Fortress

File:Fortress.png

Mario climbing the Fortress' pole.

Fortresses or Forts are fortified buildings found in Super Mario Bros.. After reaching the Fortress, Mario or Luigi can advance to the next level. At the end of a world, a False Bowser can be faced. New Super Mario Bros. follows a similar system with the exception of facing False Bowsers; the fortresses of New Super Mario Bros. are instead guarded by Bowser Jr. in varying attack methods.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, Fortresses are usually found in the middle of worlds. They are guarded by Boom Booms and must be defeated to gain access to other parts of the world. Later, in Super Mario World, Fortresses are guarded by Reznors and most of them are optional.

Forts are also boss levels in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. They act like the miniboss levels of each world. All of these levels have the word fort in their name.

Appearances in Other Media

In the Mario Ice Capades, during the whole show, King Koopa rode a fort that was surprisingly a moving one. A fort also appeared in the background of the show as a prop.