Shhwonk Fortress
| Shhwonk Fortress | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004) |
| Latest appearance | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024) |
| Greater location | Petal Meadows |
| Ruler | Gold Fuzzy |
| Inhabitants | Fuzzies, Bristles, Clefts, Bald Clefts |
- “If you've come all the way here to Shhwonk Fortress, you must want stone keys. And if THAT'S the case, then you must compete against me.”
- —Thwomp, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Shhwonk Fortress is a fortress in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, located beyond Petalburg and the Path to Shhwonk Fortress. It contains a few smaller fortresses, and the main part of the fortress extends underground where the Moon Stone and the Sun Stone, required to open the path to Hooktail Castle, are kept.
Long ago, Shhwonk Fortress was a place of relief from monster invasions for Petalburg residents, but more recently it has been invaded by monsters, so traversing to the ruins was recently outlawed without permission from Mayor Kroop. At least one of the fortresses located in the path to it is estimated by Goombella to be about a thousand years old.
Before Mario is allowed entry to the sublevels, he must participate in the 65th Trivia Quiz-Off hosted by a Thwomp guarding an entrance pipe. After passing the quiz or defeating four Clefts (if Mario fails the quiz), Mario is granted access into the sublevels, which is infested with Fuzzies. After collecting the Sun Stone and the Moon Stone, Mario must fight a Gold Fuzzy and its Fuzzy Horde in order to exit.
In the GameCube original, both the Path to Shhwonk Fortress and Shhwonk Fortress are considered to be part of Petal Meadows on the Magical Map.
Areas
The first scene takes place inside a small gatehouse with two pedestals that hold a pair of Bald Clefts. If Mario and Goombella defeat them, the dungeon door rises up and the pair can proceed.
The second scene is a continuation of the woods from the Path to Shhwonk Fortress. This scene only has a POW Block item hidden in the bush next to the dark pink ruins entrance. The two pass through the destroyed walls again and enter another gatehouse.
The third scene takes place inside the second gatehouse with two pedestals that hold a pair of Bristles. If Mario and Goombella defeat them, the door rises and they can continue.
The fourth scene is another part of the woods, and to the right is the main entrance to the fortress proper. Along the way, the pair bump into a few enemies. They can collect an Inn Coupon behind a broken wall and next to it is a ? Block that holds another Fire Flower. At the end of the path, they can use their first Recovery Block to restore HP and FP.
Mario and Goombella make their way into the entrance with a Save Block. They walk up to a stony Thwomp on a pedestal and it wakes up, surprised that Mario and Goombella are the first visitors to come to the fortress and find the stone keys. However, the Thwomp does not let them pass unless they compete against it in the 65th Trivia Quiz-Off. After the quiz, the Thwomp reveals the Warp Pipe and the pair can proceed.
Mario and Goombella arrive in the sublevels via the Warp Pipe where the ground is flooded with water. The player can spot a red ? Block that contains the Multibounce badge. The duo can either go left or right to collect the two stone keys. Both corridors have two Fuzzies along the way to the keys. When they reach the end rooms to collect the Sun and Moon Stones, Fuzzies appear and battle them.
After collecting the stone keys, the duo come back to the entrance to find a Gold Fuzzy, which becomes angry at Mario and Goombella for trespassing its place. A boss battle commences and the Gold Fuzzy summons out a horde of Fuzzies to outnumber them. After defeating the leader and the horde, they can exit out of the fortress.
Enemies
- Bald Cleft
- Koopa Troopa
- Paragoomba
- Spiky Goomba
- Bristle
- Cleft (fought if Mario fails the quiz)
- Fuzzy
- Gold Fuzzy (Mid-Boss)
- Fuzzy Horde (Mid-Boss)
Formations
For enemy formations in Shhwonk Fortress, see here.
Items
In the remake, the grass in the Thwomp room can be squished for Coins to randomly spawn.
| Item | Location | Location Image | Location Image (Remake) |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the first wooded area after the first gatehouse, in the third tree. | |||
| In the first wooded area, in the last bush. | |||
| In the second wooded area, in the second-to-last bush. | |||
| In the second wooded area, in the question block in the middle. | |||
| In the second wooded area, on the ground. | |||
| In the sublevels, two screens to the left of the entrance. Stone Guarded by four Fuzzies. | |||
| In the first sublevel screen, in the red ? block. | |||
| In the first wooded area, one is in the first bush on the last platform. | |||
| In the sublevels, two screens to the right of the entrance. Stone guarded by four Fuzzies. |
Area Tattles
- "This is part of Shhwonk Fortress. We got a couple pedestals here. That's it. It looks pretty decent, but this place is actually insanely (GCN) / suuuper (Switch) old, did you know that? I'd say it was built about... a thousand years ago. Yup. What vibrant ruins!"
- "This is the path to Shhwonk Fortress. (GCN only) The air here's a bit stale, don'tcha think? Oh, yeah, and listen, Mario... Remember, you don't have to attack every enemy you see. If you have low HP, you might just wanna avoid them. That's Exploring 101, y'know?"
- "This is part of Shhwonk Fortress. We got a couple pedestals here. That's it. Still, to archaeologists, this place is a gold mine. I gotta come back sometime..."
- "This is the path to Shhwonk Fortress. The main entrance is just over there. There's a recovery block there, too. If your HP and FP are low, hit it, OK?" (GCN)
- The main entrance to Shhwonk Fortress is close by. Say, Mario, have you heard about recovery blocks before? If your HP and FP are low, just hit one of them, OK?" (Switch)
- "This is Shhwonk Fortress. Suspicious statue...I'm pretty sure it's a Thwomp bust. Hey, I just remembered something I read about this place in a book! Whenever the villagers were confronted with a monster, they'd hide in this fortress...I guess there's a little bit of history everywhere you look, huh, Mario. (GCN) / Mario? (Switch)"
- "We're in Shhwonk Fortress. My shoes are totally soaked through now...Just great. Plus, it's dark, and cramped, and it smells totally bad... This place is not cool, Mario." (GCN)
- "We're in Shhwonk Fortress. My shoes are totally soaked through now...Just great. Plus, it's dark and confining and it smells totally bad... This place is not cool, Mario." (Switch)
- "There sure are a lot of Fuzzies living here in Shhwonk Fortress... I saw one a minute ago, and I thought it was a ghost! I totally hate dark places..."
- "We're in Shhwonk Fortress. All this water has made this place (GCN) / the place (Switch) a little cold... I wouldn't mind getting out of here for some fresh air soon, you know what I mean?"
- "All this moisture makes this place really moldy-smelling. And what's that other stink? Is that what wet Fuzzy smells like? I think I'm gonna barf." (GCN)
- "All this moisture makes this place really moldy smelling. And what's that other stink? Is that what wet Fuzzy smells like? I think I'm gonna totally barf." (Switch)
- "We're in Shhwonk Fortress. This room is damp and moldy, too. Like every other one. Jeepers creepers...I just wanna see the sun again. Is that so wrong?" (GCN)
- "We're in Shhwonk Fortress. This room is damp and moldy too. Like every other one. I just wanna see the sun again. Is that so wrong?" (Switch)
Gallery
The ruins with Bald Clefts
The ruins with Bristles
The entrance to Shhwonk Fortress
The entrance
The above area.
The Thwomp that hosts the quiz.
Failed the quiz
The sewers
The underground area.
Gold Fuzzy encounter
Gold Fuzzy battle
Superguard killed Gold Fuzzy
Mario gets ambushed by a Fuzzy
Fuzzy Horde in the remake
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | スットンとりで[?] Sutton Toride |
Play on "stone" and anagram of「ドッスン」(Dossun, "Thwomp") +「とりで」(toride, "fortress") | |
| Chinese | 石咚城寨[?] Shídōng Chéng Zhài |
Play on 「石」 (shí, "stone"), 「咚咚」 (Dōngdōng, "Thwomp"), "stone" + 「城寨」 (chéng zhài, "walled city") | |
| Dutch | Fort Beukestein[?] | From beuken ("to pound") and "Boekenstein" (a historical castle and Dutch family name) | |
| French | Fort Baroc[?] | Pun on "Baroque" and roc ("rock") | |
| German | Geröllburg[?] | Rubble Fortress | |
| Italian | Rocca Selvaggia[?] | Wild fortress | |
| Korean | 스톤 요새[?] Seuton Yosae |
Stone Fortress | |
| Spanish | Fortaleza de Piedra[?] | Stone Fortress |