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Toad (Nintendo)

Toad, known in Japan as Kinopio,[a] is a character from the Mario franchise. The character was created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, and is portrayed as a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom and one of Princess Peach's attendants. Toad is typically a non-player character who assists Mario and his friends, but he occasionally appears as a protagonist.

Toad

Super Mario Bros. (1985)

Shigeru Miyamoto

Mojo Nixon and John Fifer (film)

Samantha Kelly (2007–present)

Others

While Toad is the name of an individual, it also refers to their entire species. The series also includes other named individual Toads, such as Toadette and Toadsworth. The most prominent trait of the Toads is their large, mushroom-like head.


The Toads typically have assisting roles in the Mario franchise, but are occasionally featured as protagonists. An example includes Yellow Toad and Blue Toad, who were featured as playable characters along with Mario and Luigi in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U. Toad himself returns as one of the playable characters in Super Mario 3D World. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker featured Captain Toad as the main character, and was the first game to have a Toad as the titular character.

Concept and creation

During the development of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the developers at Nintendo decided between four characters to be playable in the game: Princess Peach, Toad, Wario and Waluigi (all suggestions made by fans).[6] Two Toads (yellow and blue) were eventually included as playable characters in New Super Mario Bros. Wii due to their physical similarity to Mario and Luigi.[7]


In February 2018, Yoshiaki Koizumi confirmed that the mushroom on Toad's head is part of his body, and not a hat. It had previously been a common topic of debate among fans.[8]

Promotion and reception

As a character who appears frequently in the series, Toad is considered to be one of the major characters in the Mario franchise.[34] He has appeared in much of the Mario merchandise in products ranging from toys to plushies and keychains, and is featured in Nintendo's board games such as being on the protagonist side in a Mario themed chess set[35] and being a purchasable character in a Nintendo-themed Monopoly game. In Animal Crossing: City Folk, Toad's hat is available after getting 3000 points in Tom Nook's Point Tracking system.[36] The American Club Nintendo website, which is now closed, offered a special reward featuring Toad and some other major Mario characters in a folder set reward named as the "Toad & Friends Set with Bookmarks".[37] The quote repeated by the Toads in Super Mario Bros., "Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!", was ranked one of the most repeated video game quotes,[38] and inspired a 2008 song by The Mountain Goats and Kaki King.[39][40]


Toad ranked in the seventh slot on GameDaily's top 10 Nintendo characters that deserve their own games list; the site explained that he has a strong appeal that Nintendo has yet to tap into.[41] Toad is listed in The Most Neglected Mario Bros. Characters list as a character whom Nintendo has ignored for quite a while due to his lack of starring roles in more recent games.[42] IGN also listed Toad as one of the top ten characters needing a spin-off.[43] In an Oricon poll conducted in Japan from 2008, Toad was voted as the eighth most popular video game character in Japan.[44] Another poll (of over 1000 votes) conducted in Japan by NintendoWorldReport in concern to Japan's favorite Mario Kart racers listed Toad as the second most favorite Mario Kart racer in the country (only being beaten by Yoshi).[45] Toad has been credited for being one of the celebrated characters in the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Super Mario Bros. games.[46] MTV, when commenting on the wackiness of Super Mario 2 (Super Mario Bros. 2), called Toad "so awesome".[47] UGO.com listed Toad on their list of "The Cutest Video Game Characters," stating "Once you get over his misleading name, you'll find Toad to be quite the adorable mushroom."[48]


IGN editor Matt Casamassina criticized Nintendo for including the two generic Toads over more notable characters (including the red-spotted Toad himself) in the Mario series for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, arguing that the developers were being lazy to not include other characters because the Toads were easier to make.[7] The Toads in the Paper Mario series following the release of Paper Mario: Sticker Star have been heavily criticized for lacking their diverse characteristics found in previous entries and for replacing the cast of original fictional races the series previously had.[49][50][51]