Big Yellow Birds

Andrew helped me make this avatar for the Atomic Underpants Message Boards. I imagine everyone who reads this (all three of you) already know that this is a chocobo, preferred mode of transportation of many in the Final Fantasy games. Oh sure, you almost invariably get an airship which is usually faster. But chocobos have more character. They can sometimes get to places where airships can't land. And they have their own theme song which has remained pretty consistent through the games.

Aside from letting you ride in style, chocobos have also been involved in several side quests which allow you to reap great rewards upon completion. One of the first was in Final Fantasy VII, which allowed you to raise, race, and breed the birds in order to hatch chocobos with the ability to cross different types of terrain. Final Fantasy IX allowed you to go on worldwide treasure hunts with a single chocobo. Final Fantasy VIII could have been a really great chocobo game, but the stupid PocketStation never came out in the States, so you never got to go adventuring with your little feathered friend.

There have also been two games released in the U.S. with a chocobo as the star. Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (the first one never got a U.S. release) had a rather cartoony chocobo working his way through the levels of a deep dungeon with various allies in tow. Chocobo Racing featured many of the same characters from Chocobo's Dungeon. Chocobo zips around on jet powered roller-skates and settles various disputes by racing. A version of the Chocobo's Dungeon chocobo as a coin bank sits atop my PS2 next to a plush Final Fantasy IX chocobo.

Before everyone gets completely sick of me going on about chocobos, here's an amusing little animation that Kim linked to on her blog. The tune is the famous Chocobo Song, but the lyrics are original. Enjoy.