Toadette

A pink-capped hero with a heart of gold, ready to race or rescue her friends.

Toadette, known in Japanese as Kinopiko (キノピコ), is a character in the Mario franchise, first introduced in 2003's Mario Kart: Double Dash as Toad's racing partner. Originally appearing as mainly a side character playable in many spin-off titles, Toadette has since gone on to appear as a main playable character in many mainline Mario installments such as New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, as well as serving as one of the two protagonists in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

Quick Facts

Series: Mario
First game: Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)

Lore & Background

In her debut, Toadette was initially voiced by Jen Taylor and has since gone on to be voiced by Samantha Kelly and Laura Stahl respectively. Despite often being seen as the female counterpart to the Toads, neither Toad or Toadette were designed by Nintendo with genders in mind but instead as a genderless race that display gendered characteristics. In her appearance in U Deluxe, Toadette is capable of using a power-up called the Super Crown, which transforms her into a Princess Peach look-alike called Peachette (Japanese: キノピーチ, Hepburn: Kinopīchi) that allows her to improve her jumping abilities.

Toadette received commentary in regards to her gender and the roles she appears in, with some characters describing her as a "Ms. Male Character" and comparing her to the comic strip character Smurfette. Additional commentary was given about her relationship with Toad. Following the reveal of her Peachette form, it became the subject of both critics and fans who tried to understand how the power-up worked and the implications it had within the franchise's lore.

Other critics used the Super Crown as an analogy for the transgender community. Peachette's reveal also saw the creation of Bowsette, a fan created character based on the idea of the Mario villain Bowser if he used the Super Crown. The character became widely discussed among journalists and became immensely popular on social media as well as within art and cosplay communities.

Reader's Guide

Toadette resembles a Toad, fungi-humanoids that reside in the Mushroom Kingdom, with a pink mushroom cap head and primarily pink outfit, although in her debut in Mario Kart: Double Dash she wore scarlet dress and a maroon vest instead. Unlike regular Toads, Toadette has pigtails forming from her head resembling pink mushrooms. She was created for Double Dash as a racing partner for Toad, where both need to be unlocked by the player; according to the game's chief director, Kiyoshi Mizuki, Toad was originally meant to available from the beginning of the game but the developers couldn't think of who to partner him with, so they opted to leave him out at the time and make him unlockable.

According to Treasure Tracker producer Koichi Hayashida in an interview with GameSpot, that despite other female Toads existing in titles such as Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and The Thousand Year Door, neither Toadette or Toad were created with a specific gender or sex in mind, but were rather a genderless race that take on gendered characteristics.