A Chocobo is a large fictional chicken-like ratite first featured in the video game Final Fantasy II, and then in all subsequent installments plus their merchandise. Chocobos have also starred in several spin-offs, including Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon and Chocobo Racing (both for the Sony PlayStation) and in the manga Legend of Mana by Shiro Amano.

Description

A Chocobo is a large 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 since no one in Final Fantasy has ever heard of a horse.

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 onomatopoeia for a sound a Chocobo bird makes in the Final Fantasy series of video games is either "kweh" or less commonly "wark" or "cue".

The design for the Chocobos may 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.

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, a extra-large sized variation who can be summoned via a Gisahl's vegetable. The Big Chocobo acts as a item bank for player characters: excess potions, weapons, armor, and other materials can be stored within the bird's stomach.

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. 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 also be found in forests, but it cannot be captured; it merely restores MP. The Big Chocobo also makes a return appearance.

Final Fantasy V

One of Final Fantasy V's supporting characters was a yellow chocobo named Boco, a companion to the main character. Black chocobos, as in Final Fantasy IV, could be captured in chocobo forests and flown. The Fat Chocobo appears as a summoned creature.

Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI featured yellow chocobos, which could be hired in chocobo forests and some towns. The character Setzer could also summon chocobos to attack using his "Slot" skill.

Final Fantasy VII

In Final Fantasy VII, Chocobos played a very large role in the game. Chocobos can be sent to stables rented at the Chocobo Farm. Chocobos taken from the stables do not escape when dismounted. When riding a Chocobo, random battle encounters do not occur. Most Chocobos are large, bright yellow and fluffy, making sounds such as "meep", "kweh", "cue" or "wark". The player can 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.

Besides the standard yellow chocobos, in Final Fantasy VII there were 4 additional types of Chocobos. Green chocobos are able to traverse mountains, blue chocobos are able to walk across shallow bodies of water, black chocobos have the ability to cross mountains and shallow bodies of water, and golden chocobos are able to cross mountains as well as both deep and shallow bodies of water. By creating various chocobos, players are able to access hidden areas of the game. Creating a golden chocobo is the only way to attain the "Knights of the Round" summon (besides fighting the Emerald Weapon at the bottom of the ocean). Chocobos of colors other than yellow must be bred in the chocobo stables. When breeding two yellow chocobos, in the proper conditions, a baby green or blue chocobo may be created. By breeding a green and blue chocobo, a black chocobo can be created. The elusive gold chocobo may be created by breeding a 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.

Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII also featured Chocobos. You and your 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 you how to capture a Chocobo by using a Sonar and a Flute. Once captured, you can ride the Chocobo. The Chocobo is much faster than walking by foot, even faster than riding the Garden, and on top of that, it also doubles the amounts of steps you take so that you can obtain SeeD money. 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 don't look as agile and don't have the comic look of Final Fantasy VII.

However, that is not where Chocobos end in Final Fantasy VIII. If you caught a chocobo, you would have a much smaller baby Chocobo follow you 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, you would take care of Boco on the PocketStation, feeding him, resting him and so on. As he grew, you would gain special items, which you could then be accessed from within Final Fantasy VIII. These items could only be achieved via this method.

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX also features chocobos, but has only one ridable chocobo, named Choco. Choco can be evolved to different colors (and thereby gained different forms of mobility) via the chocobo digging minigame, "Chocobo Hot & Cold", which allows you to obtain Chocographs. Finding Chocographs is a mini-game that is played like egg hunting. You have a few clues to work with, and you'll 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.

Final Fantasy X

In Final Fantasy X, an Al-Bhed named Rin owns a shop in Mi'ihen Highroads which harbours a Chocobo stable. After defeating the Chocobo Eater you are able to ride these Chocobos as long as you're within the parameters of Mi'ihen. While you are on the Chocobo, you do not experience random encounters, and you travel twice as fast. Chocobos can also lead you to secret areas in which only Chocobos can access, giving you items.

The next time you're able to ride Chocobos is at the Calm Lands where most of the free-roaming Chocobos reside. Here you are able to train your Chocobo and play various mini-games, as well as race them by Remiem Temple for prizes. Chocobos are useful to obtain rare items and side-quests.

In Final Fantasy X, Chocobos are also used for war and to power such vehicles as boats. 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 by 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. He looks after the last surviving Chocobo from Operation Mi'ihen .

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, and bring chocobos back to the Mi'ihen Highroad.

However, in order to collect chocobos for the chocobo ranch, the player must encounter one in battle and capture it using certain items, and it is not always a simple task. 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 Meteo, which does a major amount of damage to all characters. 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.

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.

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, but can be brought under one's control with the proper Job and Ability. Chocobos come in the normal Yellow Chocobos, which can heal injuries, Black Chocobos which can fly, and powerful Red Chocobos, which can summon meteors on their opponents. 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.

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. 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.

Spin-offs

In the animated sequel to Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, one of the main characters can summon Chocobos. These Chocobos are much different than the normal Final Fantasy Chocobo, they have no feathers and are pink.

In the anime series Final Fantasy 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.

Another spin-off is the PlayStation racing game Chocobo Racing, a game similar to the Nintendo game Mario Kart.

In Japan, two other games featuring Chocobo 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.

Non-Final Fantasy Appearances

A Chocobo also appeared in Seiken Densetsu, but 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. Legend of Mana for the PlayStation also featured chocobos as random enemies or as pets.

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

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.

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

The Chocobo is parodied in the browser-based game Kingdom of Loathing as the Cocoabo familiar.fr:Chocobo ja:гѓЃгѓ§г‚ігѓњ sv:Chocobo pt:Chocobo