{"id":22259,"date":"2022-05-13T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T00:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=22259"},"modified":"2022-04-27T19:12:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T19:12:56","slug":"the-racers-and-tracks-of-chocobo-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/13\/the-racers-and-tracks-of-chocobo-gp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Racers and Tracks of Chocobo GP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Back during the PSOne days, Square released a mascot kart racing game featuring cute versions of their Final Fantasy staple characters.\u00a0 You know, chocobo, moogle, white and black mages, etc.\u00a0 It was called Chocobo Racing.\u00a0 I wanted to get this game when it came out, but I was poor college student at the time and couldn\u2019t afford to get it at full price.\u00a0 Plus I heard it was getting a lot of bad reviews, so I decided to wait for a while.\u00a0 Shortly after I graduated college, I found a new copy of Chocobo Racing at a flea market and it was only 20 bucks.\u00a0 And since I had a bit more disposable income by then, I decided to get it.\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 Despite it having such bad reviews, I really liked it!\u00a0 Sure it was no where near as good as Mario Kart or other mascot racers at the time such as Diddy Kong Racing and Crash Team Racing.\u00a0 But I really liked how they implemented Final Fantasy themes and tropes into the gameplay and presentation.\u00a0 So when Square-Enix showed a sequel of sorts last year coming to the Switch called Chocobo GP, I was really excited and wanted to get it.\u00a0 So now I finally have it and I wanted to talk about it and all the characters and tracks found therein.\u00a0 So let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n

But before I do that, I wanted to elaborate more on some things I liked about the original Chocobo Racing, mainly some surprises.\u00a0 While it was certainly a typical kart racer, I did like how they implemented Final Fantasy staples into the weapons and tracks, like remixed music from classic games and whatnot.\u00a0 One neat thing you could do in it that I haven\u2019t seen in other kart racers is that you could edit your own racer with points you earned from beating Story Mode a bunch of times.\u00a0 You had to pick a regular character, but you could edit the color scheme and parameters like speed, cornering, etc.\u00a0 Sure you could make an overpowered racer this way, but I never said the game was perfect.\u00a0 The game also had a TON of secret characters.\u00a0 Some included Cloud on a bike, 8 bit versions of a Chocobo and Airship (which went super fast like in the old game), and a Cactrot!\u00a0 One of the most super obscure secret racers in the game was Jumping Jack from 3-D WorldRunner, which was a super early NES game from Square.\u00a0 Plus the ending song is one of my favorite vocal tunes in a video game.\u00a0 Kind of reflects how I feel about the Final Fantasy series as a whole.\u00a0 Look it up sometime, the song is called \u201cDiamonds in my Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, the new Chocobo GP has your typical modes.\u00a0 There\u2019s an emphasis on online play, with coins you can earn to buy special things in the shop (more on that later).\u00a0 There\u2019s also single player modes like cup races, time trials, and a Story Mode.\u00a0 Is the game as good as the original Chocobo Racing?\u00a0 Oh heck no.\u00a0 In fact, I can understand why people have given Chocobo GP bad reviews, too.\u00a0 But I still like it anyway.\u00a0 But then, I guess there\u2019s no accounting for my tastes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like how the game is full price but you can still use real money to buy things in the shop.\u00a0 Play control can feel sluggish and broken at times, and while I like cutesy games, the Story Mode borderlines on being annoyingly childish.\u00a0 The game is only digitally in the US, which I also don\u2019t like, so I imported the European physical version and it works just fine.\u00a0 Anyway, with that out of the way, let\u2019s take a look at the racers and tracks in Chocobo GP.<\/p>\n

Chocobo<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s just a standard chibi version of the yellow Chocobo workhorse birds from the FF franchise.\u00a0 She wears a green bandana scarf and appears in other games like Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo\u2019s Tales and the Chocobo\u2019s Mysterious Dungeon games.\u00a0 And of course, the original Chocobo Racing.\u00a0 I\u2019ve played the Chocobo\u2019s Tales game, but not the Mysterious Dungeon titles.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to, but I don\u2019t have the time to play ALL those games!\u00a0 Chocobo races with jet powered skates like in the first one. She also only says \u201cKweh kweh\u201d in this game, even though other Chocobo characters actually talk in this one.<\/p>\n

Alta<\/strong><\/p>\n

He’s a goggle-wearing moogle who hangs around Chocobo and has a greedy streak.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if he\u2019s the same moogle as before, but I guess they gave him a name now.\u00a0 I figure he\u2019s also in the Mysterious Dungeon games, but I\u2019m not completely sure.<\/p>\n

Clair<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the Fat Chocobo, but he\u2019s not very interesting in this game.\u00a0 And I though Clair was a girl\u2019s name, but here he has a boy\u2019s voice, so I dunno.\u00a0 In the first Chocobo Racing, the unnamed Fat Chocobo character had a race track made out of food, so that was fun.<\/p>\n

Camilla<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s a red Chocobo and the only character trait she seems to have is that she\u2019s a girl.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve heard the other main Chocobo character is supposed to be a girl as well, so I dunno.<\/p>\n

Camilla\u2019s Pa<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s Camilla\u2019s dad.\u00a0 Not sure why they didn\u2019t give him a separate name, but they do poke fun at that in the story mode.\u00a0 He\u2019s a farmer Chocobo who drives a tractor in the races and wears a green hat that looks more like an army hat than a farmer hat.<\/p>\n

Shirma<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s the White Mage, and I guess they decided to give her a name now.\u00a0 She also drives a car, unlike in the original Chocobo Racing where she rode on a flying carpet.\u00a0 Which made her and other racers like the Black Mage and Bahamut a bit unbalanced because they couldn\u2019t slip on ground obstacles since they flew!<\/p>\n

Irma<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if she\u2019s a new character or from the Mysterious Dungeon games, but she\u2019s kind of like Shirma except she wears pigtails.\u00a0 She also has a double personality.\u00a0 Normally she\u2019s all sweet and kind, but when she gets in her race car, she talks all mean and tough!<\/p>\n

Cid<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly every FF game has a Cid, and this is the same one from the original Chocobo Racing and Mysterious Dungeon titles.\u00a0 Except here he\u2019s playable and drives a tank (why not an airship?).<\/p>\n

Ben<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s the purple Behemoth monster character.\u00a0 I guess they decided to give him a name here as well.<\/p>\n

Terra<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was super happy to find out she was in this game, as Terra is my favorite Final Fantasy character.\u00a0 Even better, in this game she\u2019s in her purple Esper form, and she drives a Magitek Armor as her kart!\u00a0 She\u2019s also pretty funny in Story Mode.<\/p>\n

Maduin<\/strong><\/p>\n

In FF6, Maduin is Terra\u2019s Esper father.\u00a0 He\u2019s kind of a beast man type.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure why they chose him instead of Kefka if they wanted some FF6 representation in the game, but I\u2019m glad to see so much FF6 representation at all, since FF6 is one of my top five favorite games of all time.\u00a0 Kefka would make a great racer in this game, though!<\/p>\n

Vivi<\/strong><\/p>\n

And if having so much FF6 representation wasn\u2019t great enough, FF9 also got a good amount of content in this game.\u00a0 And FF9 is another one of my favorites.\u00a0 Vivi was my favorite character in FF9, and I\u2019m glad to see him in the game, too.\u00a0 I guess he kind of replaces the standard Black Mage character from the original Chocobo Racing.<\/p>\n

Steiner<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s another one of my favorite FF9 characters, a bumbling knight.\u00a0 What\u2019s funny is that most characters in Chocobo GP had to be \u2018chibi-fied\u2019 to be in the game, but not Vivi and Steiner!\u00a0 They fit right in just as they are!<\/p>\n

Ifrit<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of FF summon monsters are in this game, but here they make them look more human for some reason.\u00a0 Ifrit just looks like a guy cosplaying as Ifrit, with fiery hair and horns.\u00a0 He also wears a firefighter jacket for some reason.<\/p>\n

Shiva<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s the pretty ice queen in most games, but I think there\u2019s one where she\u2019s a motorcycle or something?\u00a0 Here she\u2019s just a blue girl with goggles.<\/p>\n

Asura<\/strong><\/p>\n

In FF4, she is the four-armed, four faced queen of the Summon Monsters.\u00a0 Her husband is Leviathan, king of the seas.\u00a0 Since Leviathan is a serpent and can\u2019t drive a car, Asura uses her magic to turn him into a car and she drives him!<\/p>\n

Titan<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s a rock monster who tends to hang out with Ben the Behemoth. \u00a0In the original game, there is a rock monster you can race as named Golem, but I think this one is different.<\/p>\n

Sylph<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s a little fairy who looks like she\u2019s cosplaying as a moogle and she rides a rocking horse as her kart.<\/p>\n

Ramuh<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s an old guy with a long white beard who shoots lightning.<\/p>\n

Racing Hero X<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is another moogle who dons a disguise to look like a secret agent or a super hero and calls himself Racing Hero X.\u00a0 He\u2019s a bit smaller than the other moogle and wears a purple helmet with goggles.\u00a0 In Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo\u2019s Tales, there\u2019s a similar moogle who challenges you to card matches with a similar persona.\u00a0 I wonder if he\u2019s the same character?<\/p>\n

Mecha Chocobo<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is what you think it is, a robot Chocobo.\u00a0 I wonder if that\u2019s in reference to the first Mana game where your Chocobo gets mechanized after having its legs hurt.<\/p>\n

Gilgamesh<\/strong><\/p>\n

In FFV, Gilgamesh is one of the reoccurring antagonists, and he even appears in later FF games as well.\u00a0 You\u2019ll race against him here in nearly every chapter of the game\u2019s story mode.<\/p>\n

Necroshell<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s the final boss racer, your typical pretty boy modern FF boss type.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if he\u2019s in any other FF game or just made for this one.<\/p>\n

Cactaur<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say too much about this character because I don\u2019t know how to unlock him yet, but he\u2019s the running cactus monster that has appeared in nearly every FF game since FF6, I think.<\/p>\n

Cloud<\/strong><\/p>\n

So the last two characters here are part of the problem I have with the game. \u00a0Of course everyone knows who Cloud is, spiky haired goob with a giant sword.\u00a0 But you have to unlock him with currency you earn by playing online matches.\u00a0 And he costs like, 9000 coins.\u00a0 When I played online matches, I only earned 30, so I was like, \u2018well I guess I\u2019m not unlocking him.\u2019\u00a0 Oh well, I don\u2019t like Cloud anyway.\u00a0 You can also pay real money to buy currency for these characters and other purchases, and I don\u2019t like that cell phone mentality this part of the game has.\u00a0 When I buy a game full price, especially if it\u2019s digital, I think everything should be included in it.\u00a0 But I guess I\u2019m just old fashioned.<\/p>\n

Squall<\/strong><\/p>\n

He’s available in the same fashion as Cloud, and both seem to be available for a limited time so I won\u2019t be unlocking him either.\u00a0 But that\u2019s OK because I don\u2019t like Squall either.\u00a0 Did you know that Squall was playable in the original Chocobo Racing as well?\u00a0 That game came out at the same time as FF8, so they used it to kind of promote the other.\u00a0 There was a special FF8 track that wasn\u2019t very interesting, and Squall looked totally out of place.<\/p>\n

And those are all the racers as of this writing.\u00a0 They may add more through DLC, but that\u2019s all I\u2019m going to write about them for now.\u00a0 So now let\u2019s take a look at the tracks.\u00a0 There\u2019s only eight track themes, which is a bit disappointing since the original game even had more.\u00a0 Granted, each track theme here has at least two or more variations of it.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still not a lot of variety.\u00a0 They may add more via DLC later, but here\u2019s what we\u2019ve got right now.<\/p>\n

Chocobo Farm<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is your typical dirt based country track with a bluegrass version of the Chocobo theme playing in the background.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s supposed to be the Chocobo Farm from FF7 or not, though.<\/p>\n

Cid\u2019s Test Track<\/strong><\/p>\n

And this is your typical cement road race track.\u00a0 There was also a Cid\u2019s Test Track in the first Chocobo Racing game as well.<\/p>\n

Monster Village<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the FF games I\u2019ve played, the summon monster villages were always in some cave in another dimension or whatever.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t know why this is a beach track.\u00a0 So maybe one of you FF fans who have played more games than me can tell me if there is a summon monster village on a beach somewhere.\u00a0 This track is a bit annoying, too, with sand that slows you down and exploding coconuts!<\/p>\n

Zozo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aw yeah, FF6 representation again!\u00a0 In that game, Zozo was a slum town that was always raining, and it\u2019s cool to see it all modernized with 3-D graphics here.\u00a0 And yes it rains on the track as well.\u00a0 The remixed Zozo theme is great, and I love the little details in the background like the neon sign that says, \u201cHadesGigas Hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexandria<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this track you drive around the castle and town of the FF9 location, complete with a peppy remix of the \u201cMelodies of Life\u201d theme.\u00a0 The tracks here can be annoying with all the 90 degree turns!<\/p>\n

Big Bridge<\/strong><\/p>\n

This track has two distinct versions.\u00a0 One is at night under the bridge, and is a basic oval and plays a remix of the FFV overworld theme.\u00a0 The other version of this track is on the bridge itself, and they play the \u201cBattle at the Big Bridge\u201d theme from FFV, one of the coolest FF songs ever.\u00a0 The toll gates that you have to pass through can really screw you up!<\/p>\n

Gold Saucer<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one is based on the amusement park from FF7, but here it\u2019s basically just their version of Rainbow Road.<\/p>\n

Interdimensional Drift<\/strong><\/p>\n

And the last track theme is made of crystals, with a bunch of floating crystals to avoid and the sky looks like dimensional hole portals all over the place.\u00a0 Looks like where you\u2019d fight a final FF boss.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all I have to say about Chocobo GP!\u00a0 Again, I can certainly understand why people may not like it.\u00a0 It\u2019s definitely no Mario Kart 8, that\u2019s for sure.\u00a0 And even though I enjoyed the original Chocobo Racing more, I still liked this one, too.\u00a0 But what do I know?\u00a0 That\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back during the PSOne days, Square released a mascot kart racing game featuring cute versions of their Final Fantasy staple characters.\u00a0 You know, chocobo, moogle, white and black mages, etc.\u00a0 It was called Chocobo Racing.\u00a0 I wanted to get this game when it came out, but I was poor college student at the time and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22261,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22259\/revisions\/22261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}