How to race a Chocobo - Chocobo Square Guide & Rewards

There are quite a few unique Materia that you can only get through Chocobo Racing which you'll want to go out of your way for. Along with the unique Materia, Chocobo Racing is an excellent way of earning GP in the Gold Saucer which you can then use in the Battle Square or in the Wonder Square for some additional rewards.

Also, if you win 10 times in a row while racing an S Class Chocobo... Ester will give you Sprint Shoes, Precious Watch, Cat's Bell, Chocobracelet and a Counter Attack Materia. She only does this once in the entire game but it'll probably happen for you when you're racing your Gold Chocobo.

Below are the four different Materias which you can win through Chocobo Racing. I highly recommend you spend enough time here to obtain all three of the unique ones, those are Enemy Away, Sneak Attack and Counter Attack most. Since you can get Magic Counter other ways it's not really worth pushing yourself to get here. Plus it isn't even that good if you ask me.

Magic Counter Materia (found in Northern Crater too)

Enemy Away Materia

Sneak Attack Materia

Counter Materia

You probably already know how to catch Chocobos but if you're unfamiliar with Chocobo Breeding you should do some reading. If you want to consistently win Chocobo Races all the way up into the S class and farm the Materia I just mentioned you'll want a Gold Chocobo.

Aside from Chocobo Breeding the only alternative is to do the Kalm Traveler Side Quest... But that Chocobo most likely won't be as good as one that you breed yourself. A properly bred Chocobo will outclass all other Chocobos.... except one. More on that below, first - if you don't know how to race a Chocobo or have forgotten, here are the basics.

Chocobo Controls:

Select: Switch between Manual/Automatic
Square: Speed Up
X: Slow Down
Circle: Speed Boost
R1 + R2: Hold to regenerate Stamina

Chocobo Racing Tips:

- Hold R1 + R2 to regen your Stamina!! This is an absolute must

- Don't rely on Automatic to win the races for you, it'll win most for you but you should be able to quickly switch to Manual Controls when you need to do something to win that Automatic isn't doing (like using burst speed at the right times)

- Always choose the Short course

- Always hold Square (along with R1 + R2) it increases your speed

- R1 + R2 on the Steam release of this game are Target (R2) and Page Up (R1) commands

 

 

I've included a picture of this guy because he is going to be your arch nemesis when it comes to Chocobo Racing in Final Fantasy 7. He has an extremely good Chocobo which is better than most Gold Chocobos. Most times you're paired up against him you're going to lose, especially if you rely on Automatic to win races.

The only way I have beaten this guy is by properly timing my speed boosts and cutting him off so he doesn't pass me while he is speed boosting. Even then I got lucky with beating him, he's no joke. From my experience the chances of getting him in a race are about 20% and I have seen all the Materia winnable from races without Teioh participating.