Was the Final Fantasy Chocobo Based on a Dinosaur?

Search "chocobo origins" and you'll find countless posts claiming Final Fantasy's beloved yellow bird was based on Gastornis—a massive, 6-foot-tall prehistoric bird that roamed Earth 45 million years ago. It makes for a great story. There's just one problem: it's not true.

The Real Story Is Better

Koichi Ishii created the chocobo in 1988 for Final Fantasy II. In multiple interviews, he's been crystal clear about his inspiration: a pet chick from his childhood.

"It was originally modeled after a chick I got at a festival when I was in elementary school," Ishii explained in the 20th Anniversary Ultimania. He loved that bird. Built it a little cardboard house. Raised it from a tiny puffball into a full-grown chicken.

Then one day, he came home from school and it was gone. His mom had given it away to a neighbor who raised chickens. "Looking back at it now, I don't think I've ever stopped thinking about that chick," Ishii reflected.

The Name Came From Chocolate

While sketching the design during a lunch break, Ishii found himself humming the jingle from a Japanese Choco Ball commercial—"kue kue kue"—and thought, "Hey, 'chocobo' could work." The name stuck.

His other influences?

• Kyorochan — the parrot mascot for Morinaga chocolate candies
• Thunderbolt — a horse from the manga "Kōya no Shōnen Isamu" that inspired the idea of an animal companion

Notably absent from every interview: any mention of prehistoric birds.

So Where Did the Gastornis Myth Come From?

The confusion likely stems from Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1982). The film features rideable bird-creatures called Horseclaws that look remarkably similar to chocobos. Miyazaki's design was inspired by Diatryma (another name for Gastornis)—a fact documented in a 1984 issue of Animage magazine.

People noticed the visual similarity between chocobos and Horseclaws, learned that Horseclaws came from Gastornis, and assumed chocobos did too. Classic internet telephone.

Ironically, Ishii has never credited Nausicaä as an inspiration either, even though the timing and visual parallels seem suspicious. Whatever the truth, he's sticking to his story about the childhood chicken.

About That Prehistoric Bird

Gastornis was real and genuinely impressive—standing over six feet tall with a massive beak. But here's another twist: scientists now believe it was an herbivore, not the terrifying predator depicted in documentaries. Its beak was built for cracking seeds and tough plants, not hunting baby horses.

So even if chocobos were based on Gastornis, they'd be descended from a giant vegetarian duck, not a fearsome raptor. Somehow that's even more on-brand for the cheerful "kweh"-ing mounts we know and love.

The Takeaway

The real chocobo origin story isn't about dinosaurs or prehistoric terrors. It's about a kid who lost his pet chicken and never forgot it. Decades later, he turned that memory into one of gaming's most iconic creatures—a companion that millions of players have bonded with across dozens of games.

That's way more touching than "designer looked at fossil, drew bird."