Chocobos are one of theFinal Fantasyfranchise’s most enduring icons. Ask ten fans the first thing they think of when envisioning the series as a whole, and if at least three don’t cite these beloved birds, you’ve found some exceptionally uncommon folks to question.
How many chocobos have appeared in each mainline Final Fantasy? While the exact answer is, in some cases, nigh-impossible to state to a pseudo-scientific degree, estimates can be made, and variables accounted for. We’ve done just that. After some research wark and an in-kweh-dible number of save files booted up for the first time in years, here are our results.
We should emphasize that, while we’re focusing on mainline titles only,we’re factoring all versions of each game.Furthermore,direct sequels get added to the original game’s tally- FFX-2 for FFX, XIII-2 and Lightning Returns for XIIII. Lastly, since FFVII Remake and Rebirth are in the odd place of being quasi-sequel reimaginings, yet retreading the original FFVII to a tee,we’ll include them and count them separately.
17Final Fantasy
Barely A Bird To Behold
Final Fantasyin its original form had zero chocobos. Zilch. Our noble winged steeds had not yet been introduced to the series. In fact, the first thing some FF vets are going to think when they see this game cited is that we really oughtn’t say Final Fantasy has any chocobos at all.
Well, we get that. But we’re going to say it hasa couple of chocobo representations, thoughno examples of “real” chocobos within the game. This is because later versions of Final Fantasy have a single chocobo semi-representation as a statue in Cornelia Castle’s throne room.
What’s more, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster - andonlyPixel Remaster - added spinning little chocobos to represent the infliction of the Confuse status. Frankly, we’re all for it; it’s always felt like a missed opportunity in any Final Fantasy that uses chickens for that visual aid instead.
16Final Fantasy II
Origin de Chocobo
Final Fantasy IIintroduced chocobos to the gaming world. It was their grand debut. It’s understandable, however, that there’d be so little chocobo rep here; after all, how was Square to know that they’d created something which would iconically endure through the ages?
In FFII, chocobos appear once - and it’s really just theone chocobo- as the party hops on to them to escape during a pivotal story scene, but since only Firion is visible on the world map, we see his mount and his mount alone.
You can ride this bird on the regular, but it’s confined to one region of the map, and there’s not a ton of reason to do so outside that event. After all, it bolts straight back to its forest home as soon as you dismount.
15Final Fantasy III
Saronibo
InFinal Fantasy III, chocobos took on a slightly more integrated role after their inaugural sighting in FFII. There aretwo locations on the world mapwherein you may hop on a bird; one of them ties to a neat little side quest, too.
You cansummon a chocobo, although the spell is so weak that you’re likely to do so just once or twice for the fun of it. Lastly, FFIII introduces theFat Chocobo, a thereafter-recurring portly bloke who was helpful back when Final Fantasy games actually put a limit on how many items players could actively carry at any given time.
14Final Fantasy VII Remake
Remake de Chocobo
Considering it’s a remake of just the first segment of the original Final Fantasy VII, it’s honestly a little bit impressive thatFinal Fantasy VII Remakemanages to make it this far in our list of chocobo estimates. There areseveral chocobos serving as carriage carriers, all of which can be found during a late-game side quest involving wrangling them back to their owner.
What’s more, FFVII’schocobo summonreturns here, so if we’re being generous, that’s several chocobos in and of itself - after all, we see a small flock of ‘em join their lone moogle friend in the spell!
13Final Fantasy VI
InFinal Fantasy VI, the party gallantly evades the early-game machinations of the villainous Kefka by hopping on to chocobos. Thereafter, they can be rented at variouschocobo stables, most of which are in towns. A couple of them are hidden within forests, which must be terrible for business, but we don’t make the rules.
Apart from a couple of chocobo-themed pieces of equipment, that’s all they got for VI. Not a lot, but not a little!
12Final Fantasy VIII
PocketStation Power
We’ve already reached a point wherein estimates have to be emphasized, because byFinal Fantasy VIII, we’re looking at games with a fair number of unnamed background birds. Chocobos in FFVIII are mostly found in theseven chocobo forests strewn throughout the world, and the only reason we’re ranking this lower than other games with several forest reps is that by our reckoning there are slightly fewer individual chocobos in all.
The more interesting part of VIII’s representation is Boko, a young chocobo who Japanese players raised in a Tamagotchi-like style via the PocketStation add-on device in order to power him up in-game. Alas, the PocketStation was never released in the West, nor does Final Fantasy VIII Remastered include emulated functionality.
Boko himself still pops up in all versions of the game, though - Remastered just did the nice thing, letting us wield Boko’s most powerful form right out of the box, so-to-speak.
11Final Fantasy IV
Shades of ‘Bo
Thechocobo forestgameplay mechanic returned inFinal Fantasy IV, this time with the neat new twist that they come inmultiple colours: the standard yellow variety, the white version with a healing bonus, and the black version, which flies. Furthermore,Rydia, the game’s mysterious summoner, can conjure up a chocobo, and theFat Chocoboreturns in grandiose fashion, too.
Chocobos are still kickin’ in bothFinal Fantasy IV -Interlude- and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the short bridge between the original FFIV and its rather divisive sequel. Since so few of y’all will ever play The After Years (and you’re not missing much, to be honest), we’ve decided to use a pic from it for this entry. Enjoy the glimpse, I guess.
10Final Fantasy XV
Chocobrotherhood
Final Fantasy XVis a tough one to rank because we want to put it higher on this list than it actually is. There’s something absolutely heartwarming about seeingNoctis, Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus riding their own chocobos across the open world. But when you get right down to it, these chocobos - andthe chocobos that you can race them against!- don’t amount to a ton of examples. A good number, but not a big number.
Your ticket to chocobo-riding is found via theRent-a-Birdsystem, which can be tapped into at a whopping 16 locations throughout the kingdom. Magically enough, the vendors always seem to have your personally-recoloured steeds on tap, no matter where you may roam, and no matter how many days it’s been since your prior rental period concluded.
9Final Fantasy V
Boko de Chocobo
Final Fantasy Vhas some pretty awesome chocobo rep. First and foremost, there’s the series’ bestest boy (at least until Torgal!),Boko. The protagonistBartz’s partner and friend, Boko is a rambunctious fellow who gets something of his own little story arc late in the game. Well, maybe not an arc, so much as a surprise.
Heck, we have to ruin the surprise, because it’s crucial to our estimates. Boko gets a wife and kids. So, you know, we’ve got to add the family to our calculuation. There’s also a rather friendlyblack chocobowho plays into the story far earlier on. Thechocobo summonreturns, as well, and we see plenty of chocobos in the black chocobo’s home forest, to boot.
8Final Fantasy IX
Boko de Chocobo… uh, Redux
Lo and behold, there’s yet another famousBoko, your companion and the moogle Mene’s best buddy inFinal Fantasy IX. FFIX has one of the most brilliant chocobo implementations in the series; you’ll effectivelyevolve Boko into increasingly capable coloursuntil, at the end of your quest with the pal, hefulfills his dream of reaching Chocobo’s Paradise,where many other chocobos await.
Throughout these “evolutions”, you’re scouring multiple locations in search of treasure maps calledChocographs(and other goodies), which are, in turn, utilized tolocate powerful gear hidden throughout the world map- as well as the occasional Chocobo’s Dream World sequence, whereFat Chocobodoes the good deed of reshading Boko’s feathers.
It might be our favourite suite of chocobo mechanics in the series, but when we get down to it, there’s actually not atonof unique chocobo rep; almost every other chocobo whom you’ll meet will be at Chocobo’s Paradise, and the number is relatively tame.
