Chocobo's Dungeon

Chocobo's Dungeon is a series of three Roguelike games spun off from the wildly popular Final Fantasy series as part of Chunsoft's Mysterious Dungeon (Fushigi no Dungeon) franchise. The main character is a Chocobo with only a player-given name, if any. Chocobo adventures through randomly generated dungeons, collecting treasure and saving the world. The games could be considered alternate continuities of each other, as Chocobo meets the same people (including Final Fantasy staples Cid and Mog and a white mage named Shir[o]ma), while living out different stories.

Games in the series:

• Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon (released in Japan only, PS1, 1997)
• Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (PS1, 1999)
• Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii, 2008)

Tropes used in Chocobo's Dungeon include:

• Badass Adorable: The titular Chocobo, able to single handedly- er, taloned-ly defeat entire swarms of monsters including the Destroyer in Fables. Somehow, seeing said Chocobo wear the classic Final Fantasy job outfits in Fables makes him even more adorable. Or Badass, in the case of the Dark Knight.
• Badass Bookworm: The Scholar class in Chocobo's Dungeon. His low-end powers (among them are the ability to fill out the map for a dungeon floor, heal Chocobo a little and restore some Food, or identify every item in his pack) are indispensable for safe exploration in the random dungeons, and his high-end powers (one that doubles the power of potions, and one that doubles the power of spellbooks) can wreck bosses.
• Badass Normal: Compared to the other jobs in Fables, the Natural Chocobo can be considered this. Whilst other jobs depend on power from various lost memories, the Natural Chocobo can be used throughout the entire game, and does exactly what you expect a large, yellow bird to do- it runs fast, digs, and kicks things to death, which, again, includes the Destroyer. And it works if you've been leveling said job properly.
• Baleful Polymorph: The frog ailment in Chocobo's Dungeon 2.
• Batman Gambit: The Destroyer needs Chocobo to try to save Memoria in order to free himself from Raffaello's body.
• Blond Guys Are Evil: In Final Fantasy Fables, when Raffaello's true nature is revealed as the Big Bad, he becomes blond, in addition to everything else.
• Break the Cutie: Shirma in "Fables". When Croma is revealed to be Shirma's sister, then proceeds to get herself supposedly killed by the Destroyer. However, she is kept safe by Raffaello inside the Destroyer.
  • More so when you find out that the Destroyer killed Shirma's parents.
  • Actually, anybody in Lostime that can be considered a cutie, considering the citizens witnessed the Destroyer obliterate the town overnight.
• Bonus Boss: Leviathan.
• Bonus Dungeon
• Breakable Weapons: At least in the second game.
• Character Level
• Check Point
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Inverted in Chocobo's Dungeon 2. When you are invisible, no enemies except for bosses can detect you; however, if they become invisible, you can still target them with magic. Some magic spells (such as Ultima) can hit outside the player's vision range, though there has to be one enemy within targeting range to use them. Whenever the player character is morphed into a monster, either by Morph Tonics or a certain trap, they can use both a standard technique and one of the monster's special techniques. Said special techniques often take 2 or more turns when a monster uses them, but only one turn for the player character.
• Continuing Is Painful: Especially in Chocobo's Dungeon 2, where you lose everything you own.
• Embedded Precursor: Pop-up duels in Final Fantasy Fables, which previously appeared in Chocobo Tales on the Nintendo DS.
• Enemy Scan: The Libra spell.
• Fake Trap: They don't always go off, and some are beneficial.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning
• Fishing Minigame
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: In Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, the tolling of the Bell of Oblivion signifies that one person within earshot will lose very important memories.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: In Chocobo's Dungeon 2, a random Kuz you encounter at the beginning of the game eventually "grows up" to be the game's Big Bad.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Raffaello changes from white angel wings to black "fallen" angel wings in the turning point of the game.
• Guest Star Party Member: many in Chocobo's Dungeon 2, including Shirma and Cid.
• Guide Dang It: Over a quarter of the "romantic phrases" in Fables must be discovered outside the game. The manual claims they're on the official website, which appears to be only partially finished.
  • In the second game, getting all the feathers in the most efficient manner requires breaking equipment at different levels. Determining which levels will get you the right feathers is best done by finding a guide. Additionally, the Spin-Kick Claws and Ribbon Saddle can only be obtained through crafting in a certain way (the former is especially bad because it's not intuitive at all).
• Infant Immortality: In Final Fantasy Fables, you follow an infant into a monster-infested dungeon, and he's always fine when you reach the last level. This is justified because Rafaello may well be a demigod.
• Infinity+1 Sword: The best Claws and Saddle in the second game are the Titan set. They can reach +99 with a base power of 40, and are extremely durable. They are also only available in the post-story game, and have to be crafted by getting the essence of a difficult boss, which means acquiring them may end up being more trouble than they're worth.
• Interface Screw: The "Confuse" status makes you move/attack in random directions. Part of the "Blind" effect is disabling the mini-map.
  • In Fables, the "Halt" status occasionally conflicts with the controls to pivot in place without using up turns, resulting in cheap hits if you're surrounded by enemies.
• Item Crafting: Fusing weapons, which gets game breaking in Final Fantasy Fables. For example, you could craft together a pair of talons that inflict sleep, blind and poison, boost your attack, and hit three squares, and a saddle that defends against the same ailments, several elements, and gives Chocobo permanent stealth. All with a ridiculous number of pluses and an innate "cannot be rusted" effect that doesn't take up an effect slot, of course.
• Kiss of Distraction: Enemies can cause a "confusion" status effect by kissing you.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Well, bell-guided.
• Level Drain: Level down seeds, traps, and vampire monster attacks in the second game.
• Living Statue: Titan in Chocobo's Dungeon 2.
• Memory Gambit: The entire town of Lostime in Final Fantasy Fables.
• Money for Nothing
• Nigh Invulnerable: The shopkeepers, should you attack them, take only 1 damage from everything unless you abuse some equipment quirks.
• Nintendo Hard
• No Export for You: The first game.
• No-Gear Level: In Final Fantasy Fables, all of the special dungeons prevent you from bringing in items including gear from outside; upon entering, your inventory is put into your storage (if there isn't enough room in storage, you can't enter). Upon leaving the dungeon you get to keep everything you found inside and can go to storage to retrieve your former gear as well.
• No Name Given: The main chocobo doesn't get a name, but others of his species do.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: Certain dungeons in Final Fantasy Fables reduce you to 1 HP.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The only person fooled by Dungeon Hero X's disguises is himself.
• Perpetual Molt: Raffaello.
• Playable Epilogue
• Poison Mushroom: Various cursed pieces of equipment.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Shoplift and Die: In Chocobo's Dungeon 2, The Grim Reaper will attack if you steal from a shop.
  • In Final Fantasy Fables, trying to steal a super-rare item from the Moogle Shop gets you attacked by Dungeon Hero X. Notable for the fact that either winning this battle or using clever tactics (casting Sleep on him, using the White Mage Teleport ability, or simply outmaneuvering him) is the only way to get Thief's Memories.
• Slasher Smiler: Raffaello begins sporting these all the time once his true nature is revealed.
• Stalked by the Bell: Bad things happen if you stay on a dungeon floor for too long...
• Standard Status Effects
• Summon Magic
• Tear Jerker: In Fables, many times.
  • When Croma is killed RIGHT IN FRONT OF SHIRMA BY THE ONE SHE THOUGHT TO BE A FRIEND!!
  • Also, in the final battle against the Destroyer, when Raffaello tries to regain control and yells at Chocobo to run. It isn't very much of a tearjerker, but it's definitely sad.
  • Lostimes history.
  • THE CUT SCENE AT THE END, DAMMIT!!!
• Tempting Fate: The Destroyer, after a clash with Croma, basically tells her that she'll need much more than Firaga and Thundaga to defeat him... as a Meteor spell starts screaming down in the background. It still doesn't hurt him, though.
• Too Awesome to Use: In the second game, as your weapons and armor are breakable, the better ones can quickly become this if you don't have any Repair Cards.
• Trial and Error Gameplay: One of the side dungeons in Fables, Volg's Memories is a series of boss fights with breaks to switch jobs and restore your HP/SP. However, you don't know what the bosses are the first time around, and you can't bring along any inventory items, so you just guess which job to use and retry when you get it wrong. The character dialog between the first few floors seems to lampshade the scenario.

Everyone makes mistakes.

• Universal Poison: To the point where, in Fables, Chocobo always takes 1 point of damage per turn and almost all enemies always take 10. Doesn't matter what level Chocobo is or who the enemy is (except elementals, which take only 1 as with most attacks, and a few others, who only take 8 or 6 or something).
• White Magic: Shirma specializes in it.
• Wizard Needs Food Badly: A food meter requires you to keep Chocobo fed with Gysahl Greens. Different jobs get hungrier at different rates, and some equipment effects can further alter this. Fables has a dungeon with a special rule of "permanently at 0% food", so it's like battling a persistent Poison effect.