Chocobo Racing - Development

Development

The first demonstration of Chocobo Racing was at the Fall Tokyo Game Show '98; it was then unclear if there would be a North American release. IGN editors noted its striking similarities to Mario Kart. In the release of Chocobo's Dungeon 2, a bonus CD included a video clip of the game. Originally slated to be released in late September/October, the release date was moved to August 1999 because "It was done early, and is now ready to go".

On September 30, 1999, Square announced a "Chocobo Racing Grand Prix" contest. The contest was sponsored by Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. (Square EA) and ran from September 30, 1999 to December 8, 1999. The contest's title was a misnomer, because participants entered by playing through the game's Story Mode (rather than Grand Prix Mode) and sending in their scores (either through taking a photograph of the score screen or saving the score to a memory card and sending it).

Contest entries were divided into five age groups: seven years old and younger, eight to eleven years old, twelve to fifteen years old, sixteen to eighteen years old, and nineteen years old and older. Square EA then determined the three highest scores per week in each age group. The three participants with the highest scores of the week in their respective age group received a Chocobo Piggy Bank.

At the end of the contest, Square EA determined the three highest scorers overall in each age group. Each participant with the highest score in the contest overall in his or her respective age group received one free copy of each Square title released in the calendar year 2000 for the PlayStation game console (SaGa Frontier 2, Front Mission 3, Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate, Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve 2, and Final Fantasy IX) and a Chocobo Watch. Each second-highest scoring participant received a free copy of Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and a Chocobo Watch. Each third highest scoring participant received a Chocobo Watch.