Fort Francis

Fort Francis is the setting of Chapter 3-4 in Super Paper Mario. It is found in The Bitlands and is the home of Francis, a chameleon obsessed with gaming technology. The castle is also staffed with various Meowmaids, robots that serve Francis and guard the castle from outsiders. Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser visit the castle after Francis kidnaps Tippi while also attempting to find a Pure Heart.

Chapter 3-4: The Battle of Fort Francis
Mario and co. enter the castle and make their way to Francis and a captured Tippi, who are locked in a double-locked room, fighting the variety of Meowmaids staffed throughout the hallways. Along the way, they come across Carrie, a Pixl who was locked up in the castle's dungeon and manage to find the two keys necessary to open the door leading to the captive Tippi by correctly answering the questions asked by two SecuriMeows. Once the group reaches the room where Tippi is being kept, the door prevents anyone who is not an attractive female from entering; if Mario or Bowser attempt to open the door, it attacks them with laser beams. If Princess Peach attempts to enter the room, the door quizzes her on various nerdy topics to discern if she is romantically compatible with Francis (every question involves a simple yes-no answer, with the answer always being yes). Once Peach enters the room, she angrily confronts Francis. Francis immediately freaks out about the woman in his room and boots up Swoon.exe, an interface that lets him interact with Peach while emulating a dating sim. Francis then attempts to woo her as if she was a character in a dating sim, and Peach's responses (as chosen by the player) vary from inviting to irritated.

Regardless of the outcome, Peach eventually becomes annoyed with her responses and the whole "date", and blows up the entire interface with Boomer. Francis is distraught by the loss of Swoon.exe, but quickly realizes that Peach came to rescue Tippi (whom he calls Francine). He vows to protect Tippi from who he perceives to be an intruder, and a boss fight ensues. Francis attacks by using his camera flash to stun the player and summoning Meowbombs to blow up the player, or grabbing the player with his tongue, making the player go inside of him, and he also turns invisible to hide himself. He can only be attacked by jumping on him and only when he is visible. Once he is defeated, he gives up and runs away, and Tippi is rescued. Tippi becomes so happy that a Pure Heart suddenly appears. The group takes the Pure Heart for themselves, ending the chapter.

Once the player defeats the final boss of Super Paper Mario, they are able to return to Fort Francis. At the same room where they fought Francis, he offers to sell them Tiptron, a robotic replacement Pixl for Tippi. Francis sells Tiptron for 999 coins, the largest amount of coins that can possibly be held at once.



Enemies

 * AirMeow
 * BigMeow
 * Chain Chomp
 * Francis (Chapter 3 Boss)
 * Meowbomb
 * PatrolMeow
 * SurpriseMeow

Trivia

 * Fort Francis was once a castle owned by the Tribe of Ancients, as stated by Merlon.
 * The fort is filled with references to the other Paper Mario games and the Mario series in general; for example, posters of Bow, Bootler, and Petuni are visible in Francis' room. There are also numerous Nintendo consoles put on display, including the Nintendo GameCube, the Family Computer, and the Virtual Boy.

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