Chocobo, next to cactuar and moogles, are one of the staple Final Fantasy mascots. They first appeared in Final Fantasy 2 and have shown up in every title in the series since, taking the form of companions, enemies, pets, and even protagonists in spin-off series. Beloved by gamers, chocobos are often compared to horses for being large and ridable birds that characters use to get from place to place. Their designs are typically gold and are the size of ostriches, but there have been a range of models seen in the games with different colors and mass.
The story behind these feathered friends dates back to the 1980s, when they were first designed by Koichi Ishii, the same man who designed moogles. Ishii was the artist for the original Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy 2, and has worked on many other titles where his jobs varied from designer, director, graphics superviser, and producer. The backstory for what inspired chocobo is actually kind of adorable, as the design was based on a childhood memory of Ishii's about befriending a chick.
What Inspired Chocobo
The seed for chocobos was planted during Ishii's life as an elementary school student. During that phase of his life, he actually bought a little chick from a festival market and feel in love with the animal. In a published interview in the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania series, Ishii even mentioned that he built a little cardboard house for the chick and raised it into adulthood. Once it became an adult, though, his parents gave the chicken away to neighbors that raised chickens and told Ishii that the chick had gotten too big to care for. Ishii was heartbroken, and the chick never left his memories. When he decided he wanted to make an animal companion in Final Fantasy 2, this chick came to mind and he drew his first chocobo design during a lunch break.
As for what inspired the word "chocobo," that was actually an idea that came to Ishii because of chocolate balls, a popular confection in Japan. Apparently, chocolate balls were his favorite childhood snack, and the jingle for one of their commercials was stuck in his head as he drew early chocobo pixel art. So between the name and design, chocobos were a nostalgic symbol created from childhood memories.
Ishii wanted chocobos to be much more than transporation in Final Fantasy 2, and wanted them to be treated like partners. That dream was not quite realized in the final version of the game though, and chocobo were just used for transportation. The same happened in the third game, much to Ishii's frustration. It was in Final Fantasy Adventure where Ishii had creative freedom and got to show off chocobos as partners rather than just transportation. Ishii considered that title to be the one to truly show off his chocobo concept, for them to be nonvocal characters that have strong bonds with the protagonists.
How Chocobo Evolved
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Along with Ishii's chocobo design, their iconic musical theme was created by Nobuo Uematsu and it was decided that chocobo would say "kweh." As the games evolved, so did chocobo designs, but not dramatically since they always strongly resembled Ishii's original art. For the original Chocobo spin-off series, the designs for the chocobo actually were by game director and character designer, Toshiyuki Itahana. He redesigned the chocobo to be less sleek and more cute for the spin-offs.
In Final Fantasy 7 and the games that came after, chocobo gained more roles that ranged from summons to being part of racing minigames. In Final Fantasy 13-2 and Final Fantasy Tactics, chocobos could be both playable and support characters. As for Ishii, he took a long break from Final Fantasy games after he made Final Fantasy Adventure in 1991 and did not return until 2002 as the director for Final Fantasy 11, the first Final Fantasy MMO game. He did not expect chocobos to become a mascot of the series, but was delighted by their popularity and made sure they were a big part of Final Fantasy 11 as both pets and ways for players to get around.
For Final Fantasy 11, Ishii wanted players to form attachments with their chocobos and introduced chocobo breeding into the MMO's activities. Of course, these MMO chocobo mechanics and ideas would later be adopted and used for the currently super-popular MMO, Final Fantasy 14. However, when asked about what Ishii considered to be the game that was most honest about his idea of chocobos, he sticks to Final Fantasy Adventure. As for how chocobo have been used over the years, he has said that he no longer has control over the animal's appearances, but hopes that they continue to be treated well.
Final Fantasy 2's remaster is available on the Android, iOS, Steam, and Windows.