Keeping up with the Chao

Cheese, a well-known chao. 

Chao have appeared in many games but are only interactive in a few. So many people do not fully understand what they are (or how to pronounce their name!).

Chao ("Chow") are cute creatures raised as pets. Some talk but most utter baby noises or "chao-chao". They like to spend time roaming around, racing, and napping. They are born in eggs and are pretty customizable from there, though the most common form is blue with yellow highlights (the neutral chao).

Sonic Adventure first introduced us to these, with 2 per garden. The gardens are small areas, usually with some landscape and water, and they are where the chao generally live. Sonic Adventure 2 gave a new concept: hero and dark chao. Being raised by a hero character resulted in angelic traits, and spending time with a dark one gave the opposite.

The Tiny Chao gardens are the only other times we see the chao like this, although it is much more limited (small garden, no change in appearance, no racing, etc). Still cute though.
Other than that, it's mostly been cameos. The chao garden (if that's what it was) in Shadow the Hedgehog was pretty interesting...not to mention the "Chao in Space" series. Some chao are more known, such as Chocola or Cheese (Cream's buddy). Omachao, a "toy" chao, is an annoying little brat who tells you what to do in some games.

So what's up? Why don't we see chao like we used to?

A couple of points.

• Its hard to explain chao to new players while keeping the old ones awake.
• Do they fit in the story/match its tone? (Would a racing game like Sonic Riders benefit from raising chao--a rather slow process
• Are there substitute gimmicks (like feeding Chip or exploring wisps) 

So chao are adorable, fun, and creative. I've wasted way too much time with them. But I'd love them to return to their pet-like roles. Maybe Sega could make an app out if them. It'd beat Runners.