The Prisoner

The Prisoner, sometimes referred to as Todd, is an anomalous entity present in some personalized copies of Super Mario 64. While there are varying reports on the behavior of the Prisoner Toad, most say the toad either asks the player to free them from a cage, or will steal important items such as keys or Power Stars and run off, resulting in a chase sequence.

Appearance
Witnesses described the Prisoner as being taller than all other Toads in the game and wearing a cartoonish black and white jail jumpsuit, however another report mentioned he had a really threatening face, with one eye being gray. Some say they even have a ball & chain, with the chain sharing textures with the Chain Chomp's "tail".

Behavior
Usually, they will either be standing in the open or hidden in a cage. If they are in a cage they will ask to be freed and will require you to find a key or lockpick somewhere in the level. If they are standing in the open, they will often steal important items that the player needs in the level such as red coins or stars. They will drop them if they are caught, but if they aren't caught some say they can escape the level, requiring you to exit the course to make the objects respawn. Some say that the chase sequence plays the music from the Koopa the Quick races and Princess' Secret Slide. The Prisoner Toad's ball & chain has been reported to be used to attack the player, knocking them backwards and stunning the player or dealing damage.

The cage most commonly appears in levels such as Hazy Maze Cave, Bowser in the Dark World, or the castle basement, with some reports even saying they appear in the Castle Dungeon. In their dialogue, they can mention that they betrayed Princess Peach to work with Bowser, explaining why they are locked up in the castle, or Bowser was the one to capture them when they appear in the levels. If released, they will usually give the player a Power Star of some kind, or will take something from the player and run off, resulting in the chase sequence.

Report #1
(An example of The Prisoner stealing important items from 2011 by a man from Kent, Ohio)

“I was running around Cool, Cool Mountain to collect the 8 red coins star. I went to grab the last red coin but in its place was a toad I had never seen before. It looked like it had a prisoner suit on, and it was taller than the other Mario 64Ttoads. Assuming I had encountered some type of glitch I decided to talk to the fellow. It said something like "I'm the best thief this side of town! You'll never catch me!". The Toad then ran off with the red coin in his hands. It took some tricky maneuvers to catch up the guy, but after a while I was able to stop the rogue Toad. I laughed for a good bit at the Toad’s defeat and finally completed the mission.”

Report #2
(An conversation about The Prisoner from 2018 on 4Chan)

"Hey weird question, but does anyone know where the key to save the Toad is in Shifting Sand Land?"

"Nice troll."

"It's not a troll, I've been looking for walkthroughs of Mario 64 and can't seem to find anything on it."

"Ok, I'll humor you. What does it look like?"

"Well, it's kind of tall for a toad, and it's in a cage. It's wearing a prisoner outfit and I think it's got a gray eye of some sort."

"Are you playing a hack?"

"No, this is on console."

"No clue then."