Chocobo Breeding & Racing
From Final Fantasy - Wiki on Neoseeker
In Final Fantasy VII, chocobos are a part of a major and worthwhile side quest. If you plan on obtaining some of the best items and materia in the game, then you'll need to take part in breeding and racing chocobos. You'll have to capture and ride your first chocobo as part of the storyline in order to reach the Mythril Mine.
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How to Obtain a Chocobo
Chocobo Farm & Lure Materia
In order to catch and keep a chocobo, you must visit the Chocobo Farm and speak to Choco Billy. He will offer to sell Cloud the Chocobo Lure Materia, which is necessary to be equipped in order to catch chocobos. Also, you must have a place to keep your chocobos, so speak to Choco Bill, and he will rent up to six stables for 10,000 gil each. Although the price is steep early in the game, you'll easily be able to afford it by the time you're ready for the extensive side quest. You'll need to buy at least three in order to breed, but it is advisable to rent all six if you can afford it.
The Chocobo Lure Materia, like any materia, has the ability to "grow", or level up. The higher the level, the more likely you are to run into a chocobo on your travels.
Greens
You'll also need greens to capture a chocobo. Choco Billy sells you some, but for the good stuff, you'll need to see the Chocobo Sage. The Sylkis Greens can only be purchased from the sage, and are the best (and most expensive) greens available. Use the Sylkis only when breeding though; don't waste them in battle. Purchase some mid-priced greens from Choco Billy for capturing chocobos.
Chocobo Tracks
There are five areas on the world map where you can randomly encounter a chocobo in battle. They are indicated by chocobo tracks, and different locations have different quality chocobos:
In Battle
Place the greens in the top slot of your item list so you have easy access to them. Run around the chocobo tracks until you get into a random encounter. If you are about to enter into a battle that contains a chocobo, you'll hear the more upbeat chocobo theme rather than the normal tune.
Immediately feed the chocobo a green BEFORE ATTACKING ANY ENEMIES. If you attack an enemy before giving the chocobo a green, it will run away. Also, enter your attack commands one at a time. If you accidentally strike the chocobo, it will peck at you or use the Chocobuckle ability to harm your party, and it will run away regardless of whether or not you gave it a green. Defeat all the enemies, and you will automatically capture the chocobo.
Once the battle is over, Cloud will be mounted on the chocobo on the world map. You can ride it around if you like, and you won't engage in any random enemy encounters. When you're ready to dismount press the circle button. When you dismount, you will be given the option to release the chocobo or send it to the farm. You obviously want to send it to the farm. The most you can capture at a time before returning to the farm is four.
At the Chocobo Farm
After sending a chocobo to the farm, you can go to the stables for information on each chocobo. Talk to Choco Billy to move the chocobos from the pen into the stables. He will tell you whether the chocobo you’ve caught is male or female. He'll also tell you what he thinks of each chocobo, indicating its quality:
You can either release the chocobo back into the wild, or move it into the stables. (When trying to breed the Gold Chocobo, it’s best to release any chocobo you don't need and save the space for the ones you do need.) When you choose to keep it, you can give the chocobo a name. It is useful to give the chocobos names that will help you distinguish them from each other.
You can speak to Chole who will keep track of the things that the Chocobo Sage tells you about chocobos. She'll also give you some interesting stats on your chocobos.
Shops
Chocobo Colors
There are five colors of chocobo available for your use. The chocobo's color indicates its skills on the world map.
Yellow
Yellow chocobos are the standard chocobo. All chocobos that you capture in the wild will be yellow. They also have no special abilities. They can only travel on flat lands, unable to cross water or climb mountains.
Blue
Blue chocobos are called River Chocobos, and have the ability to cross rivers or other shallow water. They cannot cross the ocean. Blue chocobos can be bred with a great-male chocobo and a good-female chocobo using a Carob Nut. Blue chocobos are immune to the "slow-down" sections of the race tracks.
Green
Green chocobos are called Mountain Chocobos, and have the ability to climb over mountains. They can not enter any kind of water, however. Green chocobos can be bred with a good-male chocobo and a great-female chocobo using a Carob Nut.
Black
Black chocobos have the abilities of both Blue and Green chocobos, including being immune to the "slow-down" sections of the tracks. They are bred from a Blue and Green chocobo.
Gold
Gold chocobos are the best breed in the game. They have no limitations on the world map and they have the best racing stats. A Gold chocobo is required to get some of the best side quest items. Gold chocobos are bred with a Wonderful Yellow chocobo and a Black chocobo.
Other Colors
When you race, you will notice some other colors of chocobos including White, Pink, Purple, and Red. These colors are unavailable to the player, and mostly serve to distinguish the racers.
Breeding & Raising
Nuts
In order to breed chocobos, you will need items called Nuts. Choco Billy will sell some nuts after Disc 1, but you are limited to the types of Nuts you can buy. In order to breed the best chocobos, you will need Carob Nuts and Zeio Nuts. The Carob Nut can be won or stolen from the Vlakorados, which can be found in the area south of Bone Village. You can also purchase the Carob Nut from the girl next to the Arm Wrestling machine at the Gold Saucer, but they cost 500 GP (not gil) each. Zeio Nuts can be stolen from Goblins, which can be found in the forests of Goblin Island.
Breeding the Gold Chocobo
The ultimate goal of breeding is to breed the Gold Chocobo. It is wise to save before you do any breeding, lest you end up with a gender or color of chocobo you don't need. For the Gold Chocobo, you must follow these steps:
- Capture a great-male and a good-female chocobo.
- Breed these chocobos to make a Blue Chocobo.
- Capture a good-male and great-female chocobo.
- Breed these chocobos to make a Green Chocobo.
- You may have to repeat the above steps in order to get a male/female combination.
- Breed the Blue and Green Chocobos using a Carob Nut to make a Black Chocobo.
- Capture a Wonderful Chocobo of the opposite gender.
- Breed the Black chocobo and the wonderful chocobo with a Zeio Nut to make the Gold Chocobo.
Note: Racing chocobos and raising their classes makes it more likely that you will breed the desired chocobo.
Raising
Chocobos have stats that indicate how they will do in a race. There are also different classes that affect the chances of breeding. S-Class chocobos are more likely to breed the special colors of chocobo. To make it easier to win the races, you need to raise the chocobos’ stats.
There are three stats involved in racing: Speed, Intelligence, and Stamina. Speed measures how fast the chocobo runs and Stamina measures how long the chocobo can maintain top speed. Intelligence measures how the chocobo paces itself. In order to raise these stats, you must feed the chocobos greens. Different greens raise different stats and at different rates. The best greens are Sylkis greens only available for purchase from the Chocobo Sage. Raising your chocobos' stats make the chocobo races much easier. When you can't give a chocobo anymore greens, it means you have maxed out its statistics. Here is a chart indicating how the different greens raise stats:
Racing
Racing chocobos can be done at the Chocobo Square in the Gold Saucer. Cloud is the usual jockey, but occasionally Tifa or Cid will ask to ride if they are in your party.
Classes
There are three classes of racing chocobos: Class A, Class B, and Class S. Class A is the easiest, and Class S is the most difficult, but most rewarding. To advance in class, you must win three races with the same chocobo.
Entering a Race
Speak to Ester who is on the left-hand side of the screen. Agree to race and she will ask you which chocobo you want to race with (by name only). After choosing, she will indicate the class of that chocobo, and ask whether you want the long track or the short one. The long track tends to yield better prizes, but you may find it easier or harder depending upon your style of play.
After signing up, you will be taken to the jockey screen, which allows you to view your opponents and their chocobos' stats. Occasionally, you will see a jockey named Joe on his Black Chocobo, Teioh. He can be difficult to beat because Teioh has some of the best stats in the game. In the lower-left hand corner is a list of the available prizes next to a symbol. Above the list is a grid with 35 cards, each with two numbers, 1 through 8, separated by a dash. This grid indicates which prize you will receive depending on which chocobos finish first and second. Your chocobo is always number 1.
After the jockey screen, you will be lined up at the starting line with the other chocobos. In the right-lower corner of the screen you will see the words "Auto" and "Manual". These indicate who controls the chocobo: Auto is the computer and Manual is the player. Auto is the default option, but it’s best to switch to Manual and control the chocobo’s movements yourself. You can switch to Manual by pressing the Select button.
Racing & Prizes
The red gauge on the left-hand side of the screen indicates how much stamina the chocobo has. If the chocobo runs out of stamina, they will slow down to a crawl. To restore stamina, hold down the R1 and L1 buttons.
Once the race begins, you will need to know how to move and control your chocobo. Use the directional buttons to steer. Holding the square button will make the chocobo speed up, while the circle button will make it sprint. Press the X button to slow down. Notice that when you sprint, your chocobo's stamina gauge empties. It is advisable to ration your sprinting for the very beginning of the race and the very end.
The chocobo heads in the upper left-hand corner will indicate the order of the race. If you are riding a blue chocobo, for example, you are represented by a blue chocobo head. If your head is all the way to the left, then you are in first place. If it is all the way to the right, you are currently in last place.
Towards the end of the race, there is a section which slows down all the chocobos. In the long race it is the underwater motif, and in the short race, it is the space motif. The Blue, Black, and Gold chocobos are immune to this, however.
After the first two chocobos have crossed the finish line, you can press the Start button to end the race.
You will be taken back to the jockey screen. Your prize is determined by who finished first and second. For example, if you finished first and the fifth jockey finished second, you will receive the random prize under the card labeled "1-5". You only receive a prize for coming in first place.
After you are brought back to the Chocobo Square, you will be asked if you want to keep the item you won or exchange it for GP.
Related Forum Threads
** BREEDING A GOLD CHOCOBO ** - last post by chocobeth @ Oct 27, 05Chocobo Stat / Breeding Tips. - last post by Wraith @ Jun 23, 09
Golden Chocobo Breeding. - last post by Wraith @ Mar 19, 04
Alternative Chocobo Breeding - last post by Mister Ivanovich @ Jul 23, 09
Chocobo breeding question - last post by _Chernaboug @ Sep 16, 05
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Krunal 
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