Toad is a Nintendo character whose role is the "loyal mushroom retainer." He likes coffee tables, as one would see if s/he read the Super Mario Bros. comic book series.
For most of his video game career, Toad has always been more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, telling Mario to go save the Princess from Bowser, selling items (Super Mario RPG), and doing various other menial tasks that may seem small but play a large part in the long run.
Toad has only appeared as a playable character in three of Nintendo's video games: Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES, Super Mario Kart for the SNES, and Mario Tennis for the Virtual Boy. In SMB2 he was a little guy, not capable of anything too special. Toad was more glorified in Super Mario Kart along with the Koopa Troopa's one time playable experience. Being a moderately fast accelerator, having decent speed and good control, Toad was a common choice among video gamers. As for the sport of tennis, Toad remained well-balanced and popular.