Super Mario Sunshine Art Cuts Out Toadsworth

Nintendo Is Continuing Its Weird Erasure Of Toadsworth With New Super Mario Sunshine Art Published Aug 1, 2026, 9:21 AM EDT George is the Lead News Editor for TheGamer, and has been working in the industry since 2021 after graduating from the University of South Wales with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He has also previously written for RPG Site, WhatCulture, and PlayStation Lifestyle. George is an expert on platformers, action games, and fighters, but tends to play as many releases as possible. This hands-on experience lets him dive into gaming communities and follow the latest trends. Some of the games George has extensively covered first-hand include Dead Rising, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Ninja Gaiden 4. Sign in to your TheGamer account The gorgeous new art that Nintendo released to celebrate Super Mario Sunshine’s release on Nintendo Switch Online continues its strange erasure of Professor Toadsworth. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a franchise that’s been running as long as Super Mario has, there are a ton of characters that have been introduced and then promptly forgotten about over the years. Mallow, Wart, Tatanga, and the Sprixies are just a few examples of the many Mario characters that Nintendo have stopped using for one reason or another. One of the most notable examples of forgotten Nintendo characters is Toadsworth, who made his debut in Super Mario Sunshine and then had a few appearances in other Mario games before disappearing entirely. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Nintendo is now outright choosing to exclude the poor Toad in new art for the game that introduced him. It’s Been Nearly A Decade Since He Was Last Referenced Earlier this week, Nintendo added Super Mario Sunshine to the Switch 2’s catalogue of GameCube games for Nintendo Switch Online. Alongside a port that arguably invalidates Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Nintendo released some lovely new art that references and partly recreates the key art for the original game. The new art shows Mario (with F.L.U.D.D. once again acting as a pillow) and Peach relaxing on the beach. While the Blooper in the sea might look like the only thing that’s changed with the new art, fans were quick to point out that Toadsworth, who is one of the main characters in Sunshine and who appeared in the original key art, has been cut. Instead of lying next to Mario and Peach as he did before, Toadsworth now just apparently doesn’t matter enough to be in the key art. I imagine this is because Nintendo wants all the focus to be on Mario and Peach, but it’s still a notable omission considering he's arguably one of the game's main characters and new additions alongside Bowser Jr. Of course, it’s not too surprising considering Nintendo’s treatment of the character in recent years. As pointed out by Twitter user Stealth40k, the last time Toadsworth was referenced in a game was as a Sprite in Smash Ultimate. Before that, he appeared in Mario Party 7, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and several of the Mario and Luigi games. Toadsworth hasn't even been in one of the recent Sports games, which feel like an easy gimme and a way to reach out to Sunshine fans. With nearly a decade since that small reference in Smash, though, it’s clear that Nintendo has no plans to bring Toadsworth back. That might be because of how polarising Sunshine has become over the years, or simply because it doesn’t know what to do with him, but it’s still a shame to have him kicked out of a celebration of his biggest game. Super Mario Sunshine Systems Released August 26, 2002 ESRB E For Everyone due to Comic Mischief Developer(s) Nintendo EAD Publisher(s) Nintendo Franchise Super Mario