Chocobo

Chocobos are a recurring race of avian mounts from many of the Final Fantasy games. They appear as early as Final Fantasy II. They are often used as transportation around the world in a method that keeps random encounters away and increases land speed. They have been known to have various cries throughout the series. The earliest games had them crying "Cooc Cooc," the newer games had them crying "Wark," and the newest games have them crying "Kweh".

Types of Chocobos
There are different types of chocobos. Listed in the appearances there are references to this. More information on chocobos can be found in the following articles;
 * Chocobo types

Final Fantasy II
Chocobos are found inside Chocobo Forests, near Kashuan Keep. After dismounting, they return back to the forest.

Final Fantasy III
Big Chocobo stores items.

Chocobo Dash allows the party to escape. Chocobo ? does a small amount of damage. Chocobo Kick does damage based on level.

Final Fantasy IV
Chocobos can be found in Chocobo Forests situated throughout the world. They come in several varieties. The regular Chocobos can be used to travel around the world normally. They run away after each dismount. White Chocobos recover the MP of the entire party when they are approached. The Black Chocobo, found only in the forest north of Toroia, is a flying chocobo, however, it can only land in forests. Black Chocobos do not run away after a dismount, however, when they are mounted for the second time, they always fly back to the forest near Toroia. Finally, there is a Big Chocobo who can store items for the party. In order for the Big Chocobo to appear, the party must use a Carrot, or in other versions, Gysahl Greens at a place where it "Smells like Chocobos!" The Chocobo also appears as a Summon for Rydia.

Final Fantasy V
Bartz Klauser owns Boco, arguably the most famous Chocobo in the series. Boco is left behind at the Pirates' Cove for most of the game, however, upon reaching the Third World, Boco rejoins Bartz and apparently got married with a Chocobo called Koko and had children with her. Bartz can then ride Boco around the world. Boco does not run away upon dismounting. There are several side quests involving Boco.

The Black Chocobo appears in this game as well, and plays a similar role to the Black Chocobo in Final Fantasy IV. It can only land in forests, however, it can also fly over mountains that are not capped in snow. Bartz and his friends ride a Black Chocobo after the Steamship is sucked under the water during an earthquake at Crescent Village. The Black Chocobo can be found again in Mirage Village in the Third World, and is needed to reach the Phoenix Tower and the North Mountains.

A Chocobo can be used as a Level 1 summon in this game as well. Sometimes a Fat Chocobo will appear in the summon.

Final Fantasy VI
Chocobos can be rented in various towns and stables located around the world. The stables are hidden in forests, making them the equivalent of Chocobo Forests in this game. They run away after each dismount. Setzer Gabbiani has a Slot called Chocobop, which summons Chocobos into battle. Strago and Relm can also equip a piece of armor called the Chocobo Suit. Jidoor's Auction House also likes to auction a Chocobo they claim can speak, although the player can never confirm nor deny this; an old man and his son always place the winning bid on this particular item.

Final Fantasy VII

 * See the Summon sequence here

Chocobos can be caught in monster battles by using greens and defeating all enemies. After acquiring the Highwind, the player can keep chocobos, and even transport one on the Junon Cargo Ship. It is possible to breed chocobos to generate different colored ones. The different breeds of Chocobo allows the player to travel across different terrain. There are 4 Materia Caves that can only be reached via a gold chocobo. There are also chocobo races at the Gold Saucer. In addition, there is a Summon Materia that can be found early on in the game, which summons Choco/Mog. The summon can sometimes attack with Fat Chocobo.

Final Fantasy VIII

 * See the Summon sequence here

There are many sidequests involving Boco, who is a Chicobo (baby Chocobo). There is also a Boco card used for the Triple Triad card game. The minigame Chocobo's World, which can be played on a PocketStation, a device sold exclusively in Japan, unlocks certain items in the game. The game is also included in the PC version of Final Fantasy VIII.

Final Fantasy IX
Chocobos are also found in Chocobo Forests in Final Fantasy IX. This game features a sidequest entitled Chocobo Hot and Cold, which involves a Chocobo, aptly named "Choco," searching for buried treasure such as Chocographs which reveal the position of buried treasure. Choco can learn new abilities if the player finds more treasure.

Final Fantasy X / Final Fantasy X-2
Chocobos are widespread throughout Spira, mainly used for transportation as what they are well known for. Chocobos power ships, and provide safe transportation along the Mi'ihen Highroad. In Final Fantasy X-2, with the advent of hovers in the Highroad which provide faster transportation and chocobo-hunting fiends around, chocobos died down in the Highroad. They cannot be ridden until Chapter 5 of the story, and depends on the actions of the player. You can capture chocobos in battle here like in Final Fantasy VII, if the player helped Clasko open the Chocobo Ranch in the Calm Lands that replaced the abandoned Monster Arena.

Final Fantasy XI
In the online incarnation of Final Fantasy, Chocobos are one of the faster forms of alternative transportation. They are significantly faster than walking by about 2 or 3 times. You cannot start with a chocobo license, which is what is required to rent one from one of the dozen or so stables around Vana'diel. Generally speaking, there is one stable in each of the 3 starting cities, three chocobo stables in Jeuno, a chocobo stable in Al Zahbi (which may or may not be in business, depending on whether or not the NPC in charge has been taken prisoner during Besieged), and others scattered around telepoints and some of the smaller cities on the planet. The quest required of characters once they reach level 20 is to head to Dangruf Wadi and get some greens to feed to chocobos in Jeuno in order to gain their trust and friendship. It seems chocobo abuse is a problem on this world.

At first, the use of chocobos was limited to traveling from easily accessed hubs to less populated places quickly; however, square has added chocobo raising as a part of the expansion, the Treasures of Aht Urhgan. Players can raise their own chocobo to have different strengths and weaknesses. The appearance of the bird changes as well.

Square has also recently added Chocobo Racing, though at the moment it is not PvP.

Final Fantasy XII
Chocobos are a common sight in Final Fantasy XII. The yellow Chocobo is the tamed one and can be rented for transportation from Chocobo Wranglers at most towns based on the ground of Ivalice. Some appear in the background of various areas, including on top of the airship. The yellow Chocobos allow players to ride them, provided that the player feed them their stock of Gysahl Greens. There are also other colored Chocobos that can be fought in the wilds of Ivalice; these come in red, black, brown, green and white varieties. There is also a rare variant of black Chocobo, a powerful red variant, and even a white Chocobo recognized as a Mark.

Characters can ride a Chocobo for a maximum of 180 seconds before it drops the character. Chocobos have the ability to access special paths that player characters cannot cross on their own. Some story elements of the game require characters to use a Chocobo, and in those situations, they are free of charge. Riding a chocobo allows the character to cross maps faster without being harassed by enemies.

Revenant Wings
Chocobos can be summoned into battle.

Final Fantasy Tactics
In Final Fantasy Tactics, Chocobos appear in three different varieties: Normal (Yellow), Black, and Red. Each is slightly different in the types of abilities it can use in battle. If a Chocobo is recruited by the heroes, a human character can ride the Chocobo in battle for much quicker transportation and to fly over obstacles.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
In this game Chocobos are used as a mount for the judges and the job Animist can use the ability Chocobo Rush, what will summon a bunch of Chocobos running over everything in a line. Furthermore Chocobos are only slightly mentioned, e.g. In certain areas some red Chocobos were sighted.

Video games
Chocobos (often a specific member of the species, having the proper name "Chocobo") are the primary protagonists of their very own spin-off games that delve into a variety of genres. Several of these games are limited to Japan-only release, although a couple have crossed over to the states.
 * Chocobo Racing, a kart-racing game for the PlayStation.
 * Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2, dungeon-crawler games often marketed as beginner RPGs.
 * Chocobo Stallion, a game designed to mimic the look and feel of horse racing at a derby.
 * Dice De Chocobo, a video board game similar to Monopoly.

Chocobos are also a common sight in other, unrelated Squaresoft and Square Enix games.
 * Seiken Densetsu (Final Fantasy Adventure): A Chocobo serves as a mount, but is later changed into a 'Chocobot'. It was removed from the 2003 remake Sword of Mana (Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu in Japan), 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.
 * Legend of Mana: Wild black Chocobos are random monsters and uncapturable, but it's possible to grab bird eggs from several locations, and these have a chance of hatching a tame yellow Chocobo, a pet that would fight alongside the player. Moreover, if the player has a game save from Final Fantasy VIII on their memory card during the Monster Corral tutorial quest, the egg obtained during this quest will hatch a Chocobo (rather than a Rabite).
 * Secret of Evermore: A Chocobo Egg is a rare item which can increase the protagonist's maximum HP level.
 * Kingdom Hearts: A Keyblade known as the Metal Chocobo has a key chain resembling a yellow Chocobo. A type of Gummi Ship (a flying vehicle used in the game) named "Chocobo" is in the form of one. There's also a drawing of a Chocobo in the cave on Destiny Island. It has been crossed out, possibly by Donald Duck, whose drawing is right next to it.
 * Parasite Eve: A banner picturing a Chocobo hangs over the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History, most clearly visible from the map screen. Inside the museum, a Chocobo skeleton can be found inside an exhibit about primitive species.
 * Tobal 2: A Chocobo is obtainable as a combatant.

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), run around monsters to confuse them, and dig in the ground to give the characters extra money ("Meat," in the game). The Cocoabo is shaped like a Chocobo but is apparently made of cocoa or chocolate, hatched from a cocoa egg item.

In Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete a blue Chocobo-like creature drives the wagons of the traveling circus, Carivan. The red dragon Ruby mentions it was a Chocobo, but quickly changed it into "Chuckoboo".

Battle for Wesnoth features a "Chocobone" unit. 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."

Others
Rules for using Chocobos in Dungeons & Dragons were published in the September 2004 issue of Dragon magazine. The rule set 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 the manga Naruto the villain Deidara has a giant clay bird that greatly resembles a Chocobo.

The anime series Last Exile features large unnamed birds that closely resemble Chocobos in several episodes. They come in various colors and are bet upon in races, but bear two rows of sharp teeth.