Toad (move)

Toad
Toad being used in Ultimate.
Users	Peach Daisy
Universe	Mario
Article on Super Mario Wiki	Toad

Toad (キノピオガード, Toad Guard) is Peach and Daisy's neutral special move.

Overview

Peach pulls out Toad and holds him out in front of her. Upon being hit, Toad will emit a damaging shower of spores. Unlike most other counterattacks, which increase in damage when countering stronger attacks, Toad's spores do the same damage (3% each for a total of 18%, or 3.5% each for a total of 21% in Ultimate) and knockback regardless of the power of the blocked attack. The spores themselves can be absorbed, and the move is in fact one of the two only counterattacks that fires projectiles when activated, the other being Sephiroth's Scintilla; this can be exploited by characters who possess reflectors with damaging hitboxes, such as Mario, Zelda, Fox or Min Min, who can hit Peach with their reflectors' damaging hitboxes in order to trigger her counterattack, causing her to get hit by the spores as a result of the reflectors continuing to remain active after initially hitting Peach. When using this move in midair, Peach will float upwards upon the first use, which can be used to surprise an opponent.

The move can be a bit difficult to use, as there is quite a bit of delay before Peach can block attacks, especially compared to other countering moves like Shulk's Vision or Marth's Counter.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the animation is altered, as Peach now crouches while letting Toad protect her. Daisy's version is functionally identical, but uses a blue Toad instead. In this iteration, the move's startup is much faster, though it no longer stalls Peach in the air as long as it did in SSB4.

Instructional quotes

instruction booklet		Counter enemy attacks by blocking them with Toad.
instruction booklet		Automatically launch a counterattack if an enemy hits Toad.
case foldout		Use Toad as an unwilling shield. If he gets hit, he spreads spores.
Move List		Uses Toad as a shield, spreading spores if he gets hit.
		Uses a Toad as a shield, spreading spores if it gets hit.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

1. Toad	2. Sleepy Toad	3. Grumpy Toad
"Use Toad as an unwilling shield. If he gets hit, he spreads spores." "Holds Toad in front of you. If he gets hit, he spreads spores that deal dmage."	"A counter that puts opponents in front of you to sleep. Launches airborne opponents." "Toad's spores will put attacking foes to sleep. Airborne opponents will just be launched instead."	"Not a counterattack. Releases spores that deal minor damage." "Not a counter-attack - always spreads spores that deal a small amount of damage."

1. Toad: Default.
2. Sleepy Toad: The move has marginally increased startup lag, and noticeably increased ending lag. Additionally, while Toad appears to stay out for the same period of time, the actual counter-armour window is shorter. However the move puts grounded opponents to sleep, with the duration increasing with the opponents percent, and this potentially enables earlier KOs by setting Peach up for a smash attack. Deals 3% damage. Doesn't float upwards as high as the default version when used in midair.
3. Grumpy Toad: Toad no longer needs to be hit to use the attack, and will instead fire it regardless, allowing it to be used as a more conventional attack. However, the spores deal much less total damage (18% -> 8%), and lack the ability to kill at any reasonable percent. Additionally, the move has noticeably increased startup. Peach will not float upwards at all when she uses this custom move in midair.

Origin

The move is unique to the Super Smash Bros. series, but the Toads are Peach's loyal servants in the Mario series, as well as the Mushroom Kingdom's dominant species. Toads dropping spores upon being hit was first seen in Mario Tennis upon completing a tournament with Toad.

Toads appear in a variety of colors, blue included. Blue Toad is playable in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. U, New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and a separate blue Toad only named Toad is playable in Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario Maker 2. Toads do not have any known direct affiliation with Daisy outside of her close friendship with Peach, but Toads can be partnered with her in various spin-off games, and if she defeats Bowser in Super Mario Run, she rescues Toad instead of Peach. Blue Toads are among the various Toad colors that can be seen piloting Daisy-themed hot-air balloons on N64 Royal Raceway in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, alongside ones themed after Peach and Rosalina.

Gallery

• 

  Peach using Toad in Melee.

• 

  Peach uses Toad in Brawl.

• 

  Toad's counterattack in Brawl.

• 

  Peach using Toad against Bowser

• 

  Kirby using Toad in Brawl.

• 

  Peach using Toad in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• 

  Peach using Toad in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• 

  Peach using Toad in Ultimate.

• 

  Peach using Toad as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

• 

  Daisy using Toad as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	キノピオガード, Toad Guard
English	Toad
French	Toad
German	Toad
Spanish	Toad
Italian	Toad
Chinese (Simplified)	奇诺比奥防御
Chinese (Traditional)	奇諾比奧防禦
Korean	키노피오 가드, Toad Guard
Dutch	Toad
Russian	Тоад

Trivia

• Early screenshots of the move sparked rumors that Toad would appear as a playable character.
• Size changing (from Super Mushrooms, Poison Mushrooms, and Special Smash) all affect Toad's size, though Metal Boxes do not affect his coloring, due to the fact that Toad is a separate model from Peach. In Smash 4, Toad is now metal if Peach is under the metal effect, though this no longer applies in Ultimate.
• This is the only counter move that is not a down special. However, the animations for the attack in Melee name it as "SpecialLw", implying it was originally going to be her down special (with Vegetable's animations being named as "SpecialN").
  • As it's a neutral special instead, this is the only counter that Kirby can copy. Kirby's animations, curiously, still name the attack as "SpecialLw".
• Interestingly, Toad is referred to as "he" in Peach's Move List, but is referred to as "it" in Daisy's. The reason for this may be that the main red Toad has developed his own identity, but other colors of Toads are not as significant in the series, and are seen as a species rather than their own character (Daisy's Move List even refers to him as "a Toad" rather than simply "Toad").
  • However, the main Toad has been blue in several of his playable appearances, including the NES version of Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario Maker 2.
• If the Shadow Assist Trophy freezes Peach or Daisy while performing Toad, the counter hitbox will remain active and trigger if hit. The frozen character will not attack until being unfrozen, but will remain intangible in the mean time.

Peach's special moves

Neutral special	Toad
Side special	Peach Bomber
Up special	Peach Parasol
Down special	Vegetable
Final Smash	—	Peach Blossom

Daisy's special moves

Neutral special	Toad
Side special	Daisy Bomber
Up special	Daisy Parasol
Down special	Vegetable
Final Smash	Daisy Blossom