Rolling Dice in Chocobo's World: How a Japan-Only Board Game Reached English
Chocobo Land: A Game of Dice is a Final Fantasy-flavoured board game from Square, released in Japan on 13 December 2002. It is an enhanced Game Boy Advance version of Dice de Chocobo, which first appeared on PlayStation in 1999. It never left Japan, which is why an English patch matters.
At a glance
- Based on: Chocobo Land: A Game of Dice (Japan, 2002), itself a remake of the 1999 PlayStation Dice de Chocobo
- Publisher: Square
- Translation by: Nezz, version 1.0, released 26 September 2023
- Genre: Board game
- What sets it apart: A Japan-only Chocobo spin-off with a full postgame
How it plays
When Nintendo World Report went hands-on with a Tokyo Game Show build in 2002, the writer compared it to a Chocobo version of Monopoly. You roll a dice, move around a board and collect crystal points before your rival. Landing on an open space lets you station a helper such as a black or white mage there; if an opponent lands on it they pay you, and you can upgrade your own spaces. Magic stones add attacks and effects, and each helper has its own ability.
The GBA release adds more units, spells and maps than the PlayStation original. There is a story mode that teaches the rules through a tutorial and several scenarios, a free-play and multiplayer mode that lets you pick any map and setup, and an extensive postgame with extra unlocks.
About the translation
Nezz's patch translates practically all of the text, with AI assistance, and was published with its source code under a free licence. The release page carries three user reviews, all of them recommending it.