Blue Toad (character)

Blue Toad, also known as just Toad, is a Toad who made his first appearance in New Super Mario Bros. Wii as a playable sidekick for Mario, along with Luigi and Yellow Toad. Blue Toad and Yellow Toad reprise their roles as playable characters in New Super Mario Bros. U, and they have appeared in various other games as well.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Blue Toad first appears as the fourth playable character in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. He attends Princess Peach's birthday party along Mario, Luigi, and Yellow Toad, in where the party is interrupted by the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. disguised as a large birthday cake in order to kidnap the princess. The four venture through eight different worlds, stopping Bowser and his minions and saving Princess Peach. After defeating Bowser and saving the princess, Blue Toad goes on a hot air balloon along with Yellow Toad. They would soon invite Luigi to join their balloon after his balloon leaves with Mario and Princess Peach onboard.

New Super Mario Bros. U / New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Blue Toad makes his next appearance in the Wii U title, New Super Mario Bros. U. He regains his role as one of the main protagonists of the game along with Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad and Miis. As of this game, his voice lines are swapped with Yellow Toad's when compared to New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Within the game's introduction sequence, Blue Toad is first seen alongside Yellow Toad, the Mario Bros., and Princess Peach attending a lunch at the Peach's Castle. However, their peaceful get-together is soon ruined by the sudden appearance of multiple airships consisting of Bowser and the Koopalings. Using a giant mechanical arm (which extended itself from Bowser's airship into the main hall of Peach's Castle where the heroes were taking their lunch), Bowser pulled away Peach's chair from harm and instead gave a mighty punch at Blue Toad and the other three heroes (causing them to be knocked out).

Seizing the opportunity, Bowser used the mechanical arm to scoop up Blue Toad and his friends and threw the heroes far across the Mushroom Kingdom. Upon crashing into the Acorn Tree consisting of Super Acorns and falling back to the ground (with Blue Toad going as far as sliding on his large mushroom head from the force), the four heroes soon get up and see Peach's Castle getting invaded by Bowser's forces in the far distance. Deciding to take action, Blue Toad and his friends run across the plains in the start of a new adventure.

In New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Blue Toad shares a character slot with Yellow Toad under the generic identifier of "Toad," and the two can be switched between on the character select screen by holding the L or ZL button (SL button when playing with a single Joy-Con).

New Super Luigi U
Blue Toad returns as a playable character within the multiplayer mode of the expansion pack game New Super Luigi U. Very much like in New Super Mario Bros. U, Blue Toad journeys through the Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess Peach once again along with the help of Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Nabbit.

While he plays similarly as in New Super Mario Bros. U, Blue Toad is able to perform a scuttle jump much like Luigi and the other playable characters.

Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
While Blue Toad himself does not appear in Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Toad appears instead with the same appearance, reflecting his in-game appearance in Super Mario Bros. 2. In the game's electronic manual, however, Blue Toad's artwork from New Super Mario Bros. Wii was reused to represent Toad.

Super Mario Maker 2
Like in Super Mario 3D World, Toad appears as a playable character in Super Mario Maker 2 with an identical appearance to Blue Toad. During Co-Op and Versus Modes, as well as in "Play Together" mode, Toad is the third-player character.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Blue Toad appears as one of the playable characters in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, once again being a separate character from Yellow Toad unlike in New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

Super Mario-kun
Blue Toad along with Yellow Toad are featured in the 41st and 42nd volumes of Super Mario-kun. As the story is based on New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad are introduced as Mario's new accomplices. Throughout the adaption of the two issues, Blue Toad plays an important role by journeying alongside Mario, Luigi, and Yellow Toad on their quest to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser and his forces.

Both Blue Toad and Yellow Toad are seen in their propeller forms on the cover of the 41st issue of Super Mario-kun.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Blue Toad appears in a total of four Battle Cards in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.

Mario Sports Superstars
In Mario Sports Superstars, Blue Toad appears in two different collectible cards as Blue Penguin Toad and Blue Flying Squirrel Toad.

Other appearances
Blue Toad and the other heroes of New Super Mario Bros. Wii were shown as some of the featured characters in the Nintendo 3DS tech demo. He was riding a Pink Yoshi, similarly to the game's box art. Eventually, this tech demo screen featuring Blue Toad and his friends was later obtainable as a puzzle in the Puzzle Swap mode in the StreetPass Mii Plaza.

Blue Toad, Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Miis, were also seen and playable in the Wii U demo New Super Mario Bros. Mii.

Blue Toad alongside Yellow Toad, Mario, Luigi, the Koopalings, and various other characters from New Super Mario Bros. Wii made cameo appearances in the Wii game  where the characters can be seen dancing to the various tracks featured in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Appearance
Like many other Toads, Blue Toad is a short, mushroom-like creature. He has a white cap with blue spots. He wears a blue vest with gold lining, a pair of white dress pants, and a pair of brown shoes. He is about a head shorter than Mario, and is almost always seen smiling.

Personality
In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Blue Toad is shown as a courageous character, who is able to venture alongside the Mario Bros. on their dangerous mission to save Princess Peach from Bowser and his minions; a force that most Toads tend to be afraid of. He is also shown to be kind and compassionate as seen in the ending of the game where he happily invites Luigi to ride in his and Yellow Toad's hot air balloon after he had been abandoned (albeit by accident) by Mario and Peach. In the introduction of New Super Mario Bros. U, Blue Toad is shown to be even more finicky than his partner Yellow Toad as he is seen to be in an extreme alarm when Bowser's mechanical arm pulled away the Princess.

Abilities
Throughout the New Super Mario Bros. games, Blue Toad plays similarly to Mario. While possessing the same jumps as Mario, he is also shown to use similar techniques as well including the Wall Jump and Ground Pound. He is also able to maximize his jumps by using a Spin Jump. Unlike the Mario Bros. however, Blue Toad (along with Yellow Toad) are shown to have a unique triple jump; the two Toads perform a high jump similar to a cartwheel while facing one side of the screen. Blue Toad is also shown to be quite strong, being able to carry items much larger than his own size (such as barrels). He is also capable of picking up, carrying and throwing other characters (such as Mario) with ease. All of these traits are similar to not give players advantages over each other. In New Super Luigi U, Blue Toad has the ability to perform a scuttle jump much like Luigi.

Blue Toad is also capable of using the various power-ups in the game allowing him to use their special effects and achieve different forms (such as Propeller Blue Toad if he was to touch a Propeller Mushroom). Much like the other characters playable in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he is shown to be skilled in riding Yoshis.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

 * European website bio: "As loyal servants to the Mushroom Kingdom throne, there's no way the Toads are about to sit back and watch Bowser and Co. bring their unsavoury schemes to fruition. Toads have aided Mario on plenty of adventures in the past, but this time around they're not just letting Mario know the princess is in another castle - they're coming along for the ride!"

Card Number: 3 (Normal), F3 (Silver), F36 (Gold)
 * Trading card description: "Bowser's villainous tactics prove no bounds when he snatches Princess Peach from her own Birthday party. True, Blue Toad's loyalty, courage, and know-how will be put to the ultimate test as he ventures through nine Worlds of Koopa chaos to find his precious Princess. Be sure to visit the Toad Houses in each World. You'll find power-ups and tips that help Blue Toad fight Bowser's fiendish underlings."

New Super Mario Bros. U

 * American website bio: "Blue Toad is just one of many fungal fellows out to lend a helping hand. His platforming skills stack up to Mario's quite nicely."