Toad

'' For Peach's Standard Special Move in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, see Toad (move).

Toad is a major character from the Mario series. He is Princess Peach's loyal retainer, and usually acts as someone who needs to be rescued, or provides Mario with hints or items to help him on his adventures. Like many characters in the Mario series, Toad is named after his species of the same name. The toads are the dominant species in the Mushroom Kingdom and also come in various colours, mostly red, blue, green, yellow and purple.

Toad has made many appearances in the mainstream Mario games, his role varying from someone who provides assistance, to a playable hero as shown in Wario's Woods where he defeats Wario to prevent him from taking over the woods. However, lately Toadsworth has been taking over many of his previous roles for providing help in the main Mario games while Toad has become playable in the various Mario spinoff games such as Mario Kart.

Character description
Toad made his debut appearence in Super Mario Bros. as one of the Mushroom Retainers who needed to be rescued by Mario after being kidnapped by Bowser. After being saved, Toad appeared no different than any of the other retainers and just provides Mario with the infamous line "Thank You Mario! But Our Princess Is In Another Castle!" However in Super Mario Bros. 2, this specific toad was a playable character. Toad was the fastest of the four characters and was also the most strongest as well. However he had the weakest jump out of the character so many considered him better for speedruns of the game due to his speed and small jumps.

In the Puzzle game Wario's Woods, Toad was the main protagonist who had to defeat Wario from getting full control of the area by defeating Wario's minions with bombs which were provided by a fairy named Wanda while Birdo appeared providing encouragement for Toad. Eventually Toad fought Wario by himself in the end of the game and eventually defeated the evil antagonist allowing the woods to be restored back to peace.

As the series grew, Toad got smaller roles in the games ranging from being a shop keeper who provided Mario with items to small cameo appearences with little detail. In the newer games, Toad had also lost many of his Assistance providing roles to Toadsworth and to even generic toads who have seemed to replaced Toad in that job. It is also unknown about some of the appearences of Toad in some of the newer games due to the fact of there being more generic red toads that look and behave alot like Toad himself appearing. Eventually Toad's more recognizable appearences were remembered from the Mario spinnoff games where he has seemed to become playable in more of the games than being an NPC.

Though Toad might have seemed to be disappearing from the main series, he makes small cameo appearences once in a while hinting his importance such as in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga where he is playable for a small time and in Super Paper Mario where he starts off Mario and Luigi's new adventure. Though not Toad himself, many like to refer the Blue Toad in New Super Mario Bros. Wii as Toad due to his color appearence being the same color as Toad's sprite back in Super Mario Bros. 2 (it was blue due to the 3 color limitations of the NES).

In Game
In the game Toad is used as Peach's Standard Special Move which can be used to counter an enemy's attack. Toad is also seen in the background of the first level of Adventure Mode, running behind the arena with the Yoshis, and again behind the finish line.

Toad Rumor
It was once rumored that Toad could be unlocked if a player was to hit all the credits after clearing Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, or All-Star Mode. This rumor was proven false but many fake screenshots were made to trick players into thinking he was real. The Toad used in the screenshot was the one in Mushroom Kingdom Adventure and in Peach's Standard Special Move.

Trophy Description
''Toad, Peach's longtime servant, first showed off his strength in Super Mario Bros. 2, then proved to be an agile driver in Super Mario Kart. There are many Toads in Peach's castle and across the Mushroom Kingdom, and although they look similar, they have varied natures. Not the best of guards, Toad must often be rescued.''
 * Super Mario Bros.

In Game
In the game, Toad is once again Peach's Standard Special Move, and is still not a playable character. It was, once again, rumored that he was unlockable, but this rumor was also proven false.

Trophy Description
''One of the servants at Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom. Toads give off a strong sense of peace. Most feature white heads with red polka dots, but there are other colors as well. Toad's incredible uprooting speed in Super Mario Bros. 2 is unrivaled, adding to the rumor of his superhuman strength... however out of place it might seem.''
 * Super Mario Bros. (1985)
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)

Stickers
Toad also has quite a few stickers in the game which are mainly usable by the Mario characters in Brawl.

Trivia

 * Out of the Big Eight Mario characters (Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario and Bowser), Toad is the only one of the group to not be playable in any of the Smash games so far.
 * According to the official Melee poll, Toad was the 4th most wanted character (with 27 votes) from the Mario series for Melee, right after Bowser (169 votes), Princess Peach (66 votes) and Wario (65 votes). Bowser and Princess Peach appeared in Melee and Brawl, the latter of which also starred Wario, so, if the developers are indeed simply working down the list, it seems likely that Toad will become playable in the next Smash game, though this has not been confirmed by Nintendo.


 * Around the time of Brawl's reveal (When the actual name wasn't even known yet), it was said Wario and Toad where the two most requested characters for the game. Wario was revealed in the first trailer as playable but Toad has yet to be playable.