X-Naut Fortress

X-Naut Fortress
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)
Greater location	The Moon
Ruler	Grodus
Inhabitants	X-Nauts, X-Naut PhDs, Elite X-Nauts, Z-Yux

The X-Naut Fortress is Grodus' main base of operations which is located on the moon and the home to the X-Nauts in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Princess Peach is also taken to here. The last Crystal Star, the Crystal Star, is held there and Mario and his friends have to use Big Bob in Fahr Outpost to reach this place and fight Lord Crump (while controlling Magnus von Grapple 2.0) to get the star. Grodus travels between the earth and his fortress using a teleporter, which has one end located in his laboratories and the other end located in Rogueport Underground. The base is also the home of TEC-XX, which is the main computer of the whole fortress. Also, after Mario gets the sixth Crystal Star, Grodus takes Princess Peach and leaves the fortress (possibly giving it to Lord Crump) so he can go to the Palace of Shadow. After Mario successfully destroys Magnus von Grapple 2.0, he gets the seventh Crystal Star. After that, the fortress explodes and Mario is unable to go back until the final boss is defeated.

The fortress is essentially a five-story building built deep under the moon. It is all connected by a series of hallways and two elevators. The deeper Mario or Peach go, the dimmer the lighting is.

When the player Spring Jumps into the air duct from the Yux lab on sublevel 2 and uses Paper Mode to slip thought the vent on the far right, they land in a changing stall where Peach used to put on the X-Naut suit. If they pull the curtain back, Mario and his partners become 8-bit. This lasts until they leave the room.

Enemies

After the chapter is cleared, no enemies appear in the X-Naut Fortress.

• Elite X-Naut
• Magnus von Grapple 2.0 (Chapter 7 Boss)
• Mini-X-Yux
• Mini-Yux
• Mini-Z-Yux
• X-Naut PhD
• X-Naut
• X-Yux
• Yux
• Z-Yux

Formations

Main article: List of enemy formations in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door § X-Naut Fortress

Items

Item	Location	Location Image	Location Image (Remake)
Cog	In the transportation room on sublevel 2, it is on top of the controller. Accessible from the air vent with Koops or Yoshi Kid.
Crystal Star	Dropped after Magnus von Grapple 2.0 is defeated.
Elevator Key (Blue)	To the right of level 1, it is guarded in a chest beyond the electrical floors.
Elevator Key (Red)	Won after the 66th Trivia Quiz-Off. In the original, the Thwomp drops the card only, but in the remake, he drops a chest containing said card.
6 Coins Feeling Fine Feeling Fine P	To the left of sublevel 1, they are on the item platform to be retrieved with the crane.
HP Drain	To the left of sublevel 3, it is in the question block on the south side.
Security Key (◆)	To the left of sublevel 2, it is guarded in a chest beyond the electrical floors.
Security Key (♠︎)	To the left of sublevel 3, it is guarded in a chest beyond the electrical floors.
Security Key (♥︎)	To the right of sublevel 2, it is on the computer desk in the back room of Grodus's area.
Security Key (♣︎)	To the right of sublevel 3, it is in the factory room. Accessible from the airplane panel near the right exit. To the left of sublevel 4, it is held by an Elite X-Naut in the shower.
Security Key (★)	To the right of sublevel 3, it is in the factory room. Accessible from the airplane panel near the right exit.	N/A
Sleepy Sheep	To the left of sublevel 2, it is in the yellow question block on the back side.
Star Piece (×2)	To the left of sublevel 1, it is on the item platform to be retrieved with the crane.
	In the southwest corner of the air vent on Sublevel 2.
Super Mushroom	To the right of level 1, it is in the yellow question block on the back side.		N/A
Ultra Mushroom (x1/3)	To the right of sublevel 3, in the factory room, it is on the left high platform in the background.
	To the right of level 1, it is in the yellow question block on the back side.	N/A
	In the factory of Sublevel Three; on a high platform in the background on the far east.	N/A

Following items are only available for Princess Peach during the Chapter 5 interlude:

Item	Location	Location Image	Location Image (Remake)
Blue Potion Green Potion Red Potion Orange Potion Yellow Potion	On the desk in the lab on sublevel 2.
Data Disk	To the right of sublevel 2, it is on the shelf in the computer room behind Grodus's room.

Crane game items

After leaving and re-entering the X-Naut Fortress at least once in the Nintendo Switch remake, new items appear in the crane room on Sublevel One if the player had already collected every item beforehand. There are four batches of different items to collect. To make the next batch appear, it is necessary to collect every item on the current batch, leave the X-Naut Fortress, and return to it.

Batch set	Items	Location Image
1	POW Block, Sleepy Sheep, Courage Shell, Mr. Softener, 5 Coins
2	Volt Mushroom, Dizzy Dial, Power Punch, Mini Mr. Mini, 5 Coins
3	Slow Mushroom, Super Mushroom, Maple Syrup, Gradual Syrup, 5 Coins
4	Ruin Powder, Stopwatch, Gold Bar, HP Drain, Spite Pouch, 4 Coins

Area Tattles

• "Who knew there'd be such a weird building on the moon... It's kind of crazy, actually. I mean, it's got a big glass dome to keep all of the air from leaking out...What's that? Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess we were OK out there with no air to breathe...................................Yeah, I'd rather not think about that too much, I guess. Let's change the subject." (GCN)
  • "Who knew there'd be such a weird building on the moon... It's almost unbelievable, actually. At least it's got a big glass dome to keep all of the air from leaking out...What's that? Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess we were OK out there with no air to breathe. ... Yeah, I'd rather not think about that too much, I guess. Let's change the subject." (Switch)
• "This is the X-Naut Fortress. This seems to be the only way in or out. The stars look really nice through these windows, but I guess now's not the time..." (GCN)
  • "This is the X-Naut Fortress. This seems to be a way to get in and out. The stars are really pretty out here...or what you can see of them through these fortress windows, anyway." (Switch)
• "This is a fortress corridor. An elevator connects it to the lower floors. I guess this fortress extends pretty far beneath the surface of the moon, huh? I mean, I hate Grodus, but I gotta give him some props for a pretty cool evil hideout."
• "This room looks like it was meant to store something... It's booby-trapped, I think. Not to totally change the subject or anything, but how's your memory, Mario? If you have trouble recalling the full path, you oughta leave and reenter."
• "This looks like a storage room for valuables. The crane can grab stuff up there. It should work if you set a gear in place and press those switches in order... I'm sure you can handle it. It's not exactly moon-rocket science here."
• "What's this room for, huh? I feel like I've seen that face somewhere before... Hmmm... Oh well, forget about it, I guess."
• "This room looks like it was meant to store something... It's booby-trapped, I think. If you wander off the correct path, it looks like you'll take damage, don'tcha think? Rooms like this ALWAYS have a hint, though. It's like, a law. See anything like that?"
• "This is Grodus's lab. He must have his researchers work on various potions here. I don't think we should touch any of this stuff, though... One wrong move and... KABOOOOOOOM! ...Know what I mean?"
• "This looks like some kinda teleporter. Who knows where that thing would send us! Maybe that's what the X-Nauts used to go between the moon and the earth. I think we have to switch it on (GCN) / press the button (Switch) and then stand on the platform to use it."
• "This looks like a lab for genetic experimentation...maybe Yux were made here. I guess they must have some pretty advanced technology if they can do stuff like that. Hey, by the way, Mario... You see up there? One of those ceiling panels is loose. Don't you have some super move or something that can get us up there?"
• "This is a changing room. I guess even X-Nauts have to change out of their uniforms... But what do you think they look like under those suits? I'm...not gonna think about it. There's a ventilation duct in the ceiling at one end... That's not good for privacy!"
• "This place is a bit overdone, huh? It just screams, 'Hey! I'm an evil mastermind!' I wonder if poor Princess Peach got dragged in here before?"
• "What's this room for, huh? Is it some kind of office for the X-Naut boss or what? Maybe we should give it a once-over to make sure we don't miss anything. Boy, and what's with these tanks full of Nibbles? Jeepers, that creeps me out."
• "This room looks like it was meant to store something... It's booby trapped, I think. If you stay on the tiles that were lit up, I think you'll be OK, Mario. Er... But you should totally go first, one way or the other..."
• "There are three panels here. I guess that means we need three Card Keys, huh? There must be something pretty important behind this door to have such security..." (GCN)
  • "There are four terminals here. Is this part of a locking mechanism for the door? There must be something pretty important behind this door to have such security" (Switch)
• "This is the X-Naut factory. I think they make all kinds of stuff here. It's pretty complicated, what with the crane and the pipe, and all those gears... Maybe we should just take this room one bit at a time, don'tcha think?"
• "This is where they built Magnus Von Grapple and Magnus Von Grapple 2.0. But there doesn't seem to be anything here now... Nope. Let's go, Mario."
• "This is the computer room. This must be where Princess Peach met with TEC."
• "Wonder what this room's for? There are beds and lockers, but we can't nap here. There's nothing else, really. The weird thing is, it kind of smells nice in here, huh? Why do you think that is?"
• "This is a...shower room? I guess every evil-guy base of ultimate doom needs one... Just because you're evil doesn't mean you enjoy B.O., y'know what I mean?"

Click an area to open the relevant article.

In-game map description

• The fortress of the dubious X-Nauts. Their leader, Grodus, lives here. (GCN)
• The fortress of the dubious X-Nauts and their leader Grodus. (Switch)

Gallery

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  Grodus receives a message while examining Peach.

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  The Shadow Sirens discuss their plans.

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  Peach takes a shower.

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  Peach comes out of the shower with her hair tied back into a bun.

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  A door opens.

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  Peach examines the opened door.

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  Peach enters a room with a mysterious computer.

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  Peach writes an email for Mario.

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  An X-Naut PhD arrives at the office of Grodus.

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  Grodus gives instructions to the X-Naut PhD.

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  Overworld sprite of the X-Naut Fortress

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  Is this really an "Earth" Tremor?

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Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	メガバッテンのアジト[?] Megabatten no Ajito	X-Nauts Base
Chinese (simplified)	X军团的根据地[?] X Jūntuán de Gēnjùdì	X-Nauts Base
Chinese (traditional)	X軍團的根據地[?] X Jūntuán de Gēnjùdì	X-Nauts Base
Dutch	Kruistronauten-basis[?]	X-Naut Base
French	Repaire Mégacruxis[?]	X-Nauts Lair (Mégacruxis is the French name of the X-Nauts organization)
German	Crucionen-HQ[?]	X-Naut Headquarters
Italian	Covo di Giustignardo[?]	Grodus' Lair
Korean	메가엑스의 아지트[?] Mega Ekseu-ui Ajiteu	X-Nauts Base
Spanish	Base de los Mega X[?]	Base of the X-Nauts (from Mega X the organization's Spanish name)

Notes

Elite X-Naut peeking from the shower in bathroom.

• A single Elite X-Naut hides in the shower room on sublevel 4 while the fortress is active. While this is an Easter egg in the original, it is required in the remake, as this is where the new fourth Security Key is hidden.
• During Princess Peach's Interlude after Chapter 5, TEC asks Peach to drink an invisibility potion in order to secretly enter Grodus's room and upload important data on a disk into the room's computer. When this happens, the computer screen shows the Famicom Disk System boot-up sequence.
• In the Japanese version, the "safe path" in X-Naut Fortress's third puzzle room is only two squares long as opposed to three squares long in the international versions.
• The password required to progress further into the area, 014029, can be alternately read as 『おいしー　おにく』 Oishī Oniku in Japanese, which means "delicious meat". The password was changed to "excuse" in the French version for unknown reasons.