Whomp's Fortress

Whomp's Fortress is the second level in Super Mario 64 and its remake Super Mario 64 DS. Its door requires only a single Power Star to open. This level consists of a floating tower and its garden-like grounds, housing many different kinds of enemies, including Goombas, Thwomps, Whomps, and Piranha Plants. Hoot the Owl is also found here, in the tree at Mario's starting spot in all but the first and second Power Star. Possibly due to the fact that Hoot would allow the player to cheat these levels. Atop the Island is a massive Fortress which houses one of the Stars atop it, around the Island are several smaller islands which house Coins, Red Coins, and even a Star. The course is ruled by the regal Whomp King. A large irate Whomp who crushes those that come near.
==Stars==
===Star 1: Chip Off Whomp's Block===
When Mario first starts the level, he starts in the northwest area. In this mission, Mario has to travel to reach the top of the area where the Whomp King is located at. In this mission, Mario has to deal with Sliding Stones, Piranha Plants and Whomps, all being newly introduced enemies. There are also Goombas that get in the way of Mario.
Once going through all of the obstacles in the level, including platforms, Whomps, etc. Mario finally reaches the Whomp King. The Whomp King complains about how humans made him do work and show no appreciation for it. This makes him decide to squish Mario for fun.
Once battled, Whomp King walks to Mario in a slow pace. Mario has to walk towards the Whomp King and wait for it to jump and slam itself down. Then, Mario must Ground Pound on his back to injure him. Mario must do this three times total in order for the Whomp King to be defeated and release his Power Star.
===Star 2: To the Top of the Fortress===
Once starting the level, Mario must travel to the top of the fortress and do the same way of scaling the fortress as in the mission Chip Off Whomp's Block. If Mario completes another mission first and does that mission, excluding Chip Off Whomp's Block, Hoot can then be used by Mario to travel to the top of the fortress simply to gain the Power Star.
When reaching the top of the level, Mario can find a Bill Blaster shooting out Bullet Bills. He must hop onto the platforms on the structure while avoiding these hazardous obstacles. Some platforms are in motion when on this fortress, the final taking Mario to the top of the fortress to walk a bit in a circular motion and retrieve the Power Star to complete the mission itself.
===Star 3: Shoot Into the Wild Blue===
In this mission, Mario has to find a Power Star in a small tight space in the fortress. In order to do so, Mario must Triple Jump onto the arrowed platform, go left across the water basin to reach a Bob-omb Buddy next to a cannon. Mario must talk to the Bob-omb Buddy for him to happily activate the cannon for him to access. Then, Mario must go into the cannon and shoot into a ledge on the wall and aim for the center. Then, Mario himself must climb downwards by a pole, walk a few feet and obtain the Power Star. Luigi's backflip can cheat this mission, but this mission will probably be done before the player gets Luigi. In the DS remake, Mario's triple jump can also be used to reach the platform as his triple jumps are much higher in this game, additionally, his wall jumps can also be used.
===Star 4: Red Coins on the Floating Isle===
When starting the mission, Mario must find eight Red Coins scattered among the isles and the giant isle being Whomp's Fortress. In order for Mario to get to these isles, he must kick down a plank of wood, making a bridge to go to the isles. Though, he can simply just use Hoot for the mission. Mario can locate the Red Coins as following:
*Two on the floating isles. One on the brick isle and the other on the second one from the brick one.
*One over a Sliding Stone in the middle near the level's start.
*One above the second Thwomp the long way.
*Behind the Piranha Plant on the structure near the reversible platform.
*In a small area in between two hidden Piranha Plants on the upper-right area from the start.
*On the rotating platform above the slide.
*On the slide as one of the ways to reach the floating isles (relocated in-between three Piranha Plants in different flower patches in Super Mario 64 DS).
===Star 5: Fall Onto the Caged Island===
In this mission, Mario has to use the help of Hoot to soar into the sky to a floating caged isle containing a small entrance with a Power Star in the center of the cage. In the remake, the Power Star is enclosed by the cage with a small door-shaped entrance to the Power Star. A more risky-considered way for Mario to get the Power Star is for him to use the cannon. As mentioned, Hoot is found at the top of the tree behind Mario when directly starting the level. The island is different in appearance between the two versions of Super Mario 64. In the original, the island is a small Island with cage bars around it while in the remake, the island is larger, has a fence around it, and the Star is located inside a mesh "house" resembling a chicken coop.
===Star 6: Blast Away the Wall===
In order for Mario to do this level, he must head off to the Bob-omb Buddy aforementioned on Shoot Into the Wild Blue. He must simply use the cannon to blast himself with enough momentum force to destruct a chip of the wall. He must simply aim for the top-right to reveal a Power Star on it that he can obtain on the ledge.
===Star 7: Switch Star of the Fortress (DS)===
This mission is exclusive to Super Mario 64 DS. In this mission, only Mario, Luigi or Wario can do the mission as Yoshi cannot destroy the orange brick with the Switch Star Pad. Though, Yoshi may use a Mario, Luigi, or a Wario Cap for the level. The orange block containing the well-hidden Switch Pad is the second one in the brick wall ledges. Once the switch is activated, the player must control his/her plumber to the Switch Star containing the Power Star. The player's character must quickly run to the Switch Star by making a turn into the grassy fields and then jump to the glass to reveal the Power Star.
===100 Coins===
As in all levels of the game, Mario can get a bonus-star by collecting one hundred coins in one attempt. There are a total of that appear in this level or at least can be collected. There is also a Blue Coin Block revealing almost four Blue Coins nearly required to obtain the Power Star. It is possible to collect one hundred coins on any stage of the level.
==Secrets==
===1-up Mushroom===
There are five 1-up Mushroom to be found on this level:
*On the rotating platform.
*Inside a breakable wall on the tower.
*At the top of the pole one appears.
*The butterflies at the start of the level.
*On top of the tower, in the middle.
==Differences in Super Mario Galaxy 2==
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, a galaxy in the World 6 is based on this place, renamed Throwback Galaxy. It is modeled to appear to look a lot like this area except with the inclusion of Star Bits, the lack of Hoot, the Whomps and the Whomp King being larger, Green Power Stars included and a Chance Cube is even included. There is also a Midway Point at the top of the course. The music is also recomposed for the Wii. First a regular Whomp is fought at the top of the fortress and then Mario is dropped to the underworld to fight the Whomp King.
The music is a remix of the original Super Mario 64 theme song, which is used in many of the stages in Super Mario 64, including this one.
==Enemies encountered==
*Goomba
*Piranha Plant
*Pushy Wall
*Bob-omb (Nintendo DS only)
*Banzai Bill (Nintendo 64 only)
*Bullet Bill (Nintendo DS only)
*Thwomp
*Whomp
*Whomp King (boss)
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*The level "Chip Off Whomp's Block" is a pun on the phrase "A chip off the old block".
de:Wummps Wuchtwall
it:Fortezza di Womp
fr:Forteresse de Whomp
fi:Whomp's Fortress
es:Fortaleza de piedra
ja:バッタンキングの とりで
Category:Locations in Super Mario 64
Category:Levels
Category:Forts and Castles
Category:Sky-themed
Category:Locations