Captain Toad

Captain Toad
Species	Toad
Affiliation	Mushroom Kingdom Toad Brigade
Voiced by	Samantha Kelly (2007-Present)
Debut	Super Mario Galaxy

Captain Toad is a Toad explorer who has appeared as a recurring character in the Super Mario series. After being introduced as a supporting character in Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel, where he was simply referred to as the Toad Bridge Captain, he went on to make a playable appearance in special levels of Super Mario 3D World before starring in his own spin-off game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. He initially resembled a standard Red Toad who was distinguished by just the headlamp and large backpack that he wore. From 3D World onwards, he has started wearing an explorer suit along with being known as Captain Toad. He is the spirited but often bumbling leader of the Toad Brigade who sets off on expeditions in search of valuable treasures such as Power Stars and Green Stars.

Background

Captain Toad was originally part of a group of Toads living in the Mushroom Kingdom. They were at Princess Peach's Castle during the Star Festival when Bowser attacked during the beginning of Super Mario Galaxy. The Toads ended up in outer space with Luigi, but they were ultimately separated from him and were stranded in the Honeyhive Galaxy until Mario found him. They did find a Power Star while they were there, and they gave it to Mario when he found them, which was the first Power Star that could be obtained for that galaxy. Afterwards, the Toads followed Mario back to the Comet Observatory. They were determined to help Mario in his quest for Power Stars, so the Lumas built the Starshroom for them to travel in, and Captain Toad nominated himself to act as the 'bold leader' of the Toad Brigade. Captain Toad and the Toad Brigade continued to appear in a majority of the galaxies found in the game, where they helped to find Power Stars or provided hints of some kind, and in some instances they had to be rescued by Mario. Captain Toad displayed some cowardly tendencies, as he sometimes sent other Brigade members or Mario into dangerous territory instead of going himself. When the time came for Mario to face Bowser, Captain Toad declared that he would fight Bowser personally, but he proceeded to pretend that he was getting sick as an excuse to not actually take part in the battle. After Bowser was defeated, Captain Toad and the Toad Brigade were returned to the Mushroom Kingdom by Rosalina and the Lumas. In the Grand Finale Galaxy, it was shown that the Toad Brigade were commended for their efforts by being appointed as Royal Guards, with Captain Toad earning the rank of Royal Guard Commander, although these ranks have not been referenced since.

He returned with the Toad Brigade returned in Super Mario Galaxy 2, where they served a similar role in searching the galaxies for Power Stars and helping Mario. In Super Mario 3D World, several levels were known as Captain Toad's Adventures. These levels were found in every odd-numbered world except for the last one, which was in World-Crown. In those levels, Captain Toad explored a variety of environments to collect Green Stars. He also made appearances in several other levels, in which Mario had to save him from some type of trouble, and he would thank him by giving him a Green Star he had found. He also conducted the Coin Express train in World 5.

Captain Toad was then featured in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. In Episode 1, Toadette showed him a Power Star that she had found, only for Wingo to swoop down and captrue both Toadette and the Star. Captain Toad set off on an adventure across various locales, gathering Power Stars along the way, until he reached Wingo's Watchtower. There, Captain Toad defeated Wingo and saved Toadette as well as claiming the stolen Power Star. They proceeded to continue their adventuring until Wingo returned at the end of Episode 2. This time, Captain Toad was snatched away by Wingo instead, and Toadette had to save him. She succeeded in beating Wingo and saving Captain Toad, but Wingo almost immediately resurfaced, capturing Toadette again and blowing Captain Toad away. Starting from a dark cave, Captain Toad went on one more journey in Episode 3 and defeated Wingo one last time. Reunited with Toadette, Captain Toad road a minecart with Toadette during the closing credits, until he was distracted by something afterwards. In the original Wii U version, it was a Green Star which led him to the Sprixie Kingdom during the beginning of Super Mario 3D World, implying that this adventure was a prequel to that one. However, the 3DS/Switch version changed it to Captain Toad spotting the Odyssey, thus leading into Super Mario Odyssey instead. Captain Toad proceeded to go on further adventures in the Bonus Episode, the first portion of which was set in the Sprixie Kingdom in the Wii U version or some of the kingdoms from Odyssey in the 3DS/Switch version. In the Special Episode featured in the 3DS/Switch version, Captain Toad embarked on a quest to collect Shiny Crowns, which ended with him discovering the Super Crown.

In Super Mario Odyssey, Captain Toad made recurring appearances in each kingdom, where he had gotten lost or trapped in some area and discovered a Power Moon along the way. After being discovered, he would thank Mario by giving the Power Moon to him. While Captain Toad did not physically appear in [[Super Mario Maker 2, the course creator in Story Mode known as "Legendary Explorer" appeared to be him. His courses were adventure-based and required minimal jumping, along with the course descriptions having the course maker mentioning expeditions and making excuses not to take on the adventure himself. Captain Toad also made an appearance in Bowser's Fury, where he would appear by Scamper Shores after going through the credits for the first time. In Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Captain Toad could be encountered on the world map in hidden areas of some worlds that were accessible from previous worlds while exploring. After being found for the first time in each location, he would give Mario a number of Flower Coins.

In Other Mario-Related Games

Sports, Racing and Party Spin-Offs

Captain Toad made his spin-off debut in Mario Kart Tour as a High-End Racer who was introduced in the Exploration Tour in July 2020. His availability was initially restricted to certain tours, until he was made regularly available starting in February 2022, during the Sky Tour.

Cameo and Non-Storyline Appearances

• In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, three of the Toad Character Cards featured artwork of Captain Toad.
• In Super Mario Maker, Captain Toad appeared as one of the costumes that Mario could transform into with the Mystery Mushroom, with his costume being unlocked by completing the "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker" Event Course that was made available in December 2015.
• In WarioWare: Get It Together!, Captain Toad was featured in a 9-Volt minigame that was based on Treasure Tracker.

Abilities

While most characters in the Mario canon have some level of jumping ability, Captain Toad stands out from them in that his backpack weighs him down enough that he is incapable of properly jumping. He can only stomp on enemies if he drops down from a higher level. Otherwise, Captain Toad can defend himself by plucking vegetables or picking up other items to throw at enemies, similar to Toad in Super Mario Bros. 2. He could gain temporary invincibility when using a Super Pickax and could produce a clone of himself with a Double Cherry. His headlamp was also capable of destroying Boos when shone upon them. It would happen instantly in Super Mario Galaxy (with Captain Toad being oblivious as to what happened due to him unknowingly destroying it while cowering from it), but in his playable appearances, it would take a short period of time during which the Boos would be stunned, with the time being shortened if a second light was being shined on them at the same time.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Captain Toad appeared as a character skin in Nintendo releases of Minecraft through the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Captain Toad appeared as an Ace-rank Primary Spirit (with item gravitation as an effect) that could be obtained by enhancing a Spirit of Toad that had been brought up to Level 99. Previously, Captain Toad had appeared in a trophy for the Toad Brigade that was in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Other Media

• While Captain Toad does not appear as his own character in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Toad the character has some elements of Captain Toad, as he wears a similar backpack, and an arrangement of the Toad Brigade theme plays during his first meeting with Mario.

Trivia

• His existence has caused some confusion as to whether or not he is the same as Toad the character. Super Mario 3D World established them as being separate characters, as the blue-spotted Toad playable in the game was indicated to be intended to be the same Toad from Super Mario Bros. 2, and Captain Toad appeared as a separate character in the game. Despite that, there are still some sources connecting the two, such as the Spirit of Toad being enhanced into one of Captain Toad in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and other Toads referring to the Toad costume as "captain" in Super Mario Maker.
• In the Switch version of Treasure Tracker, a purple version of Captain Toad appeared as a palette swap that could be controlled by a second player after an update made in February 2019.
• To commemorate the release of the 3DS/Switch version of Treasure Tracker, all of the Hint Art featuring a Luigi sprite in Super Mario Odyssey was replaced by 8-bit sprites of Captain Toad for several months of 2018.