Super Mario 64/Whomp's Fortress

Location: First floor. On the right side of the staircase, enter the door with a 1 on it, and jump into the painting.

Description: A large fortress floating in the sky, with Thwomps, Whomps, and the Giant Whomp (Whomp King in the DS remake).

Bob-omb Buddy: Right next to the cannon is your buddy. You need to have collected the first two stars for him to appear.

Whomp's Fortress is the second course. One 1 star is required to access it.

Star 1: Chip Off Whomp's Block
Start by jumping onto the stone wall. You can do this by backflipping onto it from the grassy ledge. Follow the arrows up and turn left. Get past the Piranha Plant either by jumping over it or by crawling past it. Go across the gray bridge quickly, because it will fall apart behind you. Cross the wooden bridge and wait for the rotating bridge to come to the ledge you're on. Go to the middle, and wait for it to rotate to the other ledge. Run onto the ledge, then continue past the Whomp. Go to the right and go past the second Whomp, and jump on the rotating elevator. Jump off onto the top of the mountain and go to the giant Whomp (Whomp King in the DS remake). To defeat it, you need to go in front of it to make it fall, but run out from under it just as it's about to crush Mario. Jump on its back and do a ground pound (jump and push before you land). You will need to do this three times before the Whomp will give you a star.

Star 2: To The Top Of The Fortress
Again, travel to the top of the mountain, but this time you'll find a tower. Climb it using the moving blocks, watching out for Bullet Bills that come out of the cannons. The star is at the top of the tower.

Star 3: Shoot Into The Wild Blue
Instead of climbing up the fortress, you will need to reach a cannon. Start by going up where you would normally go, but backflip left to reach a section with water. Go left and speak to the pink Bob-omb and get him to prepare the cannons for you. Having done that, all you need to do is shoot yourself onto the platform to the left - the one under the flag pole. Aim above the platform above the star. Once you get there (it may take a few tries if you're not used to the cannon), climb down the pole and the star's right there. You can also side flip and wall jump to the platform.

Star 4: Red Coins On The Floating Isle
Again, find eight red coins scattered throughout the course.


 * 1) On your way up the mountain, there are three pieces of wall that poke out at intervals. A red coin is on top of the middle one.
 * 2) The second coin is above the second blue Thwomp. Get on the step above him and jump on his head.
 * 3) The next coin is in shallow pool that can be reached by going completely over the top of the incline.  Long jump up the black incline to reach the coin.
 * 4) Another one is next to the Piranha Plant just past the Thwomps.
 * 5) Get the next red coin by walking (slowly!) across the ledge past the Piranha Plant.
 * 6) Travel on the rotating wooden plank for another red coin.
 * 7) The last two are on floating islands off of the top of the mountain. Jump and kick the plank so you can safely walk across.

The Star appears in the field near where you started. If you have enough health, you may be able to survive a well positioned fall to the star. If not, just walk back down the mountain and take it.

Star 5: Fall Onto The Caged Island
From where you start, turn around and climb the tree near the start of the level. Once you do so, an owl will come out and offer you a ride. Jump into his claws and turn toward the floating island that you will see with a cage and a star on it. Steer him towards the cage that holds the star up there in the sky. Let go of the owl when you are directly overhead of the island. Walk into the cage through the opening and take the star. This may take a few tries to position yourself correctly.

You can also hop into the cannon and launch yourself into the top of the cage. This also takes a few tries to perfect.

Star 6: Blast Away The Wall
Go to the cannon again, but this time aim to the right. You want to hit the side of the brown wall near the top. If you get this right, it will shatter revealing a star (see screenshot to right). Climb up to the wall, slide down to the star, and you've got it. (You can also fire yourself from the cannon right at the star: aim right above it).

Star 7: Switch Star of the Fortress (Nintendo DS)
Go around the base of the fortress, past the Piranha Plant and a couple of Goombas and hop the fence. Don't worry, there's ground there so you won't die. As you kill that Goomba, notice that there are empty columns in the wall above the stones that pop out and knock you down. Go to the second space and hop onto the orange block and do a spiffy ground-pound. You'll uncover a yellow star-shaped switch with a white ! on top. After the cut scene, showing you where the star is, step onto the switch.

WARNING!

Be ready to run around the base, avoiding the Piranha Plants and Goombas as well as the Bullet Bills and watch out for empty spaces in the ground. You should end up where a star is, surrounded by a glass outer coating that doesn't matter.

Congratulations! You've just gotten a star! That deserves a Klondike (all copyright goes to the people who manufacture Klondike bars)!

Star 7: Get 100 Coins
Again, getting 100 coins is worth a star.
 * Piranha plants are worth a five coins each
 * So are Whomps, but before you ground pound one, jump on it to earn one coin. You can do this up to five times before killing it for five more
 * Pounding on posts or circling then three times are also worth five coins.
 * Blue Coin switch
 * On the floating islands
 * On the rotating bridge
 * Above wild blue

This is the easiest 100 coin star in the game. Coins are everywhere you look. Attempt this while any star except for the first is selected, so that you can get some higher up coins if you even need them (You shouldn't!) For a full list of coin, see below.

List of Coins
The following is a list of all 141 coins that can be found in this level. You cannot get every coin on the first star.

Yellow Coins – 90 coins
 * Two throwable boxes (6 coins)
 * Coin around flowerbed near the start (8 coins)
 * Line of coins on the slope at beginning (5 coins)
 * Line of coins on slope next to the water (5 coins)
 * Ring of coins in the water (8 coins)
 * Line of coins next to the cannon (5 coins)
 * Ring of coins near "Shoot Into the Wild Blue" star (8 coins)
 * Line of coins on thin wooden plank (5 coins)
 * Coins around the spinning board (4 coins)
 * Coins on the floating island (8 coins)
 * Coins on the floating arrow block (8 coins)
 * Jump on back of two Whomps (10 coins)
 * Ground Pound two Whomps (10 coins)

Red Coins – 16 coins
 * Eight red coins (16 coins)

Blue Coins – 35 coins
 * Four coins from the blue coin block (20 coins)
 * Three Piranha Plants (15 coins)

1up Locations
The following is a list of where to find all four green mushrooms in Whomp's Fortress..


 * Grab the coins on the spinning bridge.
 * Punch the tower wall to break a wall.
 * Climb to the top of the pole
 * The butterflies at the start of the level.