Chocobo Racing - Final Fantasy
Chocobo Racing is a racing genre video game produced by Square that was released on the Sony PlayStation in 1999. Chocobo racing has often been compared to other kart racing games such as the well known Mario Kart or Crash Team Racing. The main star of the game is Chocobo, the main mascot character of the Final Fantasy franchise. Other staple mascot characters like the Moogle and Black Mage also appear in the game. The game received average reviews but provided fans some fun as a Final Fantasy themed game in a different light.
Gameplay
There are multiple modes of play, including Story Mode, where Cid narrates the story using a pop-up style of storybook. The player first controls the Chocobo and eventually gains access to a myriad of characters and new abilities as the story progresses. In versus mode, players are able to race in multiplayer, or can race against computers. There is also a Grand-Prix mode, where the player races against computers on four tracks of their choosing. In the relay race mode of the game, a player can choose three others to race in a relay match. Lastly, there is Time Attack, where a player selects any stage to try to beat the record time of each match.
The goal of the game is like any other racing game, to be able to reach the finish line first. However, there are gimmicks in each match, a number of “Magical Stones” in game items that grant various abilities if obtained. If a racer obtains the same type of stone multiple times, the stones will "level up", and increase the capability for the given ability. These Magic Stones can be stolen from other racers by bumping into them from behind during a race.
Following is a list of the stones:
- Haste - Speeds racers up. With higher the level stones, the effect has a longer duration.
- Fire - Launches a fireball in a straight line, which can miss but higher level stones will not miss. Fira attacks only one racer in front of the user, but Firaga is capable of attacking all racers in front of the user.
- Blizzard - Creates a sheet of ice behind the user in which anyone who touches it will lose control and spin out. Blizzara creates a larger ice sheet which is harder to avoid, and Blizzaga causes everyone to spin out, lose control and crash, slowing them down. However, flying racers are immune to Blizzard and Blizzara.
- Thunder - Thunder causes lightning to strike just before racer. Thundara causes exactly three strikes in front of a racer, while Thundaga strikes every racer on the map.
- Minimize - An angel appears and shrinks every racer, reducing their speed by 25%. The highest level of Minimize reduces the racers' speed and size by three quarters. If run over while minimized, a shrunken racer will be squashed, slowing them down.
- Reflect - Defensive stone that deflects offensive spells back to the user. It can be triggered automatically when a spell targets the holder, but can also be activated manually to form a temporary Reflection shield. This Magic Stone does not level up.
- Doom - A skull with a 10-second timer that appears over the player. It can be transferred to another racer by colliding with them. When the counter hits zero, the racer crashes. This Magic Stone does not level up. All CPU racers use it immediately after they receive it.
- Ultima - Forms an attack that stalls all other competitors whereas the highest level of this skill stalls all racers for much longer.
Characters
Here are the main characters the user can choose to race with and their special abilities:
Chocobo with Jet-Blades - Special Ability: Dash - Gives Chocobo a temporary boost in top speed and acceleration stats. Similar to the Haste spells.
Mog in a Mog-Mobile - Special Ability: Flap - Allows the Mog to fly and soar over ground-based hazards on the track.
Golem in a Rockin' Roller V8 - Special Ability: Grip-Up - Allows the Golem to maintain better control and traction on the track.
Goblin in a Gob-Cart - Special Ability: Mug - Gives the player the ability to steal accumulated spells from another racer that is in front.
Black Mage on a MagiCloud - Special Ability: Magic Plus - Has the ability to Instantly power up any collected item on the track.
White Mage on a Cosmic Carpet - Special Ability: Barrier - Nullifies the effects of magic of other players and some abilities.
Chubby Chocobo in a Phat-Burner Plus - Special Ability: Receive - Lets the player add a magic spell cast upon the character to his or her repertoire.
Behemoth in a Behemo-Buggy - Special Ability: Charge - Gives Behemoth a turbo boost that can be used to hit and spin out other characters on the track.
Bahamut with Dragon Wings - Special Ability: Megaflare - All track magic attack that makes all characters spin out.
Plot
The story is broken up into a number of chapters, where Chocobo must race a number of challengers in order to uncover the mystery behind the blue crystals. He travels with a number of characters he meets along the way, including a Moogle named Mog. When the party encounters the White Mage, she states she will reveal the secret of the Magicite shards (Blue Crystals) on the condition that they are able to beat her in a race. Stating,
”There are Magicite Shards scattered all over the world. It used to be one large Magicite Crystal... But people kept fighting each other over it. So the founder of Mysidia, the great magician Ming-Wu, broke the Crystal into eight pieces. He then scattered the shards to the four winds. He did so to assure later restoration of the Magicite Crystal...when all eight pieces are brought together again.”
Eventually, Bahamut, the king of the Espers is met after the party collects all of the eight crystals and a portal opens to Fantasia, the Esper kingdom. After losing a race, he decides to open the portal between the Outer World and Fantasia, declaring that "Fantasia shall exist in harmony with your world from this day on".