Chocobo

The Chocobo is a creature from the Final Fantasy franchise. They are one of the reoccurring icons of the series, along with Moogles and Cactuars. They first appear in Final Fantasy II.

Chocobos are large galliform birds that can move at great speeds on land, like ostriches, although Chocobos also bear similarities to chickens. Generally, humans use the Chocobo as a mount for travel, either by riding it or using it to pull a cart. This mode of transportation is faster than traveling on foot and also avoids random encounters on the overworld. On other occasions, Chocobos takes on the role of an adventurer instead of a mount. Most Chocobos also cannot speak: they only emit the onomatopoeia "wark" or "kweh".

Chocobo has appeared in other Square Enix games outside the Final Fantasy franchise. It is one of the few creatures that maintains consistency across the Final Fantasy franchise, where each installment of the main series have little or nothing in common between games.

Appearances[]

Final Fantasy II[]

In Final Fantasy II, a Chocobo makes its first appearance. It is encountered in a forest called Chocobo Forest, where the player can talk to one to ride it. The Chocobo does not play a major role during the story. In the original Family Computer release, the Chocobo is colored white, but in later versions it is colored 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 are rewarded with a special item. Most notably, the game marks the debut of the Fat Chocobo, who can store excess items in its stomach. Chocobos once again appear in their own location, Chocobo Woods, and in Southeastern Saronia.

Final Fantasy IV[]

In Final Fantasy IV, Chocobos are introudced in a variety of colors. The standard yellow type appears in Chocobo Forests and can be ridden around the world map, allowing the player to skip wild encounters. Rydia has the ability to summon a Chocobo in battle.

The other two Chocobo color varieties are Black Chocobos, which can fly between forests, and the White Chocobo, which cannot be ridden but restores 500 MP to all party members if caught. The Fat Chocobo makes a reappearance.

The game has three musical themes related to the chocobo: "Enter Fat Chocobo," "Chocobo-chocobo," and "Samba de Chocobo."

Final Fantasy V[]

In Final Fantasy V, one Chocobo named Boco has a major role of being owned by Bartz Klauser. It can be ridden around on the world map at certain points, and it is more tame, not running away when dismounted. Both regular and black chocobos can be found within Chocobo Forests, which make a reappearance. Furthermore, in the merged world, Boco has children with a female chocobo named Koko. One of the characters, Krile, can also understand what the chocobos are saying.

At one point, it is stated that female Chocobos cannot be ridden.

The game features two Chocobo themes: "Mambo De Chocobo" and "Go Go Boco."

Final Fantasy VI[]

Final Fantasy VI features yellow chocobos, which can be hired in chocobo forests and some towns. Chocobos are not available that often, although there is at least one point when the party is required to ride a Chocobo. This is the first game to use an "over the shoulder" point of view while riding a chocobo (using the Super NES's Mode 7 effect), whereas the games beforehand used the standard overhead view.

Setzer Gabbiani also has a Slot titled Chocobo Stampede, where he summons several chocobos into battle.

At the Jidoor Auction House, a pet chocobo is offered during an auction at a very high price, claiming it can speak. While it is possible to bid on the Chocobo, it is always claimed by a rich man at the request of his child for 1,000,000 G.

Final Fantasy VI features only one chocobo theme — Techno de Chocobo. A track called Milan de Chocobo is also available on the Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale album.

Final Fantasy VII[]

Chocobos play a large role in Final Fantasy VII. They are first seen at the Chocobo Farm, where several of them are enclosed, and by talking to the Chocobos, they perform a dance and give the Choco-Mog summon Materia.

Chocobos can appear in certain battles if the player uses the Chocobo Lure Materia. The party can catch the Chocobo by defeating the enemies alongside it, although the Chocobo is usually quick enough to flee. Chocobos must be bred into different color varieties, which can traverse certain types of terrain: blue Chocobos can traverse shallow water; green Chocobos can travel on mountains; black chocobos can traverse both; and golden Chocobos can traverse mountains, shallow water, and deep water. There are Materia Caves, which contain very useful Materia, and they can only be reached by certain chocobos.

At the Gold Saucer, there is a Chocobo racing minigame. It is possible to increase the chocobo's racing statistics. Chocobos start out with a race Rank of C, followed by B, A, and the coveted S rank.

Final Fantasy VIII[]

In Final Fantasy VIII, Chocobos can be found in Chocobo Forests again and used to traverse the land and shallow water. Additionally, using the PocketStation peripheral in the PlayStation version or with the minigame included in the PC version, it is possible to train a chocobo and later use it as a Guardian Force.

Final Fantasy IX[]

In Final Fantasy IX, there is a Chocobo named Choco, who can be found on the Mist Continent and ridden around the overworld. He is featured in Chocobo Hot and Cold, which involves using Choco and his strong beak to find items buried underground. Chocographs are found occasionally and show where hidden treasures are located. Some of the treasures do not contain items or equipment, but instead release smoke that transports the chocobo to the Chocobo Dream World, where Fat Chocobo grants it new abilities, causing it to change color.

Choco can change color to adjust its ability at navigating the world map. There is the "sky blue" chocobo, which can travel through shallow water; the "red" chocobo, which can travel through shallow water and mountains; the "dark blue" chocobo, which in addition to the above can travel through deep water; and finally, the "golden" chocobo, which can fly, although it can only take off and land in forests. With this last one, it's possible to reach Chocobo's Air Garden and face Ozma.