Toad
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- “M-M-M-M-M-M-M-Mario! Help! It's Sh-sh-sh-sh-shocking... Mushroom Castle... RAIDED! Princess Peach... STOLEN!”
- —Toad, Super Paper Mario
Toad is a character who is Princess Peach's attendant and a long time protector of the Mushroom Kingdom. He is actually a singular character among an entire species of look-alikes (much like Yoshi is to the Yoshi species), leading to confusion over some of his appearances. He usually has the role of a supporting character who tries to help Mario and Luigi on their adventures, although he occasionally has been as a main protagonist, such as in Super Mario Bros. 2 and his starring role in Wario's Woods. He also appears regularly as a playable character in the Mario spin-offs. In more recent years, his role as Peach's steward has often been given to Toadsworth instead.
History
Super Mario series
Super Mario Bros. 2
While often retroactively believed to be one of the Toads in the original Super Mario Bros., the individual character Toad did not debut until Super Mario Bros. 2. In the game, he, along with Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool go to a picnic at the beginning of the game. As they head out, the four heroes soon discover a cave that leads to the strange world known as Subcon. Upon reaching the mythical area, Toad and his friends then learn that the once peaceful land is now ruled by the tyrannical frog, Wart. Agreeing to stop Wart and bring peace to the land, the quartet immediately set off to defeat the villain and rescue the original inhabitants of Subcon. Toad, Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool eventually defeat the evil tyrant after traveling through the mystical land and defeating Wart's army (the 8 bits). Upon Wart's defeat, Toad and his friends then go on to save the people of Subcon, thus bringing peace to the land. At the end of the game, however, it is revealed that the events of the game were just a part of Mario's dream.
Gameplay-wise, Toad is the worst jumper, but he is extremely fast when it comes to picking vegetables or digging through sand. He also is super speedy, making him the fastest of the four characters, being the only character who runs faster than normal while carrying a "heavy" object that would slow the other characters down. While being the weakest jumper, Toad is capable of overcoming this by performing a Power Squat Jump (a jump that is twice as strong as his regular jumps).
Super Mario Bros. 3 / Super Mario Advance 4
In Super Mario Bros. 3, Toad's role is again reduced to that of being a non-playable character. Toad does not even appear as a character in the original video game, having been reduced to a mere mention in the instruction booklet storyline as saying goodbye and good luck to Mario and Luigi alongside the princess. However, he has a slightly expanded role in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, where he replaces an unnamed Toad. The in-game introduction instead shows him visiting the Mushroom King of Grass Land. When Lemmy Koopa appears, he charges at him with his arms flailing, but gets easily subdued. When the Magic Wand is stolen, Lemmy transforms the king into an animal. Distraught, Toad sends a letter to Princess Peach, telling her that he knows the Koopalings are spreading chaos all across the Mushroom World. She sends Mario to help, while Luigi hesitates but joins as well. She waves after them alone in this version.
BS Super Mario USA
In the Satellaview exclusive game BS Super Mario USA, Toad returns as one of the four playable characters alongside Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach. As BS Super Mario USA serves as a pseudo-sequel to the game Super Mario Bros. 2, the game serves as a continuation to the adventures of Toad and his friends in the land of Subcon. The game's story begins after the events of Super Mario Bros. 2 at the scene where the four characters begin to believe that Subcon really did not exist, and that their previous adventure was nothing but a dream. However, the four heroes were proven to be wrong when the protagonists were called back to Subcon by Ōsama, the King of Subcon. Upon arriving to Subcon once again, the King informs Toad and his friends about news of Wart's recent take-over of Subcon once more (having overthrown Ōsama during the process). Hearing the King's pleas, Toad and his three friends once again head out to stop Wart and his army, and return the kingdom back to Ōsama's possession.
While the player starts off as Mario in the beginning of the game, a timer in the game has the player's character change at various times to one of the other three characters (including Toad himself) throughout the game.
Super Mario 64
Prior to the events of Super Mario 64, Toad, along with many other Toads, were sealed behind the walls of Princess Peach's Castle by Bowser. Toad plays a rather minor role as the first Toad that Mario meets inside the castle. Once speaking with him, Toad explains to Mario about the situation of Bowser taking over the castle and informs him that he must collect Power Stars to save the Princess. He also points out to Mario the first world where he could collect stars, Bob-omb Battlefield. It is also possible that Toad is one of the two Toads that appeared alongside Peach at the end of the game.
In the remake Super Mario 64 DS, Toad appears with the same role from the original game; however, he is given more personality as he talks differently to each character (for example, being scared of Wario and mistaking Luigi for being Mario at first glance). Also if the character loses his cap in one world and gets a star from another world, Toad will be wearing the character's hat and will explain that he supposedly found the cap in the castle. He will then return the character's cap back to its rightful owner. Toad also makes a few appearances in the minigames within this game.
Super Mario Sunshine
Named as Toad officially in the instruction booklet for the game, Toad (wearing a red vest) appears as one the five young Toad attendants who had accompanied Princess Peach and Mario on their vacation to Isle Delfino in Super Mario Sunshine. Upon landing on the island, Toad and the others find the place to be a mess thanks to the work of a mysterious man who strongly resembles Mario.
Throughout most of the actual game, Toad plays a rather minor role by giving out tips to Mario about how to play the game (such as how to do the box break move and as well as information about the different areas within the island). At the time of Princess Peach's kidnapping, Toad and the Green Toad attempt to stop Shadow Mario by blocking his path (though this did not work out successfully as he simply covered them up with Graffiti). After Peach had been kidnapped, Toad can be seen to be very upset and spends most of his time worrying about in Delfino Plaza. He will give Mario the occasional tips if he is spoken to (such as mentioning about the princess being taken to Pinna Park). After Mario had rescued Peach, Toad and the other heroes can finally be seen enjoying the faculities available on Isle Delfino during the credits.
Additionally, it is revealed at the end of game that Toad along with the other Toad attendants had fixed F.L.U.D.D. shortly after its breakdown after the battle between Mario and Bowser. It is also Toad himself who is seen supporting the repaired F.L.U.D.D. as he reveals the fixed device to Mario and Peach as Toadsworth and the Green Toad stands alongside him. As the game's credits begin, it is revealed through the snapshots that Toad and the other heroes finally had the time to relax in the various areas of Isle Delfino after Bowser's defeat.
New Super Mario Bros.
Although Toad does not appear in New Super Mario Bros., seeing as the Toad Houses in the game are instead run by Toadsworth, he still has official artwork for the game (which was in fact taken from Super Mario 64 DS) and appears in some of the minigames.
Super Mario 3D World
Toad returns in Super Mario 3D World as one of the playable characters that the player can use. In this game, Toad is depicted as blue, which seems to be based off Blue Toad from the New Super Mario Bros. games (as well as his in-game appearance in the NES version of Super Mario Bros. 2). Within the beginning of Super Mario 3D World, Toad is seen taking a late evening stroll with his friends Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach near Peach's castle. However, Toad is the first to notice a strange clear pipe that stood in front of their way. After Mario and Luigi fix the pipe, the gang meet the Sprixie Princess who warn the four friends of Bowser's evil plot of capturing all the Sprixies. Unfortunately, Bowser arrives to the scene and captures the Sprixie Princess. After Peach accidentally falls into the pipe to go after Bowser, Toad immediately jumps into the pipe with Mario and a cowering Luigi to start their new adventure.
Toad's abilities during gameplay are very similar to Super Mario Bros. 2. Toad is the fastest playable character, but has the heaviest jumps as well as having the shortest air-time. When he turns to Small Toad, the colors of his cap are inverted to blue with white spots. When he is Fire Toad, he gains the colors of Fire Yellow Toad.
Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!
As an individual character, Toad makes his first appearance in the series in Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! After Luigi picks up one of the coins that Mario accidentally revealed, it and the remaining coins turn into mushroom people. The tall bug-eyed one introduces himself as Toad, a close personal servant of Princess Peach. He tells them that King Koopa's magic transformed them into helpless objects, and they were stored away. As thanks, he relinquishes the mushroom power-up, which he calls the Super Mushroom. This rendition of Toad is notably different in appearance and demeanor than his later appearances - he is overly gentle and has very feminine voice, as if he were Peach's nursemaid. This may be because there was no defined gender at this early point of the series. Toad is also credited as "Toad 1" in the cast roll, as a similar character is rescued later but does not identify itself as Toad in the film.
DIC cartoons
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
Toad was a main character in the The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, where he retained his look and personality from the games. Toad is seen as somewhat of a side-kick to Mario through-out the shows, while Luigi was upgraded to a partner. Like his game counterpart, Toad is one of Toadstool's most loyal servants and he has constantly tried his best to protect Princess Toadstool from Bowser and his Koopa Troop forces until the Mario Bros. arrived to protect her as well. Like Princess Toadstool, he might get kidnaped and maybe with Mario and/or Luigi. Toad has two alternate forms in this series, Super Toad and Toad Warrior.
According to the episode "Escape from Koopatraz", Toad's father is named Moldy. Additionally, Toad's paternal grandfather is named Gramps.
In comparison to his game counterpart, Toad looks a little different in the cartoons. His hat is a little bit darker and the waistcoat is red instead of blue. Oddly, for several of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'s first episodes, Toad's color scheme is reversed, having a red mushroom cap with white spots with a white vest and red pants.
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
Like in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Toad was seen as Mario's sidekick in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, often adventuring with him. Despite this, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3's last episode, "Super Koopa" has Toad complaining about always being left behind in the adventures (though this might be in reference to his diminishing roles in the games). The main cast even stayed in Toad's house for many episodes as well as a place of shelter. "Baby Toad" has made his first (and last) appearance in the episode, "Toddler Terrors of Time Travel", which had Toad, as well as Mario, Luigi, Bowser and Kooky Von Koopa regressed to infant states due to a malfunction with a time machine.
Episodes such as "Up, Up, and a Koopa" has Toad using various Power-Ups such as the P-Wing to gain forms such as [[Raccoo
