C/D: New Super Mario Bros. DS is the reason Toads are a lot more common in Mario games than unique characters are. The game sold 30+ million copies, but this made Nintendo believe they don't need to invent so many new characters than they used to in order to get people to buy Mario games. Think about it, how many memorable Mario characters have been created ever since NSMB released in 2006? Remember, I said memorable ones. Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario and Bowser's Inside Story had to have been in the works at the same time as NSMB, so I wouldn't count Rosalina, Count Bleck and Starlow.