Chocobo Breeding

To catch a chocobo, you must have a "chocobo lure" materia equipped. You can either buy one at the chocobo ranch during disk one, or you can pick one up for free (also at the chocobo ranch) during disks two and three.

After equipping the chocobo lure, walk around on some chocobo tracks. You will get into a "chocobo battle" with special music. Kill the enemies, making sure that you don't attack the chocobo by mistake. You can feed the chocobo some greens (buy at the chocobo ranch) to prevent it from running away. After the fight, you have a chocobo. The chocobo will run away after you get off it.

To raise chocobos, first you will have to buy some chocobo stables at the chocobo ranch. If you own stables, you will be able to send a chocobo to the ranch after you are finished riding it. Note that you can only send four chocobos to the ranch at a time. If you send more than that, it will get rid of the ones you sent previously, oldest first.

You can go back to the ranch to put your chocobos into stables. Use the "move chocobo" command to do this. If the chocobo has its head drooped, just get rid of it. But if it is moving around, put it into your stable.

Once you have a chocobo, you will want to get it into racing shape. First, feed it some greens. To do this, talk to the guy in the chocobo barn. Use different greens for different effects (see table). Then race the chocobo repeatedly. Remember to set to manual control by pressing select. ALWAYS hold down R1 + R2 during the race. This slows the drain on your chocobo's stamina, and on some chocobos will even let the stamina recharge while running. Speed is controlled by holding down one of three buttons. To go slowly and recharge stamina, hold X. To run, slowly losing stamina, hold . To go really fast, burining a lot of stamina, hold O. You should normally use , using O in short bursts to pass other chocobos. When you get to the end of the course (space in short or ice in long), hold O until your stamina runs low. This technique should enable your chocobo to win races. If you lose repeatedly, go back to the barn and feed your chocobo more greens.

To get one of the extinct gold chocobos, you will need to work a little harder. Start on disk two. First, go to the area outside Bone Village. Steal several carob nuts from the Vlakorados you fight in that area (Vlakorados look like dinosaurs). Then you are ready to catch chocobos. Catch a chocobo from the tracks located near the Gold Saucer, and one from the tracks located outside of Mideel. One must be male, and the other female (doesn't matter which is which). And, of course, the crappy ones that have drooped heads don't count.

Using the chocobo racing tips above, race your chocobos until they reach either "A" rank or "S" rank. After your chocobos reach "A" rank or better, you are ready to breed. First, save your game. Then go to the chocobo ranch. Talk to the guy in the chocobo barn. Select "Mating Chocobos." Then walk up to your chocobos and press O on each chocobo to mate them. When asked which nut to use, select Carob Nut. A new chocobo will appear. If it is either blue or green, keep it. Otherwise, hold down L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 + Select + Start to reset the game. Keep trying until you get a blue or green. After naming this chocobo, leave the chocobo ranch and do something else. Come back later and repeat the mating process. Continue mating and leaving until you get a blue chocobo of one sex, and a green chocobo of the opposite sex.

Then equip your chocobo lure and go to the chocobo tracks on the snowy northern continent. Capture chocobos there until you get a good one (running with head down). Then its time to race your chocobos. The blue and green chocobos must reach either "A" or "S" rank. The chocobo you just caught must reach "S" rank.

After the chocobos reach their respective classes, it's time to breed again. Remember to save first. Mate the blue chocobo with the green one, using a Carob Nut. Keep resetting the game until you get a black chocobo with the opposite sex from the chocobo you caught in the snow. After naming the black chocobo, race it until it reaches "S" rank. Then take the Highwind and fly north from the chocobo ranch. You will see an island with a forest and a place to land the Highwind. Make sure you have the Steal materia and all of your Enemy Skill materia equipped. Walk around the forest. You will encounter goblins. Steal Zeio Nuts from them. Also learn their enemy skill (Goblin Punch); this should only take one fight. Save, then return to the chocobo ranch and mate the black chocobo with the one you caught in the snow, using a Zeio Nut. Reset until you get a gold chocobo. You don't have to race the gold chocobo, however, I strongly recommend that you do so.