Goal Pole

A Flagpole appears at the end of every level in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, New Super Mario Bros., and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The flags on a flagpole come in many colors, though red flags usually indicate an alternate exit and most flags have skulls on them. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, on the flagpoles there aren't skulls, but there is a Bowser symbol. In Super Mario World, there were Giant Gates instead of Flagpoles.

Mario or Luigi have to jump and grab the flagpole to end the level. In The Lost Levels, Luigi can easily jump over the flagpole due to his better jumping abilities. In order to still finish the level, he has to jump at it from the other side. It is unknown whether or not this is a glitch, as it does not cause any errors. It was not fixed in Super Mario All-Stars. In New Super Mario Bros. it is a black flag (or red for secret exits) with a white skull. Interestingly, while being Mega Mario or Luigi, they knock over the flagpole and turn around to look at the rubble they made, and then shrink into Mario or Luigi and head into the castle.

Mario could also jump on flagpoles in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, in the Flagpole Leap mini-game. This game answers the question, "Why jump on the flagpoles?" The answer is, "Why not?"

Flagpoles also appear in the Bowser inter-missions in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, there is a flagpole in front of the Little Fungitown that can be slid down on in the Beanbean Kingdom. This is the only flagpole in the Beanbean Kingdom that is seen.

In the opening cinematic of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool can be seen sliding down multi-colored flagpoles.

Trivia

 * In both Animal Crossing and Animal Crossing: Wild World, it appears as a furniture item.
 * In some levels, it is possible to jump beyond the flagpole and castle. However, upon doing so, the player has to wait for the timer to get to zero; only happens on the NES version of Super Mario Bros..
 * In The Lost Levels, the game won't scroll past the castle unless there is a warp zone hidden past it.
 * In New Super Mario Bros. (DS and Wii), the player is stopped when they jump higher than the flagpole, and earns a 1-up for doing so.
 * Flagpoles appear in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story when the Bros. or Bowser gain experience points.
 * In Nintendo Monopoly, there is a Coin Block/Brick Block card that rewards the player with $20 for hitting the top of a flagpole.