Editing Chocobo (species)

{{Tab|Chocobo}}

{{about|the species|the titular protagonist of the ''Chocobo'' series|Chocobo (character)|other uses|Chocobo (disambiguation)}}

The '''Chocobo''' (Japanese: チョコボ, Hepburn: Chokobo) is a species from the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The creature is generally a flightless bird, though certain highly specialized breeds in some titles retain the ability to fly. It bears a resemblance to casuariiformes and ratites, and is capable of being ridden by humans, usually for transporation. Chocobos first appeared in ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' and have been featured in nearly every subsequent ''[[Final Fantasy (franchise)|Final Fantasy]]'' games. There is also a spin-off series starring chocobos, also named ''[[Chocobo (series)|Chocobo]]''.  

Many chocobos live in forests. Besides wild chocobos, there are also several domesticated ones. In the games, the [[party]] can ride them on the [[overworld]] to travel around more quickly. Chocobos are also capable of crossing shallow water and other terrain that the party cannot, and allow them to avoid enemy encounters. Chocobos have occasionally been sighted as lightly armored war mounts in which case they can assist their riders with their beak and claw. When the party dismounts a chocobo, it usually runs away.

The onomatopoeia for a chocobo's call is "Kue" (クエ) in the original Japanese versions and this is sometimes transliterated as "Kweh" in the English translation. "Wark" also features in English versions as an alternative cry.

The chocobo was created and designed by Koichi Ishii, a video game director who worked on various Final Fantasy titles. The chocobo appears remarkably similar to and was likely inspired by the prehistoric bird Gastornis. Hiromichi Tanaka has speculated that the chocobo concept may have come from Kyorochan, a character in television advertisements for Morinaga & Company's chocolate candy, which is also a bird with the call of "kweh". Morinaga has also released a tie-in product, Chocobo no Chocoball (チョコボのチョコボール, lit. "Chocobo's Chocoball"). Another likely inspiration was Hayao Miyazaki's Horseclaws, which appear in the manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and the anime film of the same name, which Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi once cited as an influence on his series. In turn, Miyazaki's Horseclaws were inspired by the extinct Gastornis species. This mythical creature is a "cousin" of the ostrich and is designed to have yellow feathers, but there are rare Chocobo breeds that are capable of giving birth to different-colored chicks.  

In ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' chocobos are colored white, as opposed to the later yellow, and can only be found in one small forest, completely incidental to the plot. In the remakes, Chocobo are colored yellow.

In ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'', Chocobos have a somewhat larger role. In particular, a small [[minigame]] involves 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. The Summoner class is introduced, and its first summon is a Chocobo. Also appearing for the first time is the Fat Chocobo, an overweight chocobo who can be summoned with Gysahl Greens. It stores items for the party in its stomach, including excess potions, weapons, armor, and other materials can be stored within the bird's stomach.

''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' introduces multiple colors of Chocobo. The standard yellow is captured in Chocobo forests, and it 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 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 500 [[magic points|MP]] to each party member.

The game has three Chocobo themes: Enter Fat Chocobo, Chocobo-chocobo and Samba de Chocobo.

''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' is the first game where chocobos have a significant role in the plot. One of the supporting characters is a yellow chocobo named [[Boko]] (sometimes translated as Boco), a companion to the main character, Bartz. Later, Boko meets a female chocobo named Koko (Coco) and they have choco-babies. Black chocobos, as in ''Final Fantasy IV'' (also colored dark blue), can be captured in chocobo forests and flown. The Fat Chocobo appears as a summoned creature.

Bartz uses Boko 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. Later on, the party went back to Faris's pirate hideout and realized that Boko broke his leg while following them (this event only occurs in World One sequence, depending on player's decision). The black chocobos are necessary at times both to get to certain locations and to reveal hidden secrets, and the character Krile is able to understand what chocobos are saying. She proves helpful to the party by interpreting what was "said" by Boko and his wife Koko.

Right at the end of Final Fantasy V, Bartz, Lenna, 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. Krile opts to ride on her dragon.

The game has two Chocobo themes: Mambo de Chocobo, which is used when riding the black chocobo, and Boko's Theme, which is used when riding Boko.

''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' features yellow Chocobos, which can be hired in some towns. They 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 offered in an auction, but is always claimed by a [[non-player character|NPC]] at the request of his child for the show-stopping price of one million GP. 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), while previous ones used the standard overhead view.

 

''Final Fantasy VI'' features only one Chocobo theme — Techno de Chocobo. True to its name, this is a trippy, upbeat one 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.

 

In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' chocobos play a much larger role, and are even featured on the [[Squaresoft]] logo. They are found around chocobo tracks while using a special lure Materia as parts of ordinary random encounters and they can be received by defeating all enemies before they run away, and without being harmed. 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 colors====

''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 average 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. In the Japanese version of some Final Fantasy games, this Chocobo is good at memorizing numbers and always at the top of its class at Chocobo School.

 

*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. In the American version, the Golden Chocobo can be retrieved in two ways; either via breeding or as a reward for defeating one of the Weapons. Players discovered that the quality of bred Golden Chocobos is higher compared to that of rewarded Golden Chocobos.

 

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{{fact}} 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 (two "great" chocobos may also be used, generally resulting in a chocobo that is better at racing than if a "good" and "great" are mated). 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, the type of food given to the chocobos, and the type of nut given to them when they are mated.

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 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 Sanctuary. 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 catches a Chocobo, a much smaller baby Chocobo (called a Chicobo) follows the player around. The Chicobo, named Boko, starred in his own [[minigame]] called ''[[Chocobo World]]'', a game that could be downloaded from the ''Final Fantasy VIII'' disc onto the [[PocketStation]] game unit. The PC version of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' features a [[stand-alone]] ''Chocobo World'' program. Much like a [[Tamagotchi]], players take care of Boko in ''Chocobo World'', feeding him, resting him, and so on. As he grows, the player can collect special items, which can then be accessed from within ''Final Fantasy VIII''. Boko can also be summoned in combat with Gysahl Greens, and his attacks are dependent on his progress in ''Chocobo World''. The minigame also features a female Chocobo named Koko, who like Boko, is named after its ''Final Fantasy V'' counterpart Coco.

''[[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.

* Light Blue ([[Reef]] Chocobo)= Able to walk in shallow water, entering at [[bay]]s/reefs.

In ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'', an Al Bhed named Rin owns a shop in Mi'ihen Highroad which harbors a chocobo stable. After battling 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.

''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]'' features several weather vanes shaped after chocobo in the town of Windia.

In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'', Chocobos serve a relatively minor role. During engagements, the Judges ride on armored Chocobo mounts, allowing them to move great distances and at great speeds across the field. The Animist class, which only Moogles can obtain, has an ability called Chocobo Rush, which tramples the enemy with a stampede of Chocobos. Chocobos do not appear in battle as monsters for the player to defeat or control, as is the case in FFT. Chocobos are further mentioned in a few of the numerous dispatch missions, for which 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 Pony|The Prancing Chocobo]].

In ''[[Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles]]'', the best shield obtainable for the Clavat race is called a Chocobo Shield and bears the face of one. An artifact called the Chocobo Pocket gives the player an extra command slot. The birds themselves don't appear