Final Fantasy Evolution
I haven't played all FF yet so if ever you encounter something wrong here, kindly inform me.
The first sign of chocobos was in FF2. The chocobo forest is found south of Kashuon. Chocobos then was just used for transportation.
It then made it's next appearence in FF3. In FF3, there are more than one chocobo forest. Also in this game, the fat chocobo was introduced. You just need carrots in order for it to appear and store your items.
At FF4, this is where chocobos got different uses based on it's color. The normal yellow chocobo is still used for transportation. There are white chocobos which are more rare than that of the yellow chocobos, that are used to restore MP and MP only. (A healing trick: let your white mage heal your party. Talk to the chocobo again and your MP would be full.) The black chocobos are flying chocobos and are the most rare. They can only be found north of Troia Castle. The fat chocobo like that in FF3, let's you store items except you use gysahls to call on them. Chocobos can also be used in summoning/calling at FF4 by Rydia. It is the first summon that Rydia knows, uses 7 MP and it's attack is called Chocobo Kick.
FF5 still treats chocobo as a means of transportation. One really cute thing about FF5, is that it's main hero, Bartz, has a chocobo as a friend. So basically, Boco, bartz chocobo friend, is an esential part of the story.
FF6 went back to the chocobo roots and just used it for transportation. Nothing fun happened here for the chocobo.
FF7 introduced us to chocobo breeding. Breeding chocobo's is pretty time and money consuming but still worth it, since you can get some great items like the Knights of the Round materia. Not only that but at FF7, there's a mini-game at the Gold Saucer, the chocobo racing.
In FF8, there are chocobo forest all around the world map that allows you to capture chocobos with the use of a whistle. Other than using chocobos as transportation, they are also used to dig up some items in the chocobo forest. Also with FF8 came the chocobo world, a mini-game which uses the PocketStation. Your pet chocobo would be transported to the chocobo world where it would roam around gathering items and fighting enemies.
FF9 brought back the interaction with chocobos which was lost in FF8. The game added a mini-game, Hot and Cold Chocobo, which let's you dig items both in the world map and in Chocobo Forests, Chocobo Lagoon and Air Garden. You help Choco, the main chocobo, in his quest to search the lost Chocobo Paradise. Like in FF7, chocobos also level up but this thime with the use of some treasures found in the world map. There are chocographs scattered in Chocobo Forest, Lagoon and Air Garden which then help you pinpoint the locations of the treasures.
In FF10, you can use the chocobos only in the Calm Lands and nowhere else. You can't take the chocobo out to the world map and use it for transportation. In the Calm Lands, you get to train a chocobo and even race it against the trainer who you meet at the Calm Lands. (I'm sorry, I'm not much of a fan of the gameplay of FFX and I can't write much about the chocobo's role in that game. Really sorry.)
