Why everyone thinks Nintendo has forgotten about Toadsworth
Posted on August 9, 2026 by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo
Nintendo fans have noticed the complete absence of a particular character in recent Mario games, and by “recent”, we mean “every single all-new game since 2013”. Indeed, for whatever reason, Nintendo gave Toadsworth the boot over ten years ago, and he hasn’t been seen in a brand-new Mario title or spin-off ever since. He does at least appear in the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake, but overwriting his appearance in that game would have been a very notable move. The last time Toadsworth made an appearance in an all-new game was Mario & Luigi: Dream Team way back in 2013. So why has he been absent from the Super Mario series ever since?
Toadsworth, much like Toadette, made his debut in a GameCube Super Mario title – this one being Super Mario Sunshine. There, he acts as Peach’s caretaker of sorts. Toadsworth goes on to make many additional appearances over the years, ranging from small cameos in New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart: Double Dash to a major role in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
Though Toadsworth made several appearances in spin-offs and sports titles, he was rarely ever playable – only in Yakuman DS, Mario Superstar Baseball, and Mario Super Sluggers. He was never playable in Mario Kart, Mario Party, or anything of the sort. Looking at all of his appearances across games, he was most highly utilized during the GameCube era – he appeared in six different games between 2003 and 2004 alone, for instance. He went on to appear in five games in 2005, two games in 2006, two games in 2007, and then from there he appeared in fewer and fewer titles until he was completely gone. Mainline Mario games, in particular, dropped Toadsworth immediately after Super Mario Sunshine.
In 2012, Nintendo significantly altered the Paper Mario series in ways that most fans did not like. One of these changes was to the Toad NPCs – in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, virtually every Toad is visually identical save for color differences. This means that characters like Toadsworth, who have small visual differences including glasses and a mustache, were essentially erased from the Paper Mario series. We know Nintendo wanted to make Toads more uniform compared to one another, but that doesn’t really explain why Toadette continued to maintain relevance – after all, she was a Toad variant introduced in a GameCube-era Mario title too, and she was allowed to continue appearing in games.
But how do we know Toadsworth is specifically being excluded from Mario media? A good potential indicator is The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where a role very similar to Toadsworth’s is filled by a generic blue Toad instead. Sure, that’s not great evidence on its own, but according to concept art from the film, Toadsworth was actually planned to appear – even if only for a brief moment. In the end, he was completely cut and replaced by that blue Toad. Of course, that consideration may have been extremely brief given that concept art is created before the film enters full production, but it does at least show that someone wanted Toadsworth there. Toadsworth did not wind up appearing in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, either.
Furthermore, Nintendo recently created some summer Super Mario art (see above) based on key art from Super Mario Sunshine. The original art included Toadsworth, but the new version excludes him completely. In fact, Toadsworth’s exclusion from this art is what has caused this entire conversation in the first place.
So even looking at everything we know, it’s unclear why exactly Nintendo decided to erase Toadsworth from new Mario games. Wanting Toads to look more like other members of the same species makes sense in theory, until you think about Toadette, which kind of squashes that guess. Maybe we’ll all be shocked and see Toadsworth appear in a future Mario game as a ghost, and then that would explain why he’s been absent! It wouldn’t be too surprising, though, given that Nintendo suddenly seems more interested in giving the Mario series lore.
Do you think we’ll ever see Toadsworth again? Do you have any theories on why he’s been absent from media (besides him somehow passing away in-universe)? Let us know in the comments down below.
