Editing Chocobo (section)

==Creation and development==
The chocobo was created by [[Koichi Ishii]], an artist and game designer who worked on the original ''[[Final Fantasy (video game)|Final Fantasy]]'' (1987) and ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' (1988).<ref name="GparaIshii"/><ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/> The origins of chocobos came from Ishii's childhood. When he was at elementary school, he bought a chick at a festival market and formed a strong bond with it.<ref name="GparaIshii"/> One day while he was away at school, his parents decided they could no longer care for it and gave it to a neighbour who kept chickens. Ishii was very upset when he found out, and kept the memory of the chick into his adult life.<ref name="GparaIshii"/><ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/> All through development of ''Final Fantasy'', Ishii wanted to create an animal companion character.<ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/> A challenge to himself was creating a character that could not speak but would still be capable of creating an empathic connection with the player.<ref name="4Gishii"/> The chocobo's design was inspired by the middle stage of his chick before it matured into a chicken.<ref name="GparaIshii"/> The name "Chocobo" was inspired by the Chocolate Ball, a popular confection in Japan created by [[Morinaga & Company]].<ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/><ref name="CubedInterview"/>

He created the first Chocobo designs in ten minutes during a lunch break, imagining chocobos as a near-constant companion players would connect with, similar to the horse Thunderbolt from ''[[Kōya no Shōnen Isamu]]''.<ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/> When Ishii presented the chocobo concept to series creator [[Hironobu Sakaguchi]], they were initially rejected, but Sakaguchi eventually included them in ''Final Fantasy II'' in the much-reduced role of temporary mounts. Ishii was annoyed by their reduced role both in ''Final Fantasy II'' and ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' (1990).<ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/> This anger prompted him to include the chocobo in its intended companion role in the debut ''[[Mana (series)|Mana]]'' title ''[[Final Fantasy Adventure]]'' (1991), which was the first project where he had creative control.<ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/><ref name="4Gishii"/> He considered that version to be the original Chocobo, which appeared in other properties around that game.<ref name="UltiIshiiChoco"/> Ishii originally envisioned the chocobo as a non-vocal character, communicating through its movements and thus being true to its feelings.<ref name="FFishii"/> Going forward, the chocobo sported a distinctive "Kweh" call.<ref name="GWIchocobo"/><ref name="Escape"/> The chocobo was going to be one of a trio of mascot characters alongside the [[Moogle]] and a third animal creation that ended up being scrapped.<ref name="UltiIshiiMoogle"/>

Though Ishii never intended the chocobo to recur within the series, positive fan reception caused it to become a fixture going forward.<ref name="UltiIshiiMoogle"/> It underwent multiple redesigns based on the setting of each game, such as ''[[Final Fantasy XV]]'' (2016) where it was designed to appear realistic while still having exotic flourishes.<ref name="FFWmonsters"/><ref name="PolyChocobo"/> They were initially left out of the world design of ''[[Final Fantasy XVI]]'' (2023), but staff protests prompted scenario writer Kazutoyo Maehiro to incorporate them.<ref name="FamInterviewNov"/> A notable narrative use of chocobos was in the opening section of ''[[Final Fantasy Type-0]]'', where a chocobo was gunned down and their owner was unable to save it, setting the game's darker tone.<ref name="TabataChocobo"/> A recurring element in games featuring the chocobo is a titular musical theme, created for ''Final Fantasy II'' by Nobuo Uematsu and remixed or redone in subsequent entries.<ref name="FFtracks"/><ref name="Uematsu"/> For the remixes he chose, Uematsu always selected a genre which had the same number of syllables as "chocobo".<ref name="Uematsu"/>

The most notable version features in the long-running ''[[Chocobo (series)|Chocobo]]'' spin-off series, which share a protagonist in the form of a male Chocobo.<ref name="PSBlogChocobo"/><ref name="TabataChocobo"/><ref name="RetroChoco"/> This incarnation of Chocobo was designed by Toshiyuki Itahana, who created a more cute design that would fit into a roguelike game design while also appealing to a wider market than the "sleek" designs of Chocobos from the main series.<ref name="PSBlogChocobo"/><ref name="PolyChocobo"/> His early attempts to make a more monster-like version did not work due to the planned tone, which focused on a light-hearted story.<ref name="PolyChocobo"/> He also created versions of Chocobo that had him wearing ''Final Fantasy'' [[Recurring elements in the Final Fantasy series#Classes|job outfits]].<ref name="PSBlogChocobo"/> Recurring artist [[Yoshitaka Amano]] created a concept for the Chocobo summon from ''Final Fantasy III'', though this design differed markedly from its usual appearance. The in-game sprite, while a typical chocobo design, reused colors from the Amano artwork.<ref name="UltimaniaAmano"/> Due to his workload at the time, he had no memory of his chocobo design.<ref name="EGMamano"/>