Getting the Green and Blue chocoboes

This will require anywhere from 1 - 99 greens, and Mimett Greens are best because they keep Chocoboes occupied the longest, although I used the least expensive Gyashii Greens. All the greens for Chocobo catching are sold in the Chocobo Ranch, which is southeast from Midgar. Next you'll need Chocobo Lure, and having its level up to max will be best, but not required.

Now, the types of Chocoboes you get are VERY important. You'll need a Good Chocobo and a Great Chocobo. There aren't any ways to know which one you get except for the enemies the Chocoboes appear with. Right now, first concentrate on getting the Great Chocobo. You'll have to go near Mideel, and look for the Chocobo tracks near there. They should be just beyond the forest near Mideel. You can catch either a Fair or Great Chocobo, but to really make sure you catch a Great Chocobo, SENSE an enemy that comes with the Chocobo. If the enemy is a "Headhunter," it'll be a Fair Chocobo. If the enemy is a "Spiral," congrats! That's the Chocobo you want. So, happy hunting!

Now head over to the Gold Saucer area to get the Good Chocobo. The tracks should be a little south from the big desert that's there, known as Corel Prison. Again, you can end up catching two kinds of Chocoboes here, either Good or Average, so SENSE any enemies that appear with the Chocoboes. If the enemies are "Flapbeats," you'll get an Average Chocobo. You'll need the enemy "Spencer" to get the Good Chocobo. This could take a few tries, because Spencers are rare enemies, as are the Spirals needed for getting the Great Chocobo.

Now you need to make sure your chocoboes are: 1 male, and 1 female. It doesn't matter which chocobo is male or female, but most Greats are female and most Goods are males, or at least they are in my game. If you end up having 2 males or 2 females, release one (preferably Great if you need a female, Good if you need a male) and try again with that one. Once you have a male and a female, you'll need a Carob Nut. These can be stolen from red dragon-like creatures just a little south from the Chocobo Sage (in the northernmost continent somewhere) or you can get one from the Gold Saucer for 500GP (not recommended).

Most guides say you have to raise your Chocoboes ranks from C to S from racing them, but this isn't required. It just makes getting the Chocobo color you want easier, because the higher the rank, the more of a chance you'll get a rare-colored Chocobo. Anyway, Chocobo Racing is fun, so go ahead, it won't hurt to race them for a while. Anyway, once you have the Carob Nut, go back to the ranch and breed your Great and Good chocoboes. But SAVE before you do any breeding in case you don't get the Chocobo you want. If you get a Green or Blue in the first try, lucky you! But you'll have to wait to breed the Good and Great to get the other color, so go to the Chocobo Sage and buy some Sylkis Greens to raise either Green's or Blue's stats. It'll be expensive, so make sure you have about 50,000, because you'll only need ten greens to max out Blue/Green's speed.

By the time you get back, Good and Great might be able to mate again. If not, do some leveling up and make some more Gil, because you'll need it. When Good and Great are ready, go and SAVE in case you don't get what you need. Again, you'll need a Carob Nut to get either the Green (if you have Blue) or the Blue (if you have Green) that you don't have. And now this is the hard part. For now, let's say you have a Green Male Chocobo. You'll need a Blue Female now, so the chances of you getting what you need is about 5/40 if Good and Great's ranks are still C. Just be patient and keep trying if you didn't get what you need. If you did, then congrats! Now you can get a Black Chocobo!

Getting the Black chocobo

Lucky for you, this won't require you to catch any chocoboes, but you'll need to max out both Green's and Blue's speed to get a real speeddemon in the races. Also, you need to make sure that you have a green male/blue female or a green female/blue male. So, this is easier than getting blue or green. Now then, go to the Gold Saucer, and race both Green and Blue to raise their ranks. You don't need to, but it'll make it easier to get the black chocobo, plus the newborn Blue/Green chocoboes can't breed yet anyway. So yeah, go race for a while until both Green and Blue's ranks are A or S. By that time, they should be able to mate, so when you've passed enough time, head to either south of the Chocobo Sage or back to the ranch.

The reason I said either south of the sage or ranch is because 1) you need another stable to raise the chocobo. That'll cost a good 10,000 gil. 2) You need another Carob nut, which can be stolen or dropped by the red dragonlike creatures in the snow mountains. I'll assume you'll get the nut first, so head towards the snowy regions in the north. Fighting a red dragon thing is totally random, so I don't know if it's actually on the snow or on the little patches of meadow near the snow. Just keep trying until you run into them. They have high HP, but lame attacks, so just bash 'em or try to steal a Carob nut. Or, you COULD go get one at the Gold Saucer for 500GP, but that's really not recommended. Once you have the nut, it's time to go back to the Chocobo Ranch.

Once you get to the ranch, you can either let Great or Good chocobo go, or you can buy another stable for 10,000. Anyway, eventually you'll have to get rid of Great and Good, so just let 'em go now. Once you have another stable, go outside on the map and SAVE YOUR GAME! Black chocoboes are really rare so you may need a few tries to get one. Once you've saved, go back and mate your Green and Blue chocoboes, and don't forget to use the Carob nut. You will NEVER get the Black Chocobo unless you use that particular nut. Anyway, if you're lucky, you'll get the Black chocobo on the first try. Once you have it, congrats! You're almost done with getting the Gold Chocobo!

Getting the Gold Chocobo

You've come so far, you only have a little left to go! However, by this time, you really need to get rid of the Good and Great Chocobo if you haven't already. Plus, you should get some greens because you'll need to do some more Chocobo hunting. So, get rid of Great and Good, and buy about 30 greens. Then head back to the northern-most continent.

Once in the snowy mountains, you'll need to catch a Wonderful chocobo, and make sure it's the opposite gender of your Black chocobo. Getting a Wonderful chocobo is hard, so don't be pissed if you get a few lame ones. Also, the enemies to getting a Wonderful Chocobo are random, so I can't tell you which enemies you need to watch out for, but I think Hoppers give you Wonderfuls the most. Anyway, once you get the Wonderful chocobo, it's time to max those stats! Head over to the Chocobo Sage (it's in the northern continent), and buy Sylkis greens. Ten should do, but try 12 to be safe for EACH chocobo. Don't worry about maxing out intelligence or stamina. They don't max out quickly and the Sylkis greens are incredibly expensive. Just max out speed.

Now you'll need to really get Black and Wonder's ranks to S-class if you want the Gold chocobo. Even with S-class, the chance of getting the Gold chocobo is only 40%. Don't know why this is, it just is. Anyway, head over to the Gold Saucer once you have Black and Wonder's speed maxed out, and race like crazy! Three races will raise a chocobo's rank by 1, so to get S-class, you need to win about 12 - 15 races. It doesn't matter if you choose to run the long or short course, so choose short to save on stamina. Beware, if you race in an A or S-class rank, you may have to race against JOE. This guy races dirty, so you may lose against him. Don't get mad. You know getting the Gold Chocobo would be hard. Anyway, after you get both Black and Wonder to S-class, make sure you have a Zeio nut. These are hard to find, and only Goblins carry them. Go to any remote island that has no towns or anything, and there should be Goblins. You can't steal nuts from them, but they drop the precious Zeio nut nearly all the time.

Okay, general review. Make sure you have: 1 open chocobo stable, Black chocobo (Black), Wonderful chocobo (Wonder), both up to S-class, and a Zeio nut. Now, go to the Chocobo ranch and SAVE!! Even with an S-class, it's still hard to get the Gold chocobo. Now go inside, breed Black and Wonder with the Zeio nut. DO NOT FORGET THE ZEIO NUT!! Carob nuts and any other nuts DO NOT WORK! Now pray you get the Gold Chocobo. If you did, congrats!!! You just got the hardest creature in the game! If not, that's why I told you to SAVE!! Now, go off and have fun with your Gold Chocobo! ;)

Importance of racing

I'm not sure why I'm writing this, but it may help you. Chocobo racing is a fun way to get items and GP, but it can get time consuming. It's also the key to getting the Gold Chocobo. Each three races won raises a chocobo's class rank by one. The higher the rank, the better your chances of getting a rare colored chocobo. THIS IS ONLY IF YOU USE THE RIGHT NUTS TOO!

At first, it's not required to get S-class. I got to the Black Chocobo without winning one race! But after Black, you'll need to get S-class chocoboes to get the Gold Chocobo.

Here's how racing works. Speed, intelligence, and stamina are the Chocobo's "HP/MP/AGI" for the races. Speed affects how fast your chocobo runs without a speed boost from the square button. Stamina is how much boost your chocobo can get in a race (press O button for this) and how long your chocobo lasts. Intelligence affects how your chocobo uses his stamina. That's why it's important to feed your chocobo greens.

Now for the actual race controls. The left and right directional buttons moves the chocobo left or right, respectively. SELECT changes modes from AUTO to MANUAL. START pauses the race. Sqaure speeds up the chocobo, and O gives it a HUGE boost in speed, but MANUAL mode must be on for this to work. The down directional button also slows down your chocobo if its stamina is too low. Now, think you're ready to race?

Rankings

Here is the rankings list for chocoboes.

C-class: 10% chance of getting a colored chocobo
B-class: 25% chance of getting a colored chocobo
A-class: 50% chance of getting a colored chocobo
S-class: 90% chance of getting a colored chocobo/ 40% of getting the gold chocobo

And remember, this only works if you USE THE CAROB OR ZEIO NUT!!!

Important items

Carob nut - these are very important if you plan to get the Blue, Green, or Black chocoboes. Steal these from red dragon things in the north continent or buy them for 500GP from the Gold Saucer
Zeio nut - these are only needed if you want the Gold chocobo. They can only be dropped from Goblins in the Goblin islands.
Sylkis Greens - the most expensive green ever (5000 GIL)! These really raise your chocobo's stats by a ton, and are recommended most. But, they cost a ton for one.
Tantal greens - these are okay if you can't afford Sylkis, but they are NOT recommended. They do not raise stats enough to be worth it, but they do raise ALL stats unlike most greens.
Gyashii greens - these should only be bought for catching chocoboes with.
Mimett greens - See above.
Chocobo Lure - You need this to actually see chocoboes in battle. You don't need it to be on a high level, but try to max it out anyway, as it helps alot.
Chocobo Stable - THESE ARE THE BASICS TO CATCHING A CHOCOBO!!! You NEED this! But at 10,000 each, they aren't easy to get. And you can only have 6 stables. But this means you can keep one of every color chocobo!
Love - Love your chocoboes! They're the best creatures in FF since moogles! You can't buy it (duh!), so it comes in bundles! ^^

Aftermath

So, I've basically told you everything you need to know to get yourself the rare Gold Chocobo! Think you're hardcore enough to get it? Well, good luck. And come back here if you need some quick help. I wish you luck, chocobo master! ~ Nekogal #3