Fortress

Fortresses or Forts are fortified buildings that appear in many Mario games, starting with Super Mario Bros.. Usually Fortresses are found at the end of levels, after reaching the Fortress, Mario or Luigi can advance to the next level.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, the fortresses that advance Mario to the next level do not appear. Instead Fortresses are usually found in the middle of worlds. They are levels with Boom Boom as their only boss and he must be defeated to gain access to other parts of the world.

In Super Mario World, Fortresses are guarded by Reznors.

Forts are also boss levels in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. They act like the mini-boss levels of each world.

The brown Fortresses later return in New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. 2, and New Super Mario Bros. U and reprise their roles from Super Mario Bros. as allowing Mario or Luigi to continue to the next level. There are also black fortresses when the player finds a secret exit.

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, there are also gray Fortresses, but unlike most fortresses, these ones have Tower-based properties. At the end of them, there is a boss fight with the Koopaling of that world. After defeating it, it flees to the castle at the end of its respective world for a rematch. In World 8's Fortress, instead of a Koopaling found at the Fortress (since the seven of them have already taken over the previous seven worlds' Fortresses), Kamek is fought at the end, but he does not flee when he is defeated like the Koopalings, for there is no other castle except for Bowser's Castle. Each Koopaling's fighting area at the end of each Fortress is described below:


 * World 1: The fight with Larry Koopa is extremely simple, with small bottomless pits on each side of the room.
 * World 2: Roy Koopa has a fight which is over a pit of quicksand.
 * World 3: The fight with Lemmy Koopa is on a floor of ice with two bottomless pits on each side.
 * World 4: Wendy O. Koopa has a fight in a small room, similar to both her original fight in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Bowser Jr.'s in New Super Mario Bros..
 * World 5: Iggy Koopa's battle has three shifting platforms.
 * World 6: Morton Koopa Jr. has his fight over a pit of lava, with spiked Pillars crashing down onto the side platforms.
 * World 7: Ludwig von Koopa's battle has bottomless pits on each side like Larry Koopa.
 * World 8: Kamek is fought on platforms coming in from the right of the room.

Fortresses return in New Super Mario Bros. 2, with Reznors guarding them like in Super Mario World, although they were closer in level design to towers.

Fortresses will return yet again in New Super Mario Bros. U, this time they are guarded by Boom Boom like in Super Mario Bros. 3. It is currently unknown whether they'll retain the tower-like aspects in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, or if they'll return to their roots in Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World.

Appearances in Other Media
In the Mario Ice Capades, during the whole show, King Koopa rode a fortress that was surprisingly a moving one. A fortress also appeared in the background of the show as a prop. In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, a fortress appeared only in the intro.

Trivia

 * The fortress music in New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a remix of the one from Super Mario Bros. 3.