Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (チョコボと魔法の絵本 "Chocobo to Mahō no Ehon" lit. "Chocobo and the Magical Picture Book") is a Nintendo DS adventure game by Square Enix.

The game features a card-based combat system, as well as multiplayer support. Using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, 2-4 players may team up for battles, or to participate in mini-games.

Characters

 * Chocobo is the main protagonist of the game.
 * Shirma the white mage, a friend of Chocobo and the player's guide in-game. She also appeared in Chocobo's Dungeon 2 for the PSX, as a playable character. Her name's origin is from the two Japanese words "Shiro" and "Mahou", which literally mean White Magic.
 * Croma, a black mage. He likes to go on journeys and upon his return from his latest one, he brought back a mysterious book. Without thinking twice, he opened it and inadvertently invited misfortune to the island where they all lived. His name's origin is from the two Japanese words "Kuro" and "Mahou", which literally mean Black Magic.
 * Darkmaster Bebuzzu, the antagonist of the story. He once laid waste to nearly the entire world and had been sealed inside the book, but the seal was broken when Croma opened it, and Bebuzzu sucked all nearby chocobos into the book. The seal seemed to have tapped his powers considerably. His appearance during the beginning of the game is a book with a tongue sticking out of its binding.

Pop-up Cards
Pop-up Cards are earned from mini and microgames. Most games award you with two cards if the correct requisites are met. These cards can be used to form decks for pop-up duels.

There is only one of each card. A card may be red, blue, yellow, green, or colorless. Rarer cards have a shine to them. In addition, each card has red, blue, yellow, and green zones used for determining an attack or defense's type. Zones may have a sword, a shield, or may be left blank. A card's effect is written beneath the image and may have a requirement before activating.

Pop-up Duels
In pop-up duels, each player holds three cards at a time. Each player sends out one card at a time. During the choosing phase, the opponent is able to see only the color of the other player's cards.

Gameplay is relatively simple and easy: the sword icon is the attacking side of the card while the shield icon defends against the sword.

Each player has a health gauge as well as a CP gauge for holding crystals. The CP gauge is charged after each duel phase with a crystal of the same color as the card used. This gauge is only able to hold 10 crystals, and older crystals will be replaced if the duel lasts over 10 turns. The duel ends when one player's health gauge has been taken down to 0.

A glitch in the code for Pop-up duels cause NPCs to have an increased AI to the point where it is almost as if they can see your moves. This is a major glitch as it stains the otherwise fun and easy game it is.

Rare Cards
Starting in June 2007, three rare cards, used in the pop-up duel game could be downloaded from DS Download Stations. The cards feature Chocobo, the Ragnarok, and Shinryu. Download station locations can be found here.

Music
As with all Chocobo series, the soundtrack uses music from other Final Fantasy series.
 * 1) ODEKA ke Chocobo - Chocobo Series Theme
 * 2) Win/Place/Show Chocobo - Final Fantasy VII
 * 3) Chocobo Village - Chocobo's Dungeon
 * 4) Mt. Gulg - Final Fantasy I
 * 5) Legend of the Deep Forest - Final Fantasy V
 * 6) Beneath the Horizon - Final Fantasy III
 * 7) Mako Reactor - Final Fantasy VII
 * 8) Prelude - Final Fantasy I
 * 9) Fiddle de Chocobo - Final Fantasy VII
 * 10) Move de Chocobo - Original Arrange of "ODEKA ke Chocobo"
 * 11) March de Chocobo - Original Arrange of "ODEKA ke Chocobo"
 * 12) Retro de Chocobo - Original Arrange of "ODEKA ke Chocobo"
 * 13) Battle de Chocobo - Original Arrange of "ODEKA ke Chocobo"
 * 14) Victory -Intro- - Final Fantasy I
 * 15) Victory - Final Fantasy I
 * 16) Defeat -Intro- - Original Arrange of "ODEKA ke Chocobo"
 * 17) Defeat - Original Arrange of "ODEKA ke Chocobo"
 * 18) Magical Picture Books - Chocobo Tales
 * 19) Mage's Melody - Chocobo Racing
 * 20) Sealed Book - Final Fantasy V
 * 21) Irma's Troupe - Chocobo Tales
 * 22) Gysahl Greens - Final Fantasy III
 * 23) Cry in Sorrow - Final Fantasy IV
 * 24) Crystal Room - Final Fantasy III
 * 25) Battle Theme - Final Fantasy I
 * 26) The Decisive Battle - Final Fantasy VI
 * 27) Battle at the Big Bridge - Final Fantasy V
 * 28) Ride On - Final Fantasy VIII