Toad (Mario)

Toad
Mario series character
File:Toad Party 8.jpg Toad in Mario Party 8
First game	Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto

Toad (キノピオ, Kinopio) is a humanoid mushroom in games of Nintendo's Mario series. Toad is the general collective name of the "Mushroom People" found in the Mushroom Kingdom, who are a sapient, anthropomorphic mushroom race, with a peaceful, human-following monarchistic culture. Like other characters in the Mario games such as Yoshi, Toad is both a unique character called "Toad" and a specimen of an entire, homonymous race. The Toad species first appeared in Super Mario Bros.. They were seven guards that serve Princess Peach, called Mushroom Retainers. In games prior to Paper Mario, which featured an entire race of Toads inhabiting Toad Town, the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom, manuals referred to them as Mushroom People, which is derived from the Japanese name. However, certain comics called them Toads even before Paper Mario. The unique character Toad is also the chief retainer to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Appearances

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Mario meets Toad after he defeats Bowser at the end of each world, except World 8, in Super Mario Bros NES).

Toad plays a rather minimal role in the original Super Mario Bros. They appear at the end of every fourth stage after Mario or Luigi defeats Bowser. Instead of meeting Princess Peach (also known as Toadstool), however, these earlier levels reward the heroes with a mushroom retainer and the message: “THANK YOU MARIO/LUIGI, BUT OUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE!”. In Super Mario Bros. 2, a Mushroom Retainer character named Toad made his first appearance as one of the four playable characters. He was the fastest and strongest character, but had the weakest jump.

Apart from Super Mario Bros. 2 and the Mario Kart series, where he is a light, high acceleration driver, Toad is seldom a playable character or protagonist - more often officiating, such as in the earlier Mario Party games, or helping other characters. He has become a playable character in later Mario Party games, starting with Mario Party 5, Now also playable in Mario Party 6, Mario Party 7, and the first Mario Party game for the Wii console, Mario Party 8. Toad was the main character and star in Wario's Woods; his partners in this adventure were Birdo and Wanda. Toad was a playable character in Mario Tennis 64 as a technique player. When the later Mario Tennis game, Mario Power Tennis, came out, Nintendo decided against bringing Toad back into the game alongside Birdo, Baby Mario and Donkey Kong Jr, though he did appear as a cameo with Toadette in the opening movie. Toad has been confirmed to be playable in the upcoming Mario Kart Wii and Mario Party DS. In Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games he will be a referee along with Cream the Rabbit among others Source. It is still unkown if he will appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, however.

Voice

Toad's voice is first heard in Mario Kart 64, which featured actor Isaac Marshall. Toad sounded particularly chipper and spoke with a high-pitched voice. Subsequently, Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine even ran a feature inquiring about the character's gender — even using his possession of a rainbow-decorated racquet in the Nintendo 64 installment of Mario Tennis as proof of his ambiguous gender. By the advent of the GameCube, Jen Taylor has continued to provide the voice of Toad until 2005, when Kelsey Hutchison took over for games such as Super Mario Strikers.

Toad in Other Media

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show

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Toad as seen in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.

As with the games, Toad played a major supporting character in other forms of media starring Mario, starting with the animated series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, in 1989. Although he usually tagged along with Mario and Luigi in cases where King Koopa had kidnapped Princess Toadstool, he sometimes got captured as well.

Toad remained a regular on the show when it spun off into The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. As with the previous series, he accompanied the Mario Bros. on their adventures, and apparently was allowing them to live in his house. Princess Toadstool would often hug Toad and he would make a squeaking noise (similar to a rubber duck) when squeezed.

The Super Mario Bros. Comic Books

Toad also regularly appeared in the Super Mario Bros. comic books published by Valiant. In these comics, Toad often followed Mario on some of his adventures, seemingly replacing Luigi as the hero's sidekick. He was also a regular companion for King Toadstool, and even indulged in some of the King's activities. Toad the character is the only Mushroom Retainer whose look is directly from the game artwork - the other Mushroom People were depicted as anthropomorphic toadstools with orange hats. Other print media and the cartoons, however, had all the Mushroom People looking and/or dressing just like Toad himself.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

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Mojo Nixon as Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Played by Mojo Nixon, Toad appeared as a street musician in the non-canon Super Mario Bros. movie. In the film, Toad is arrested for singing a song that badmouths Koopa, who punishes him by having him turned into a Goomba. Despite his transformation, the Goomba-fied Toad (portrayed by John Fifer) still manages to serve as a good guy by helping Princess Daisy escape and distracting the other Goombas by playing his harmonica. After Koopa's defeat, though, it is not shown if he ever returns to normal.

See also

• Mushroom Kingdom
• Toadsworth
• Toadette
• Princess Peach