Toad (Mario)
Toad (known as Kinopio in Japanese releases) 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. It is believed that the English name originated from the word "toadstool" (just as the original Japanese name comes from kinoko, meaning "mushroom"), though the English name may also be construed as a variant of the word "toady," a loyal follower. 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., in which they were called merely "Mushroom Retainers". In later games prior to Paper Mario, which featured an entire race of Toads inhabiting Toad Town, the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom, manuals refered to them as "Mushroom People".
Toad as an individual character made his debut in Super Mario Bros. 2, in which he was a playable character who possessed many of the same abilities as Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach, the game's other playable characters. His relationship to the other main characters of the series is unclear (as most of those between characters in the Mario series are), but it can be seen that he is a good friend of Mario and Princess Peach, who views him as a sort of son. He lives with the princess in her castle as her personal servant and constant companion.
Appearances
Toad — or rather the Toads — play a rather minimal role in the original Super Mario Bros.. They appear at the end of every fourth stage — level 1-4, level 2-4, and the rest in that fashion, excluding level 8-4 — after Mario or Luigi defeats Bowser. Instead of meeting Peach, however, these earlier levels reward the heroes with a mushroom retainer and the message: "Thank you Mario, but our princess is in another castle!" In Super Mario All-Stars, at the end of each fourth stage, there is a corresponding number of Toads to the number of the world Mario has just ventured through.
In Super Mario Bros. 2, Toad is the smallest but strongest of the four selectable characters. He can pluck vegetables from the ground more quickly than anyone else. Toad can also carry heavy loads without having to walk slowly, unlike Mario, Luigi and Peach. His weakness in the game is that his jumping ability is limited compared to the others.
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 (i.e. Mario). He has become a playable character in later Mario Party games, starting with Mario Party 5.
Wario's Woods
Toad was, however, the hero of Wario's Woods, in which he had to line up then blow up strange creatures in a Nintendo puzzle game, though the game is essentially a block-style puzzle, somewhat akin to Tetris or Panel de Pon. Toad is fully controllable as he trots around the bottom of the screen. This is a unique feature for a puzzle game — and remarkable in that this is the only game in which Toad is the central character. Toad's partners in this adventure were Birdo and Wanda, but his connection to them is unknown.
Other games with Toad
Toad is a playable character in several other games, including Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Tennis, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Party 5, Mario Party 6, Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Party 7, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Arcade GP, Super Mario Strikers, and future release Mario Basket 3on3.
Cameo appearances
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Toad makes several cameo appearances. He is both a trophy, and a living shield held out as part of Princess Peach's B button attack. As a shield, Toad reflects damage back to the attacker. He also appears in the background of Mario's Adventure level multiple times. There is a common rumor that Toad is a secret playable character, but this was disproved and deemed a hoax. Toad also has appearances in Mario Golf, Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Power Tennis, Super Mario 64 DS, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario Party Advance, Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, and Super Princess Peach.
Toad's voice
Most video game players probably assumed Toad was male until Mario Kart 64, which featured actor Issac Marshall as Toad's voice. 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. The debate subsided, however, as Nintendo produced more sequels in the Mario RPG series, all of which feature female Toads. 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.
Future of Toad
In a poll taken by Nintendo Power magazine readers on what characters they would like to see in Super Smash Bros. Revolution, the top two characters chosen were Wario and Toad. This may mean that Toad will get a playable appearance in the game, since in a poll for characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Peach and Bowser were the most wanted and got into the game.
Toad in other media
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. An interesting quirk about the cartoon version of Toad was his voice, provided by John Stocker. Although the cartoon established Mario and Luigi to be from Brooklyn (a fact commonly accepted by fans, despite having never been mentioned in any games), Toad seemed to speak with thicker Brooklyn dialect. He also had a habit of making a squeaking noise whenever he jumped, and his hat was revealed to indeed be a hat, as he occasionally took it off to reveal three strands of hair on his head.
Another quirk came in the form of his design, based slightly off of his sprites from the first game (red vest and white hat with red spots, but with light blue pants and purple shoes in the cartoon). However, the first three episodes of the show featured Toad in a somewhat reversed color scheme (red hat with white spots, white vest, red pants, and white shoes). DiC Entertainment, the company which produced the show, has never given an official explanation for this apparent mistake, although it's quite possible that the first three episodes were animated before the introduction segments (which had Toad in his regular color scheme). However, a later episode, "The Fire of Hercufleas" (an obvious riff of Hercules), featured Toad with this alternate color scheme, this time explaining that it was how he looked when using a Fire Flower.
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. This time, though, he usually stayed behind with Peach. Ironically, despite having always come along for previous adventures, in the last episode for this series, "Super Koopa", he complains about always having to stay behind. Just as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show had done, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 had Toad (and Princess Toadstool) using the Marios' Power-Ups, mainly the Raccoon Suit and Frog Suit. Despite being such a regular character, Toad did not appear in the Super Mario World cartoon (as he was not in the game itself); his character was filled in by Oogtar the Caveboy, who, incidentally, had the same voice actor.
The Super Mario Bros. comic books
Toad also regularly appeared in the Super Mario Bros. comic books published by Valiant. The comic Toad, who was featured the same way in other Mario print media published in the early 1990s was seemingly based more towards his game counterpart, as he did not have the Brooklyn accent of his cartoon counterpart, and he had the color scheme depicted in official Nintendo artwork. 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 (Peach's father, created just for the comic), and even indulged in some of the King's activities. Incidentally, in one of these stories, "Cloud Burst", Toad alerts everyone that Bowser has set up an army in World 5-3, saying that he "barely escaped with [his] mold intact" - suggesting that he is, in fact, an actual fungus. Also interesting to note is that in the comics, 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 Adventures manga comic printed by Nintendo Power during 1992 featured several Mushroom Retainers who looked as Toad did elsewhere, but Toad himself spent most of the story wearing an army outfit, as he was among Peach's troops (whom she signalled by whistling). When Bowser sends some Lakitus to capture Peach, Toad escapes to alert Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi and tell them that the Koopalings are holding her captive. After a complicated incident involving Mario being captured by the Koopalings following Peach escaping by way of a cape (ala Super Mario World), Toad disguises himself and Yoshi as pizza delivery boys in order for Peach to infiltrate the Koopalings' tower (with bombs provided by Friendly Floyd) and help Luigi rescue Mario. After they all escape, Toad offers to use the aforementioned cape to fly back to the Mushroom Kingdom and send for a rescue party, but he ends up being lured into a spaceship commandeered by Bowser, who then captures Peach. Afterwards, Toad, strangely, is not mentioned again in the story.
The Super Mario Bros. movie
Played by Mojo Nixon, Toad appeared as a street musician in the 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.
Other appearances
The Cheat (of Homestarrunner.com) dressed up as Toad for the 2005 Halloween Toon Potion-Ma-Jig.
Newgrounds had a movie called "Napoleon Toadamite," a Mario version of Napoleon Dynamite, but it excludes the "OH MY GOH!" scene.
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