This is the complete guide to breeding and raising Chocobos!
This guide is for the Final Fantasy VII PlayStation One version, but may be applicable to other versions.
Can only be used on Disc 2 onwards! (After you have received the Highwind!)

To get some really great items and Materia in Final Fantasy VII, you'll need to breed Chocobos.
A Chocobo is a big yellow bird which you can ride on (a method of transport, like a horse) Chocobos frequently make appearances in the Final Fantasy series and have a few spin-off games of their own.
Chocobos are only used on a few occassions to progress in the game, for example, escaping from the Gold Saucer Prison and getting across the swamps near the Chocobo Farm.
However, they can be used during Disc 2 onwards in their own side-quest where you can catch them, feed them, race them, ride them and breed them.
This guide, (or walk through) will take you step by step through the process of breeding Chocobos and obtaining the legendary Gold Chocobo.

A Gold Chocobo can cross everything (mountains, rivers and even the ocean) and has higher attributes, (for racing at the Gold Saucer) compared to other Chocobos. You can also use a Gold Chocobo to get the ultimate Knights of the Round Summon Materia, which cannot be obtained any other way.

However, it can take a very long time to finally get a Gold Chocobo, as it can take up to 2-4 hours of solid gaming, so you'll need an uninterrupted afternoon to complete this guide, or you may lose track of where you were up to. Also make sure to Save as often as possible, and have enough space on your memory card for at least two seperate saved games.

Requirements for raising Chocobos

To start with, you must have the following things:

~ Plenty of Gil to begin with - Roughly 100,000 Gil for Chocobo Stables and Greens, although you'll probably get loads of Gil from random battles later on, you need at least 100,000 to start off.

~ All 6 Chocobo stalls from the Chocobo Farm - Costing 10,000 GIL each, you can buy them from the man in the 'Inn' area of the Chocobo Farm.

~ 4 Carob Nuts - You can steal or win these from Vlakorados (a Red Dragon) in the grass areas on the Northern Continent
Tips: Vlakorados don't do much damage, (a couple of hundred at the most) but they do have a lot of HP, (Over 30,000!) so a little advice is that on the way back to the Chocobo Farm, stay at Fort Condor (a great place to rest for free) where you can easily remove your ailments from your battles. An easier way can also be to buy Carob Nuts, (a hard earned 500 GP each!) from the Gold Saucer by talking to the girl in Wonder Square next to the Arm Wrestling Game, and purchasing the nut for the 500 GP. But if you've been participating in plenty of Chocobo races, if you take first place, instead of taking the Item, always take the GP, and you'll soon have thousands! That is, unless there's a very good item that you've won.

~ 1 Zeio Nut - You can steal these from goblins on Goblin Island.
Tips: Goblins are found on a very thin island in the forest areas, East of the Eastern Continent.
You can get there by using the Highwind or a Blue Chocobo. You can also learn the Enemy Skill "Goblin Punch" from these guys, so don't miss the opportunity and equip you Enemy Skill Materias.

~ Plenty of Sylkis Greens.
Tips: You can buy these from the Chocobo Sage, (a hurtful 5,000 GIL each) in a small house, in a very small valley on the Northern Continent. The house is located directly between the Northern Crater, Icicle Inn and Bone Village, and can be quite difficult to locate at first, but note that you can only reach the Chocobo Sage's house on the Highwind or a Green/Black/Gold Chocobo.
When you are in the house, go up to Chocobo on the left and examine it to receive an Enemy Skill Materia.
The Chocobo Sage knows all there is to know about Chocobo raising, but he will only give you snippets of this information at a time, because he has a very bad memory. You can use his hints to raise your own Chocobos, but that would take a very long time indeed, so you can use this guide instead! At the Chocobo Farm you can speak to Chloe in the stables, (not Choco Billy) and she will compile the tips the Chocobo Sage gives you if you need to refresh your memory.

~ Reagen Greens - You can also buy these from the Chocobo Sage for 3,000 GIL each, (if you can't afford the Sylkis) as these are just as good for catching Chocobos!
However aren't as effective for raising stats at the Chocobo Farm.

~ 1 Great Female Chocobo - West of Mideel on the small Southern Continent, and past the small forest (which is a good place to level up), only found in battles that include Spirals.
Tips: You can get there using the Highwind.

~ 1 Good Male Chocobo - Southeast of Gold Saucer on the grassy plains, only found in battles that include 2 Spencers in the front row, or with 2 Flapbeat Defenders in the back row. Tips: You can get there using the Highwind.

~ 1 Good Female Chocobo - Southeast of Gold Saucer on the grassy plains, only found in battles that include 2 Spencers in the front row, or with 2 Flapbeat Defenders in the back row. Tips: You can get there using the Highwind.

~ 1 Great Male Chocobo - West of Mideel on the small Southern Continent, and past the small forest (which is a good place to level up), only found in battles that include Spirals.
Tips: You can get there using the Highwind.

~ 1 Wonderful Chocobo - Western area of the North Continent where there are Chocobo prints in the snow.
Tips: You can get there using the Highwind.
Note on Wonderful Chocobos: You only need to get the Wonderful Chocobos once you have got the Black Chocobo,
so you have enough space in the stables. If you see two bunny creatures in the North Continent, ("Jumpings") next to a Chocobo, then it is a Wonderful Chocobo! If not, then there is no need to catch it.

Catching Chocobos

For the Beginners:
First make sure you have some Sylkis Greens, (5,000 GIL each from the Chocobo Sage) or Reagen Greens, (3,000 GIL each from the Chocobo Sage) if you have them, put them at the top of your Items list by arranging them manually in the menu.

Look around for Chocobo footprints, (they are like lots of Y's) when you find some Equip the Pink "Chocobo Lure" Materia and run over the prints.
A "Chocobo Lure" Materia can be bought from Choco Billy from the Chocobo Farm for 2,000 gil, but seeing as you have to buy one to proceed in the game during Disc One, you should already have one.

So with your Chocobo Lure equipped, run around over some Chocobo prints and when you hear a different battle tune, it means that there is a Chocobo in the battle.
During the battle, whatever you do, do not attack the Chocobo, if you do it will simply run away, but you want to catch it, so avoid spells and summons that damage all enemies!
Quickly give the Chocobo some Sylkis, or Reagen Greens so that it does not run away, as leaving it alone for too long will make it escape (that is why it helps to put the Sylkis/Reagen Greens at the top of the Items list) then all you have to do is defeat the enemies around it and you will have caught the Chocobo! (You may have to give the Chocobo more than one Sylkis/Reagen if it finishes the first one before you finish the battle).

After the Battle:
Press to get off the Chocobo and an options box will appear.
Choose "Send it back to the stables", avoid letting it go again unless you have to, and you're done!

Now that you know how to catch Chocobos, you're going to need to know where the one's you want to catch are located, so here's a custom map for Chocobo Locations.
Click on the Map for the full-sized image, opens in new window.



The Chocobos you will want to catch are Good and Great Chocobos, or as on the map, Two Star and Three Star Chocobos, the Chocobos on the map show you where the respective footprints are located. Good Chocobos are by the grassy plains near the Gold Saucer and appear in battles including 2 Spencers in the front row, or 2 Flapbeat Defenders in the back row.
Great Chocobos are on the Mideel continent by a small forest and are only found in battles with Spirals.
Once you have a Black Chocobo, you'll want a Wonderful Chocobo to breed with it. These can be found on the Western area of the Northern Continent near Icicle Inn and appear accompanied by two carrot-weilding bunnies named Jumpings.
To Start You Off

For the Beginners:
So, to start off, you'll need two Good Chocobos, (one Male and one Female) and two Great Chocobos, (also one Male and one Female). Good Chocobos are located South-East of the Gold Saucer on the grassy plains where you can see the Chocobo prints. And Great Chocobos are located next to the forest surrounding Mideel on the Southernmost continent on the grassy plains where you can see the Chocobo prints. See the above map for more on locations.
When catching the Chocobos, (For example Good Male and Female Chocobos) always make sure you catch four, this is because they are not all Good Chocobos, some might be bad, some could be average and so on.
When you go back to the Chocobo Farm, you will see all your captured Chocobos in the pen outside (the limit of captured Chocobos in the pen is four). Go into the Barn and talk to Choco Billy. Select "Moving Chocobos" to put a Chocobo in a stable.
A screen comes up and you can select a Good Chocobo, Choco Billy will give a comment for each Chocobo, if he says it is a Good Chocobo or if the Chocobo is walking happily then select it to put it in a stable. If you have any more Good Chocobos then put them in stables too. If you have a Chocobo that isn't Good, then don't put it in the stables. If you did not get any Good Chocobos at all, then you have to go all the way back and catch some more!
You can now name your Chocobo. It is best that you name the Chocobo something that will indicate what gender it is and what type, for example, for a Great Female Chocobo, name her 'GreatF', or for a Good Male Chocobo, 'GoodM'.
If you end up with more than one Female or Male Chocobo, then remember the name of the one that you don't want, go to Choco Billy and release it.
So basically your aim is to have a Male and Female Good Chocobo in your stables and a Male and Female Great Chocobo in your stables.
With luck you will now have two Good Male and Female Chocobos!
The same applies to catching two Great Male and Female Chocobos, only the Chocobos need to be Great not Good and
when you are moving a Great Chocobo in to a stable, Choco Billy needs to say it's a Great Chocobo and the Chocobo should be Running not Walking.
Remember that Great Chocobos are located next to the forest surrounding Mideel on the Southernmost continent on the grassy plains where you can see the Chocobo prints.
You should now have all the Chocobos you need to begin the maturing stage!

Racing

For the Slightly Advanced:
To help mature your Great and Good Chocobos to be able to breed them, you need to race them. You'll need to race your Great and Good Chocobos to B Class.
Always feed your Chocobos before racing to increase their stats for optimum performance. Feed Great and Good Chocobos 5 Sylkis Greens each (or until you can give them no more) to increase their stats.
Talk to Choco Billy and select "Feeding Chocobos" then select which Chocobo, what type of green and how many you wish to feed it. See below for the stats that certain Greens raise.
To race your Chocobos, simply go to the Gold Saucer and speak with Ester to take part in a race. You can choose from the Short and Long course and pick which Chocobo you wish to race.
After you have chosen your Chocobo, the race will soon commence!

Chocobo Racing Controls

Button	Command
	Speed Up
	Slow Down
	Boost / Dash
D-Pad	Move the Chocobo
	Switch control to Automatic or Manual
+	Maintain steady Speed
+	Gradually Increase Stamina

Ester can go over the controls again before you race if you ever need to refresh.
During a Chocobo Race, it's all about conserving energy, using a quick spurt of speed at the beginning and maintaining a steady pace until the last stretch.
If you are having difficulty winning any races, then set the controls to automatic, press , during the race, however sticking to Manual is recommended as you have much more control over the Chocobo.
To gain better ranks with your Chocobos, you have to win races, which means you'll need to become good at racing pretty fast. Sometimes a Chocobos stats can hinder your performance, so don't forget to feed it with Sylkis or Reagen Greens from the Chocobo Sage beforehand. Also note that feeding Chocobos raises your relationship with it, which means it will follow your commands more than before, Chocobos that have a poor relationship with you will be difficult to control in a race.
During a race, use to speed up, to slow down and to boost or run very fast. Going fast will eat up your Chocobos Stamina pretty quickly though, so keep an eye on the Stamina Meter on the bottom left corner. If your Chocobo runs out of Stamina, it will be exhausted and won't be able to run until it has regained some of it's Stamina.
So during the middle of the race, keep it fairly slow with short intervals of boosting with to make it to the finish line, where your Chocobo will automatically begin to dash, so you'll need as much Stamina as possible for the last stretch.

There's also a rather nifty secret to Chocobo Racing, by pressing + your Chocobo will stay pretty steady and not lose too much Stamina, which is useful during the middle of the race, but by also pressing + , your Stamina Meter will actually begin to refill!
This trick is essential in the harder races against Joey and his Black Chocobo, so make sure you keep + and + held down throughout the whole race!

And finally, if you win a race you are entitled to a prize, you can choose from an Item or GP, it's usually better to build up a good supply of GP, but you can get some great Item's from Chocobo Racing, so look out for rare Materia and Accessories!
With these tips in mind, race your Good and Great Chocobos until they are all Class B Chocobos.

Riding Chocobos

You can ride Chocobos (that are in the stables) by talking to Choco Billy and selecting "Riding Chocobos"
Pick which one you want to ride and you will appear outside of the Chocobo Farm.
And don't worry, when you get of a Chocobo you have been riding on it won't run away, it will just stay where it is.
You can also, (while riding a Chocobo) go onto the Highwind and your Chocobo will come on board with you!
To put the Chocobo back in the stables just ride into the Chocobo Farm.
Have fun!

Chocobo Info

Here is a small table of each Chocobo type and where you can ride them:

Yellow Chocobo: Grassy areas, sand and marshes.
Green Chocobo: Mountains, grassy areas, sand and marshes.
Blue Chocobo: Shallow water areas, rivers, grassy areas, sand and marshes.
Black Chocobo: Mountains, shallow water, rivers, grassy areas, sand and marshes.
Gold Chocobo: Absolutely anywhere, even the ocean!

Greens

There are several different types of Greens, all with different effects and stats raising abilities. When catching Chocobos it's best to go for Reagen Greens, they're fairly cheap and effective at keeping the Chocobo busy while you slash the bad guys.
~ For increasing racing stats at the Chocobo Farm, a Sylkis is definitely most effective.
~ In the table below there are details for the stats that every Green raises. If a Green raises your Chocobos Speed, that Chocobo will be faster when you race.
~ If a Green raises Intelligence, that Chocobos Stamina bar won't run out as fast in a race.
~ If a Green raises Stamina, that Chocobo can run faster, for longer in a race.
~ And for every Green you give a Chocobo your relationship will rise, causing that Chocobo to obey your commands more effectively in a race.