Toad (species)

The Toads from Super Mario Sunshine.
Toad
Type	Mushroom People
Debut	Super Mario Bros.

The Toads are a race of mushroom people who have been featured throughout the Mario series. They are the main inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom and often serve in NPC roles, while occasionally being playable.

Name Confusion

Within the series, the Toads were initially unnamed as a race in the English translations of the early games. They were simply referred to as being "mushroom people". The name Toad was first used in Super Mario Bros. 2 for an individual character of the mushroom race, and this name distinguished him from the other mushroom people. Paper Mario was the first game to refer to the entire race of Toads, and this has since caused confusion as to which appearances count as Toad the character. Furthermore, the physical appearance of the character Toad (like with Yoshi, Birdo and Kamek) is the same as the default design for Toad characters within the series. Consulting the original Japanese names only further confuses the intentions towards Toad being a character, as both the character and the species were known as Kinopio.

Information

The Toad is similar to a human with a face that resembles a mushroom stem, and a mushroom cap atop its head. Toads have been shown to be varied in body type, height and the design depicted on their caps. Most commonly, Toads are small creatures that are shorter than the average human, and most mushroom caps are spotted (with the most common color for the spots being red). A Toad's typical attire is a vest (which is usually either blue or matching their spot color), white pants and small brown shoes. There is some confusion in the games as to whether the mushroom cap is part of the Toad's body or if it is an actual cap that is worn. The latter has been implied by latter games, with some cases where Toads seem to have hair coming out from under the mushroom cap (such as Toadofsky in Super Mario RPG) as well as a scene in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door where Toads were shown to have patches in their caps following a scuffle. There is still evidence to the contrary, such as Toadette's hair actually being part of her cap.

They live within the Mushroom Kingdom (which could easily be named after either them or the Super Mushrooms) as dutiful subjects of Princess Peach. Toads live throughout the Mushroom Kingdom and some foreign lands, but their highest population seems to be within Toad Town, which acts as the kingdom's capital. Some Toads act as the princess's guard and typically wield spears, but they are ultimately ineffectual against real threats. Most Toads try to lead quiet existences with a variety of jobs, but they are constantly driven into distress by Bowser's attacks on the kingdom. They also admire Mario (and Luigi to a lesser degree) for saving their lives. The princess has been shown to have a council of seven mushroom retainers and a Chancellor who leads them, and they are also common targets for Bowser's kidnappings.

Appearances

They were initially introduced within Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. Within this game, Bowser placed curses on the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom which turned them into a variety of forms such as stones, bricks and mushrooms (with the original version also mentioning, oddly enough, "field horse hair"). The princess apparently had the power to lift this curse, which is why Bowser chose to kidnap her this time. The seven mushroom retainers were also held captive in Bowser's seven castles across the land by decoys of the Koopa King. Each Toad, when rescued, would deliver the infamous line in which they informed Mario that the princess was in another castle. The Super Mario All-Stars version replaced each individual retainer with a sack that was full of miniature Toads who still said the same line. Later ports and remakes have retained the original version, however.

Toad was introduced as a playable character in Super Mario Bros. 2, while Super Mario Bros. 3 had Toad Houses in which Toad gave out items or played minigames with Mario. The Mushroom Kingdom's society was eventually touched on for the first time in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This game also introduced Toads with different designs and colors on their mushroom caps, and there were characters such as Raz, Raini, Gaz, the Chancellor and Kinopio. Toad himself still appeared as well. Toads were shown to live in a variety of town that seemed to fall outside the Mushroom Kingdom such as Rose Town and Seaside Town. The Toads of Princess Peach's Castle were cursed again by Bowser in Super Mario 64 when he stole the castle's Power Stars and trapped all of the castle's inhabitants within the walls of the castle. Toad appeared in the entrance, in faded transparent form due to the curse, but the Toads still provided their usual amount of help. The society of Toads was soon expanded again in Paper Mario. The Toads would appear in later RPGs, but in most cases due to being set in different lands, their appearances would be minimal. One example was Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, where Toads were mostly seen at Toad Town in the beginning and later on in the game at a Toad settlement in the Beanbean Kingdom known as Little Fungitown.

Peach's entourage of Toads was revised in Super Mario Sunshine. Toadsworth was introduced as her loyal retainer, and she was accompanied by a group of five differently-colored Toads (red, green, blue, yellow and purple). There was still a red-spotted Toad, but he wore a matching red vest instead of the character Toad's blue vest. The instruction manual treated this Toad as the character Toad regardless. They accompanied Peach on her vacation in this game and worried when she met missing. A group of Toads with the same colors later appeared in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, where they were known as the Toad Brigade. It is likely that they were the same Toads from Sunshine. They played an active role in trying to find stars, and the members were individualized with their own special functions. They were promoted to Royal Guards at the end of the first game, but it is uncertain if this continuity remained in the sequel. Toads were also shown as employees of the Mini-Mario Toy Company in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and three of them (colored red, blue and yellow like the characters below) were kidnapped by Donkey Kong for a while. They were later freed and helped Mario, and Mini-Toad Toys were made in the sequels. Various Toads from the castle were also kidnapped in Super Princess Peach, and they were freed by Peach as she progressed through Vibe Island.

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a pair of unnamed Toads were featured as optional playable characters for additional players. These Toads were blue and yellow, and they were capable of the same moves as Mario and Luigi. The red Toad did still appear but remained at the castle for the events of the game. Other Toads could also be rescued from some levels and ran Toad Houses throughout the game. Three Toads with the same colors were also featured in Super Mario 3D Land, where they were held captive in two of the game's castles by Bowser's decoys. The red Toad also ran Toad Houses, and the blue Toad had his own Toad House where the player could look through a photo album which shows all of the animated photos unlocked in the game. The Toads appear in levels at some points to cheer Mario or Luigi on, and at the end of the game they all don Tanooki Suits to help the plumber in escorting Princess Peach home. They still wear the Tanooki Suits in the Special Worlds.

Sports

Various sports games have featured the character Toad as a playable character or host, and Toadette was later introduced as his female foil. As for other Toads, they have primarily appeared as audience members in various games. Toads of different colors were playable as sidekick characters in Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers. Additionally, in Mario Sports Mix, Toad could be used with alternate green, yellow or blue colors that could be unlocked through certain means.

Abilities

Most games have followed the impression that Toads are small and weak creatures. This notion has primarily been challenged in instances where a Toad is playable. Toad in Super Mario Bros. 2 and the Toads in New Super Mario Bros. Wii are all capable of keeping up with Mario and Luigi, and they can pull off many of the same feats. In the former game, Toad also had unusual strength, although this does not seem to be a common trait of the Toad people. In the latter games, the Toads were shown to be capable of using power-ups (which sometimes affected their cap colors) and matching Mario's acrobatic moves. Toads were also shown to use the Tanooki Suit in Super Mario 3D Land. The most unusually powerful Toad would actually be The Master, who appeared as an optional boss from Paper Mario. The Master ran the Toad Town Dojo and was a master of karate. He became more active in each of three fights until he was the most powerful boss of the game by the end.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, the character Toad makes a minor appearance in Adventure Mode, and one of Peach's attacks is to hold Toad out as a shield. Toad has a trophy in both games which describes both the character and the race.

Other Media

• In the anime movie for Super Mario Bros., Toads appeared with a similar role as in the game, although Mario and Luigi freed them from their cursed forms instead of from castles. They were primarily shown as female and awarded the brothers with special items.
• In the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Toad was a main character, but the other Toads (then only known as mushroom people) were reduced to mostly minor roles, and they were shown with more human-like features.

Trivia

• The name "Toad" is derived from "toadstool", a word for "mushroom". Originally, the name Toad acted as a complement to Peach's first localized name of Princess Toadstool. The Japanese name, Kinopio, is a play on "kinoko", the Japanese word for "mushroom".
• Paper Mario established most Toads as having the initial "T" as their surnames, implying that they all have "Toad" as their last names. There are still exceptions in earlier games (such as Toad and Kinopio), and this naming scheme has been used less in later games with the usage of characters like Toadsworth and Toadette.