Nintendo pretty much single handedly invented the ‘kart racing’ genre. As with any new thing that is popular a sea of copycats soon emerged. It seemed like just about every developer with a stable of recognizable mascots threw them into a zany racing game in the years that followed. This only became more common as Mario Kart 64 was released to rave reviews and huge sales. Unfortunately not many of these games could compete all that well with Nintendo’s own franchise, but that didn’t stop them from trying. One of the least likely developers to compete in this genre was Squaresoft. They were known almost exclusively for their epic role playing games at this point. When Square announced that they were releasing a racing title based on their Final Fantasy series it came as a big surprise. Chocobo Racing was released at a time when it seemed the powerhouse studio could do no wrong. Unfortunately this release wasn’t up to par with their other titles. Chocobo Racing is a decent game that brings some interesting ideas to the table, but as is the case with most similar titles you’re better off playing Mario Kart to be honest.
One of the aforementioned concepts Chocobo Racing makes use of is a story mode. You play as a lone Chocobo (one of the many mascots of the Final Fantasy series) who, after getting outfitted with a pair of rocket powered roller skates sets out to explore the world while competing in races against various other characters. He’s joined at first by his greedy friend Mog the moogle, but along the way other recognizable faces from the franchise follow the convoy of zany characters each with their own driving quirks and unique special abilities. The story is told via picture book like sequences (narrated by the character Sid) that are well designed and somewhat charming, but it seems like the developers could have used FMV sequences instead and it would have looked much nicer. Chocobo Racing is pretty ordinary by genre standards. You race against up to six different characters through various 3D environments. Each round consists of three different laps, and the win order is determined by who crosses the finish line at the end of the third. It’s pretty standard stuff, and there are some things which are better and others that are worse than Mario Kart.
Unfortunately I’m not a big fan of the character roster. Chocobo and Mog are the only characters I really like to be honest; for such a long running franchise it’s surprising that Squaresoft was scraping from the bottom of the barrel for many of the others. The black and white mages are cool because they’re such an institution in the early years of the franchise, but others such as the goblin, golem, behemoth and fat chocobo just seem like lazy inclusions. Why not throw in Cloud or Tifa? They’re among the most recognizable faces in the series, and it seems weird to leave them out. Squall is available, as is the classic summon Bahamut, but they’re relegated to being secret characters. With that aside the racing engine is fairly solid on a basic level. You accelerate with the square button and brake with the X. There’s no power slide in this game per se, but you can use the brakes to allow yourself to skid or drift around turns with greater precision. Your characters bounce off of walls causing them to lose speed, and you also have certain terrain (such as grass) on the edges of the track in many stages that will cause you to decelerate. In some stages you can also fall off ledges which cause you to lose precious time in the race. One of the problems I have with this is the fact that it can be tough to tell just where you can and can’t fall causing some serious issues at times.
The item system is handled in a unique way here, and it’s one of my favorite aspects of the game. These offer a wide variety effects including speed boosts, offensive attacks, defensive protection, and more. What’s cool is that all of these are based on spells from the Final Fantasy series. You gain these by collecting magicite crystals scattered throughout each course in most modes of play. Taking a note from Diddy Kong Racing you can stack the same items up to three times for more devastating effects. A cool feature introduced in this game is the ability to steal your opponent’s crystals by ramming their character from behind. This is the best new concept introduced here in my opinion. Finally this brings us to the dash abilities. At the start of each race you’re given a choice between any one that’s available, and they can be activated in when a bar fills at the top of the screen. The abilities include a dash, the ability to fly, throw up a barrier to protect against attacks, you can steal your opponent’s magicite crystals, unleash devastating damage on all opponents, and more. It’s a decent concept and helps distinguish this one from the rest.
Unfortunately Chocobo Racing’s biggest weakness is in its track design. It feels like a total afterthought here to be honest. The courses, despite making use of some fun themes, are extremely generic. Other kart racers offer much more diversity whereas here it feels like you’re running around in almost flat circles over and over again. This is another area that I wish Squaresoft could have incorporated more franchise aspects into. Imagine racing around actual locales from the Final Fantasy series instead of generic areas such as ‘moogle forest’ and ‘sky garden.’ Squaresoft really dropped the ball in this aspect. What makes up for this a little is the fact that they included several different modes of play. On top of the story mode (which is an unusual inclusion and much welcome) you also have a relay race where you choose three different characters that switch off between each lap as well as a grand prix, time trial, and multiplayer (up to two different players at a time.) While the other modes are fun to a point (Grand Prix and Story are the only ones I bothered with more than once) what’s sorely missing is a battle mode. This was a foundation of the genre since its inception with the original Mario Kart, and to see them exclude it is very disappointing.
Unfortunately the game is a little weak in terms of graphics. Other titles on the platform at the time of this release were pushing far more detailed environments and had noticeably higher polygon counts. It’s disappointing because it makes Chocobo Racing feel rushed. The worst offense here is the character models which are all sprites. This was okay with Mario Kart 64 because it was such an early game in the generation, but by this point it’s almost unacceptable. The environments fare better but the courses feel a little empty in my opinion. This game also suffers from that all too common problem with PlayStation games where objects that stick in the environment are pre-rendered and therefore look like cardboard. At least this one is plenty colorful. The soundtrack is also disappointing. Squaresoft could have just re-arranged classic Final Fantasy music and it would have been a hit. They do that to a certain extent, but the only themes I recognized instantly are that of the airship from FFVII (which plays on the sky garden course) and the victory fanfare theme. The rest is decent, but by and large the soundtrack is forgettable.
Chocobo Racing isn’t a terrible game. Maybe I’m being too hard on it but given the developer’s pedigree I don’t think I’m out of line to hold it to a certain standard. The Final Fantasy franchise is rich with memorable characters, locations, and music and to see this fact go largely ignored is ultimately disappointing. Even on its own merit the game is average at best with a few good ideas overshadowed by the bland and generic design. This hasn’t yet been released as a PSone classic, but honestly the new generation of gamers isn’t missing out on too much in my opinion. Chocobo Racing is a rather sub-par affair that’s best left forgotten.
