Captain Toad – Dream Smasher (Patreon Request)

Nintendo doesn’t have many all-stars not in Smash but of the remaining few Toad is arguably the biggest. Yeah Toad of himself is a bit of a mob. There are hundreds of Toads and while Toad has been playable in multiple titles it is almost always a different Toad. Toads are NPCs most of the time and will likely stay this way. However, one Toad who has stood out amongst the rest of the Toads is an adventurous Toad who goes by the name of Captain Toad. Now, how many more times will I write Toad in this Dream Smasher for everyone’s favourite Toad, Captain Toad? Let’s find out!

Who is Captain Toad?

Splash Screen by TheRealHeroOfWinds

Captain Toad made his debut in Super Mario Galaxy as the captain of a space-faring Toad squad called the Toad Brigade. This team travelled around the galaxy and helped Mario in his quest for the power stars. Captain Toad was often the more aloof member of the team, going out ahead and getting lost or trapped, although he always had a star if Mario could save him. Once the team returned to the Mushroom Kingdom the good captain turned to Treasure Hunting with his partner Toadette, often still being saved by Mario and friends.

Importance to Nintendo and his Series.

Toads are a key symbol of the Mario series and Nintendo in general, and so Captain Toad is as well. He is still a Toad after all, and a playable one at that. Captain Toad made his playable debut in Super Mario 3D World before getting the starring role in Captain Toad’s Treasure Trackers on Wii U, 3DS and Switch. This is the first time Toad has been the sole main character in a game since Wario’s Woods, and the first time he has been the titular character. This honour went to the Captain and shows how significant this makes him as one of the key Mario characters.

Design and Colors

Sprites by TheAnvil, Recolours by NantenJex

Captain Toad’s default attire is his adventure outfit, complete with backpack and headlamp. As Toads have come in many colours and each member of the Toad brigade has his own colour it only makes sense that they make up his alts. You have red toad as the default, then blue toad, yellow toad, green toad and finally purple toad. After this, I wasn’t sure for Toads outfits. It makes sense to have his iconic look as well, just with the backpack and headlamp, but this is the Toad used in Peach’s moveset and we want to avoid confusion. In the end for the final three, I made an inverted Toad outfit based on the Super Mushroom and classic Toad colours, a blue version based on the mini mushroom and then a pink version based on Toadette. I debated having Toadette herself be the final alt but I do not think they would go to all that trouble just for one costume, but I would love to be wrong as that would be awesome..

How Would He Play?

Right off the bat, yes Captain Toad can jump. I know in his original game he can’t because of the back-pack but my counters to this are: Toad’s can jump so it is not impossible, and Smash is a platform fighter so he has to jump. However, we can implement the heavy bag into Captain Toad’s playstyle.

Many people have had this idea but that’s because it makes too much sense. Captain Toad’s bag is used to carry all manner of tools and treasures and this weighs him down. So in Smash, to lighten the load he can eject some of these objects and this will increase his speed and jump ability. However, as Captain Toad hits people with his backpack for many moves it will ultimately make those attacks weaker so finding a balancing between strength and speed is crucial here. Fast and weak or strong and slow? You decide!

Captain Toad is not Villager though, he can’t just store any item. I like to compare him to Olimar in this regard. By pressing his standard special Captain Toad can pluck little vegetables from the ground and store them in his bag for a total of 5. Then with either his side or down special he can remove the vegetables and use them to attack, either one at a time or all at once. Not only does this ensure that Captain Toad is still playable even in matches with no items but it makes organising items as they are mostly just the same/all do the same thing. It would be too complicated to let players sort through the bag for the right item at that moment and so making them all vegetables solves this (although occasionally a stronger diamond can be plucked and used).

Now before we get into the moveset, here are some stats.

• Can they crawl: No
• Can they wall jump: No
• How many jumps do they have: 2
• Is there any exclusive abilities they have*: No
• Weight Class: varies
• Height Class: D
• Speed Class: varies
• Are they mirrored when they face left: Yes

Captain Toad would have the Mario symbol and when Kirby steals his power he gets the headlamp and the side special as his attack.

Move Name & Action	Description
Entrance	Captain Toad rises out of a warp pipe that then sinks into the ground.
Idle 1	Captain Toad holds his back-pack at the ready and looks around.
Idle 2	Captain Toad looks around nervously before pulling himself together.
Idle 3	Captain Toad stretches and yawns..
Walking	Captain Toad walks forward looking jolly.
Running	Looking slightly more panicked, Captain Toad is now holding his backpack by the straps with both hands as he runs forward.
Jump	Captain Toad does a little hop.
Damage	Captain Toad shows a pained expression as he gets knocked back.
Shield	Captain Toad crouches a little bit and clenches.
Neutral/Jabs	Captain Toad swings his backpack over
F-Tilt	Captain Toad nods his head forward a little bit.
Up-Tilt	Captain Toad hops a tiny little bit up and hits with his head.
D-Tilt	Captain Toad swings his head down.
Dash Attack	Captain Toad trips and does a roll forward.
Up Smash	Captain Toad charges up and swings his backpack over his head.
Down Smash	Captain Toad swings around in a circle with his backpack out.
Forward Smash	Captain Toad swings his backpack and slams it on the ground in front of him.
N-air	Captain Toad does a spin.
F-air	Captain Toad swings his headlamp in front of him, like Peach’s crown attack.
B-air	Captain Toad swings his headlamp behind him.
U-air	Captain Toad shrinks a little bit and then headbutts up.
D-air	Captain Toad leans backwards on his bag and lets the weight make him fall down.
Grab:	Captain Toad grabs his opponent with his hand.
Pummel	Captain Toad headbutts his foe multiple times.
F-throw	Captain Toad throws his opponents a little into the air and headbutts them.
B-throw	Captain Toad cups his opponent with his backpack, spins around and throws launches them backwards.
U-throw	Captain Toad grabs his opponent with his other hand and launches them upward.
D-throw	Captain Toad knocks his opponent down and jumps on them.
Neutral Special 1: Turnip pluck	Captain Toad plucks a turnip from the floor. These aren’t the same Turnips as Peach but a small one from his game. He then puts it in his bag, increasing the bags size by one. On the odd occasion he will pull out a diamond which acts the same but is stronger. If Captain Toad’s bag is full he won’t pull out anything but will look back and put his hand on his bag.
Neutral Special 2: Fast pluck	Plucking the turnip is practically instant but there is no chance of a diamond.
Neutral Special 3: Struggle pluck	It takes a little longer to pluck but the chance of a diamond is increased.
Side Special 1: Turnip chuck	Captain Toad throws a turnip out of his bag as a projectile. It can’t be held like Peach’s turnips.
Side Special 2: Concentrated chuck	Like the first one but this can be charged so that the throw is a bit stronger.
Side Special 3: Overarching chuck	Captain Toad now throws the turnip into the air in an overhead arch.
Up Special 1: Propellor Hat	Captain Toad gets a propellor hat from NSMB Wii and it functions like in that game. The height players go up is based on how heavy his bag is.
Up Special 2: Releasing Propellor	When Captain Toad uses his propellor his Turnips come flying out. He loses his ammo but he always travel the same distance.
Up Special 3: Backpack Propellor	Toad swings his backpack while he spins. He won’t travel as high but he does do more damage.
Down Special 1: Instant expulsion	Captain Toad shakes his bag and all of its contents burst out in random directions.
Down Special 2: Organised expulsion	Captain Toad puts his bag down and throws all its contents out behind him.
Down Special 3: Individual expulsion	Captain Toad shakes the bag and each turnip comes out one at a time but in a random direction.
Final Smash: Super Pickax	Captain Toad plucks the Super Pickax from the ground and it acts like an instant hammer item. Toad’s speed increases regardless of how much stuff he has in the bag.
Up Taunt	Captain Toad plays with the light on his headlamp by flicking it on and off.
Side Taunt	Captain Toad joyously runs in a circle before posing, the same animation as if he just got a star.
Down Taunt	Captain Toad puts his bag on the ground in front of him and shuffles through the content.
Victory animation 1	Captain Toad looks through his bag and pulls out a Diamond and holds it above his head.
Victory animation 2	Captain Toad performs his level clear animation from Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, complete with Star.
Victory animation 3	Captain Toad runs in a diagonal line towards the screen looking around before sticking one finger out in the direction he is walking as if to say ‘this way!’

Captain Toad’s victory theme could be a special one, the level clear theme from his game.

And finally Captain Toad is done. This Dream Smasher has been in the pipeline for a while and with a good chance of him being revealed for Smash for Switch (in my opinion) this needed to be done now. It helped that our patron ConnorEatsPants requested me to finish this so I hope he enjoys it. Mario always gets some character related to him, spin-off or main series and hopefully this time it will be Toad’s time to shine.

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Joshua 'NantenJex' Goldie

A historian and avid gamer, NantenJex is the Editor-in-Chief for Source Gaming, overseeing videos and reviews for the site. He has a passion for obscure gaming so any article you see on uncommon titles like Nazo no Murusame Jo, Yuyuki and Marvelous, to name a few, are most likely from him. He also likes game design leading to the creation of Dream Smashers, a series on potential newcomers for Super Smash Bros. He wants you all to know that Yoshi is objectively the best Nintendo character.

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