Toad (Nintendo)
Black Pear Tree, an EP by The Mountain Goats and Kaki King, features a song titled "Thank You Mario But Our Princess is in Another Castle," sung from the view of Toad. Toad ranked in the seventh slot on Game Daily's top 10 Nintendo characters that deserve their own games list; the site explained that he has a strong appeal that Nintendo has yet to tap into. Toad is listed as number two in the most neglected Mario Bros. characters list as he has been described by the site to have been ignored by Nintendo for quite a while due to the lack of starring roles he gets in the more recent games. In an Oricon poll from 2008, Toad was voted as the eighth most popular video game character in Japan. IGN editor Matt Casamassina criticized Nintendo for including the Toads over more notable characters in the Mario series for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, arguing that the developers were being lazy to not include other characters because the Toads were easier to make.