Episode 311: Tales of Toad (Patreon)

I have had a note jotted down in the columns of our Retronauts planning docs to put together some episodes focusing on Mario spinoffs focused on minor characters for several years, but they always get pushed aside in favor of bigger topics. With the surprise announcement of a new Paper Mario game due out in a couple of weeks, though, now seemed the perfect time to make one of those intended topics happen—one focused, quite fittingly, on Toad, one of the franchise O.G.s. After all, the only named Mario characters to have been seen on-screen prior to Toad were Mario, Donkey Kong and Junior, and Luigi. Even the Bowser you encounter in Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 before Toad gives you the bad news about the princess was just a Goomba in disguise! 

Fittingly, Toad has (or should that be "Toads have"?) appeared in many more games through the years, with variant characters (one of whom even stars in their own standalone title, the excellent Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker). In this episode, Bob and Henry and I recount the history of Toad from the days of being the "Mushroom Retainer" to the inevitable hundreds we'll encounter in Paper Mario: The Origami King.

Thanks to Greg Leahy for editing this episode. Art by Steph Sybydlo.