides the standard yellow chocobos, the game features four special kinds. Green chocobos are able to traverse mountains, blue chocobos walk across shallow bodies of water, black chocobos have both abilities, and golden chocobos can also traverse the seas. Each kind makes a hidden Materia cave accessible, and the golden chocobo is the only way to access the final and most powerful summon of the game, "Knights of the Round". Chocobos of colors other than yellow must be bred in the chocobo stables.

When breeding two yellow chocobos, a "good" and "great" of the opposite genders, a baby green or blue chocobo of either gender may be created. By breeding a green and blue chocobo of opposite genders, a black chocobo can be created. The elusive gold chocobo may be created by breeding a "wonderful" yellow and a black chocobo. Factors that influence the type of baby that any two chocobos may produce are the parent's rankings in the Chocobo Races, the colors of the parents, and the type of food given to the chocobos.

Other colors of chocobos can be seen when chocobo racing. Opposing racers are often pink, red, white, and different colors of blue. There are no ways to obtain a chocobo of these colors in the game. This, though, has not stopped fans of the game from creating all sorts of wild rumors as to how to obtain chocobos of these and other colors. Some of the most pervasive include rumors about a chocobo that can go underwater, but no such chocobo is obtainable.

One special way to gain a gold chocobo is to visit the Kalm Traveler of Kalm Town in the North American and International versions. He requests that the player give him the Desert Rose, which can be gained by defeating Ruby Weapon. If given, he produces a Gold Chocobo, which is immediately named and sent to the Chocobo Stables. However, while this chocobo's World Map capabilities are the same as any other Gold Chocobo, its racing statistics are nowhere near as good as those of gold chocobos bred by the player.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Advent Children featured a chocobo in the end during the credits. The appearance, however, is brief and plays no role other than an entertaining cameo.

Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII also featured chocobos. The player and their party could obtain a chocobo by entering one of many round forests, known as Chocobo Forests, situated all over the world map. There would be a boy inside who would teach the player how to capture a Chocobo by using a Sonar and a Flute. He would also provide the player with Gysahl Greens to summon Boco in battle (see below). Once captured, the player can ride the chocobo. Travel by Chocobo is much faster than by foot or car, plus it also doubles the amounts of steps one takes to obtain SeeD money more frequently. However, Chocobos can only be ridden out of a Chocobo forest and to other areas connected by land or shallow seas. Chocobos in this game can never gain the capability to cross mountains, rivers, or deep oceans. Chocobos in this game are very different compared to the ones in Final Fantasy VII. They are much, much larger and have a smaller beak. They do not appear as agile as and lack the comical looks of those seen in Final Fantasy VII.

There are several forests that the player can visit. Each of these contains a mini-game in which the player can use the tools ChocoSonar and ChocoZiner to attempt to corral baby chocobos and eventually locate the choco-mother. These tasks often require exact precision, especially the more advanced forests and are the bane of players attempting to complete all challenges within the game. If the player completes all the forests, they can use their chocobo on the map to travel to the Chocobo Sactuary. There, the player receives the Chicobo Card for use in Triple Triad after the six chocobos collected do a dance. Accessing this forest in disc four and gaining use of a chocobo here is key to regaining use of the Ragnarok airship on this disc.

However, that is not where Chocobos end in Final Fantasy VIII. If the player had caught a chocobo, a much smaller baby Chocobo follows the player around. The name of this Chocobo was Boco, and he could only be accessed by using a PocketStation (not to be confused with the PlayStation Portable; the PC version uses a standalone program to play the minigame). Much like a Tamagotchi, the player would take care of Boco on the PocketStation, feeding him, resting him and so on. As he grew, the player would gain special items, which could then be accessed from within Final Fantasy VIII. These items could only be obtained via this method. Boco could also be summoned in combat via Gysahl Greens, and his various attacks were all Flare and Meteor based. Boco is named after Butz/Bartz's chocobo in Final Fantasy V. If the player explored the game, he'll eventually meet Coco, which was also the name of Boco's mate in Final Fantasy V.

Final Fantasy VIII features two chocobo themes. Mods de Chocobo plays while riding a chocobo. This is a sort of upbeat rock theme with a female chorus sometimes singing "Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh" in tune with the music. The other, ODEKA de chocobo, is a synth tune that plays at the Winhill village chocobo crossing.

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX also features chocobos, but has only one ridable chocobo, named Choco. The player gains Choco by visiting Chocobo Forest and talking with the moogle there named Mene. Choco can be evolved to different colors (and thereby gained different forms of mobility) via the chocobo digging minigame, "Chocobo Hot & Cold", which allows the player to obtain Chocographs. Finding Chocographs is a mini-game that is played like egg hunting. The player has a few clues to work with, and the player will have to go around the world to find the prizes. The ultimate goals of the minigame and evolutions are to reach Ozma (one of the game's optional superbosses) and Chocobo's Paradise, as well as receive the more powerful weapons and rare treasures. Chocobo's Paradise is the home of the chocobos, ruled over by the fat chocobo.

The colors of Choco are as follows:

Yellow = Standard running. No special ability.
Light Blue = Able to walk in shallow water.
Red = Able to traverse mountains.
Dark Blue = Able to walk in deep water.
Gold = Able to fly, provided the take-off point is a forest and the landing point is a forest. This chocobo is similar in capability to the black chocobos of Final Fantasy IV and V and is the only other one in the Final Fantasy series to date that the player can fly. Not to be confused with Final Fantasy VII's gold chocobo, which cannot fly.

One other important thing to note — these abililties are cumulative. I.E., the gold flying chocobo not only can fly, but can also still cross mountains and travel in deep water by land. On a final note, even once Choco is upgraded, he must still exit an area by a coastline in order to enter the ocean when traveling on land.

In addition to Chocobo's Forest, there is also a Chocobo Lagoon and Chocobo's Air Garden. These locations allow the player to play advanced versions of the Chocobo Hot & Cold Game. In addition to finding Chocographs, this game allows the player to find various useful items and win points that can be traded in for even more items. With an entry fee of only 60 gil (30 at one point in the Lagoon), this game is an ultra-bargain as the treasure found by a good player should make up the entry fee many times over.

There are three chocobo themes in this game. Vamo' alla Flamenco plays during the scene where Zidane and Blank battle in the play early in the game. But it also plays when the player is engaged in a Chocobo Hot & Cold game. Aloha de Chocobo plays in the Chocobo Forest, Lagoon and Air Garden during the time when the Hot & Cold game is not being played. Finally, Ukulele de Chocobo plays when the player is riding a chocobo.

Final Fantasy X

In Final Fantasy X, an Al-Bhed named Rin owns a shop in Mi'ihen Highroad which harbors a chocobo stable. After defeating the Chocobo Eater, the player is able to ride these chocobos as long as the player is within the perimeters of the Highroad. While riding a chocobo, there are no random encounters, and the player travels twice as fast. Chocobos grant entry to secret areas that only chocobos can access, with many items.

The next time the player is able to ride chocobos is at the Calm Lands, where most of the free-roaming chocobos reside. Here the player is able to train their Chocobo and play various mini-games, as well as race them under Remiem Temple for prizes. Chocobos are useful to obtain rare items and side-quests. This includes a couple of very valuable prizes — the Cloudy Mirror (which can be upgraded to the Celestial Mirror, vital for obtaining and upgrading the Celestial Weapons) and the Sigil for Tidus's Celestial weapon, as well as the weapon itself.

In Final Fantasy X, chocobos are also used for warfare and to power such vehicles as boats, though it is theorized that they might also power the airship using some form of fusion. There is an elite unit of the Crusaders known as the Chocobo Knights, who ride armored chocobos into battle. All but one of these chocobos were wiped out during Operation Mi'ihen. The last survivng chocobo was found by a character named Clasko, who decides to quit the Chocobo Knights and become a breeder, looking after the surviving chocobo. However, this is a player choice — the decision must be made whether to tell Clasko that he should become a breeder, or remain with the Knights. If he is told to become a breeder, they can obtain a special prize later. Clasko returns in a much more major role regarding chocobos in Final Fantasy X-2.

The chocobos of Final Fantasy X / X-2 are probably the most realistic looking of any in the series. They fit the size of the characters that mount them and make noise when talked to.

Final Fantasy X features only one chocobo theme — Brass de Chocobo.

Final Fantasy X-2

In Final Fantasy X-2, chocobos have become very scarce. They are no longer used on the Mi'ihen Highroad and have been replaced by hovercrafts, due to the increase in chocobo-eating fiends in the area and the faster speed of the hovercrafts. However, if the player meets certain conditions in the game, he/she can start a chocobo ranch with the help of Clasko, a chocobo breeder. He/she can also bring chocobos back to the Mi'ihen Highroad, although this is largely unconnected to Clasko.

In order to return chocobos to the Highroad, the player must complete the Mi'ihen Mystery sidequest and pin Chocobo Eater, Calli, Rikku, or Rin as the culprit. Pinning Prophet as the culprit will not allow the chocobos to return. He and his group were advocating their return, but they are forced to drop this if he is pinned as the culprit. Chocobos will also not return if the player does not properly solve the mystery, or simply does not attempt to solve it. Players can initiate events for this mission as early as Chapter 1 of the game, though the actual solving of the mystery does not happen until Chapter 4 and the results are not seen until Chapter 5, the final chapter. If the player pins Rin as the culprit, he/she can ride chocobos for free on the Highroad, while for all other outcomes that return chocobos to the Highroad, a token fee must be paid. However, pinning Rin as the culprit denies the player a valuable Episode Complete for this area and pinning anyone other than Rikku means the player loses out on the Ragnarok accessory. In any case, the player talks to the same attendant that also operates the hovers before he/she can ride one of the chocobos. Riding a chocobo makes travel along the Highroad much faster and also gives access to the Mi'hen Dungeon where valuable accessories may be found.

Players can also gain chocobos for the purpose of finding items throughout Spira by opening Clasko's chocobo ranch. In order to open the ranch, the player must simply find and talk to Clasko in Chapter 1 or 2 and invite him aboard the Celsius. After completing the Cuckoo for Chocobos mission in Chapter 2, the player can then invite him back aboard and he will want to jump ship and head for the Calm Lands. After completing a mission to clear the fiends out of the old monster arena, the ranch will open. Alternatively, Clasko will jump ship automatically in Chapter 3 if he's still on-board. If the player fails to find Clasko in either Chapter 1 or 2, they will lose the opportunity to open the ranch until their next New Game Plus. Clasko will give the player Gysahl Greens. The player must encounter a chocobo in battle and capture it using these, but it is not always a simple task. Brave Chocobos are capable of healing themselves, casting supportive magic, and even attacking the player's characters with Choco Kick, which does a moderate amount of damage to one character, and Choco Meteor, which does a major amount of damage to all characters (but will never kill them outright.) Chocobos will also sometimes simply run away, making the task even more difficult. After a chocobo has been captured, it is taken to the chocobo ranch where the player can raise it and send it off to other places in Spira in search of items. This mini side-quest resembles FFVII's Chocobo Breeding minigame.

The dedicated player will be rewarded for their patience with the true secret of Clasko's chocobo ranch. Once the player sends out three chocobos of Level 1, raises them to Level 2, sends them out again and so on, up till 5 and has 4 Level 5 choco-runners, he/she can exit the ranch and then enter again. Clasko will announce that the chocobos have found a hole leading to a secret dungeon. He's sure there's an Amazing Chocobo in there, but he's too scared to go in and find it. This is good for the player, as this dungeon is loaded with valuable accessories, including the AP Egg (triples AP gain for one of the girls) and another special dressphere upgrade. Once the player has fought the Anything Eater and then opened all five of the gates within the ranch, YRP find the Amazing Chocobo! Bright gold and capable of flying, Clasko convinces this chocobo to not run away and the player gains an Episode Complete for this segment of the game. The Amazing Chocobo is then available for two tasks — Explore Spira (and find more valuable items), or to support the player’s other chocobos. It can also go on Standby — though it hides its fatigue well, it sometimes needs to rest.

Additionally, while viewing the CommSphere in the Thunder Plains in chapter 4, the player can capture two wild chocobos with the help of Shinra's ChocoPorter. However, these chocobos do nothing besides walk around in the Celsius's cabin.

Like Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 has only one chocobo theme, called Chocobo Jam.

Final Fantasy XI

In Final Fantasy XI, chocobos serve as a primary means of transportation and can be rented from several locations around the world. Upon reaching level 20, a player can do a quest to obtain a Chocobo License that is required for him or her to rent them. The rental fee at each location will vary based on how busy that location is and what level the player is at the time. In addition, Chocobos cannot be ridden into any cities, and the player automatically dismounts a Chocobo after a period of about 30 minutes unless the player is wearing gear that allows for more time. Mini time-based quests similar in nature to FFX's chocobo road game were added in a update which awards players with items for getting a chocobo to a stable in the fastest time in relation to other players.

With the Treasures of Aht Urghan expansion, Chocobo Racing and breeding will make its re-appearance in the form of a race track between the known nations of Vana'diel. Players will be able to own a Chocobo, feed it different foods and even taken them out on dates with other players chocobos which, if they are compatible will get them to breed a baby chocobo. The chocobo's stats will be directly related to this feeding and breeding prosses.

Features such as Chocobo Racing and Breeding are expected to be implemented in the July 2006 version update.

Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII has not yet been released in North America. Although little is known about this game, it has been revealed that it will include Chocobos that can be used as part of battle. In the game, Chocobos have a more menacing appearance, similar to an eagle, rather than the cuter appearance in previous games.

The player is able to rent Chocobos to travel into the wilderness, but only for a short time. When time is depleted, Chocobos return to their stall in the city, and the player has to continue on foot. While on a Chocobo, enemies ignore the player.

The soundtrack of the game features two tracks of the Chocobo theme, one is a harmonious tune named "Chocobo FFXII Arrange Ver.1" in Disc 2, and the other a jovial albeit militaristic marching tune titled "Chocobo ~FFXII Version~" in Disc 3.

Final Fantasy XIII

There is no information available for Chocobos in this game yet.

Final Fantasy Tactics

Domesticated Chocobos in Final Fantasy Tactics are used much like cavalry, as a means of faster transportation. Wild Chocobos are monsters that players would slay in battle, and are tough opponents early in the game. The yellow chocobos fought in the beginning can heal themselves and others, counterattack, and physically attack. Chocobos can be brought under one's control with the proper Job and Ability, most notably the mediator class. The other chocobo colors are black and red. Black Chocobos can fly, counterattack, and attack with a powerful long-range attack (choco ball). Red chocobos can jump up any height, attack physically, or attack with a very powerful, very long-range, plus a move impossible to avoid (choco meteor). If a Chocobo is on the player's team in a battle, a human character or a ghost-type monster (the latter most likely due to a glitch) can ride it for extra mobility, or to protect the Chocobo from harm. At a certain point there's a plot battle where Ramza can win a chocobo called "Boco", named after earlier chocobos in Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the GBA spin-off loosely based on the original Final Fantasy Tactics, Chocobos serve a relatively minor role, but still do make appearances. Chocobos do not appear in battle as monsters for the player to defeat or control, as is the case in FFT, but the proper job class can call Chocobos to attack. During engagements, the Judges ride on Chocobo mounts, allowing them to move great distances and at great speeds across the field. These Chocobo have armor on unlike the normal ones. Chocobos are further mentioned in a few of the numerous dispatch missions, when a player must send out a clan member to complete the mission. In an apparent nod to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, one of the early bars in the game is named The Prancing Chocobo.

Spin-offs

In the animated sequel to Final Fantasy V, Legend of the Crystals, one of the main characters can summon chocobos. These chocobos are much different from the normal Final Fantasy chocobo; they have no feathers and are pink.

In the anime series Unlimited, there are many chocobos, but one that joins the cast named Chobi. Chobi later gains a 'power-up' where he gains the legendary Ciel-Chocobo armour, enabling him to fly.

A spin-off series, Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, also features chocobos - including, as the title suggests, a playable one as the main character. A sequel, Chocobo's Dungeon 2, also known as Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2 in Japan, was released both in and out of Japan. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon was never released outside Japan.

Another spin-off is the PlayStation racing game Chocobo Racing, a game similar to the Nintendo game Super Mario Kart. This is actually a spin-off of the Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon series, starring the same chocobo and other cameos from that series.

In Japan, two other games featuring chocobos were released. Chocobo Stallion (a chocobo breeding and racing game) and Dice de Chocobo (an interactive board game) were packaged along with Chocobo Racing and released by Squaresoft as Chocobo Collection in 2000. Hataraku Chocobo (WonderSwan), (which translates to Working Chocobo or Chocobo at Work), Chocobo Land: A Game of Dice (GBA), and Chocobo World (PocketStation) are other Japanese exclusives.

A couple of visual references^* to chocobo appear in the movie The Spirits Within.

In Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, several chocobo-shaped weather vanes exist in the town of Windia.

In Crystal Chronicles, the best shield you can obtain for the Clavat race is called a Chocobo Shield, and depicts the face of a chocobo. You can also find an artifact called a Chocobo Pocket, which gives the player an extra command slot.

Non-Final Fantasy appearances

Video games

A Chocobo also appeared in Seiken Densetsu (Final Fantasy Adventure), but is later changed into a 'Chocobot'. It was removed from the 2003 remake, Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (Sword of Mana in the United States), in favour of the 'Cannon Ball Travel', which originated in Secret of Mana; however, a chocobo can be seen in Sword of Mana by waiting for a certain period of time after the completion of the game.

Chocobos also made an appearance as enemies in the PlayStation game Legend of Mana. These wild Chocobos were black and could not be captured. A yellow Chocobo could be obtained as a pet that would fight alongside the player if the player had a game save from Final Fantasy VIII on their memory card when the Monster Corral tutorial quest occurred.

Chocobo eggs are a collectible item in the Squaresoft game Secret of Evermore.

The Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts contains a Keyblade known as the Metal Chocobo, with the key chain resembling a yellow chocobo. It also includes a type of Gummi Ship (a flying vehicle used in the game) named "Chocobo", which is in the form of a chocobo. There is also a drawing of a chocobo in the cave on the first island in the game. It has been crossed out, possibly by Donald Duck, whose drawing is right next to it.

A banner picturing a Chocobo can be found hanging over the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History in the game Parasite Eve. A Chocobo skeleton can be found nearby.

A Chocobo is also obtainable as a combatant in the Squaresoft fighting game Tobal 2.

Somewhat similar to the Final Fantasy Chocobos a mount for the race of gnomes called Mechanostrider can be found in the MMORPG World of Warcraft. They also are similar to the Peco-Pecos in Ragnarok Online.

The Chocobo is parodied in the browser-based game Kingdom of Loathing as the Cocoabo familiar, which can charge monsters to deal damage, heal characters by nuzzling them (much like a phoenix), and dig in the ground to give the characters extra money.

A blue Chocobo drives the wagons of the traveling circus, Carivan, in Eternal Blue Complete.

In the game "Battle for Wesnoth", there is a unit referred to as a "Chocobone". The official unit profile on the Chocobone states that "Riding the bones of ostrich-like large birds once used as mounts by a lost civilization, the skeleton Chocobones can move faster than most cavalry units." Given the name of the unit, as well as the image and description, the Chocobone could be a parody/reference to the Chocobo.

Webcomics

Chocobos are something of a running gag in the webcomic VG Cats. The comic has made fun of breeding Kentucky Fried Chicken (named as Kentucky Firaga Chocobo) ^*.

Chocobos appear in the webcomic and Final Fantasy parody 8-bit Theatre starting in episode 673, where they are the center of Red Mage's plan for getting off an island on which the "heroes" find themselves stranded.

Somekind of Chocobo also appear in the comic RPG world. In this comic they are called Dragobos. But besides having the head of a dragon they are exactly the same as normal chocobos.

Others

Rules for using Chocobos in Dungeons & Dragons were published in the September 2004 issue of Dragon magazine. The ruleset contained information on two different breeds of Chocobo, yellow and black.

An episode of the popular web animation Weebl and Bob, parodying Final Fantasy VII, features a badly drawn chocobo uttering "wark".^*

In One Ring to Rule Them All 2, a Lord of the Rings parody by Joeseph, chocobos appear during The Chase

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