For those of you out there who think that
Nintendo's
Super Mario Brothers series of video games is still lacking some cuteness, then meet Toadette. She's a new character in the grand scheme of things, having first been introduced in 2003's
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! for the
Nintendo GameCube. She is one of the
Mushroom Kingdom's
mushroom retainers and loyal servant to
Princess Peach alongside trusty
Toad. It is unknown exactly how
Toad and Toadette are linked; some have speculated they are romantically involved, while other evidence suggests that they are siblings. At present their relationship is officially undefined. Toadette looks like any other
mushroom retainer in the
Mushroom Kingdom, although much like how
Toad is easy to spot with his color-clashing
blue jacket against red cap spots, Toadette sports a pink jacket and long skirt, pink cap spots, and has twin ponytails that are each tailed with a small pink mushroom. Her voice could be a dead-ringer for
Toads except that it is pitched upwards slightly.
Toadette's origins from a game design point of view are simple: she was designed to be a filler character in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. Double Dash!!'s gimmick involves two characters sharing one vehicle and acting as a team. Players must each choose two characters to control and each pair of characters have a unique skill: rapid acceleration, faster top speeds, and so on. Some pairings are obvious: Mario and Luigi are the average skilled characters, Bowser and Donkey Kong are the heavy characters, and so on. But what of Toad? He has no contemporary in the Super Mario Brothers cast of characters; the closest match he's ever been compared to is Koopa Troopa, but he's paired up with Koopa Paratroopa in Double Dash!!. Enter Toadette, Toad's new driving partner based on the female mushroom retainer characters from the original Paper Mario, who shares in his ability to execute the infamous golden mushroom power-up. She and Toad are hidden characters and must be unlocked before becoming available for play.
After her racing exploits in Double Dash!! Toadette went missing in action from the Nintendo scene for most of 2004. She resurfaced as a guide in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door where she instructed players on how to perform various special moves and in Mario Party 6 as a hidden playable character, although in this appearance she has no unique abilities or talents. Toadette's future appears unremarkable at this point, although she may be destined for larger roles. After all, sometimes even minor supporting characters become stars.
References:
http://gc.advancedmn.com
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://www.classicgaming.com/tmk/