Chocobo (Final Fantasy VII)



Chocobos are a major form of transportation and entertainment in Final Fantasy VII. They can only be encountered in the wild in special areas on the World Map covered in Chocobo Tracks. Once captured, Chocobos can be kept in Chocobo Stables in the Chocobo Farm. The Stables cost 10,000 Gil and six can be bought at once. There they can be bred with other Chocobos to create new breeds or be used in the Chocobo Races at Gold Saucer. Several locations and items can only be reached by using a Chocobo. The player can also board the Highwind while on a Chocobo.

In Final Fantasy VII, Chocobos seem to be able to create and cough up Materia. For example, the Choco/Mog Summon (which features a Chocobo and a Moogle, or a rare alternate attack with a Fat Chocobo) is obtained from the Chocobos at the Chocobo Farm, while the Contain Materia is only obtainable by giving the White Chocobo in Mideel some Mimett Greens, then tickling it behind the ears.

Unlike later games, the Chocobo cry in Final Fantasy VII is "Wark", not "Kweh".

Chocobo Tracks
Around the world, there are Chocobo Tracks where wild Chocobos may appear in random battles. They only appear when the Chocobo Lure Materia is equipped. The Materia can be bought at the Chocobo Farm. The maximum Chocobo Lure rating is 32. Level 1 Chocobo Lure adds +8, Level 2 adds +12 and Level 3 and Master add +16. The effect can be stacked to the maximum of 32 by equipping multiple Chocobo Lure Materia at once.

Along with the Chocobo are several enemies. The enemies must be beaten without scaring the Chocobo away in order to capture it. To do this, the Chocobo must be pacified with some Greens. If not eating, the Chocobo will get scared from the fighting, and run away. Attacking it will cause the Chocobo to attack the party with weak pecks or the Enemy Skill Chocobuckle before retreating. It is notable that the Chocobo cannot be defeated in battle. If all the enemies have been defeated, the Chocobo is captured. Capturing a Chocobo is almost essential for getting past the swamp where the Midgar Zolom lurks.

To the right is a map of the areas where Chocobo tracks – although only showing those with worthwhile Chocobos – appear on the Planet:

Chocobo Racing
In the Gold Saucer resort, Chocobos are used in a racing sport in the Chocobo Square. The inmates from Corel Prison can only escape the jail once they have successfully come in first in a Chocobo Race. Cloud Strife wins his party's freedom this way after being captured there while hunting for Sephiroth. He is taught how to race by the Chocobo expert, Ester. Cloud is the default party member that takes part in the Chocobo Races. Tifa and Cid may also race when they lead the party within the Gold Saucer or are in the party and volunteer.

This is a mini-game that the player only has to win once. The Chocobos in the races have two stats, Stamina and Speed. Speed determines how fast they run, and Stamina determines how long they can run at top speed. On the left side of the screen is a red meter that shows how much Stamina the Chocobo has left. When the Chocobo runs out of Stamina, they will slow down to a crawl and are easily overtaken. To restore Stamina, hold down the two right shoulder buttons (R1+R2), which means that you can push the Chocobo harder throughout the race.

While riding a Chocobo, two forms of control can be used: Manual and Automatic. Automatic gives complete control to the Chocobo, while Manual gives the player control. Holding makes the Chocobo speed up, holding  makes the Chocobo slow down. makes the Chocobo sprint quickly. The SELECT button allows the player to shift between Manual and Automatic control. When the race is won, a variation of the Victory Fanfare plays.

For winning a Chocobo Race, the player receives an item which can either be kept or be traded in for GP, the currency of Gold Saucer. There are four Classes for the Chocobo Race: Class C, Class B, Class A, and Class S.  Each one is more competitive than the last, and require better and better Chocobo to win. To advance to the next Class, three races in the current class must be won. A talented jockey named Joe and his Black Chocobo, Teioh, infrequently appear in Rank B races, occasionally in Rank A, and frequently in Rank S. He is more of a challenge than the other NPC racers because Teioh always has higher stats than the player's Chocobo, even breaking the 999 stamina limit.

Choco Billy at the Chocobo Farm can rate the strength of a captured Chocobo for the Races. His opinion shows just how good the Chocobo will be in a Chocobo Race. If he does not give a positive adjective in his rating ("Good", "Great", "Wonderful"), the Chocobo is usually not worth the effort of raising. Below is the strength of the caught Chocobo compared to the rating Choco Billy gives it:

By feeding the Chocobo Greens, its stats will be increased. Every time the stats are increased, the Final Fantasy VII version of the Victory Fanfare plays.

Chocobo Breeding
Chocobos come in various breeds and are either male or female. Male and female Chocobos can be bred together to make stronger Chocobo with better stats and sometimes new abilities. To breed a Chocobo, special items called Nuts must be found. The Racing Class and stats of the Chocobo being bred help decide what type of Chocobo will be born. Adult Chocobos can breed again after 3-10 random battles and newborn Chocobos can breed after 3-18 battles, for a battle to count it must be won, fleeing won't count. The higher the Class, and the greater the stats, the more likely a strong Chocobo will be born. Special-colored Chocobos are needed to find the treasures inside the secret Materia Caves. There are five colors of Chocobos in Final Fantasy VII. To get the ultimate Chocobo, a long sidequest of racing and item finding must be undertaken. The Chocobo Sage gives hints on how to get through the sidequest in his home on the Northern Continent.

Yellow
All wild Chocobos are Yellow. They are the most common breed, and have no special abilities to speak of other than being a much faster alternative to traveling by foot on the world map. Yellow Chocobo cannot travel through water, high mountains, or ocean. However, "Good", "Great" and "Wonderful" Chocobos are required to breed Chocobos of greater colors. The standard Chocobo that Cloud is given in Gold Saucer in his first Chocobo Race is Yellow.

Blue and Green
Blue Chocobos, also called River Chocobos, have the ability to run over rivers and shallow water, but not deep ocean or mountains. Green Chocobos, also known as Mountain Chocobos, can run over mountains and cliffs but cannot enter water. Both types are born when a Great Chocobo is bred with a Good Chocobo using a Carob Nut.

You can find Great Chocobos by Mideel (those accompanied by one or two Spirals) or Rocket Town (those not accompanied by Velcher Tasks), and Good ones by the Gold Saucer (those accompanied by two Spencers).

Despite what some people claim, there is no reliable or controllable factor in the result of breeding a Great and Good Chocobo to get these Chocobos. No matter which parent is which gender, the baby is determined randomly between being male or female, Mountain or River. Indeed, this is often the most infuriating part of the breeding process, because the player has to keep trying until they get two offspring of opposite types and opposite genders. It is typically advisable to get two sets of parents so that once one of the two special Chocobos is born, the player can save and keep trying with the second set of parents until they get the complimentary Chocobo. Otherwise the player has to wait until the parents of the first are ready to breed again, which can take a while.

Like all Chocobos of a different color, they are naturally stronger and faster then the other Chocobos in the races. Blue Chocobos can ride through the undersea section of the long race track without slowing down, while Green Chocobos are unaffected in the space section of the short course.

Black
Black Chocobos (also called Mountain-and-River Chocobos) are born when Blue and Green Chocobos are bred together with a Carob Nut. They inherit all the abilities of their parents. They can travel over both shallow water and high mountains, but are limited by not being able to cross ocean. They have the freedom from being slowed-down in both the undersea and space sections of the track.

Gold
Gold Chocobos are by far the best Chocobos in the entire game. They are unmatched in the Races, naturally coming with impressive stats. A Gold Chocobo can be born when a Black Chocobo is bred with a Wonderful Yellow Chocobo, which can be found near Icicle Inn (accompanied only by Jumpings), with a Zeio Nut. Because they are descended from Green, Blue, and Black Chocobos, Gold Chocobos can travel anywhere they want around the World Map: over mountains, through shallow water, and even across the ocean. Thus they are the only means of obtaining the Materia for the ultimate summon in Final Fantasy VII, Knights of the Round from Round Island.

Other Breeds
In the Chocobo Races, other breeds of Chocobos can be seen, including White, Pink, Red, and Purple. Though they are of a different color, they effectively function as Yellow Chocobos. There is no way for the player to acquire Chocobos of these colours in Final Fantasy VII.

Musical Themes
There are five separate themes associated with Chocobos. Electric de Chocobo is a version of the Chocobo Theme that plays during random battles when Chocobos appear. Waltz de Chocobo plays during the little ballet dance the Chocobos in front of the Chocobo farm perform just before they give the Choco/Mog Materia. When the Chocobo is ridden on the World Map, Cinco de Chocobo plays. Finally, Racing Chocobos - Place Your Bets plays during the menu screen just before the Chocobo Race, while Fiddle de Chocobo plays during the actual race.