Toad

Article by: Alex Stuart (Linearity)
Pictured from: Super Mario Sunshine
Created by: Nintendo
First appearance: 1985

Bio

Toad hails from the Super Mario Bros. series of games. He is a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom and is a retainer of its royal family, the kin of the famous Princess Toadstool, or Princess Peach. In Japan, he is known as "Kinopio."

Toad first appeared as a playable character in Super Mario Bros. 2. His agility, weak jumps, and swiftness in picking up objects makes him unique among the other playable characters.

The word Toad sometimes refers in general to a denizen of the Mushroom Kingdom. Many of these Toads look like the Toad of Super Mario Bros. 2, but they are not the same person. They debuted in Super Mario Bros. under the title "Mushroom retainers," greeting Mario after all but the last of the boss battles with Bowser. Their recurrent words at these points in the game are now famous: "Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!"

Toad's personality is elaborated upon in Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. In each, he is childishly peppy and encouraging, virtually never showing an unhappy moment. His soft, goofy appearance and delightful disposition make him a hallmark of the Super Mario Bros. series.

Quote

"Hey Mario! Lots of people use something called a 'door' to go in and out of their houses..."

Selected game appearances

NES

• Super Mario Bros. (1985)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)

Super NES

• Super Mario Kart (1992)
• Super Mario All-Stars (1993)
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)
• Kirby Super Star (1996)

Nintendo 64

• Super Mario 64 (1996)
• Mario Kart 64 (1996)
• Mario Golf (1999)
• Mario Tennis (2000)

GameCube

• Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)
• Mario Party 5 (2003)

Nintendo DS

• Mario Kart DS (2005)

References

• Mario Mania! - "Toad"
• Wikipedia - "Toad (character)"
• GameFAQs - "The Mario Series Character Guide by the Space Pope"