does toad wear a hat

NINTENDO has finally weighed on one of gaming's biggest debates: is Toad's mushroom top a hat, or just his head?

The answer, it turns out, is his head – and it's carving a huge rift between Mario fans who have picked Toad's noggin as their hill to die on.

Toad's hat...is actually his head? Everything we thought we knew was wrong...

In a new video, Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi was asked about the truth behind Toad's spotted dome, and he said: "So that, as it turns out, is actually Toad's head."

"I'm going to have to leave it to all of you to figure out exactly how that works out. Maybe there's something inside...," he added.

Toad, who is a regular character in Super Mario video games, is one of the series' most iconic cast members, and has a loyal base of fans around the world.

Who is Toad?

Here's what you need to know about the beloved Nintendo character...

Toad is a fictional character from Nintendo's Mario franchise
He's a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom, and a loyal attendant to Princess Peach
He's usually a background character, but is playable in several games
He was designed after the Super Mushroom power-up in Mario games
Toad's English name was inspired by "toadstool", a word used to describe mushrooms
In Japanese, his name is a mixture of the the local words for "mushroom" and "Pinocchio"

So it's no surprise that the Toad community is divided over Nintendo's surprise clarification.

Some expressed sheer disbelief:

Who the hell thought Toad's head was a hat? Imagine the horror of him taking it off and just having a little thumb head.
— Jon Denton (@JonDenton) February 6, 2018

No way. The hat thing is horrible. It gives me nightmares. He is just a damn Toad. End.
— Legend of Kailia (@dany156) February 6, 2018

Others said they knew all along:

I find it astonishing anyone thought Toad's head was a hat.
— John Edwards (@EuclidianBoxes) February 6, 2018

There's also a decent amount of confusion, with Twitter users sharing images of Toad taking his hat – or head, as now appears to be the case – off completely.

Nintendo confirmed that Toad isn't wearing a hat, but they never said that he couldn't take it off LIKE a hat

Which means this is still entirely possible pic.twitter.com/HgFYtzxLak

— Gibus (@The_Gibus_Man) February 6, 2018

The world-shaking revelation isn't Nintendo's only effort to baffle its fans.

Back in September, Nintendo revealed that legendary gaming character Mario was no longer a plumber.

The gaming giant confirmed that Mario did work as a plumber at one point, but he's now moved onto bigger and better things – like tennis, baseball, soccer, and car racing.

And in 2016, Nintendo said that Mario is actually only 24 or 25 years old, smashing the widely held belief that the moustachioed plumber was a middle-aged gent.

Which childhood dreams will Nintendo crush next? Only time will tell.

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