Debut: Super Mario Bros.
Voiced in English by: John Stocker (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3), Bruce Sandig (Mario is Missing; PC version), Isaac Marshall (Mario Kart 64), Tomoko Maruno (video games, 1998-2001), Jen Taylor (2000-2007), Kelsey Hutchison (2005), Samantha Kelly (2007-present), Keegan-Michael Key, Jessica DiCicco and Eric Bauza (2023 animated movie)
Voiced in Japanese by: Yuriko Yamamoto and Hiroko Emori (The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach!, and Super Mario World: Mario and Yoshi's Adventure Land) Miyako Endō (original video animations), Nanae Sumitomo (Satellaview games), Tomoko Maruno (Mario Kart 64), Tomokazu Seki (dub of animated film)
Portrayed by: Mojo Nixon and John Fifer (1993 live-action movie)

Peach's many loyal subjects; the primary inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom. "Toad" is both the name of this race of people and of a generic character within this race. Toads in general are peaceful but steadfast, with a jolly demeanor.

• Adventurer Outfit: The Toad Brigade members and Toadette wear them in Treasure Tracker.
• Always Lawful Good: The series has yet to feature an outright evil Toad, not including the Mummy-Mes from Treasure Tracker or the sinister black-capped fake Toads from Paper Mario. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, twelve Toads comically appear in Toad Trainworks as a Zero-Effort Boss, disgruntled that their ride isn't taking off — they can't be targeted, verbally assault Mario for 1 HP each consecutively, and stop after blowing off some steam.
• Ambiguous Gender: At least, originally. Word of God states that the Toad designs weren't made with a specific gender in mind, which may be why the mushroom retainers seemed to be depicted as royal nursemaids in the early anime. On the other hand, their Japanese name Kinopio was chosen as a portmanteau of kinoko (mushroom) and Pinocchio, Pinocchio being a boy, of course. Nevertheless, it wasn't until Toadette was introduced with Tertiary Sexual Characteristics that the designers were conscious of giving Toads gendered appearances. This may or may not make the obviously-sexed Toads of the earlier RPGs an example of Early-Installment Weirdness. invoked
  "Actually, when we made the original Toad, we didn't really have in mind whether Toad was a boy or a girl. We just made the character Toad, and then ever since Toadette has started appearing in games, I think people have come to take the impression that Toad was a boy 'cuz Toadette was a girl, but obviously there's lots of different Toads that have been in a lot of different games."
• Ambiguously Related: Are Toad and Toadette siblings or love interests? No one knows. Nintendo changes stances often. invoked
• Badass Adorable: Toads are for the most part cowardly, but some of them (Yellow Toad and Blue Toad) join with the Mario Bros. in their adventures and prove themselves capable. They also prove their mettle in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
• Composite Character: Or perhaps Composite Terminology. Originally, "mushroom people" (Kinoko-ichizoku, literal translation) referred to the species, "mushroom retainer" (Kinopio, a portmanteau of "mushroom" and "Pinocchio") referred to the seven mushroom people that serve the princess, and "Toad" (also Kinopio) was a standalone mushroom retainer character made popular in western media. These days, "Toad" applies to all of these things. Paper Mario 64 was the first game to refer to the species as "Toads"; prior materials had called the species "Mushroom People" or "Mushrooms" and used the name "Toad" only for the individual by that name.
• Color-Coded Characters: The 5 recurring Toad colors each have personalities that are generally applied (if they get any characterization) whether or not they're the same individual.
  • Red Toad: Sometimes the Toad or Captain Toad, or just Red. Generally well meaning, and tries to be brave with varying results.
  • Blue Toad: Sometimes the Toad, when explicitly in the Toad Brigade, Hint Toad. The Blue one is usually the most thoughtful, or intelligent, occasionally wearing Nerd Glasses to clearly mark him as The Smart Guy.
  • Yellow Toad: A Lazy Bum or at least Really Fond of Sleeping. While the others are working Yellow is often dozing off, or goofying off as he's the most easy-going.
  • Green Toad: Green, sometimes Banktoad, is generally humble and the hardest working, though he can be critical of the leadership of the main Toad/Captain Toad/Toadette. He tends to have a pratical accessory like a pick-axe, map, or hammer so he may also be The Big Guy.
  • Purple Toad: Purple, sometimes Mailtoad, is generally the most cheerful and helpful around the house doing regular tasks like deliverying mail. Occasionally has an affinity for water, and can be found swimming or giving hints about hidden items and coins underwater.
• Carnivore Confusion: A non-meat version... the RPGS show that non-anthropomorphic mushrooms are the Mushroom Kingdom's main food source.
• Cowardly Lion: Toads are mostly known for their cowardice when placed in dangerous situations. But when playable, they can perform some daring feats of bravery when push comes to shove.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Starting with Super Mario Advance, the generic male Toads' voices got raspy and screechy.
• Depending on the Writer: It's highly variable whether the large mushroom cap on their heads is part of their bodies (e.g. in the Super Smash Bros. series, Peach can weaponize it to spray damaging spores) or a large fancy hat that can be removed. Further muddying the waters is the fact that Toadette appears to have mushroom pigtails while other female Toads in the Role Playing Games have normal hair growing from under it. It's possibly both, as with Koopa shells. Yoshiaki Koizumi, the producer for Super Mario Odyssey confirms that its a part of their heads.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Captain Toad and the Toad Brigade first appeared as an assortment of multi-colored but mostly nondescript Toads (apparently youths, considering how Toadsworth treats them) in Super Mario Sunshine. They reappeared in Super Mario Galaxy, but now with varied and distinct personalities. The cowardly red Toad appointed himself Captain, eventually being officially developed into a unique character with his own listing below.
• Fan of the Underdog: Few characters think highly of Luigi's heroics. Most Toads in Super Mario 64 DS in fact openly mock and dismiss Luigi, even when the guy goes out of his way to save them. One Toad however, idolizes Luigi greatly, and will only entrust the player with a Star if playing as him.
• Hobbits: Toads are essentially the Mushroom Kingdom's, being short, peaceful homebodies while actual humans like Mario and Luigi take on the heroic superhuman roles.
• Hypocrite: Most of the Toads ignore Luigi, are cold towards him and have clear favouritism towards Mario. This is all because he gets easily scared, yet he is shown to face his fears multiple times to save Mario or the Toads, and ironically, the Toads are so cowardly that almost all of them just run around screaming at the top of their lungs everytime Bowser shows up and they are quite useless in protecting Peach.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals:
  • Almost all Toads look alike, with the most notable exceptions of Toadsworth, Toadette and several female Toads in the Role Playing Games. This obviously has led to a lot of confusion over which Toad is the Toad and if Captain Toad is the same character, especially when two or more red-spotted blue-jacketed Toads appear at once. Further complicating matters, the sources that treat Captain Toad as separate from Toad also treat the blue-capped Toad in 3D World as the Toad. To add even more confusion, it isn't clear if this blue-capped Toad is the same one that's playable in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and there's yet another blue-capped Toad in Captain Toad's Toad Brigade (although this one wears glasses and is Blind Without 'Em).
  • One explanation given is that the Toad may not necessarily be "the" Toad; see Legacy Character below.
• Kid Appeal Characters: Toads are usually the weak but lovable type. There are a few Toads who could have been ankle biters, though.
• Leitmotif: The Toad House theme that first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Lovable Coward: Non-playable Toads are utterly worthless in dangerous situations, but cute enough to get away with it.
• Mushroom Man: The entire species, although All There in the Manual and Word of God are at odds with whether or not this is actually true to their appearance. invoked
• Non-Indicative Name: The Toad trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U points out that they have no relation to actual toads.
  "What's that? ToadSTOOLS? ...That makes more sense."
• Planet of Hats: Species of Mushroom Caps. Figuratively, they're all extremely friendly, and all they want to do is to be helpful to Mario and his friends in any way they can.
• Punny Name: In the Paper Mario games, the Toads all have names like Zess T. and the like.
  • Their Japanese name, Kinopio, is a portmanteau of kinoko (mushroom) and Pinocchio.
• Redshirt Army: Non-playable Toads can't even slow down a Goomba.
• Ret-Canon: The generic Toad voice used from Super Mario Advance onwards is clearly inspired by the character's portrayal in the DiC Entertainment cartoons, which was notable for the high-pitched, shrieking, gravelly voice.
• Vocal Evolution: While unique Toads have their own voices, generic Toads share the same voice, which has changed a lot over the years. Before Mario Kart 64, Toad's voice was actually first heard in the SNES version of Wario's Woods. In the game, he had a rather deep voice that sounded much like a young adolescent. Then came Mario Kart 64, where his voice sounded much more child-like and often screaming or cheering. In Super Mario Advance and forward (as a result of Jen Taylor, then the voice of Princess Peach and Toadette, being introduced as his new voice actress), his voice is changed to a less high level, but it is given a screech to it. When Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Party 8 debuted in 2007, he was voiced by Samantha Kelly, who also voices Princess Peach, Baby Peach, Pink Gold Peach, and Toadette.
• You Don't Look Like You: In the Nintendo Comics System, Toads (then referred to as "mushrooms" or "mushroom people") look like little more than Super Mushrooms with arms and feet, don't wear clothes, and sometimes speak a limited vocabulary. Only the royal mushroom retainer, Toad, and the royal mushroom assistant, Wooster, look like the traditional designs — most of the time, since at least one story depicted otherwise.

Debut: Super Mario Bros. 2 (as playable)

The royal mushroom retainer. He looks no different than the majority of his species, but is nonetheless considered his own character, at least depending on the appearance and role. Picking him apart from the crowd has historically been a subject of much contentiousness among fans.

• Ambiguous Situation: Beginning with Super Mario Bros. 2, there have been dozens of appearances by a single, nondescript toad, which for decades were treated as the same character "Toad", a regular in Mario's and Peach's inner circle. This changed in The New '10s, when #35 of the all-Toad, completely identical Red Rescue Brigade asked if Mario remembered him from another game, suggesting that the playable Toads were not all the same person and thereby bringing the whole notion of a single "Toad" into question, though official statements by Nintendo and the multiple pieces of media which do solidify Toad as a singular character suggest it's more of a Lampshade Hanging towards this.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: In Mario Kart 8, several non-playable Toads wearing spacesuits can be seen floating around Rainbow Road, but the playable Toad can breathe just fine without one.
• Blue Is Heroic: He was first (at least in his first distinct appearance) depicted in blue and has done so in several of his playable roles in adventures, and while he usually does wear red spots, blue is almost always Toad's distinguishing color, fitting for arguably the bravest among the Toads.
• Character Catchphrase: "I'm the best!", starting in Mario Kart 64 and being established by his use of the phrase in later games, even under different voice actors.
• Color-Coded Characters: While Toads come in many colors and red usually occupies an equal amount of his design, Toad is strongly associated with blue down to the palettes of his equipment in spinoffs. This helps keep him distinct with Mario, who also contains both blue and red in his design but is of course iconic with the color red. Adhering to this more closely is likely part of why Toad tends to show up with a blue cap most frequently in adventures where he's playable alongside Mario, letting him fill the blue next to Mario's red, Luigi's green, and Peach's pink.
• Continuity Nod: His appearance in 3D World was based off his debut game, Super Mario Bros. 2, complete with matching palette.
• A Day in the Limelight: He starred in his own game, Wario's Woods.
• Demoted to Extra: Ever since Paper Mario 64, the main Toad is usually eclipsed by his species and is mostly reserved for playable appearances and occasionally hosting or referee work in spinoffs. He returns, triumphantly, in Super Mario 3D World, as part of the same ensemble cast from Super Mario Bros. 2, which was his debut game.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • Toad has had many personalities over the years. While you could blend these traits, his short time on screen usually leads to focusing on one trait per portrayal at the expense of others.
    • He was usually a streetwise Spanner in the Works in the Super Show, and his official profile in "The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 Writers Bible indicates he didn't think much of the Mario Bros.' plans.
    • In later appearances, he's seen variously as a Cheerful Child, All-Loving Hero, but most commonly a Lovable Coward.
  • As per the Ambiguous Situation above, Color Splash threw a wrench into the works by suggesting there isn't and maybe never was a solitary, main "Toad". This is generally out of wonk with the fact that, outside of specific cases^note The Yellow and Blue Toads introduced in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, who are simply lumped together as 'Toad' in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, there was no indication that the many playable instances of Toad weren't the same character, and contradicted outright by profiles indicating playable Toads to be a returning character—an old Play Nintendo profile even declared, "In a kingdom full of Toads, there is only one 'Toad'".
• Dishing Out Dirt: Toad's Hyper Strike in Mario Strikers: Battle League interestingly picks up on this element in the absence of Monty Mole or a more traditionally earth-based cast member, with his headbutt sending the ball tunneling all the way underground to arrive at the goal.
• Drives Like Crazy: Seen in Luigi's Mansion 3 driving a bus he's too short to see over the steering wheel of. His operation of the vehicle consequentially involves primarily swerving and covers as much curb as it does road.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble : Sanguine
• Green Thumb: His special skill from Mario Sports Mix, which allows him to summon large mushrooms.
• Legacy Character: A line in Paper Mario: Color Splash implies that there is no solitary recurring Toad character, but rather that it is one of many multiple generic Toads. This could also explain the Captain Toad confusion.
  "Toad #35 of the red Rescue Squad, reporting for duty! Hey, Mario! Remember me? Toad? From that other game we were in together?"
• Pintsized Powerhouse: In his debut appearance of Super Mario Bros. 2, Toad is the quickest character at pulling turnips and chucking them, displaying higher physical strength than both Mario and Luigi (who have both displayed some truly absurd feats of strength in their own right) and the princess, despite generally being as short as half of their heights - and Mario himself would more than qualify as this. In one of the Nintendo Adventure books, Toad (appearing as a specific individual) wins the weightlifting event for the Olympics knockoff.
  • In Mario Superstar Baseball and its sequel, the red Toad is distinctively stronger and faster than all other colored Toads, and combined with these distinguishing traits is possibly Toad himself judging by prominence in cutscenes next to other main cast members.
• Playing with Fire: Fire Toad first became playable in Super Mario 3D World, and long before that, the form appeared under the name Super Toad in the Super Show, where it came with various other nifty bonuses like the power of Flight and additional strength.
• Promoted to Playable: Toad has underwent this in several different instances:
  • In the Mario Party series, Toad went from a hosting character to being playable throughout the Gamecube, Wii, DS and 3DS instalments from Mario Party 5 onward, though he stepped down to his old role of hosting again alongside Toadette in The Top 100 and the Switch era with Super Mario Party and Mario Party Superstars.
  • After appearing as a distinct Toad NPC throughout the adventure in Super Mario 3D Land, even making use of the Super Leaf to become Tanooki Toad for the first time, Toad finally became playable in 3D World, making it his first playable appearance in a Mario platformer since 2 and being the first time he could use many power-ups alongside the bros on an adventure.
  • An interesting case of this occurs with the Mario Strikers series - in the first and second games, Toads appeared as selectable sidekicks alongside other species such as Koopa Troopas, Birdos, and Boos, where they were still playable, as players could swap between controlling the captain and any other member of the team in a match. However, in Battle League, the team system was changed and the concept of captains and sidekicks was replaced with simply having teams be comprised of the individual characters from the main roster - however, Toad alone remains playable and selectable alongside previous team captains such as Mario and Peach, making this an instance of going from Toads being playable sidekicks to Toad being playable, and as a potential captain in his own right to boot.
• Use Your Head: Toad's Hyper Strike in Battle League, Drill Smash, has him sent into the air to smash the ball with his big shroomy head, and he does so with enough force that the ball is sent tunneling into the ground, before re-emerging at the goal.
• Weak, but Skilled: In Mario Golf: World Tour, where he has good control over the ball but has a weak drive.
• You All Look Familiar: Toad shares the standard design of his entire species, making it hard to distinguish him in group settings. There has also been a Flip-Flop of God overseas as to whether or not Toad is Captain Toad (below) with Prima guides and trading cards simply labeling Captain Toad as Toad. Super Mario 3D World only increased the confusion with a playable Toad with blue spots, Captain Toad with red spots, and three other supporting Toads in green, yellow, and purple, the colors of the Toad Brigade, but without their accessories (glasses, pick-axe, etc). Is it Captain Toad and Blue Toad, Captain Toad and Toad in a blue hat, or Toad in Captain gear and Blue Toad. And are the supporters regular Toads or the rest of the Brigade? According to Koichi Hayashida, Captain Toad is a separate character. Most games and Japanese material (with rare exceptions like Super Mario RPG) rarely identify a single Toad character. invoked
• You Don't Look Like You: In Super Mario Adventures, Toad, as the princess' guard, looks very different from the usual design. He and his three troops are depicted with a reversed mushroom cap color scheme, darker vest and pants, black shirt and belt, and Cool Shades. He's also differentiated from his men by having the thickest mustache (which disappears after they're written out of the story).

Debut: Super Mario Sunshine
Voiced by: Scott Burns

Peach's aged steward and right-hand fungus. He often appears as a supporting character, providing useful tips.

• Big "NO!": He lets out a good one when he loses in Mario Super Sluggers.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Toadsworth has been absent from mainline titles since New Super Mario Bros. He’s also been absent in the spin-offs since Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, which was his only real appearance since 2013 (not counting remakes and ports).
• A Day in the Limelight: Toadsworth is the overall host of Mario Party 7 which is arguably his largest role in a game to date.
• Expy: Of the Chancellor or Mushroom Minister in Super Mario RPG. They have a similar mustachioed appearance, the same worrisome attitude, and both characteristically refer to Mario as "Mario-dono" (Master Mario) in the Japanese versions.
• Final Boss: He is the final opponent in Yakuman DS.
• Flanderization: In his debut appearance, Toadsworth was obviously worried about Peach, but remained somewhat level-headed about it. Come Partners in Time, he becomes so paranoid he thinks his past self transformed Peach into a baby and kidnapped her the second he saw him.
• Good Counterpart: Can be considered this to Kamek, as they are both elderly advisers to their liege who have raised them from infancy. By extension, he's also this to Kammy Koopa for the same reasons.
• Old Retainer: To Peach.
• Promoted to Playable: He was playable in the Mario Superstar Baseball/Mario Super Sluggers as well as Yakuman DS.

Debut: Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Voiced by: Jen Taylor (2003-2005), Samantha Kelly (2007-present)

A Toad girl occasionally said to be the Toad character's sister, although this is contested. She initially appeared as a driver in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Toad's default partner, and has been playable in many spin-offs since then. She eventually made her way into the main series, even gaining an exclusive Power-Up called the "Super Crown" which transforms her into a Princess Peach lookalike named Peachette.

• Action Girl: For a Toad, she’s a surprisingly capable fighter and can easily keep up with the Mario Bros’ acrobatics as shown in New Super Mario Bros U: Deluxe and Super Mario Bros Wonder.
• Adventurer Outfit: She gets one in Treasure Tracker.
• Ambiguously Related: Her connection to Toad beyond being partnered in games like Double Dash!! is about as nebulous as that of Waluigi and Wario's. A few profiles in supplementary media (such as guidebooks and trading cards) refer to Toadette as Toad's sister, but this is never stated or even implied within the actual games. On the other hand, some games depict the two in ways that contrastingly hint at Ship Tease, such as the Yoshi Park 2 stage in Arcade GP 2 illustrating her and Toad blushing while bringing each other flowers, or the two bashfully holding hands in the Group Picture Ending of Mario Kart Wii. More neutrally, some figurine descriptions in Mario Party DS and even Super Mario Galaxy depict the two as building gifts for each other and stargazing respectively, and Mario Party 6 simply calls them... Shroommates. Ultimately, the most accurate way to describe the two would simply be as good friends.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Just like Toad, she has no problems breathing in space in Mario Kart 8, even though the NPC Toads floating around the track apparently need spacesuits to do the same.
• Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: Her Peachette form allows her to safely bounce out of dangerous pits.
• Breakout Character: Even referred to as "Rising Star" in a trailer for NSMBUD. In that game and Maker 2 she's taken Peach's place as the fourth pink playable hero after the Bros. and Toad. In the former she's even able to take on Peach's form. This is in addition to becoming a regular in spinoffs, Captain Toad's Number Two, and eventually playable in Wonder.
• The Cameo: She makes an appearance in an illustration as part of Super Mario Galaxy's introduction, stargazing alongside what seems to be Toad. It's especially noteworthy as this was before she became a Breakout Character, as Toadette was still very much a spinoff-relegated character at this point. She wouldn't go on to appear in a major role until Treasure Tracker 7 years after the fact, or in a main-line Mario game proper until 10 years later as an NPC in Odyssey.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She was missing between Mario Super Sluggers and Mario Kart 8. The year those games were released were 2008 and 2014, respectively.
• Cool Crown: In New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Toadette can obtain a power up called the Super Crown, which allows her to transform into a Princess Peach-like form known as "Peachette", which allows her to float and Double Jump.
• Damsel in Distress: Near the end of Super Mario Maker 2's Story Mode, she gets kidnapped by Bowser, leaving the other Toads without direction with construction work. Naturally, Mario is tasked to rescue her from the clutches of the Koopa King and finish building Peach's castle.
• A Day in the Limelight: She was mostly seen in various spinoff games such as Mario Party and Mario Kart. In Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, she along with Captain Toad are the main characters of the game. She is also playable in New Super Mario Bros. U: Deluxe and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
• Depending on the Writer: Toadette can waver between meek and emotional and rather aggressive.
• Distaff Counterpart: Toadette is often paired up with Toad in multiplayer games, and she's also one to Captain Toad in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
• Friend to All Living Things: In The Thousand Year Door, she thinks Punio's adorable. Her love of animals is occasionally mentioned in profiles.
• Gadgeteer Genius: With the help of the Paper Toads in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, she's able to craft giant, elaborate papercraft models of characters that the protagonists can use in battle. At one point at Bowser's Castle, she somehow manages to construct the Yoshi one in mere seconds.
  "It's true. Sometimes my genius frightens even me."
• Girlish Pigtails: She has part of her mushroom top shaped like pigtails.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Toadette is very giggly and girly but enjoys playing in the sports and kart races her friends participate in. She also plays a big role in Captain Toad when she and him rescue each other from an eagle, and in Mario Maker 2, when she is one of the constructors that build Princess Peach's castle.
• He Knows About Timed Hits: When Mario gets a new hammer or pair of boots in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, she will appear and give a tutorial about them.
• Idol Singer: Downplayed. Several of Toadette's profiles have mentioned she performs at music recitals, while her Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy indicates she's adored as a star by the Toads.
• Insufferable Genius: As the Chief of the castle project in Mario Maker 2 her narcissistic side starts to show, but to her credit it is a really good castle design.
• Mean Boss: In Mario Maker 2 as the Chief of the construction project with shades of Drunk with Power, she's constantly pushing the other Toads to get to work, and muses about docking their pay or reducing their breaks when they upset her. The others are afraid of going to her directly with problems on site, so they usually get Mario to take care of things quietly so she doesn't find out.
  "Hey, looks like my entire construction crew is SLACKING OFF up there! I blame the union."
• Morphic Resonance: In Deluxe, Toadette's Peachette form retains her Girlish Pigtails, gray eyes, mushroom-like spots on her dress, and brown shoes despite otherwise looking just like Princess Peach. The artwork◊ showing the before and after of the transformation even gives her the exact same pose in both forms.
• The Not-Love Interest: Toadette and Captain Toad are said to be friends, but Treasure Tracker has each of them going on their own separate journeys to rescue the other.
• Odd Friendship: She's apparently friends with Wario, if their tag team title in Mario Party 6 "Secret Friends" is to be believed. She also forms one with Kamek in Super Mario Party as they spend time together as co-hosts of the game, along with Toad.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted in the original Japanese versions, where Vanna T. of Paper Mario is known as Kinopiko (Kinopio, Toads' name with the added feminine given name suffix -ko) — matching Toadette. It is generally agreed that this is a coincidence and the recurring Toadette character first appeared in Double Dash!!, however.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: In New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, the Super Crown is exclusive only to Toadette and the other characters can't collect it for themselves during multiplayer, nor can they use it if they happen to have it in their inventory. Likewise, the Super Crown only appears on levels if Toadette is being played (though they can still be won as prizes in Toad Houses), as Super Acorns normally appear in their place.
• Pink Means Feminine: Toadette wears a lot of pink and is the only recurring female Toad.
• Plucky Girl: While most Toads tend to be Lovable Cowards by nature, Toadette is described as being upbeat and generally braver then most Toads. She's shown her spunky nature against even obvious threats since games like Treasure Tracker, and come the Switch era she rivals Toad himself in terms of game appearances in which she's embarked on a dangerous quest, alongside the brothers or alone.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Played with. Toadette doesn't appear to have actual hair, but her pink cap has pigtails which invoke the same kind of hairstyle. Her main colors are also matched by her cheerful, upbeat personality.
• Secret Character: In her debut appearance of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, she's unlocked alongside Toad. In a few other appearances, like in the Mario Party series, she's available to purchase with in-game points.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only overtly female Toad seen in the main series, although numerous female Toads are spotted in the spinoffs.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: How Toadette's Peachette form works basically gives the player Princess Peach's Floating Jump abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2, thereby letting the player play as Peach while Peach herself retains her Damsel in Distress role in the game.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Her voice sounded more energetic and high-pitched until Mario Party 6, when her voice sounded more calm and a bit monotone. She was later voiced by Samantha Kelly starting in Mario Party 8. Since Kelly also voices Toad, you might hear her voice sounding a lot like the other Toads, mostly when she gets excited or giggles. This is especially noticeable in Mario Party/Kart 8, Mario Golf: World Tour, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
  • In New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Peachette simply sounded like Peach herself, in the Mario Kart Tour she gained a more unique voice that sounded like a blend between Toadette and Peach.

Debut: Super Mario Galaxy

The leader of the Toad Brigade. Initially appeared as an NPC ally, then later got his own levels and, following that, his own game.

• Arch-Enemy: In his debut as a playable character, he has an adversary in the form of Wingo, a giant black bird that also loves to collect treasure.
• Breakout Character: Started as a side character and leader of the Toad Brigade in Super Mario Galaxy, and of the brigade, he's the one who got the most appearances in games since, to the point he even got his own video game.
• Characterization Marches On: When he was first introduced in Galaxy, his crew treated him as a General Failure, with his second in command, a blue Toad with glasses, being more the unofficial leader of the group. After becoming a Breakout Character, Captain Toad ended up taking a level in competence, becoming a more genuine explorer able to reach areas normal Toads wouldn't. The only reason this doesn't count as Character Development is that we never actually see his transition between the two.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Captain Toad can come across as a bit spacey, at times. Particularly in Super Mario Odyssey, where he's not sure how he ended up in the odd and precarious locations you find him in.
• Cool Crown: The cosmetic reward for beating "Mummy Me Maze Forever" is a giant crown for Captain Toad to wear.
• A Day in the Limelight: He starred in his own game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, based on his levels in Super Mario 3D World.
• Decomposite Character: In Galaxy, both the Prima guides and a set of Nintendo-licensed trading cards identified the leader of the Toad Brigade as the "main" Toad; indeed, they're practically indistinguishable save for the Captain's red vest. It wasn't until the leader of the Toad Brigade was officially designated "Captain Toad" that he was officially declared to be a unique character in his own right. This gets a nod in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate where if the Toad spirit is leveled up to 99 and enhanced, he turns into Captain Toad. The Illumination movie also makes them the same character.
• Depending on the Writer: He was originally known as the Toad Brigade Captain in Galaxy 2 ("Search for the Toad Brigade Captain") and wasn't called by his official name until Super Mario 3D World
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Japanese materials never claimed Captain Toad was the same Toad as before. That said, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate does have a nod to the Prima guides and the Nintendo-licensed trading cards by depicting Captain Toad as the enhanced form of the Toad spirit and Captain Toad turns up on a few of Toad's Battle Cards in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
• Foil:
  • He can be seen as one to Wario. Both of them are breakout Mario characters who received their own playable roles and titles where they find treasure, and while both have shared an occupation and somewhat of a selfish treasure-obsessed streak, their motives and attitudes differ: while Wario is mainly after riches and can settle on just selling things to get them (though he still hunts and hoards treasure as a hobby), Captain Toad seems to place more value on the adventure with seemingly little to no interest in monetary gain. While both of them have ditched their friends (the coworkers of WarioWare Inc. and Toad Brigade respectively) for prizes in an ending to a game, Wario knowingly attempted to run off with money his earned, while Captain Toad runs in pursuit of treasure while being oblivious to Toadette. While Wario is burly, rude, and has it out for Mario, the Captain is easily frightened, friendly, and has been a major source of help to him. Neither are completely heroic or corrupt, but Captain Toad at his worst is cowardly and oversells himself at the cost of his team while sincerely wanting to gather Power Stars to help save Peach, while Wario is out-and-out selfish and mean with occasional sincere acts of good.
  • Wingo was created as one to him, in classic Arch-Nemesis fashion. Both of them pursue shiny treasures and they come into conflict with one another when both of them happen upon the same glimmering prize, but while Wingo has no qualms with stealing Toadette along with the Power Star he was after and later kidnapping both Captain Toad and Toadette once more seemingly out of spite, while Captain Toad has a good-hearted and even heroic streak that compels him to rescue Toadette to begin with, having a compulsive lust for treasure without stooping to the misdeeds that Wingo will.
• General Failure: In his Galaxy appearance, if what his crew has to say about him is anything to go by. This is a trait that conspicuously leaves his characterization in later appearances.
• Genius Ditz: Spacey, foolhardy, and sometimes cowardly he may be, but Captain Toad has proven with time that he really is a capable explorer and treasure hunter.
• Greed: Captain Toad loves his treasure, and Shinya Hiratake (the director of Treasure Tracker) even questioned his loyalty to the Mushroom Kingdom due to his single-minded focus on chasing it. He can be seen a lighter shade of greed to both fellow treasure hunter Wario and his nemesis Wingo in this regard, as while both of them are similarly obsessed with treasure, Captain Toad hasn't been known to be quite as exploitative as Wario and will stop at nothing to save Toadette when the crooked Wingo kidnaps her and keeps her hostage with a Power Star.
• Innocently Insensitive: He does care about the other members of the Toad Brigade, in Toadette's case enough to go on an arduous quest to rescue her twice, but as the ending of Treasure Tracker shows, his love and pursuit of treasure can cause him to run off and desert his teammates even as they call out for him, to the extent of leaving them feeling outright betrayed in several instances in the Galaxy games.
• Leitmotif: He has one which accompanies most of his appearances since his debut, and in-line with his character, it evolved from a short and simple jingle into an upbeat and triumphant melody in its own right as he rose to prominence between Galaxy and Treasure Tracker. It's used for most of his levels in 3D World and several tunes from Treasure Tracker are remixes of it.
• Promoted to Playable: His levels in 3D World, which eventually led to him getting his own spinoff.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: In Treasure Tracker, one Idle Animation of his is to shiver in fear in boss battles or spooky areas. Sometimes he'll say "s-s-scared..." when he does.
• Weak, but Skilled: In his stages in Super Mario 3D World as well as Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Captain Toad has absolutely no jumping ability. That doesn't stop him from solving the puzzles that happen to be his stages.

Debut: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

A pair of brave Toads who leap to Mario and Luigi's side to save the Princess. Toad, who is usually a red-capped character, takes the latter's appearance as the default fourth player in Super Mario 3D World.

• Chromatic Arrangement: Their main distinguishing characteristic. They seem to be there just to complete Red (Mario), Green (Luigi), Blue, and Yellow for the player.
• Demoted to Extra: Blue Toad is playable in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, but only as a palette swap. Yellow Toad is the default and the one to appear in cutscenes and promotional material.
• An Ice Person: Ice Toad and Penguin Toad from New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
• Jumped at the Call: Where Toad is somewhat cowardly, these two rush into battle just as swiftly as the Mario Bros. do.
• Making a Splash: Bubble Toad from Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
• Meaningful Rename: Yellow Toad is renamed to just "Toad" in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, given he and Blue Toad share a character slot.
• Playing with Fire: Fire Toad from New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U.

Debut: Super Mario World
Voiced by: Kathy Fitzgerald (Mario Is Missing!; PC version), Frank Welker (live-action film), Andrew Sabiston (Super Mario World), Kazumi Totaka (1998-current)
Voiced in Japanese by: Chika Sakamoto, Ikue Otani, and Tamao Hayashi (Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi's Adventure Land), Kazuko Sugiyama and Keiko Yamamoto (Japanese ads), Koji Kondo (1990-1998)

Yoshis are an intelligent race of multicolored dinosaurs that hail from Yoshi's Island (aka Yo’ster Isle). They are usually represented by a green member of the species, and often serve as mounts for Mario and his allies.

• Always Lawful Good: Except for Boshi in Super Mario RPG, who is more of a bully anyway, all Yoshis encountered in the games are friendly. The sole exception is Paper Mario: Color Splash, where they appear as unbeatable enemies in Emerald Circus (they've been captured to be performance animals).
• Amazing Technicolor Population: In Super Mario World, only the green variation was commonly seen throughout Dinosaur Land, with red, blue, and yellow being chalked up to "legend" (actually found in Star World and the ending). In later appearances, there is a veritable rainbow of colors beyond these four.
• Animated Actors: In Mario's Game Gallery, the baby Yoshis play the role as checker pieces against Koopa Troopas in Checkers.
• Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: Much like the Kongs, the games go back and forth on whether or not Yoshis are wild animals or an intelligent race with their own society and culture. Yoshi towns and civilizations are prominent in many of the role-playing games. On the other hand, Paper Mario: Color Splash shows a few Yoshis captured and used as circus animals, and Yoshi Valley in Mario Kart 8 is home to a Wild Yoshi Sanctuary.
• Arch-Enemy: To Kamek, who Yoshi has fought several times when Mario and Bowser were little. They first encountered simply because the Yoshis were helping Mario reunite with his brother, but Kamek has over time developed a personal hatred of the dinosaurs themselves, which they repay in kind.
• Art Evolution: Started off as anthropomorphic T-rexes, but starting with Yoshi's Island, they were given larger, human-like arms, a smaller neck, a more upright position, and a cuter face. The saddle on their backs also seem to be a shell, giving them a more turtle-like appearance.
• Baby Talk: After Yoshi's Story, even adult Yoshis sometimes speak in what was originally Baby Yoshi Talk instead of their Signature Sound Effect.
• Badass Adorable: Yoshis are probably the cutest critters you’ll meet in the Mushroom Kingdom. Gameplay-wise, Yoshis are often far more capable than the Mario brothers, being mostly invincible and with more options for defeating foes. In Yoshi's Island, the lose condition was for Baby Mario to be kidnapped, and enemies could only faze and not KO the Yoshi (although certain obstacles like spikes, lava, and pits can still do them in). And this isn't even getting into how the Yoshi herd just up and decided to help Baby Mario and incidentally ended up leveling Yoshi's Island to get him home.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Seriously, the utter shitstorm they go through just to get a single baby back to his brother and get both of them back home...
• Balloon Belly:
  • When eating large enemies, most prominently in Yoshi's New Island.
  • Yoshi also has a powerup in Super Mario Galaxy 2, the Blimp Fruit, which causes his belly to inflate like a balloon in a similar manner to how the Power Balloon affects the Mario Brothers. Balloon Baby Yoshis in New Super Mario Bros. U can perform this without the use of a powerup.
• Big Eater: Even as babies, they can eat anything put in front of them.
• The Big Guy: Since their first appearance in Super Mario World, everytime Yoshis appear as a mount for Mario, they can crush the enemies he can't stomp on, and can cross areas which would damage the plumber if he walked by himself.
• Black-Hole Belly: Sometimes what they eat comes out as eggs, in other games nothing leaves.
• Breakout Character: First introduced in Super Mario World, he since has become a main staple of the cast ever since. Starting with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, he's established his own series of games.
• Breath Weapon: Can temporarily breath fire or ice depending on the games. Blue watermelons in Yoshi's Island give ice breath, while fire breath can be gained from red watermelons, red Koopa shells, or Power Flowers.
• Cartoon Creature: While Yoshi is a dinosaur according to most sources, he barely resembles most real-life dinosaur species. Although Yoshi has the body plan of a theropod, he also has features of lizards, amphibians and humans.
• A Day in the Limelight: Yoshi's Island and all related games.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Yoshi is referred to a dragon on occasion. His original Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. is known as "Super Dragon".
• Double Jump:
  • Since Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshis have the ability to "Flutter Jump", which means kicking rapidly in midair to gain additional height.
  • Mario can also kick off of Yoshi for a mid-air jump in Super Mario World.
• Dumb Dinos: Averted. The species is fully sapient, and Yoshi himself is a hero in his own right.
• Egg-Laying Male: Despite being consistently referred to with male pronouns throughout the series, Yoshi is frequently depicted laying eggs as early as his first appearance, often using them as projectiles (especially in the Yoshi's Island sub-series). Some games even depict Yoshi's eggs hatching into 1-Ups or power-ups.
• Extreme Omnivore: The only thing Yoshis object to is super spicy foods, and even then they'll still swallow it.
• Fire Is Red: While any color of Yoshi can breath fire depending on the game, red Yoshis are commonly associated with it. Red Yoshis could breath fire from any color Koopa shell in Super Mario World, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition gave the Fire attribute to both red Yoshi variants, and red Yoshis shoot fireballs instead of using their tongues in Super Mario Maker 2.
• Fragile Speedster: In most appearances. Generally, they have less staying power than both Mario Bros., but are at least as fast as Luigi. In Super Mario 64 DS, Yoshi takes the most damage from attacks out of all of the characters.
• Gasshole: Yoshis fart instead of releasing eggs after eating Fuzzies in Yoshi's Island or any enemy in Yoshi's Universal Gravitation, with the latter game even having official artwork◊ of it.
• Ground Pound: First introduced in Yoshi's Island, Yoshi was the first to use it.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Unlike in Super Mario World (where Yoshi can accompany Mario and Luigi in as many levels as possible except Castles, Fortresses and Ghost Houses), the famed green dinosaur is relegated to this status in Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the New Super Mario Bros. sub-series; in all those games, as soon as the current level having Yoshi is cleared, the characters will leave him behind. It's not possible to continue forward with him.
• Horse of a Different Color: Many different colors, in fact, although these "steeds" are based on dinosaurs.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Introduced nine years after Mario's first game, Yoshi became one of the most important characters in the franchise, and it's difficult to imagine the series without him.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Yoshis have an even more homogeneous population than Toads, so they've got the Identical Individuals part down pat, but it is somewhat explicable — see One-Gender Race below.
• The Juggernaut: Alright, well, the collective of Yoshis in Yoshi's Island transported Baby Mario nonstop through the island, cutting a swathe through the insanely deadly world map.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Yoshis have a huge amount of kid appeal, as cutesy dinosaurs that come in a rainbow of colors, and the Yoshi's Island games often have a more childish pastel aesthetic than the main Mario series. Although most canon speaking roles for Yoshis depict them as adults with similar intelligence and maturity to Mario and Luigi, their squeaky voices and Pokémon Speak kind of undermine this.
• Killer Rabbit: These cute dinosaurs are some of the most fearsome predators ever seen, knowingly consuming sentient creatures the same size as itself whole.
• Legacy Character: Dialog in Super Mario RPG and Super Mario 64 indicates that their green Yoshi is the same one as the one who first met Mario in Super Mario World, but later games drop the connection and primarily treat Yoshi as a species. It has been assumed that Yoshi's Island chronologically featured the formal introduction of the main green Yoshi as the one who first met Baby Mario^note while Yoshi's Story featured a green Yoshi among the hatchlings as the default character, it takes place after said game, as evidenced by Baby Bowser's line referring to one of them as "Mario's little pet"; however, during the ending of Yoshi's Island DS, a green Yoshi egg hatches with a star above the newborn's head after the narration points out that there should be seven star children instead of six (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Donkey Kong, Wario, and even Bowser). The strong implication is that this baby grew up to become a/the current-day green Yoshi.
• Leitmotif: Has a few depending on the game: the main theme of Yoshi's Island, the main theme of Yoshi's Story, the "Make Eggs, Throw Eggs" theme (from the first level of Yoshi's Island), the Athletic theme from the same game, and the first level of Yoshi's Story. Also, in most games, drum beats are added to the soundtrack while Mario or Luigi is riding Yoshi.
• Lightning Bruiser: When Yoshi appears as a mount for Mario, he can crush spiky enemies and walk on spikes, something that Mario can only do when using a Spin Jump, and only Bottomless Pits and lava pools can actually kill him. Spin-offs also show Yoshi with high speed.
• Manchild: Even more than the Mario Bros. Most Yoshi that appear in the series are adults, but their high-pitched Pokémon Speak resembles Baby Talk and their personalities are even more cheerful and playful. Highlighting this aspect in certain games, such as in Mario Party 10 and its successors or in Mario Strikers: Battle League, where Yoshi's losing animation depicts him throwing a temper tantrum, crying while flailing about.
• Mascot's Name Goes Unchanged: While many characters were renamed for the western market (e.g. Kuribo became "Goomba", Nokonoko was renamed "Koopa Troopa", etc.), Yoshis have always retained their distinctly Japanese name from the get-go.
• Named After Their Planet: Named After Their Island. This is the case according to the Super Mario World manual, although this is before their Verbal Tic was introduced, which would suggest vice versa.
• Non-Human Sidekick: To Mario in Super Mario World, though only temporarily and completely optional. Full-time duty in Yoshi's Safari, though.
• One-Gender Race: Despite their ability to lay eggs by the dozen, Yoshis are only differentiated by color rather than sex, and are universally referred to with masculine rather than feminine pronouns. According to the Yoshi trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee (when set to Japanese), Yoshis are neither male nor female, which means they reproduce asexually. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Otacon states that Yoshi prefers to be called male despite having a female trait. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Palutena theorizes that all beings contain male and female elements, and Yoshi is no different. However, since the information stating this primarily comes from the Super Smash Bros. franchise, it is not clear if this applies to the main series.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Yoshi is chiefly a dinosaur-like being, but can gain some dragon-like traits under certain conditions. Eating certain shells in Super Mario World allows Yoshi to breath fire and fly, and his Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and 4, where he grows wings and becomes able to breathe fire, is called "Super Dragon".
• Overly-Long Tongue: They catch prey like chameleons, and can also chew them up in the Smash Bros. series.
• Overnight Age-Up: Most of the time, when Yoshi emerges from his egg he'll immediately grow from a baby to an adult. Even the Blue, Red, and Yellow Yoshis from Super Mario World that remain as babies when they hatch will quickly grow up when they've been fed enough.
• Planet of Hats: Species of Hats. Most of them have similar personality, temperament, tastes, and, in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the same hobby (racing).
• Planet of Steves: In the mid-2000's, Nintendo of Europe's "Mario's Megasite" confirmed that all Yoshis are named Yoshi; despite this, it has been suggested via in-game dialog that the green Yoshi from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Super Mario 64 is one of the Yoshis from Super Mario World. Ultimately, it is impossible to tell if this same Yoshi individual recurred in other platformers and spinoffs, especially since nearly all official descriptions make no attempt to distinguish between them (which, for Nintendo, is par for the course).
• Pokémon Speak: Sometimes. Overlaps with Translation Convention because Mario and Luigi know the language.
• The Pollyanna: Similarly to Mario, Yoshi is cheerful and optimistic.
• Power Up Mount: This was their original role, and it has been their role in many games since then.
• Proj-egg-tile: Their signature Egg Throw move. Oddly enough, this tends to be exclusive to the Yoshi's Island series, save for Super Mario 64 DS.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Both as a baby and an adult.
• Running Gag: Yoshi has a tendency to sleep through or be oblivious to his friends getting kidnapped:
  • In Super Mario 64, Princess Peach is kidnapped and held captive inside her castle, and Yoshi spends the entire game relaxing on top of said castle, oblivious to the commotion below.
  • In the DS remake of 64, Yoshi sleeps through not just Peach being kidnapped, but also Mario, Luigi, and Wario, to the point that a Lakitu actually has to wake him up to rescue them.
  • In Super Mario Odyssey, Yoshi can be found dozing off on top of Peach's Castle once again, implying that he somehow slept through Bowssr's entire, not-at-all-subtle invasion in the game's opening.
• Saved for the Sequel: Design sketches show that there were plans to introduce Yoshi as early as Super Mario Bros., but due to technological limitations, he didn't appear until Super Mario World.
• Signature Sound Effect: "Zip-zoo!" This was replaced with Yoshi Speak in Yoshi's Story onwards (although it first made its appearance in Super Mario Adventures), but made its return as of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The famous "Zip-zoo!" was eventually identified as an orchestral brass hit.
• Spell My Name With An S: Has two of them, and they're both in Yoshi's Island depending on region. In the Japanese version, the name is spelled as "Yossy" right on the box art logo as well as in a platforming section of World 6-Extra. The English version has the plural of Yoshi as "Yoshies" in the Super Nintendo version and "Yoshis" in the Game Boy Advance version (which is how it is elsewhere).
• Star Power: Early versions of Yoshi were heavily associated with stars, which resulted in things like special breeds of Yoshi being found on the Star Road and one game in which "Star Yoshi" was the ultimate form hatched from a Yoshi egg. This idea was abandoned by the days of the N64. Yoshi's Island DS brought it back, in a sense, with the Star Children, although only one of them is a Yoshi (a green one, implied to be the very same Yoshi that would become Mario's best friend).
• Suddenly Voiced: Zigzagged. Much like Bowser, Yoshi speaks in fluent English in games revolved solely around written dialogue. Otherwise, he just makes grunts and animal-like noises.
• Super Drowning Skills: Yoshis that live on Isle Delfino dissolve and return to their egg upon contact with a large body of water. (Or upon being dismounted in ankle-deep water.)
• Super-Speed: He gains this whenever he eats a Dash Pepper in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Other than that, he's usually at least as fast as Luigi. He's even classified as a Speed character in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, though he is quite a bit slower than the other speed characters.
• Super-Strength: Yoshis can lift and throw eggs several times larger than their entire bodies in Yoshi's New Island.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Yoshis can eat just about anything they can fit into their mouths, but they have a fondness for fruit. Yoshi's Story indicates that the kind of fruit depends on the color of the Yoshi (green = watermelon, blue = grapes, red = apples, yellow = bananas etc.), but all of them really love green melons. Super Mario RPG shows that they also enjoy being treated to Yoshi cookies, which additionally double as their Practical Currency. Said cookies are made from the aformentioned melons if Paper Mario 64 is any indication.
• Translation Convention: In some games (namely the Role Playing Games), Yoshis have their dialogue in parenthesis, being the translated language of the Yoshis. It's probable that Mario and Luigi know the Yoshi language, at least after the events of Super Mario RPG (where the returning green Yoshi is required to translate for them).
• T. Rexpy: Yoshi isn't an actual T. rex as made clear by the existence of a bona fide one in Super Mario Odyssey, but he's an anthropomorphic, cutesy caricature of one, veering towards Cartoon Creature due to his unique design features and abilities. The live-action movie instead goes the Raptor Attack route.
• Use Your Head: The first three Mario Party games had Yoshi use headbutts to attack while everyone else used punches or slaps. If Mario or Luigi ride Yoshi in Super Mario Galaxy 2, their Spin is replaced with the Head Shake attack.
• Variable Mix: In any game where they can be ridden, there will always be a drumbeat added to the music when he's mounted.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: In Super Mario World. Being able to jump off of Yoshi in midair for a second jump meant that many a player has started to fall into a Bottomless Pit, only to jump off Yoshi and abandon him to take the fall instead. And this goes double for ROM-hacks of the game, which often flat-out require the technique — and Super Mario Maker, as the official successor to said ROM hacks, is no stranger to Yoshi-sacrificing, either.
• Wolverine Publicity: The Japanese boxart for Super Mario RPG places Yoshi right alongside the main cast, despite the fact that he is neither a playable character nor does he have any major involvement in the story. The remake's boxart is based on the Japanese version of the original, but Yoshi is omitted from the cast.

Debut: Luigi's Mansion
Voiced by: Kazumi Totaka

E. Gadd is a friendly, absentminded scientist who helps the Mario Bros. with his many inventions, including F.L.U.D.D. and Bowser Jr.'s Magic Brush (Super Mario Sunshine) and Luigi's Poltergust 3000 Ghost vacuum (Luigi's Mansion). He also has smaller roles in a lot of the Role-Playing Game titles, providing backup with even more inventions. His name in the Japanese version of the games is "Oya Ma" ("Oh my!").

• Absent-Minded Professor: If his swirly glasses are any indication.
• Artistic Age: Despite his aged appearance, he's most likely in his mid-forties. ^note In Luigi's Mansion, he states that he's lived in Boo Woods since the age of 20. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time shows that this happened when the Mario Bros. (24-25) were toddlers, approximately 23ish years before the present.
• Big Good: Is this for the Luigi's Mansion series, providing Luigi with the direction and gadgets needed to bust the various ghosts.
• Bootstrapped Leitmotif: Whenever he appears, he tends to be followed by the Leitmotif that used to be the Theme-and-Variations Soundtrack from Luigi's Mansion.
• Character Catchphrase: "CRIMINY!" in Dark Moon, which is spoken by him practically every time something goes wrong.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first Luigi's Mansion game, E. Gadd states that even though the treasure in the mansion is real, he has no interest in the stuff and implores Luigi to use it as he likes. Come Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Luigi's Mansion 3, E. Gadd is considerably far more interested in money and Luigi can buy useful upgrades or items from him at a price. In the third game, he even says that while it's important Luigi saves his friends, collecting money is also important! Might have something to do with his research no longer being a dead end on the outskirts of Boo Woods.
• Continuity Nod: Two in Super Mario Sunshine:
  • F.L.U.D.D during his introduction claims to have been built by a company called "Gadd Science, Incorporated", which is supported by the fact that he bares Gadd's logo on him in the Pinna Park cutscene.^note Strangely, however, this is the only moment in the game where the logo is visible.
  • Bowser Jr. mentions that he received his magic paintbrush from "a strange old man in a white coat," and indeed, the brush bears his logo on it. Exactly what went on between the two has yet to be explained.
• Cool Old Guy: He's a relatively-old old scientist that creates ghost-busting vacuums, magic paintbrushes, talking water pumps, and a mean cup of coffee.
• Dub Name Change: A rarity among video game characters, E. Gadd has his own name in no less than eleven languages, for the purpose of preserving his Punny Name.
  • As noted above, his original Japanese name is "Oya Ma", which means "oh my!".
  • In French, he's called "Karl Tastroff" (or K. Tastroff, a pun on "catastrophe").
  • In Spanish, he's called "Professor Fesor" in Iberia.
  • The Latin American players know him as "D. Sastre", a pun on "desastre" (disaster).
  • His German name is "Immanuel Gidd" (or I. Gidd, a pun on "igitt", an exclamation of disgust).
  • In Italian, he's called "Strambic", a pun on "strambo" (strange).
  • The Dutch know him as "Klemens Wibus" (or "K. Wibus" (strange man) for short).
  • The Portuguese know him as "Anacleto Luado" (or "A. Luado" (lunatic) for short).
  • His Russian name is "P. U. Galtin", a pun on "pugat" (to scare).
  • His Korean name is "Aratta Baksa", which comes from "aratda" (all right) and "baksa" (doctor).
  • In Chinese, he's known as "Āiyō•wèi Bóshì", which comes from the words for "uh-oh!", "hey!", and "professor".
• Gadgeteer Genius: Just about any unusual tech in the Kingdom comes from his lab.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Luigi.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the Luigi's Mansion games, he forgets about his own imperilled Toad assistants in Dark Moon, acts annoyed in 3 when Luigi wants him to stay to help rescue his friends (and forgets about them, too), and generally isn't very sympathetic to Luigi's fear. All the same, he's consistently helpful and on Luigi's side, monitoring his progress and showing true concern for his safety.
• Leitmotif: The original Luigi's Mansion gave him a unique chiptune theme which played every time he called with the Game Boy Horror, which was a reprise of the training room theme. Following installments simply use the main theme from the original game.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: He's the shortest human character, being more on par with Toad's size.
• Mission Control: In the Luigi's Mansion games.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, he mentions having sold off King Boo's painting at a garage sale (a car-boot sale in the European English version), which is heavily implied to have contributed to his escape.
  • Gets lured to The Last Resort hotel in Luigi's Mansion 3, enabling Hellen Gravely to capture him, free King Boo, and set the events of the game in motion. Of course, his mere presence also has the opposite effect since Luigi having access to his technology allowed him to defeat Gravely and King Boo.
• Opaque Nerd Glasses: He has swirly glasses that don't show his eyes at all.^note (You can get a very brief chance of seeing E. Gadd's eyes in Luigi's Mansion 3; they're very small and beady-looking.)
• The Professor: He excels in the study of the supernatural.
• Punny Name: E. Gadd, as well as his various localized names.
• Speaking Simlish: Whenever Gadd is interacted with, he speaks with gibberish that sounds vaguely Japanese. Of course, real words are provided for the player to read.
  "Siki-siki! Medabe!"
• Stable Time Loop: After his younger self watches Baby Mario put out a fire, his memories of his present self get altered and then gets the idea to make the Hydrogush 4000. This was possible because of his time machine causing the entire game's mess. Incidentally, the whole eruption on Thwomp Volcano destroyed his lab there, forcing him to relocate to a new one in Boo Wood to instead focus on paranormal research.
• Techno Babble: As one way to highlight the fact that he's a scientist, he sometimes speaks this way, and, when briefing Luigi, occasionally has to go back and explain in simpler terms.
• Trademark Favorite Food: E. Gadd seems especially fond of coffee. He runs a coffee shop in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and gives you helpful items when new blends are created. Also, in his Research Journal concerning the creation of Gooigi (found here), he makes constant references to his favourite coffee bend, Lunoman Greenie. Finally, in Luigi's Mansion 3, he always seems to have a cup of what is presumably coffee by his keyboard.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His inventions and studies often cause just as many problems as they solve. His F.L.U.D.D saves the day in Sunshine, but his Magic Paintbrush is in the villains' hands, and is causing all of the trouble. His time machine in Partners in Time endangers the princess. He also makes the mistake of selling the captured King Boo in painting form between the two Luigi's Mansion games, causing the plot of the second game to go into action.

Debut: Super Mario Sunshine
Voiced in English by: Kit Harris

The Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device and Mario's partner throughout Super Mario Sunshine. A water pack and talking pump in one, it is capable of hosing down various things such as the paint plaguing Isle Delfino, putting out fires, and with the other nozzles, offer Mario hovering capabilities, super jumps, or give a speed boost.

• Backpack Cannon: It straps onto Mario's back and performs his functions from there.
• Continuity Cavalcade: When scanning Mario, look at the bottom left corner of its interface. It plays back game footage of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64 during the scan.
• Disney Death: Ends up breaking down after the final boss. Thankfully, it gets repaired back into working order.
• Fun with Acronyms: Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device, when its acronym, F.L.U.D.D., is a play on the word "flood."
• In a Single Bound: The Rocket Nozzle shoots Mario high in the air with a blast of pressurized water.
• Jet Pack: Can somewhat become this with the Rocket Nozzle or Hover Nozzle. Though it substitutes plumes of fire for a blast of rapid-shot water.
• Kill It with Water: Sometimes you need F.L.U.D.D.'s abilities to hamper bosses, sometimes a good spraying of water is enough to take them down entirely.
• Machine Monotone: Speaks with a monotonous and electronic voice.
• Making a Splash: It's not just a portable spray bottle, but can also use water to hover, rocket in the sky, or make the user run faster.
• Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: While the Spray Nozzle is always equipped, it can only have either the Hover, Rocket, or Turbo equipped as the secondary nozzle.
• Nitro Boost: The Turbo Nozzle makes Mario move a lot quicker, though turning in water is easier than on land.
• Robot Buddy: It's capable of speaking to Mario while offering instructions and advice.

Debut: Super Princess Peach

A magical, talking parasol found by Toadsworth one day, then passed on to Peach to assist her.

• Empathic Weapon: He's a sentient parasol.
• Extreme Omnivore: Upon picking up enemies, he can swallow them whole to replenish vibe power.
• Forced Transformation: Perry was once a human boy with special powers before an evil magician turned him into the parasol he is today.
• Parasol of Pain: Is the parasol in question, used to whack enemies and take them out.

Debut: Super Mario Galaxy
Voiced in English by: Mercedes Rose (2007-2010) Kerri Kane (2011-2018), Laura Faye Smith (2013-present)

Once, Rosalina was a young girl living on (the Mario version of) Earth, but she found an old spaceship with a Luma (a living star-person) inside. Together, they traveled across the universe, and as she grew older, to fill the void left by the loss of her mother, Rosalina adopted the Lumas as her own children. She built the Comet Observatory to travel the space lanes and keep them safe, and returns to check up on her planet of birth once a century. She aided Mario during Bowser's ill-fated attempts at conquering space. In Japan, her name is Rosetta, after the type of orbit. Nowadays, she tends to appear in spinoff titles or as an unlockable character under certain conditions.

• Action Girl: In Super Mario Galaxy, she transforms her space station into comet mode and blasts though the armada surrounding the castle like the ships were nothing but cheap toys, and in Super Mario 3D World, she's a playable character who has her own personal attack against enemies.
• Action Mom: Adoptive mother of the Lumas; and as Super Mario 3D World and Super Smash Bros. show, a capable fighter.
• The Ageless: Was a little girl once, supposedly. So she might have aged in the past, but otherwise has an incalculable lifespan. How she got that way is open to interpretation.
• Ambiguously Human: Rosalina appears to be, or once was, a human, but it isn't known what she is now. She seems to have some kind of magical/godlike powers and mentions her age to be in the realm of centuries. The other protagonists aren't without their own magic or powers, but Rosalina's still seem mystical and mysterious by comparison.
• Ambiguously Related: Peach and Rosalina share similar blue eyes and blonde hair, and both have worn a crown since childhood. According to Rosalina's storybook, she also lived near (or in) a castle as a child. Early in the development of Super Mario Galaxy, the two were explicitly related in some manner, but the apparent subplot was not implemented in the final game.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: How she explains her backstory.
• Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: Rosalina forms this dynamic on the occasion she is paired with the Princesses. Peach is Weak, but Skilled, Daisy is balanced, while Rosalina is the strength.
• Barrier Warrior:
  • Trying to jump on her will prompt a protective bubble to surround her.
  • The Comet Observatory's appearance as a comet from afar is actually Rosalina surrounding it in a massive barrier as it goes to warp speed. She uses this to cut through Bowser's space fleet like a knife through butter in the finale of Super Mario Galaxy.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: In Mario Party, Mario Strikers: Battle League, Super Mario 3D World and Super Smash Bros. she almost always looks pretty even when she takes a lot of damage.
• Big Good: In Super Mario Galaxy, being the protector of the cosmos and the one that guides Mario towards Bowser.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: She and Peach are the Blondes to Pauline's Brunette and Daisy's Redhead.
• Bootstrapped Theme: Rosalina never really had a personal theme, but is usually represented by the Comet Observatory theme, Good Egg Galaxy theme, Gusty Garden Galaxy theme, or even just the main theme from Super Mario Galaxy.
• Breakout Character: While she wasn't planned to appear outside of the first Galaxy, she ended up becoming playable in the main series and in spinoffs, and in some cases, taking precedence over long-standing character Princess Daisy such as in Smash Bros., where she and her Lumas appears to replace the Ice Climbers in Smash 4 with a toned down version of their "Two fighters one player" gimmick but a totally unique moveset, while Daisy had to wait for the following game where she was a mere Echo, or Clone, of Peach
• Brought Down to Badass: A side effect of becoming playable in Super Mario 3D World. Rosalina is just as vulnerable to being taken out by Bowser's minions (including Goombas) as everyone else. Also extends to her playable appearances in Mario Party 10 and Super Smash Bros. She may not be all god-powerful, but still very much capable of handing opponents their asses.
• Combat Stilettos: Similarly to Peach and Daisy, Rosalina doesn't get a change of outfit for some of her playable appearances. Rosalina partakes in action in her high heels and they don't appear to slow her down in the slightest. Rosalina does subvert this by doing her Ghostly Glide in some instances, however.
• The Comically Serious: Rosalina can't seem to resist breaking out into wise and philosophical monologues whenever she speaks, even in relatively unserious scenarios. Take this quote in Super Mario Party for example:
  Rosalina: No battles are more intense than those we fight within ourselves... But today your battle is with me!
• Cool Crown: She wears a silver crown despite rarely being called a princess.
• Cute Witch: Her Halloween skin in Mario Kart Tour dresses her up in a purple dress and matching witch hat.
• Damsel in Distress: Puzzle and Dragons has her imprisoned in one of Bowser's towers, and while Galaxy doesn't have her directly in danger, she needs Mario's help to repair her Observatory. Galaxy 2 plays it straighter, as her comet is captured by Bowser in the finale and is only released once he's defeated. In Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, she's merged with and imprisoned inside Cursa and is only able to escape with the player characters' help.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Her quest to help the Luma find its mother rips her away from her own family and she soon breaks down after years of not seeing them with only Luma for company. Also, her mother could be dead, depending on the interpretation of her being "asleep underneath the tree on the hill."
• Death Glare: Can be seen giving this expression to Luigi during the opening cutscene for Mario Strikers: Battle League, right before shoving him into an electric fence. Also sports this when the opposing them scores on her, because calmly (yet angrily) floating off.
• Deity of Human Origin: Implied. Her backstory states that she was once an ordinary little girl who took off to space with the Lumas. Since then, her varied array of mysterious powers and status as protector of the cosmos indicates that she has become something a lot more powerful, to the point where she is implied to have lived through the death and rebirth of the universe multiple times.
• Demonic Possession: In Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, she's merged with and imprisoned inside Cursa and spends much of the game fighting her control.
• Demoted to Extra: She's absent from Super Mario Galaxy 2, save for the look-a-like Cosmic Spirit, the game's ending where she reunites with Lubba and Mario's Luma, and the extra ending if 120 stars are collected... where she narrates Mario and Luigi's attempts to get Green Stars. Upon getting all the Green Stars, and beating the level that unlocks twice (second time under Daredevil rules), she'll present Mario/Luigi with the final star and join them on Starship Mario. She also sends letters to Luma (the one that travels with Mario throughout the game). However, the letters aren't signed in any way, though the player is hinted to her identity via familiar laughter and her star brooch being stamped onto the letter.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Due to how extraordinarily powerful she is, all of Mario and Luigi's interactions with her (including kart racing, sports tournaments, and party games) qualify as this.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In Super Mario 3D World, due to being playable, Bowser and any one of his troops can kill her. The same goes for her Smash Bros. opponents... not to mention Galeem and (initially) Cursa.
• Drama Queen: She takes golf rather seriously in Mario Golf World Tour. Scoring over par on a single hole makes her faint dramatically, while scoring under makes her create a new galaxy in celebration.
• Dub Name Change: One of the few characters in the series who has a different name in eight languages: Rosetta in Japanese, Harmonie in French, Estela in Spanish, Rosalinda in Italian, Rozalina in Russian, Rojelina in Korean, and Luojieta in Chinese. The Canadian French and Latin American Spanish versions keep "Rosalina".
• Eternal Recurrence: She has witnessed the death and rebirth of the universe several times. She says the process never repeats itself quite the same way twice.
• Expy: Her design sporting platinum blonde hair, Innocent Blue Eyes, a blue dress, a Magic Wand in her hand, and sporting a star motif makes her bear some resemblance to the Blue Fairy.
• Fighting from the Inside: In Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, she fights against her forced merge with Cursa.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble : Melancholic
• Gadgeteer Genius: She designed and built the Comet Observatory, with help from the Lumas.
• Ghostly Glide: In most of her appearances, Rosalina is always seen floating just off the ground and is very rarely seen standing or walking. She actually runs in Super Mario 3D World however, provided she's in an outfit other than her default one. She'll also walk in a small number of mini-games in the Mario Party series despite floating in the rest. This ability helps her avert movement problems that would befall Peach and Daisy if they tried running akin to how Rosalina moves via this ability.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She is calm and feminine, but enjoys go karting, playing sports, and celebrating parties with her friends.
• Glacier Waif:
  • In Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8, she's classified as a heavyweight despite her waifish (albeit very tall) build.
  • In Super Mario 3D World, she's slower than even Peach, but her Spin Attack enables her to defeat enemies much more easily than the other characters.
  • In Mario Golf: World Tour, her drive is the second longest of any character. Only Bowser's is longer.
  • In Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, she's a Power character, like Bowser, Wario, and Donkey Kong. In Mario Sports Superstars, she is a Power character, like Bowser, Donkey Kong, Wario, Metal Mario, and Pink Gold Peach. In Mario Tennis Aces, however, she's a Tricky character.
• Greater-Scope Paragon:
  • Of the entire franchise. Rosalina raises and nurtures the Lumas until they are ready to reborn, meaning that she effectively keeps the cycle of the entire universe in check on a daily basis.
  • Of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Despite only appearing at the end of the story and the post-game, the Lumas still play a major role in the plot and Mario's companion, Lubba, is revealed to be one of her Lumas that has grown up.
• Growling Gut: In Chapter 2 in "Rosalina's Story" in Super Mario Galaxy, after young Rosalina and Luma searched for days in a comet looking for Luma's celestial mother, young Rosalina's stomach rumbles when she only had a little portion of food.
  "If I had known it was going to take this long, I would have packed more jam."
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has a kind and caring personality like Peach. She's also blonde, but it's a lighter shade known as "platinum-blonde".
• Happy Flashback: Once the Library opens up, Rosalina tells her story to the Lumas, recalling the first Luma she met and took in.
• Hartman Hips: Much like the other two princesses, she’s got wide hips. Easier to tell in her biker and sports attires than her dress.
• Heroic Willpower: When merged with Cursa, she fights back to such a degree that Cursa wants to crush her will completely. Despite this, Rosalina has undying faith in her friends to save her.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Despite her elegant, soft-spoken manner, her playable appearances within spinoffs (and Super Mario 3D World) reveal she has a carefree side similar to the rest of the Mario gang. Mario Kart Wii also reveals she has a passion for motorcycles.
  • Unused concept art from Super Mario Odyssey depicts her in very casual clothes playing a guitar, hinting at some musical ability.
  • Her appearances in the Rio and Tokyo Olympics titles reveal that she has developed a fondness for Rhythmic Gymnastics as well as Surfing.
• High-Class Gloves: Her Aurora variant from Mario Kart Tour comes with a pair of them, colored similarly to this variant's dress.
• High-Heel Power: Rosalina wears a pair of silver-colored pumps to match her silver crown. It's harder to tell from a glance if they're the same shoes worn by her Aurora variant (her only Tour variant to retain the crown) as that variant adds hosiery of a very similar color to the shoes.
• The High Queen: She technically has no kingdom, but she does have authority and seems to have been using it justly and with competence.
• Honorary True Companion: Even though she isn't a princess, Rosalina is occasionally paired as a third member to Peach and Daisy due to her wearing a Cool Crown like them, her similar character design, and forming a Chromatic Arrangement with her blue/cyan complimenting Peach's pink/magenta and Daisy's yellow/orange. Rosalina also has a Star motif that lines up with Peach's Mushroom and Daisy's Flower motifs. In the racing and sports titles, the three girls form a Balance, Speed, Strength Trio, with Rosalina being the "Strength".
• Hot Goddess: She's a beautiful woman who protects and watches over the cosmos, with a variety of outfits that shows off her figure in most of the spinoff games.
• Humanoid Abomination: She was just a little girl once, but in her current form, she has transcended into something more akin to a goddess than a human.
• An Ice Person: The spin-offs occasionally show an affinity for ice. Her home track in Mario Kart 7 is an Ice World, she is a water attribute helper in Puzzle & Dragons (water encompasses ice in that franchise), and her Hyper Strike in Mario Strikers has her freeze the ball by kicking it to the vacuum of space.
• Identical Grandson: From what we can see of her in the storybook, Rosalina's mother looked exactly like Rosalina does now.
• Immortality Begins at Twenty: Started traveling the galaxies as a little girl, but seemed to stop aging around her twenties.
• In a Single Bound: Spending eons in the reduced gravity of space has given Rosalina has exceptional jumping ability. As seen in Super Mario 3D World, where she equals Luigi in jump height. She can also jump very high in her appearance in Super Smash Bros.
• Inconsistent Coloring: The color of her clothes varies from cyan to a light shade of teal.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: A benevolent and motherly space guardian with blue eyes.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Much like Princesses Peach and Daisy, Rosalina still wears her crown, long cyan gown, and high heels in games where she fights, like Super Mario 3D World, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros.
• Knight of Cerebus: A heroic example in Super Mario Galaxy. While she is nothing but kind and helpful to Mario, Rosalina stands out as a particularly serious and melancholic character, with her Dark and Troubled Past providing a surprisingly emotional undercurrent for Galaxy that sets it apart as a Darker and Edgier Mario game.
• Leitmotif: The Comet Observatory's theme, from Super Mario Galaxy. She seems to take a liking to the Gusty Garden theme as well, if her ads for Super Mario 3D World and Super Smash Bros. are anything to go by.
• Magic Wand: Rosalina is rarely seen without her star-tipped wand. She has used it to cast spells, summon shields, and command lumas by waving it like a conductor's baton. Despite its delicate appearance, it also makes an effective bludgeon.
• Mama Bear: She's the mother figure to the Lumas and, should you put their lives in danger, will bring the entire Comet Observatory to you. It's even used against her: Cursa possesses her because she used herself to barricade the Lumas and the Rabbids from Cursa's wrath. Once she breaks free, she puts Cursa on a plate for endangering them and the Sparks.
• Mind over Matter: She can levitate people and objects.
• Missing Mom: In her effort to help the Lumas find their mother, she lost contact with her own, but became the adoptive mother of all of the Lumas. As for Rosalina's own mother, she's implied to be dead, with Rosalina dreaming about her watching over her and realizing that she can never go home to see her own mother again. It's implied that she had been dead before Rosalina left to help Luma, but the reality of it only hit her after being away from home for a while.
• Ms. Fanservice: While not as extensive as the Princesses, Rosalina got this treatment. Aside from having a biking suit that’s just as skintight as the princesses, Rosalina also receives a form-fitting leotard◊ suit◊ for the Rio 2016 Olympic games and an equally alluring wetsuit◊ for the Tokyo 2020 games, and in Mario Kart Tour, she gets a cute swimsuit◊ to wear as one of her outfits.
• Mystical Waif: Her main role in Super Mario Galaxy is to guide Mario through his travels through space. Personality-wise, she fits the role by being stoic, having a beautiful appearance, and also possessing some mysterious magic powers.
• Never Say "Die": During the storybook, she refers to what is most likely her mother's death as her being "asleep under the tree on the hill", which in this case is probably justified since she was only a child at the time and may not have even fully understood the concept of death yet. Notably, it's subverted in the ending of Galaxy where she explains what happens "when stars die", which in this case is a barely-concealed allegory for what happened to the Lumas after they threw themselves into the black hole.
• Nice Girl: While she's not the most expressive, Rosalina is still a deeply kind and caring individual who has devoted her entire life to raising Lumas and goes out of her way to help Mario in whatever way she can.
• Not So Above It All: Apart from her dignified roles in the Galaxy games, 3D World, and Sparks of Hope, her appearances in the spin-offs show that even space goddesses need to have some fun.
  • Sparks of Hope also shows that she actually took a shrine to the Rabbids' antics after they land on the Observatory, in contrast to how other people reacted with either confusion or exasperation towards them. So much that she allows the Sparks to remain merged after Cursa is defeated.
• Old Save Bonus: In Mario Kart Wii, you can unlock her much quicker by having Galaxy save data and playing 50 races. (Without it, you'd have to play 4,950 races, or get at least 1 star in all Mirror Cups.)
• Only One Name: Like Pauline, Rosalina is often just Rosalina. The only time she's referred to with a title in the games themselves is when the Lumas endearingly call her with the familial "Mama", while promotional material occasionally calls her a princess.
• Pals with Jesus: To the extent of joining Mario and co. on their adventures as of Super Mario 3D World (counting main series games anyway). Considering that they saved her Observatory, this is entirely justified.
• Parental Substitute: Ever since she was a little girl, she had been taking care of the Lumas, especially since the first one she met was looking for its mother.
• Physical God: She could be considered a goddess within Mario's universe as she nonchalantly chats with Mario during a big bang event, strongly implying that she survived countless numbers of such incidents. She is also immortal, can form a shield when attacked, teleports herself and her entire observatory across galaxies, and occasionally showcases an ability to create matter (mostly stars) at will.
• Power Creep, Power Seep: As an NPC, she can form barriers around herself and others to protect them from harm. As a player character, she can be killed by a Goomba.
• Power Echoes: In Mario Kart and the Super Mario Galaxy games. In 3D World, her voice loses the echo.
• Power Floats: She's almost always constantly floating, sometimes even when standing still. This ability ties in with Ghostly Glide above.
• Promoted to Playable: Becomes an unlockable driver in Mario Kart titles. She's also an unlockable character in Super Mario 3D World and playable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: In Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, she is wearing white leggings as part of her sports outfit as seen here.◊ Her Aurora variant in Mario Kart Tour may also have this.
• The Quiet One: By far one of the most soft-spoken characters in the franchise in the Galaxy games, as she primarily only speaks when necessary or when reading to her Lumas. This is downplayed in her later appearances, where she's ona bit more vocally expressive.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the mother figure and leader to all of the Lumas. She's also one of the most powerful characters in the franchise, being a Physical Goddess. Despite not being involved in action as much as the Mario Bros. or Bowser, as a character of her intelligence and power, she's perfectly capable of tearing things up herself, as seen in her playable appearances and during the finale of Super Mario Galaxy as mentioned below.
• Really 700 Years Old: She may look only a little older than Peach, but she's mentioned that her real age is at least in the realm of centuries. Given the implication that she has witnessed the death and rebirth of the universe more than once, her age may even be incalculable by human standards.
• Recruitment by Rescue: In Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Edition, she becomes playable in the special worlds once you rescue her.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Rosalina to Daisy. Rosalina is more quiet and calm while Daisy is more energetic and active.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Her role as the protector/mother of the cosmos is somewhat the equivalent to terrestrial royalty (or outright godhood, as it's implied), and she's depicted as very competent at her duty. Taken further in Super Mario 3D World and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, where she takes an even more active role as a playable character.
• Secret Character: Almost all of the games where she appears as a playable character have her as an unlockable or a DLC character. The only games that have her as a playable character by default are (except for Mario Party Star Rush) all Mario Party games following her debut in Mario Party 10, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Mario Sports Superstars and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
  • In Mario Kart Wii, rank one star or higher in all Mirror Cups, play 4,950 races, or have it reduced to 50 races if Super Mario Galaxy save data is found on the system.
  • In Mario Kart 7, complete the 150cc Star Cup.
  • In Super Mario 3D World, beat the Super Galaxy course, the second course of the first secret world.
  • In Mario Party: Star Rush, reach level 6 or scan her amiibo.
  • In Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, complete Star World 2 for regular Rosalina, and complete Star World 6 for Super Rosalina.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She is elegant, graceful and feminine. However, in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World she proves to be a dangerously competent Action Girl who fights just as hard as the Mario Bros.
• Simple, yet Opulent: While some games will happily give Peach petticoats and frills galore, Rosalina's cyan gown gets, at the most, a star motif added on. This is in stark contrast to an early concept for her appearance, which showed her with piled-up hair, a tiara, high collar, and a more Peach-style dress.
• Sizeshifter: While she is usually about a head taller than Peach, during the ending of Super Mario Galaxy where she speaks with Mario, she's a giant. In Super Mario 3D World, her height was reduced to be the same as Peach's so she could be a playable character without having an unfairly large hurtbox.
• The Spock: When paired up with Princesses Peach and Daisy, Rosalina plays this role. Being the very wise, serene, and serious-minded one of the trio.
• Statuesque Stunner: Quite pretty and is close to being a head taller than Peach. She's big enough to be counted among the heavyweight characters, being even taller than Waluigi.
• Teleportation: She teleported herself to the Gateway Galaxy, along with a small castle.
• Time Abyss: The ending of Super Mario Galaxy heavily implies that she has lived through the entire timeline of the universe multiple times, ensuring its rebirth every time it comes to an end.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Rosalina is not as girly as Peach and Pauline, but she is definitely not a tomboy like Daisy is. She is calm and feminine, but enjoys doing the activities her friends do, such as go karting, sports, and parties.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Compared to her more melancholic personality in the Galaxy games, Rosalina is much happier and more energetic after joining the crew in 3D World, though remains just as elegant as ever.
• Town Girls: With Peach and Daisy. Rosalina is the neutral girl of the trio, with Peach being the girly one and Daisy being the tomboyish one.
• True Blue Femininity: Contrasting with Peach's pink, her cyan dress is nonetheless very elegant and feminine.
• Vague Age: She is known to be very old, but both her appearance and voice manage to make her seem both very young and older and wise. It's made even more confusing with her outfits, as her dress makes her seem older, but her tennis outfit in Ultra Smash does the opposite. Physically she seems about the same age as the rest of the human cast, which would be in her mid-twenties, but given her nature, this still doesn't help much.
• Verbal Tic: Rosalina has a distinct tic that causes her to monologue whenever she interacts with others, showing how serious-minded she is.
• Vocal Evolution: When she made her debut in Super Mario Galaxy, Rosalina had a very deep, motherly-sounding voice with a beautiful echo to it, which she keeps in Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2. In Mario Kart 7, her voice becomes a bit higher-pitched and younger-sounding, and as of Super Mario 3D World, her voice is even more higher-pitched, but it isn't noticable until Mario Kart 8.
• What's Up, King Dude?: Rosalina is unknown to be any royalty, but she clearly has authority and is dignified. Anyone and everyone can freely interact with her at any time. She also attends parties and gatherings and gets along just like everyone else.
• Winter Royal Lady: Some of Rosalina's appearances give her an ice/winter theme, like in Mario Kart 7, where her signature track is Rosalina's Ice World, and in Mario Kart Tour where Rosalina gets an outfit designed after a wintry aurora. Rosalina's Mega Strike in Mario Strikers: Battle League (her Strikers debut) is an icy shot that freezes any rivals it touches.
• Wrench Wench: A capable kart and motorcycle racer, and built the complicated Comet Observatory, which includes an Engine Room and Garage.

Debut: Super Mario Galaxy
Voiced by: Yuya Takezawa

These star-shaped childlike creatures are found throughout the universe, but mainly reside in the Comet Observatory, where they acknowledge Rosalina as their "mama". They are eventually destined to transform into various objects, from Power Stars to small planetoids to entire galaxies.

Notable Lumas:

• Baby Luma: A silver-peach colored Luma who gives Mario the ability to Star Spin. He is the first Luma that Mario meets.
• Polari: An elderly dark brown Luma who acts as Rosalina's main assistant in caring for the Lumas.
• Lubba: A large purple Luma who builds Starship Mario and acts as the Lumas' leader in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
• Hungry Lumas: Pink Lumas that require large amounts of Star Bits to transform into planets, or even galaxies.
• Lumalee: A light blue Hungry Luma who runs the Luma Shop, where Mario can buy a Life Mushroom or a 1-Up. In the second game, Lumalee sells Chance Cube dice that can be spun for random items. Strangely, Lumalee transforms into the items rather than just giving Mario the ones on the sticks.
• Prankster Comet Luma: A purple Hungry Luma who can shift the positions of the Prankster Comets in Super Mario Galaxy.
• Co-Star Luma: In Super Mario Galaxy 2, a second player could take control of an orange Luma that follows Mario around and can attack enemies and deliver items to him.

• All There in the Script: Polari is only named in the Galaxy instruction booklet.
• Big Eater: Hungry Lumas must be fed many Star Bits to get them to transform, each wanting a greater amount than the last.
• Call-Back: In Rosalina's Eagle animation in Mario Golf: World Tour, a group of Lumas appears together with her, with one of them still wearing Mario's hat as seen in Galaxy 2.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Polari has been mostly forgotten after the first Galaxy, only making minor appearances in the spinoff games.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The generic Lumas have various purposes according to their color.
  • Yellow: Transforms into Sling Stars or Launch Stars.
  • Blue: Transforms into a chain of Pull Stars.
  • Red: Guards the Red Star, which gives Mario the ability to fly.
  • Green: Guardians of the Trial Galaxies, they transform into green Launch Stars to send Mario into them.
  • Pink: Transform into pink Launch Stars leading to bonus galaxies from the Comet Observatory.
• Deadpan Snarker: Lubba.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Luma, of course.
• Happily Adopted: The Lumas have this opinion of Rosalina.
• Heroic Sacrifice: All Lumas throw themselves into the black hole in Bowser's galaxy to neutralize it and recreate the universe. The species' Resurrective Immortality allows them to get away with it, and indeed, Mario's Luma is shown in The Stinger to have survived.
• No Mouth: With the exception of Lubba, Hungry Lumas, and Lumalees.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: With the exception of Polari and Lubba, all of the Lumas are treated as children. The Luma, who's implied by his coloration to be the first one Rosalina meets, is still regarded as a baby some centuries later.
• Old Retainer: Polari, who is an elderly Luma who helps Rosalina on the Observatory. He's like the Luma counterpart to Toadsworth.
• Pokémon Speak: Lumalee says her own name in her sales jingle.
• Pungeon Master: Lubba.
• Resurrective Immortality: Lumas are implied to "respawn" after transforming. The cream-colored Luma turns into a comet in chapter 8 of Rosalina's storybook and reappears in the next chapter, whereupon they have a birthday of sorts for him. This is most obvious with Lumalee, who regularly changes into consumable items.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: They have big sweet oval eyes and teeny round bodies, and their voices sound adorable. They also call Rosalina their mother and will treat her as such, which ups the cute factor even more by making them seem just like little children.
• Starfish Aliens: Or rather, star-shaped aliens.
• Super-Empowering: Mario's Luma gives him the ability to Star Spin and breathe in space.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Star Bits, which are sweet and serve as the Lumas' sustenance.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Lumas have the ability to transform into various objects, from useful items to planets and galaxies. See Colour-Coded for Your Convenience.

Debut: New Super Mario Bros. U (NPC), New Super Luigi U (playable), Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (Miniboss and NPC ally)
Voiced by: Natsuko Yokoyama (2012-2023), Dawn M. Bennett (Super Mario Bros. Wonder)

A rabbit-like thief who first appears in New Super Mario Bros. U, where he steals items from Toad Houses and the Mario Bros. have to chase him through various levels to capture him and get them back. He's the main source of P-Acorn powerups, making it worth your time to catch him. In New Super Luigi U, he's Promoted to Playable as the fourth character available for multiplayer.

Later on, he appears in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, stealing from various characters and must be pursued by the brothers and Paper Mario; fighting against and for them in equal measure.

• Anti-Hero: He's a thief, so it's natural he'd square off against the heroes of the story in order to retrieve his stolen loot, but at the same time, it's clear that he's not really out to harm anybody unless driven to that point, and has some set of morals. In New Super Luigi U, he helps Luigi rescue the princess while desiring absolutely nothing in return, and in Paper Jam, he's comfortable with performing Bros. Attacks and attacking Bowser's minions with the Mario Brothers instead of leaving them to fend for themselves.
  • This is expanded further in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, where the loading screen info states that he is neither an enemy or ally to Mario and friends. Just someone who keeps an eye on them.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: In Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games he is quite rude to his competitors as well as arrogant about his own speediness, to the point that he boasts that he’s faster than Sonic. In fact, he rarely seems to talk about anything other than winning and his speed, and bluntly refuses to answer any other questions about himself. He does, however, humbly congratulate the player if he’s beaten.
• Blatant Burglar: He wears a mask and carries a Thief Bag. Ultimately, however, he's rather harmless, especially compared to bigger threats.
• Enemy Mine: He steals from everybody in Paper Jam, necessitating the Mario Bros. chasing/fighting him to get the goods. However, many times he steals from Bowser's minions, so he becomes a non-playable party member who helps you on occasion.
• Expy: Could possibly be one of Swiper the fox from Dora the Explorer, as both of them are woodland creatures who wear masks and gloves and go around stealing stuff, though are still harmless and have even been known to get along with the heroes on a few occasions. They even have similarly-themed names.
• Fingerless Hands: His gloves have no digits, yet he's perfectly capable of carrying his Thief Bag through courses at fast speeds.
• Flunky Boss: In Paper Jam, he stuffs several different kinds of paper enemies into his bag to fight for him in his boss fights.
• Friendly Enemy: To the Mario Bros. and their friends. Nabbit is perfectly happy to help them out… when he's not trying to steal from them.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: You have to chase him through levels to reclaim the items he's stolen. If he makes it, you'll have to start the chase over.
• Giggling Villain: The main sound he makes is a distorted chirping sound. This was changed to high-pitched laughter in Deluxe.
• God Was My Copilot: If you complete the last level of New Super Luigi U in singleplayer as Nabbit, Luigi will rescue Peach as Nabbit secretly looks on, hinting that this trope was in effect.
• Guest-Star Party Member: When he fights with the Bros. in Paper Jam, he effectively acts as a fourth non-playable Mario brother, being able to jump on enemies, heal the others with Mushrooms, and perform Bros. Attacks with them.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Nabbit is a character of questionable loyalty. He can be a petty thief one minute and a brave hero the next, sometimes even within the same game.
• Island Base: Seems to inhabit the purple Records Toad House unlocked after beating the game, although it's not stated why he has it.
• Lone Wolf Boss: Bowser Jr.'s bandanna makes it seem like he would work for Bowser, but since it's possible for Nabbit to combat Bowser in New Super Luigi U, all bets are off. Paper Jam continues this trend, as Nabbit shows no interest in joining the Koopa Troop, and even occasionally helps the Mario Bros. fight them.
• Made of Iron: It's amazing what he can take in New Super Luigi U.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: As a playable character in New Super Luigi U and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, he takes zero damage from anything that isn't a One-Hit Kill.
• Promoted to Playable: From pest to playable character in a main series game, an honor only shared by five others.
• Punny Name: Of "nab it" and "rabbit".
• Rascally Rabbit: He never does anything particularly heinous, but he's still a thief.
• Respawning Enemies: Once you catch him in the first seven worlds, he'll start showing up in levels again so you can stock up on P-Acorns.
• Secret Character: Pressing "ZL" on the Wii U Gamepad when choosing a level in New Super Luigi U will allow you to play as him in single player.
• Skill Gate Characters: In New Super Luigi U, Nabbit is functionally invulnerable and able to pass through most obstacles and enemies with ease, but he cannot use power-ups, which prevents him from obtaining a few Star Coins that require having them. This is, of course, for the sake of younger or otherwise inexperienced players. Collecting power-ups as Nabbit will also grant extra lives.
• Suddenly Voiced: After being mute in the many preceding games featuring him, he finally speaks in both versions of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
• Thief Bag: He carries his ill-gotten gains in one.
• Verbal Tic: In his single voiced appearance, he has a strange speaking style that consists almost entirely of short, blunt sentences. He often has to say exactly what he's feeling, as it doesn't naturally come across in his speech as a result.
• Wild Card: He's just as likely to be robbing the Mushroom Kingdom as he is helping to save it.

Debut: Super Mario Run (Early-Bird Cameo), Super Mario Odyssey (official)
Voiced by: Shōhei Komatsu

A shapeshifting hat spirit from the Cap Kingdom that teams up with Mario in Super Mario Odyssey. He takes the form of Mario's cap and can perform various tasks while being thrown around.

• Animate Inanimate Object: In a way. He's not a literal hat, but a hat ghost that can take the form of physical hats.
• Badass Adorable: An adorable hat ghost with a chipper personality, and an invaluable sidekick to Mario.
• Big Brother Instinct: Cappy will stop at nothing to rescue his sister.
• Body Surf: The Capture mechanic Cappy grants Mario in Odyssey, which allows Mario to possess enemies and other characters by tossing Cappy on top of their heads.
• Deuteragonist: Of Super Mario Odyssey, as not only was Peach kidnapped, his sister Tiara was as well. He follows Mario around throughout the game by serving as his various hats, and is independently playable in co-op mode.
• Dreamworks Face: Pulls this in some of his official artwork.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Technically makes his first appearance in an update for Super Mario Run, where a statue of him can be purchased in Kingdom Builder.
• Expy: Of the baby and Co-Star Lumas in the Super Mario Galaxy games, being a creature with unique white colors among his species and serving as/being in Mario's hat throughout the game to grant him new abilities akin to the former, and being independently playable in two-player mode, akin to the latter. However, Cappy is more fully developed as a character in his own right.
• Expressive Accessory: In his regular form, his rim goes up or down depending on his expressions.
• Friendly Ghost: Unlike the majority of ghosts encountered, he and the rest of the Bonneters are friendly and polite.
• Lightning Bruiser: In Co-op mode, Cappy is more mobile than Mario and has an easier time taking out foes as well.
• Living Weapon: Cappy is Mario's main weapon and exploration tool in Odyssey.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": A cap named "Cappy".
• Morphic Resonance: Cappy maintains his big, goofy eyes in each form, but he can make them disappear too.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: A hat spirit that takes control of the heads it lands on.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Mario is able to use him as one, he can throw him in any direction, even in circular patterns, and Cappy will always return to his hand.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: Not only is he a top hat and into world-traveling just as a pastime, but like most residents of Bonneton, a lot of his longer dialogue contains some British dialect.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: He's a supernatural entity with the ability to take control of basically anything, so they're mostly red for spookiness. Morally, he's with the good guys. They're also red so that when he smiles, his eyes better resemble the emblem on Mario's hat◊.
• Reused Character Design: Partially. Cappy's (and all the rest of his brethren's) underside coupled with his hat-shaped head makes him look like an Eerie wearing a hat that's way too big for it.
• Shipper on Deck: Possibly. When Mario infiltrates Bowser's wedding to Peach, Cappy puts him in his wedding attire. Then, when Mario is about to propose, he and Tiara look on in surprise.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can take the shape of any hat that Mario collects throughout his adventure. His standard form is that of a white top hat.
• Weaksauce Weakness: He can possess a lot of animate and inanimate objects, but if they're wearing a hat that Mario can't knock off, he'll be unable to put himself on their "heads".
• Wholesome Crossdresser: As Mario's headgear, he'll take part in this when Mario wears Peach's wedding dress (where Cappy will be partially taking the form of his sister Tiara) or when Mario wears Hariet's outfit.

Debut: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Voiced by: Caitlyn Elizabeth

A small, Wiggler-like creature who presides over the Flower Kingdom and rules over the Poplins. After he invites Mario and co. over to visit the Flower Kingdom, Bowser steals a Wonder Flower and uses it to become one with Florian's castle. Florian then joins the heroes on their journey to defeat Bowser and get his castle back.

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Along with the shoes shared by most non-humans in the series, he wears a red cloak and crown to accentuate his princehood.
• Cool Crown: His crown not only stands as a symbol of his authority, but also as a badge holder to which any equipped badge will stick to.
• Expy: Florian shares many similarities with Prince Haru from The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach!. Both of them are the princes of the Flower Kingdom neighboring the Mushroom Kingdom, Florian's crown looks almost identical to Haru's crown while his Wiggler-esque body resembles Kibidango, the caterpillar-dog creature that Bowser cursed Haru into becoming, and their names are both floral themed, with Florian being derived from flora, and Haru being the Japanese name for Spring.
• The One Guy: Among the royals that go off to save the Flower Kingdom with Mario, he's the only prince.
• Plant Hair: He has a leaf on his head, or at least a green tuft of hair that looks exactly like one, accenting his flower-shaped crown.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: He's a tiny, Wiggler-like creature who also happens to be a prince.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He jumps at the call to trek along with Mario so he can get his castle back, and serves as the heroes' means of carrying around their badges.

Debut: Princess Peach: Showtime!

• Fairy Companion: Floats by Peach's side on her adventure and provides tips and advice.
• Super-Empowering: She turns Peach's long hairstyle into her ribbon-ponytail to make use of her ribbon powers.

Debut: Donkey Kong
Voiced in English by: Judy Strangis (Saturday Supercade), Kate Higgins (Super Mario Odyssey onwards)
Voiced in Japanese by: Aimi Mukohara (Super Mario Odyssey [singing]^note Pauline's in-game performances of "Jump Up, Super Star!" are in English in all versions of the game; the Japanese version is an Easter Egg.)
Portrayed by: Dana Kaminksi (Super Mario Bros. (1993) live-action film)

AKA Lady. Pauline is Mario's original Love Interest who was kidnapped by Donkey Kong, setting the stage for Mario's initial arcade outing. Since her modern reintroduction, she does not compete (or interact) with Princess Peach, and is now no longer considered Mario's girlfriend. Although some things never change, she holds no hard feelings for Donkey Kong. She has since become the mayor of New Donk City.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Was originally a blonde in the arcade version of Donkey Kong and most of its home ports. She became a brunette starting with the 1994 Game Boy game of the same name, probably to distinguish her from Peach.
• Adaptation Name Change: Although it doesn't seem like it, Daniella from the 1993 film is that universe's version of Pauline, being an old flame of Mario's from Brooklyn and having a relationship to one of his old enemies prior to Koopa, in this case Scapelli (who is later devolved into a chimpanzee, making him into the film version of Donkey Kong). "Pauline" is still present as her middle name according to some background information (her full name being Daniella Pauline Verducci).
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: While most media keeps her as an ex or at the very least a friend to Mario, the album Donkey Kong Goes Home instead makes her Mario's employee. In there, she's a delivery girl in Mario's pizzeria.
• Amicable Exes: She was explicitly referred to as Mario's girlfriend in some versions of Donkey Kong's Excuse Plot. That said, they're currently friendly, and they're close enough friends for him to invite her to the opening of his toy factory, and for her to let him play a big role in the New Donk City Festival.
• Art Evolution: Since receiving her brunette, red-dressed design, she's gone through a little bit of this, with her appearance in Odyssey softening her features a little and giving her more detail while keeping her distinctive visual traits. She was reverted back to her Mario vs. Donkey Kong appearance starting in Mario Kart Tour.
• The Artifact: Her original role as Mario's girlfriend has been downplayed ever since the introduction of Peach. She still stuck around for the Game Boy Donkey Kong and Mario vs. Donkey Kong sequels, but mainly because their rivalry revolved around her. Super Mario Odyssey defies this by giving Pauline a new role as Mayor of New Donk City (with a pantsuit for the role on top of that), and by giving her the honors of singing the theme song.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: In Odyssey, Pauline sings "Jump Up, Super Star!" on stage during the mission "A Traditional Festival".
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: In Mario Strikers: Battle League, she always remains pretty and made up even if she has suffered a lot of damage.
• Birthday Episode: New Donk City's post-game missions in Super Mario Odyssey take place on her birthday. One side quest involves retrieving her a purse as a birthday present, for which she’ll give you a Power Moon in return. This is a reference to the original Donkey Kong, since a purse was one of the items Mario could pick up in that game, which she had lost in the past according to one New Donker. The other two items are also there, but Pauline doesn't want them.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Pauline is the Brunette to Peach and Rosalina's Blondes and Daisy's Redhead.
• Brainy Brunette: Has brown hair and, being the mayor of New Donk City, she often sets up as well as performs at the city's major events. According to some of the New Donkers, there was an energy crisis before she took over and the solution to it was her idea. She's also an unbelievably competent mayor as well.
• Breakout Character: Aside from one brief return in Donkey Kong '94, Pauline was virtually invisible for many years afterwards after Donkey Kong, but started to return to the fold in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, all culminating in her breakout appearance in Odyssey. This continues in following spinoffs, appearing in Smash Bros. as part of a stage, and then finally becoming playable in Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Strikers: Battle League as free DLC, as well as a racer in Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the Wave 6 DLC.
• The Bus Came Back: Three times. Donkey Kong '94, then Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis a decade later, and makes her first appearance in the main series in Super Mario Odyssey, and this time she was there to stay.
• Character Development: Odyssey gave her some, making her a persevering and wildly successful mayor of the city she was once kidnapped in, and giving her a musical passion that she exercises on the side and at the city festival.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Went missing for practically a decade since the release of the NES Pinball game in 1984 until returning in Donkey Kong '94 with a new look. Then she went missing again for another decade until Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis in 2006. Fortunately for her, she stuck around after her second comeback thanks to the fact that the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games became a spinoff series of its own. She makes her first major appearance in a mainline Mario game as the mayor of New Donk City in Odyssey and from there onwards has appeared in numerous spin-offs.
• Damsel in Distress: One of the very first in video game history. She plays this role in almost ALL her appearances. Odyssey seems to avert this, as Pauline is in no apparent danger and is in a position of authority, with Peach taking the role as she has since her introduction. As a matter of fact, the game seems to emphasize more how she's no longer associated with the role, as her reputation is shown to be all about her mayoral success, and her kidnapping way back when is given only one mention in the postgame.
• Damsel out of Distress: In the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, Pauline was constantly captured by Donkey Kong and being saved by Mario, but this all changed in the Nintendo Switch era, when she is now a mayor of a city in Odyssey and her being a DLC playable character in Mario Strikers: Battle League, Mario Kart Tour, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Mario Tennis Aces.
• Decomposite Character: Due to Japan not receiving the name Pauline until the Game Boy game that simultaneously gave her a redesign, certain Japanese media implied that she and Lady were separate characters, which can also been seen in a character guidebook. However, as of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the Japanese portrayal of Lady and Pauline has been recomposited.
• Determinator: Her kidnapping by ape didn't get her down— in fact, it seemed to inspire her to run for public office and take charge of the city where it took place so she could make sure it never happened to anybody ever again. She even states that the event was instrumental to shaping the person she became and giving her that determined spirit.
• Doom It Yourself: She’s bad at fixing machines, according to her quiz in Super Mario Odyssey.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: As "Lady" in Donkey Kong, she was originally blonde◊ in both sprites and official art. Her current brunette design would make its debut in the Game Boy Donkey Kong.
• Expy: As Nintendo's second female video game character, Pauline has striking similarities to the first—who also happened to originally be named Lady, from Sheriff. She even re-enacts the game's rescue scene in one of the Family BASIC V3 minigames.
• Fanservice Pack: While Pauline was certainly easy on the eyes when she returned for Super Mario Odyssey her subsequent appearances in spinoff games, most notably Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Golf Super Rush show her as noticably bustier and curvier.
• Fire-Forged Friends: After their first encounter, Pauline forgave Donkey Kong and the two eventually became friends.
• Fluffy Tamer: In Saturday Supercade, where she is shown as Donkey Kong's personal animal trainer. Even if he's rather dopey on the show, he can be fierce when he wants to be, especially if someone had the misfortune of messing with Pauline. Pauline, on the other hand, was depicted as being particularly motherly to Donkey Kong, often getting worried whenever he was in trouble or becoming jealous if someone else tries to tame him.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric. She’s by far the most career-oriented of the four leading ladies, being the very active, motivated, and adept mayor of New Donk City.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She likes to sing and dance and is quite feminine. However, she also likes to play sports.
• Heart Symbol: From her debut in the Mario Tennis series onward, her logo is a red heart with a smile.
• High-Heel Power: She normally wears some nice ankle-strap high heel pumps. Unlike the other three main girls, hers are visible normally in her dress even when undamaged as it doesn't go as far as those of the others. The heels also appear to be higher than those of the others. Before she got her current ankle-strap pumps she wore similarly-colored Mary Jane heels. She even keeps her heels in her pantsuit (likely as high heels are the only thing shared between the business-themed outfit of her mayor role and the princess outfits of the other girls).
• Just Friends: Seemingly with Mario at the moment, although the relationship is confused. Besides the heart that appears at the end of the fourth screen, she had no explicit relation to Mario in the original Arcade version; however, she was called his girlfriend in some home ports and even the Japanese Game Boy Donkey Kong guide. In Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, she's only described as his "glamorous friend" in the manual, and in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, she is listed as "Mario's Ex-Girlfriend(?)" in one of the randomly-selected tips.
• Lady in Red: After her first appearance, this has been her design since the Game Boy Donkey Kong.
• Large Ham: Her voice in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series can get pretty loud at times, sometimes to a rather exaggerated degree.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Family-friendly Femme Fatale Dark Feminine to Peach's Light Feminine.
• Misery Builds Character: She cites the events of Donkey Kong as a terrible day, but one that shaped her to be the mayor she is today.
• Ms. Fanservice: Pauline is the curviest girl in the Mario cast and wears rather form fitting clothes that help accentuate this.
• Named by the Adaptation: Saturday Supercade was where she was first named Pauline (She was originally "Lady" in the arcade game), and the name stuck ever since.
• Nice Girl: She is the only character from the original arcade game who was never an antagonist, unlike both Donkey Kong and Mario. Furthermore, she is very forgiving toward Donkey Kong after he kidnapped her.
• Promoted to Playable: Almost 40 years after her debut, Pauline made her first playable appearance in Mario Tennis Aces as an add-on character in 2019. Like the other characters, she has a sports outfit themed after her classic look, a short red dress, black sneakers and a purple visor. Her Symbol is a pair of lips forming a heart. She also appears as a playable character in Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the Wave 6 DLC.
• Renaissance Man: Besides being able to kart race and play tennis, Pauline can successfully run a toy business, may have figured out how to fix New Donk City's energy crisis, run the city itself as the mayor, and is a fantastic big band singer.
• Statuesque Stunner: In StreetPass Mii Plaza, one of the 3D puzzles shows her next to Peach and Rosalina. She's very nearly as tall as the latter. The fact that she's Mayor of New Donk City, filled with realistic-looking people and measures up to them, compared to how comically short Mario is should also say something — he doesn't even reach her waist.
• Sudden Name Change: In the Arcade Donkey Kong, she was simply known as "Lady" (much in the same way that Mario was alternatively known as "Jumpman"). The name "Pauline" was derived from Polly James (the wife of Nintendo of America's warehouse manager Don James), which also happened to be the name of the damsel-in-distress from the eponymous The Perils of Pauline Film Serial. It was made popular in Saturday Supercade and later carried over to the English NES release. Japan evidently didn't receive the memo until the 1994 Game Boy game, in which the name was attributed to her redesign.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Pauline is a girly girl, while Peach is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak. Passive Girlier Girl to Peach's more active Tomboyish acts such as taking part in the sports, party games, and kart races. However, this is inverted in Super Mario Odyssey, where Pauline acts as the busy and effective mayor of New Donk City while Peach fulfills her usual role as the Damsel in Distress, and even wears a suit most of the time in contrast to Peach's dresses (both girls wear said outfits with high heels, the only thing their roles' outfit themes have in common).
• Trademark Favorite Food: According to a quiz she can give Mario in Super Mario Odyssey, she just adores cake. But it has to be fresh cake, not "the packaged stuff" as she says.
• Tsurime Eyes: Notably, she is the only one of the prominent Super Mario women to have them.
• Ultimate Authority Mayor: Is a major NPC in New Donk City, where she serves as mayor.
• Universally Beloved Leader: She's very competent as New Donk City's mayor, and the New Donkers love her for it. Not only is she the mayor of the city, but she's become an icon there, successfully ditching the associations with her kidnapping and instead being so well known as the mayor that she appears on New Donk currency and they sell souvenir statuettes of her.
• Wolverine Publicity: In Super Mario Odyssey. While Pauline almost exclusively appears in the Metro Kingdom and doesn't contribute much towards the overarching plot of the game, she's marketed to the same degree that Rosalina was for the Galaxy games.
• Your Size May Vary: In most of her appearances, her height was comparable to Peach's height (albeit taller likely due to her higher heels), while Super Mario Odyssey depicts her as twice as tall as Mario.

Debut: Mario vs. Donkey Kong

A group of friendly toy robots created by the Mario Toy Company. The Mini Marios are popular toys that Mario has also used to help him in some of his adventures. There are also Mini Luigis, Mini Peaches, Mini Toads, Mini Donkey Kongs, Mini Paulines, Mini Bowsers, Mini Diddies, Mini Bowser Jrs, Mini Yoshis, and Mini Rosalinas.

• Badass Adorable: So very much. They may be tiny adorable robots, but they're capable of wonders when led properly, as evidenced by Mario using them to rescue Pauline.
• Mini-Me: Small toys of various Mario characters.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: One hit shatters them.
• Redshirt Army: They're pretty fragile, to say the least, but this is compensated by their large numbers. Although, in some cases, just one Mini being destroyed counts as a loss.
• Robot Buddy: The toys help Mario throughout the series.
• Robot Me: Adorable miniature toys in Mario's image. Later entries would add mini versions of Luigi, Peach, DK, Toad, Pauline, Diddy, Bowser, Bowser Jr, Yoshi and Rosalina, all of which look just as cute.

Debut: Super Mario 64

A large Sea Monster who debuted in Super Mario 64, where he helps Mario reach otherwise difficult areas. He used to look like a more standard Nessie lookalike, until 64 DS redesigned him to look cuter and more Yoshi-like.

• The Aloner: In Mario Party Advance, he reveals that he can't make any friends, as "No one wants to be friends with a dinosaur". That is, until he meets Yoshi.
• Art Evolution: Became more Yoshi-like in appearance and gained diving goggles in Super Mario 64 DS.
• The Bus Came Back: Dorrie returns in Odyssey for the first time since 2006's New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo DS.
• The Cameo: Mostly in the Mario Party series. There are boats (called "Dorrie Boats") modeled after him in "Right Oar Left", pool toys in "Tug-O-Dorrie", and he makes a full appearance in "Dorrie Dip".
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Realistically designed in Super Mario 64, but redesigned to be more cartoony like Yoshi or the dolphins in 64 DS
• Eye Glasses: He wears a pair post-redesign. They may be swimming goggles.
• Gentle Giant: Although a sign says "Don't become his lunch", Dorrie seems to be harmless and is also called "A gentle sea dragon".
• Non-Standard Character Design: Stands out in Super Mario 64 and Mario Party 3 as a realistically-designed plesiosaur in an otherwise cartoony game.
• Power Up Mount: Despite appearing in a game with Yoshi, Dorrie is more or less one of these.
• Stock Ness Monster: A plesiosaur-type creature found in a mysterious cave.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: In 64, you can control Dorrie by doing a ground pound on his back to make him lower his head. The squealing sound he makes when he does this extends on this, although it can be assumed that Dorrie does not mind people pounding his back, as it is advertised on a sign. A less contentious way is to simply bump his neck.

Debut: Super Mario 64 as a power-up, Mario Golf 64 as an individual character.
Voiced by: Charles Martinet

Mario's metallic counterpart. Very little is known about him, except for his rather cocky personality in Mario Kart 7.

• Alliterative Name: Metal Mario.
• Ambiguous Robots: Metal Mario's movements are stiff and stilted, like a stereotypical robot. His voice also sounds robotic. Whether or not he is a robot, however, is up in the air.
• Chrome Champion: It's Mario, but in metal.
• Decomposite Character: Started off as just Mario with the Metal Cap power-up in Super Mario 64. Occasionally appears as his own character that's distinct from regular Mario.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Mario Kart 7 suggests he's an entirely different character from normal Mario. Taken further in Mario Kart 8, where, as a losing quote, he says "Mia mamma!" instead of "Mamma mia!"
• Glacier Waif: He has heavyweight stats with a middleweight stature.
• Mangled Catchphrase: If he loses in Mario Kart 8, he'll say, "Mia mamma!" or "Oh, papa!" Keep in mind that these are variants of "Mamma mia!" and "Oh, mama!" (which are also said by Mario in Kart 8)
• Mighty Glacier: He becomes the go-kart variant in Mario Kart 7, being a Heavyweight with full top speed, but poor acceleration and controls.
• Mini-Boss: He's the toughest opponent before Master Hand in Super Smash Bros.
• The Rival: If playing as Mario in Mario Kart 7, Metal Mario will always be the first rival.
• Secret Character: He's one on the many QR characters in Mario Tennis Open, and he's also an unlockable character in Dr. Mario 64, Mario Golf 64, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8 and Mario Sports Superstars.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He has a rather cocky personality in Mario Kart 7 and both versions of Mario Kart 8.
• Smug Smiler: He's pretty smug, as shown in his artwork. His voice clips in Mario Kart 7 are also fairly condescending.
• Stone Wall: He is this in Mario Kart 8 (and even more in Deluxe), having the maximum weight (and minimum acceleration) but only a Cruiser character speed, handling and traction, making him slower but more controllable than classic Heavyweights.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: With Pink Gold Peach.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In Mario Golf 64 and Mario Tennis Open.

Debut: Mario Kart 8
Voiced by: Samantha Kelly (2014-present)

Princess Peach's metallic counterpart that made her debut in Mario Kart 8.

• Ambiguous Robots: Like Metal Mario, she has stiff and stilted movements (though not to the extent of Metal Mario's) and a robotic voice, but whether or not she is a robot isn't clear.
• Big "NO!": She will sometimes say it if she gets hit by an item in Mario Kart 8.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Has Peach's famous "Oh, did I win?" quote, from the Super Smash Bros. series, after finishing a race in first place in Mario Kart.
• Chrome Champion: It's Princess Peach in pink gold.
• Decomposite Character: Appears as her own character that's distinct from regular Peach. In Mario Kart 8, she also shares this distinction with Baby Peach and Cat Peach.
• Distaff Counterpart: Is one to Metal Mario, starting in Mario Kart 8. They share the same weight class and stats in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and are also Power type characters in Mario Sports Superstars.
• Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Instead of the gems Peach has on her brooch and crown as well as her large earrings, Pink Gold Peach wears diamonds instead.
• Giant Poofy Sleeves: Just like Peach, her dress have these.
• Glacier Waif: She has heavyweight stats with a middleweight stature.
• Hartman Hips: She shares them with Princess Peach◊ but similarly to her, they are more noticeable when she's not wearing her normal dress like her minidress◊, biker suit◊ and tank top and shorts◊.
• High-Class Gloves: Like Peach she also wears them, except when wearing a biker suit and both of her sport outfits.
• Instant Costume Change: If she gets a birdie or better when playing golf in Mario Sports Superstars, she will change into her regular dress◊ in place of her minidress. Not only does she change clothing, but she will also wear her hair loose afterwards.
• Jack of All Stats: In horse racing in Mario Sports Superstars, her stats are all average which is unusual for a Power type.
• Mighty Glacier: In Mario Kart 8, she is among the fastest and heaviest characters, but her acceleration and handling are rather low. In baseball in Mario Sports Superstars, she has a very high batting stat but she is also quite slow.
• Parasol of Prettiness: When playing golf, she will take it out if she scores a birdie or better. It is even colored in pink gold like herself.
• Pink Means Feminine: She's made out of pink gold.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Her Standard Kart, Standard Bike, Standard ATV, Pipe Frame and Super Glider in Mario Kart 8 are all colored metallic pink, though in Mario Kart Tour, her Pipe Frame was changed to pink gold. In Mario Sports Superstars, all of her sports gear is also colored pink gold.
• Secret Character: She's one in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Sports Superstars. She doesn't need to be unlocked in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• Statuesque Stunner: She's the same height as Peach.
• Stone Wall: In Mario Kart 8 (and even more in Deluxe), she has the maximum weight (and minimum acceleration) but only a Cruiser character speed, handling and traction, making her slower but more controllable than classic Heavyweights. As a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, she's a defense type spirit that boosts the user's running speed.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: With Metal Mario, as like their normal entities, Pink Gold Peach is One Head Taller than Metal Mario.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: She always wears one, with the sole exception being her post-hole animations in Mario Sports Superstars if she scores a birdie or higher.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In tennis in Mario Sports Superstars, she has a high power stat, but below average control and spin.

Debut: Super Mario 3D World
Voiced by: Zoe Nelson

A fairy-like race inhabiting the Sprixie Kingdom and led by the Sprixie Princesses, who get put under Bowser's subjugation when he invades their land.

• Damsel in Distress: Since Peach is a playable character in Super Mario 3D World, they're the ones you have to rescue from Bowser.
• Fairy in a Bottle: How Bowser captures them.
• Gratuitous Princess: The seven Sprixies are all identified as princesses.
• Magic Wand: Their wands are shaped like hammers or wrenches.
• No Name Given: To the individual Sprixie Princesses.
• Our Fairies Are Different: A species of fairies that can create transparent warp pipes and spaceships.
• Portmanteau: Of "Sprite" and "Pixie."
• Princesses Rule: The princesses rule over the Sprixie Kingdom with no Sprixie King or Queen in sight.
• Promoted to Playable: The Green Sprixie Princess appears as a playable character in Mario Tennis Ultra Smash.
• Rainbow Motif: Each of the Sprixies are in a color of the rainbow.
• Speaking Simlish: At least the green one does in the game's intro cutscene.
• Wrench Wench: They seem to be very skilled in building stuff, from clear pipes to rocket ships. Perhaps this was the reason why they're captured by Bowser.

Debut: Super Mario 3D World

A semi-aquatic dinosaur who can carry Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad on its back as it swims through river levels.

• Ambiguous Gender: No gender is given. It could even conceivably be genderless if its species is a relative of the Yoshis.
• Ascended Extra: After only appearing in a select few levels in 3D World, Plessie becomes one of Mario's main companions in Bowser's Fury and will ferry him from island to island. It also helps Mario out during the final boss fight by helping Mario keep up with Giga Bowser before getting the finishing blow by crushing him as Giga Plessie.
• Cute Giant: A friendly dinosaur who loves being petted, and is big enough to seat all four heroes on its back? Plessie is absolutely a Cute Giant. Especially once it becomes big enough to dwarf Giga Bowser after using all three Giga Bells at once.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Resembles a plesiosaurus/Loch Ness Monster (aquatic, name resembles "plesiosaurus" and "Nessie"), a seal (has seal-like bark and flippers), and a Yoshi (gives Mario and friends a ride).
• Power Up Mount: Big enough for 4 players. Subverted in that you have limited control over the direction, and is only used in predetermined sections.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Plessie is a slightly more versatile, higher-speed ride than Dorrie, but of largely similar design.

Debut: Super Mario Odyssey

Cappy's younger sister, who was captured by Bowser and is serving as Peach's wedding crown.

• Cool Crown: A living example, similar to her brother.
• Damsel in Distress: Cappy requests that Mario save her as well.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Or rather, a tiara named "Tiara".
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Peach following their rescue. Being kidnapped and forced to watch Bowser repeatedly try to harm her brother alongside Mario is understandably a source of a lot of distress for both her and Peach. In the post-game, the two embark on their own journey through the kingdoms, always appearing together.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her underside is pale pink, and has pink eyes.
• Reused Character Design: Again, partially. Like every other member of her species, Tiara's underside resembles an Eerie.
• Satellite Character: As the sibling of a sidekick.

Debut: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Voiced by: Junji Kitajima (Japanese), Mick Wingert (English)^{additional VAs}Alan Fernando Velazquez (Latin American Spanish), Leandro Hainis (Brazilian Portuguese)

• Accent Adaptation: In the Latin American Spanish dub, the flowers speaks with thick Mexico City accents, probably to make them sound sillier.
• Audience Surrogate: A lot of their reactions can mirror the players, especially in regards to some of the Wonder Flower events.
• Butt-Monkey: Wonder gets a lot of comedic millage out of making them the butt of jokes. Expect to see them get buried, dunked in lava, or get their fun ruined for the sake of a joke.
• The Dividual: They're everywhere in the Flower Kingdom, but they all have the same voice and personality.
• Exposition Fairy: Red variants of the Talking Flowers exist in certain levels that are there to instruct you on how to use badges, acting as coaches of sort for the challenge.
• Extreme Omnivore: More than a few Talking Flowers express interest in tasting some unusual things, such as salt water, slime, and Goombas. Even when those things also happen to be your transformed heroes.
  "I wonder what Goombas taste like?"
• Flight: They can fly by flapping their little leaves, allowing them to float above the ground and out of danger.
• Greek Chorus: Outside the occasional hint, these guys serve no purpose except to provide commentary on what's happening in the story and gameplay.
• Hypocritical Humor: One flower makes a comments on the walking Piranha Plants claiming them to be almost as weird as talking plants.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Plenty of Talking Flowers end up victim to some kind of mishap in a level, whether it's being buried in snow or getting dunked in lava. They're never harmed by these events, though.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: It doesn't seem to matter what stage hazard gets in their way, they always end up surviving the danger unscathed. Even if the hazard happens to be poison or lava, which are normally the source of One Hit Kills.
• Notice This: The Talking Flowers often can point you towards a secret through their commentary, either by being placed in an area of interest, pointing out if you've walked past something of interest that you haven't interacted with, or by simply giving clues verbally to potential paths.
• Oh, Crap!: A not uncommon reaction from them is to start nervously sweating or freaking out when things start to happen around them.
• Plant Person: Very much leaning on the plant side, but they're sapient flowers who enjoy chatting you up and commentating on what happens around them.
• Player Nudge: Another one of their uses, in the event you happen to miss the Wonder Flower in a level, there'll likely be one up ahead who's dialogue will change to note that you might be missing something.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: These funny fellows are quite common in normal levels, but usually don't appear in the more serious, climactic levels. They're absent on battleships after the first one, only appear at the entrances of palaces, and are absent throughout Bowser's Castle up until "Bowser's Rage Stage" where they appear again with distorted voices.
• Token Heroic Orc: A rare inversion occurs in the level "A Dessert Mystery". The Talking Flowers are consistently friendly with the playable characters, but the Wonder Event of the level, which summons a pyramid you chase the Wonder Seed into, features a group of red colored flowers. They do nothing but call the player an intruder, and the one near the end outright implies the trap threatening to crush you is of their own making. This is the only time the Flowers are ever antagonistic towards the player.

Debut: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Voiced by: Christine Marie Cabanos

• Black Bead Eyes: Subverted. From a distance it looks like they have these, just bigger than Toad's, but upon closer inspection their eyes are actually black sockets with white pupils in them.
• Cash Gate: Several Poplins stand by obstacles like broken bridges and path-blocking boulders. If you give them some Flower Coins, they get enough energy to remove the obstacle.
• Character Tics: Whenever they're happy, the flowerbud on their head blooms.
• Distressed Dude: The intro to Wonder has Bowser turn all the Poplin houses in the levels into jail cells. During the adventure, Mario & co. will need to revert the houses back, freeing the Poplin inside.
• Expy: For being an NPC species that play a supporting role in the adventure and have a certain kind of plant life on their heads, they're basically just the Flower Kingdom's version of Toads.
• Palette Swap: Poplins are normally orange, but certain individual Poplins (such as Master Poplin) wear different colors.

Debut: Princess Peach: Showtime!

• Expy: As a race of diminutive cartoony people who need help from a hero to solve their issue, they're basically just Toads.
• Gag Nose: They possess giant endearing noses like Wigglers, which change colour depending on their emotions, such as red for anger or blue for sadness or being upset.
• Punny Name: Their name "Theet" is shorthand for "Theater".

Debut: Princess Peach: Showtime!

• The Ace: They are the original protagonists after all, and once you rescue them they help you in escaping.
• Ambiguous Gender: The gender of the Sparkla for the cowboy plays is unclear. The character is given the title of “Cowgirl Sparkla” when speaking at one point but lack the eyelash that denotes the other female Theets and Sparklas. Their voice doesn’t help as Theets have high voices over all and doesn’t sound that different from the others of their kind.
• Distressed Dude: All of them are male, save for the Patissiere, Mermaid, Figure Skater, and possibly the Cowboy/Cowgirl Sparklas, and all of them are imprisoned in the basement in distorted plays courtesy of Madame Grape.
• Hero of Another Story: They are the central protagonists of their particular plays, and their abduction has left the performances in stasis and shambles prior to Stella finding Peach.
• Irony: These assorted heroes are themselves being saved by the most historic Distressed Damsel in gaming.
• Tailor-Made Prison: None of the Sparklas can escape their prisons due to their very nature, and the enemies can be too much to overcome alone even if they could. There's also the fact some of the plays are made to collapse once the prison is compromised.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The three females of the group (Patissiere, Mermaid, and Figure Skater) all have eyelashes above their eyes.

Bob-omb Buddies

These friendly peace-loving pink Bob-ombs are not blast-happy like the regular black Bob-ombs and will help Mario with cannons and locating red coins.

• Action Bomb: Mostly averted, to the point where they lack fuses, but when they appear in Mario Tennis they will explode if you hit a ball out of bounds on a court where they happen to be watching.
• Cartoon Bomb: A living example, just like all Bob-ombs.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Whereas the black Bob-ombs are bad and will try to harm Mario, the pink Bob-ombs are good and will help Mario by letting him use their cannons (and also show where the red coins are in the DS version).
• Cute Machines: Maybe. It isn't really clear if Bob-ombs are automatons or living beings. But they are adorable either way.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Bob-ombs are normally trying to hurt Mario and friends, but these pink ones are friendly.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Although they are living bombs and almost always found manning cannons, they are a peaceful race and won't blow themselves up around you.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Or rather, Ridiculously Cute Little Bomb Thing. Bob-ombs are already pretty cute, but their pink colors and their friendly behavior makes them even cuter than their brethren.

Headless Snowman

A snowman without a head. If you help him, he will gratefully give you a star.

• I'm Melting!: His old body melted before the events of the game, leaving him as just a head.
• Non-Indicative Name: Technically, he's a bodiless snowman, not a headless one, as you guide the body to the head.
• Snowlems: A sentient snowman without a head. Bring him to a snowman head without a body, and the both are golden, giving you a Power Star in return.

Hoot

A tired owl who will give Mario a ride around whatever areas he can be found in. Handy for getting places quickly.

• All There in the Script: His name is only given in the guide for the original Super Mario 64.
• Ascended Extra: He appears much more often in the DS remake, complete with his own theme when you fly with him.
• Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Hoot says that he should be sleeping during the day, but he wakes up when someone climbs his tree.
• The Gambling Addict: He gets addicted to Roulette in Mario Party Advance.
• Power Up Mount: Again, more or less.
• Video Game Flight: Temporarily. Hang on him too long, and he'll get "flapped out".

Koopa the Quick

An outgoing Koopa Troopa who lives to race. If Mario defeats him, the Koopa will reward the hero with a star.

• Animal Stereotypes: Inverted, he is a quick member of the turtle-like Koopa species.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Races against Mario fairly the first round, but on his home course, he reveals after losing that he spent his savings on Koopa Mach 1 Sprint Shoes (Supa Koopa Sprint Sneakers in 64 DS) to help him run faster instead of racing Mario with his own natural speed.
• Giant Mook: Subverted as you can't kill him, nor will he try to attack you (except in the island's tiny side, where you get to squish him when you get larger there).
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Shows a friendly rivalry with Mario, and doesn't work for Bowser.
• No Fair Cheating: He will disqualify Mario from the race if he uses a cannon to quickly reach the mountain top.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: An inversion: in the remake, Koopa the Quick will refuse to race anyone other than Mario. The only way to challenge him to race as a different character is to wear Mario's hat, which will change your appearance.
• Racing Minigame: Challenges Mario to two races, one in Bob-omb Battlefield and one on Tiny-Huge Island. Il Piantissimo (in Sunshine) and the Roving Racers (in Odyssey) would later do the same.
• Sizeshifter: He comes from the Huge side of Tiny-Huge Island which explains his abnormally big size.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can only race him on Tiny-Huge Island's huge side, but on the tiny side, there's a tiny Koopa Troopa in his place that Mario can stomp for a blue coin. If you go back to the huge side after that, Koopa the Quick will be gone.

Lakitu Bros.

The cameramen (cameraturtles?) who film the whole adventure of Super Mario 64.

• Behind the Black: The only other time you see him is in the mirror room near Snowman's Land.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Lakitus are usually antagonistic, but these guys are friendly and film Mario's adventure.
• Painting the Medium: At the time of the Lakitu Bros.' debut, many players were still new to the idea of a camera system in a video game. The existence of a character actively filming the events may have been an effort to better illustrate this.

Penguins

Several penguins are featured in the game: a baby named Tuxie, her mother, a penguin that races you (for a star, of course), and another baby. If Mario brings the lost Tuxie back to her mother, he receives his reward, a Power Star. Another penguin appears in Snowman's Land, who may or may not be one of the aforementioned characters.

• Fetch Quest: Find Tuxie and bring her back to her mother.
• Mama Bear: If you pick up Tuxie again after bringing her back to her mother, she'll glare at Mario and follow after him until he puts Tuxie back down.
• No Fair Cheating: Go through the slide's secret route, and the Big Penguin will refuse to give you the star.
• No Name Given: Tuxie is the only one given a proper name (in the Nintendo Player's Guide).
• Racing Minigame: You can do this with the Big Penguin twice; once normally and another after completing the game with an even bigger Penguin.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Despite being annoying to some people, Tuxie, the other baby, and even the Mother Penguin and the other Big Penguin are downright adorable, especially in the DS version of the game with them being rounder and less blocky (as a result of the more advanced graphics).
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Yes, you can actually drop both Tuxie and the other baby penguin off the cliff.
• You All Look Familiar: Played for Laughs, Mother Penguin knows which one her baby is (because she "has [her] beak"), despite both baby penguins looking exactly alike.

MIPS

MIPS is a small golden rabbit found in the basement of Super Mario 64.

• Alice Allusion: Some of MIPS' lines reference the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
• Armless Biped: Likely due to engine limitations, as the rabbits in the DS version do have arms.
• Ascended Extra: Many more rabbits appear in Super Mario 64 DS, although this time it's to give keys to Mini Games.
• Author Appeal: MIPS was one of the first things programmed into the game and was originally intended for use in N64 test simulations, but the developers put him in the game proper because they liked him so much.
• Basement-Dweller: Literally, the basement is the only place you find him.
• The Cameo: He makes an appearance in Mario Party 3's Woody Woods, among other rabbits.
• Decomposite Characters: He is replaced by a horde of 37 rabbits (8 yellow, 7 each pink, green, and orange, and 8 glowing white that occasionally replace one of the others at random) scattered throughout Peach's Castle and its gardens in the DS remake.
• Follow the White Rabbit: Averted; he's more of a goldish-yellow. You do have to follow this little booger around twice to get his two Power Stars. Played straighter with the glowing white rabbits, who give you a key to a castle room containing a Power Star after catching all 8 of them.
• Meaningful Name: MIPS is a type of CPU^note It's an acronym for "Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages", which is the kind that the Nintendo 64 has.
• Rascally Rabbit: Downplayed. Even though he's hard to catch, it is still possible.
• Sequence Breaking: He is part of a glitch where if Mario holds him and puts him down near a wall, they will both clip through the wall.
• Super-Speed: As a rabbit, he's very fast, although there are a few strategies to catch him.

Piantas

A race of large, fruitlike natives to Isle Delfino. They also appear in the Starshine Beach Galaxy, based on Isle Delfino, in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and as part of a mafia-like syndicate in Rogueport in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

• Amazing Technicolor Population: Piantas come in a variety of colorful pastel shades, including light blue, pink, orange and yellow.
• City Guards: A pair of cops who mostly stand around and yell at you.
• Gag Nose: Part of their design.
• Invulnerable Civilians: Subverted. They can sink in goop and require rescue. Several of them will even catch fire.
• Kangaroo Court: Their trial for Mario makes almost no sense. They arrest him purely because of his resemblance to the actual culprit and they don't even give him a lawyer nor a fair trial, with only Peach and Toadsworth as his defense, ignoring the several incongruences that debunk this. First off, Mario is not entirely a reflective blue with red eyes, nor does he have a paintbrush. The sketch made of the culprit is poorly drawn and is only colored black, making it useless as an evidence because of the lack of colour. Lastly, the real Mario just arrived on the island by plane, and apart from the fact that he wanted to take a vacation, it would be impossible for him to do this, paintbrush or not, since the island was already dirty by the time he arrived and the plane he took crashed because of the slimy substance made by the paintbrush. Mario got arrested five minutes after said crash-landing. The judge also overrules Princess Peach's objection without even hearing her out, despite the fact that she's a princess. It really makes you think they are colorblind or something.
• The Mafia: All of the Piantas found in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are members of a Mafia-like organization. Given the Piantas' homeland is based on Italy and hub town on Venice, it's clear the choice of a Pianta crime family is a pastiche of syndicates like the Sicilian Mafia.
• Only Sane Man: The manager of Hotel Delfino, who recognizes that Shadow Mario looks like Mario but isn't Mario.
• Police Are Useless: The police Piantas in Delfino Plaza only stand at the northeast section of the place and yell at you if you talk to them. They're the only two police officers on the island, by the way.
• Redundant Researcher: Played with. A Pianta professor serves as a Mr. Exposition to Mario and gives him some info on the Sand Bird...which then flies away before said professor can do any research on it.
• Speaking Simlish: In Sunshine, along with dialog boxes.
• Suddenly Voiced: Inverted. In Sunshine, they all spoke in full dialogue, but in Galaxy 2 and in the spinoffs, they communicate with Voice Grunting instead.
• Super-Strength: The Chucksters can hurl Mario very far, while the regulars are powerhouses at baseball. Piantas can throw the player in Galaxy 2 as well, but the throw isn't as intense and isn't used for progression.

Nokis

A smaller, gentler race of shelled people who also inhabit Isle Delfino. Their ancestral home is the Noki Bay, and it's thought that they evolved from shellfish.

• Achievements in Ignorance: The director of Pinna Park sees the emergence of Mecha-Bowser, a 50ft tall robot with fire breath shot in line of the rollercoaster that blasts exploding missiles from its torso, as part of a dramatic show for the park (to be fair, its entrance was extremely dramatic and there isn't really an attraction in the spot it was unveiled). In response, he lets Mario ride the rollercoaster and arm himself with F.L.U.D.D.-sized rockets to launch at the beast and fight it as part of the spectacle, which lets the plumber actually fight and destroy Jr's superweapon.
  Park Director: Amazing! What a spectacle! Is this a new show of ours?! You guys are awesome! Whoever hired you needs a raise! I love how you play the fearless hero and he's like... a bad version of you, but you both look the same and stuff!! Well, as the director of this park, I want to ensure your success. So, how about I provide you with a hero's vehicle? Follow me!
• Apathetic Citizens: Averted, as many of the few pro-active characters in the game are Nokis - the Noki family of Noki Bay recognize Mario's innocence and provide a lot to help him in their missions, making the Nokis' home the most friendly and sensible settlement on the island, and even the Pinna Park director is quick to give Mario aid in fighting Mecha-Bowser, even if misreading the situation. This is contrasted with the Piantas, who largely expect Mario to do all the heavy lifting.
• Foil: Towards the Piantas, who are big, plant-based, and often quite boisterous in demeanor while generally not being very helpful to Mario (though there are a number of exceptions, such as the Hotel Delfino staff and Don Pianta, but even the latter requests Mario's help in family matters before providing him with goods). The Nokis on the other hand are a smaller race who seem to have come from the ocean, and while far fewer are encountered, those met are far quieter and less argumentative, and many of the Noki characters encountered provide Mario with aid and equipment that's instrumental in completing his mission.
• Girlish Pigtails: Some of the female Nokis have a pair of conch shells on their heads that resemble pigtails.
• Meaningful Name: "Noki" is Italian for shell, since they evolved from shellfish.
• Only Sane Man: Or rather, Only Sane Race. In Sunshine, they are more likely than the Piantas to realize that Mario is not responsible for the rampant pollution and actually try to help him clear his name.

Il Piantissimo

A mysterious man disguised as a Pianta who challenges Mario to races across the island.

• Ambiguously Brown: He's at the very least rather tan.
• Expy: When looked underneath his mask, Piantissimo looks identical to the Running Man, but with darker skin.
• Pretender Diss: On the receiving end of this trope from the Piantas, who find his imitation of them insulting ("We're not that skinny!").
• Racing Minigame: Much like Koopa the Quick from 64, he challenges Mario to races in exchange for Shine Sprites.
• Signature Laugh: "YA HA HA!" It's his only voiced line of dialogue, so the player is liable to hear it quite a bit.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He provides the same function as Koopa the Quick.
• Token Human: The only human native to Isle Delfino, even if he tries to pretend otherwise.

Sunflowers

A group of friendly flowers who are briefly plagued by Snooze-a-Koopas until Mario saves them. They are naturally cheerful and will provide coins if watered.

• The Cameo: They make an appearance in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
• Large and in Charge: The Great Sunflower, who is the largest and oldest of the Sunflowers.

Gearmos

A robotic race who want to keep things tidy.

• Escort Mission: A gold Gearmo will ask Mario to bring a Goomba to him by luring it into a trap in exchange for a Power Star. Later on, a silver Gearmo will ask him to do the same thing, but this time for a Topman.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Their eyes are gauges.
• Grumpy Old Man: Their Japanese name incorporates a term meaning roughly "obnoxious middle-aged lady" and their designs almost look like a stereotypical grandma (with their gears being short curly hair, their mechanical mouths being comparable to a face with sagging jowls, and their colorful bodies resembling gowns). While it's subverted with the number of friendly Gearmos encountered, many of them are somewhat cantankerous fellows who are very impatient about mess.
• Jerkass: While a good number of them are completely friendly and lovable robot NPCs, many of the Gearmos who task Mario with chores for a Power Star are hilariously abrasive and unappreciative of his efforts. The ones with trash-cleaning missions will get furious with the plumber for not blowing up every pile within a time limit despite the fact he volunteered to get rid of most of the junk for them, and the one from Dreadnought Galaxy's Purple Comet mission is harsh if you're short of so much as one of the 100 Purple Coins asked for. Maybe there's a reason they're perhaps the only NPC species who are actually smacked by the Star-spin.
  Gearmo: What?! You got 99 Purple Coins?! I have to be honest, I feel bad for you. It's a disgrace! (cue death)
• Mechanical Lifeforms: Implied to have genders, even. One calls herself an "Iron Lady".
• Neat Freak: They enjoy keeping things neat and tidy and are often found in cleaning positions, and several of them get angry if Mario keeps things messy or unorganized.

Whittles

A race of brave wooden humanoids who debut in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

• Plant Person: They're living trunks who inhabit the Tall Trunk Galaxy, and value the courage of people.
• You No Take Candle: They speak in a simple but erroneous grammar.

Jibberjays

A race of parrot-like birds who teach Mario how to ride a Fluzzard and only appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

• A Dog Named "Dog": The black Jibberjay who sends Mario challenge letters is self-identified as Jibberjay, much like Yoshi or Toad.
• Racing Minigame: Their leader, the Black Jibberjay, will challenge Mario and Fluzzard to a race in both Galaxies with a Fluzzard level. Beating him will reward Mario with another Power Star.

Fluzzard

A shy bird that Mario can ride and later race with the Jibberjays.

• Not Quite Flight: Fluzzard cannot fly (at least well, according to one of the Jibberjays), but can perform a long, sustained glide. In game terms, this means that when riding him Mario cannot gain height, but only lose or maintain it.
• The Quiet One: Unlike his fellow birds, Fluzzard doesn't speak a word of dialogue (though he still has a voice, he just doesn't talk). It's unknown if he's capable of speech like the Jibberjays, or if he can but doesn't out of shyness or preference.
• Shrinking Violet: Fluzzard is said to be incredibly shy by the Jibberjays he's met with, but he's comfortable with Mario and will allow the plumber to fly with him. When they reach the goal, the Jibberjay notes even Fluzzard looks happy.

Spooky Speedster

A Boo who's eager to challenge Mario on a race for a Power Star.

• Cool Helmet: Wears a green and yellow helmet with an orange visor on it.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Plays the same role as Koopa the Quick and Il Piantissamo from the previous games, and shares the spot with Cosmic Mario as the opponent for the Racing Minigame.

Guppy

An orca who takes over an aquatic galaxy that Mario must win back through a challenge.

• The Bully: Refuses to let any penguin swim in any galaxy he claims the body of water of.

The Chimp

• Cool Shades: Wears a pair with a purple frame.
• Non-Indicative Name: Chimpanzees are apes, this guy is a monkey.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Always refers himself with a "The" at the beginning of his name.

Bonneters

A race of hat ghosts who inhabit the Cap Kingdom. They are known for their hat-shaped airships.

• Clothing Appendage: By the way male Bonneters' brims will quiver when scared and another's mention of keeping a "stiff upper brim" (instead of "stiff upper lip"), it seems those hats are part of their bodies.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of London, England. The Cap Kingdom's fog is a reference to London's Foggy City status, and a few Bonneters use British phrases.
• Friendly Ghost: They're ghosts who float around and can possess people, but they're all good guys.
• Planet of Hats: Not only are they shaped like hats, their culture and architecture are based mainly on hats and haberdashery.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: They seem to be the Mario world's equivalent to British people, since they pepper their dialogue with British lingo (not to mention their true forms are British-looking headwear, and their airships tend to be top hats). The males are top hats while the females are bowler hats.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: They can take the forms of various different hats, and many Power Moons can be obtained by finding the people on whose heads they're hiding.

Tostarenans

The skeletal inhabitants of the Sand Kingdom.

• Calacas: Tostarenans in the Sand Kingdom are colorful skeletons wearing ponchos and sombreros, often seen carrying maracas.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of Mexico. They wear sombreros and ponchos, they use mariachi instruments like maracas and guitars, and they heavily resemble the kinds of stylized skeletons seen during Dia de los Muertos celebrations.
• Interspecies Romance: One Tostarenan can be seen making wedding plans with a Lochlady.
• Punny Name: The French translation calls them "Zuituzec", a corruption of "J'suis tout sec", which means "I'm all dry". Considering they are skeletons who live in the desert, it's appropriate.
• Rhymes on a Dime: The Tostarenans operating the Slots booths speak in rhyme.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Skeletons though they may be, they're so tiny, cartoonish and expressive that they're really adorable.
• Skeletal Musician: They look like skeletons, and all of them hold a pair of maracas.
• Skull for a Head: Their heads resemble the traditional Day of the Dead skull, but what can be seen of their bodies doesn’t look particularly boney.

Lochladies

The aquatic inhabitants of the Lake Kingdom.

• Big Beautiful Woman: They all have rather curvaceous figures, and seem to have a reputation as fashionable and beautiful In-Universe.
• Clothing Appendage: They've got scales and fins shaped like a dress.
• The Fashionista: Lochladies are world renowned for their county's fashion-forwardness, and it's mentioned that the zippers that appear all over Lake Lamode is just a design thing.
• Interspecies Romance: One Lochlady can be seen making wedding plans with a Tostarenan.
• One-Gender Race: They are universally female.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: A rare variety where their upper halves also look fairly fish-like.
• Planet of Hats: They are all obsessed with dresses, to the point that the theft of the Lochlady Dress is considered a great national tragedy.

Steam Gardeners

Robots shaped like watering cans devoted to maintaining the Wooded Kingdom's Steam Gardens.

• Absurdly Dedicated Worker: They've apparently been growing plants for hundreds of years. Long after their creators have vanished. They're still dedicated to their task, to the extent that Steam Gardeners held up either at the charging station or in storage still can't wait to get back to work.
• Expy: They're based on the Huey, Dewey, and Louie robots from Silent Running.
• Garden Garment: They grow plants on their heads as hats.
• Nature-Loving Robot: They are robots that are obsessed with gardening and were specifically built to care for the plants in the Steam Gardens.
• Robo Speak: Their dialogue is very analytical and focused on statistics.

New Donkers

The human(?) inhabitants of New Donk City in the Metro Kingdom.

• Ambiguously Human: Strangely enough, the guide to New Donk City refers to them as "New Donkers" rather than humans and coupled with their Non-Standard Character Design makes them a bit suspect when compared to humans like Mario, Peach and even Pauline.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of mid-20th century New York City. They wear fedoras and other period clothing items, their city looks like Manhattan (complete with an Empire State Building replica), and the city features jazz music in the background. That being said, they also have RC cars (introduced in the 70s) and laptop computers (introduced in the 90s).
• Non-Standard Character Design: Compared with the cartoony designs of human characters in this and previous games, they're very realistically designed. They don't even match Pauline, their mayor, since she has a cartoony face in line with Mario and Peach's designs.
• Speaking Simlish: Unlike other regular humans such as the Mario Brothers, Peach, and even their Mayor Pauline, they speak this way over their dialogue boxes.

Shiverians

The seal-like inhabitants of the Snow Kingdom.

• Be the Ball: Their main sport is racing around while bouncing like balls.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To Russia, loosely. They live in a frigid climate, and though it seems to be an all-ice location like Greenland or Antarctica, the name of the land, Shiveria, sounds like Siberia. They dance That Russian Squat Dance, too. Their culture also has elements of Scandinavia and Lapland Culture as well, as seen in their clothing and architecture.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: They're fluffy, friendly, ball-like and adorable.
• Sweet Seal: A race of friendly and cheerful seals.
• That Russian Squat Dance: Their dancing animation is a slight variation on this.

Bubblainians

A race of snails inhabiting the Seaside Kingdom.

• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of France. They wear berets, the boss monster threatening them has the French name "Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III," and their snail design seems to be a reference to the French dish of escargot.
• Interspecies Romance: One Bubblainian guy can be seen flirting with a New Donker lady.

Volbonans

A race of living forks inhabiting the Luncheon Kingdom.

• Animate Inanimate Object: They're essentially living forks that use their tines as limbs.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The music in their kingdom, the volcanoes in the area, and their gastronomically-inclined culture make them resemble stereotypical Italians.
• Interspecies Romance: One Volbonan guy can be seen flirting with a New Donker lady.

Talkatoo

A bird found in every kingdom who gives cryptic hints about Power Moon locations.

• Punny Name: A pun on "talk" and "cockatoo."
• Volumetric Mouth: Its mouth opens very wide when talking.

Glydon

An energetic flying lizard who can be found in several kingdoms. Mario can Capture him to glide to otherwise unreachable platforms.

• A Dog Named "Dog": According to the Prima Guide, "Glydon" is also the name of his species.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: He has a tuft of hair on top of his head.

Jaxi

A living statue that will let you ride him around Tostarena once you find him and pay a onetime fee of 30 coins.

• Difficult, but Awesome: He's kind of tricky to control, but he's a reliable way of crossing the Sand Country and finding more Power Moons when you get the hang of them.
• Living Statue: He used to be a ordinary lion statue from the top of the Inverted Pyramid, but decided to come to life and now taxis people from place to place in the desert. No explanation is given as to how this happened.
• Offscreen Teleportation: The Jaxi can be hailed at any Jaxi stop, and while it's reasonable that he's simply running across the ground to your location in most instances, it's not explained how he can reach the Jaxi stop on top of the Inverted Pyramid.
• Perpetual Smiler: He never stops smiling whether he's just sitting around, running or being rammed into a wall at full speed.
• Power Up Mount: You're completely invincible while riding him with exception to falling into bottomless pits, and he can be used to destroy objects that Mario otherwise can't. He's also one of the fastest forms of transportation in the game, but also one of the hardest to control.
• Punny Name: A portmanteau of "jaguar" and "taxi", fitting his status as a Power Up Mount.
• Too Fast to Stop: The Jaxi is kind of hard to control, and even braking takes time to get used to, as he won't completely stop even then. Though, in his defense, he warns you about it after you pay him 30 coins to ride.
• Video Game Caring Potential: You can earn a power moon from him by taking him back to his original pedestal to reminisce and another by taking him to see another Jaxi statue out in the desert that he calls his family.

Goombette

A female Goomba who can be found in several kingdoms. She'll give Mario a Power Moon if encountered as a captured Goomba but runs away if he isn't in the body of one.

• All Women Are Lustful: Getting her Power Moons involves nabbing her a man. That said, she seems to go through boyfriends like a fish through water (since every one of her Power Moons involves nabbing her a man).
• Cute Little Fangs: She has the same fangs as the other Goombas, but her Tertiary Sexual Characteristics make her look even cuter.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If Mario approaches her as himself, she'll get scared and flee in a puff of smoke.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: She looks like an ordinary Goomba but with pink skin, Blush Stickers, eyelashes, make-up, and a lady's hat on her head.

The Roving Racers

A set of Koopa Troopas all wearing baseball caps that can be found in nearly every kingdom. As their name implies, they love to race anywhere they end up in.

• Animal Stereotypes: Like their predecessor, inverted. They're a group of turtles whose entire MO is being fast on foot.
• Color-Coded Characters: The racers are distinguished by the color of their shoes, shells, and hats.
• Expy: They're Koopa the Quick but as a group rather than one person.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: After clearing the first race in a given kingdom, rematches will replace the purple Koopa with a gold one. The gold racer will use advanced techniques and take shortcuts that the other racers don't.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Its unknown if they work for Bowser, but they're Koopas who don't fear or hate Mario.
• Racing Minigame: Think Koopa the Quick except there are several of them.
• Sore Loser: Downplayed. If a Koopa wins the race, they're all happy, but if Mario wins, they'll be sad. They're at least good sports when handing over the Power Moon.