Goal Pole

File:Flagpole.PNG

A Flagpole.

A Flagpole appears at the end of every level in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and New Super Mario Bros. The flags on a flagpole come in many colors, though red flags usually indicate an alternate exitTemplate:Refneeded and most flags have skulls on them. In Super Mario World, there were Giant Gates instead of Flagpoles.

Mario or Luigi have to jump and grab the flagpole to end the level. In The Lost Levels, Luigi can easily jump over the flagpole due to his better jumping abilities. In order to still finish the level, he has to jump at it from the other side. It is unknown whether this is a glitch or not, as it does not cause any errors. It was not fixed in Super Mario All-Stars. In New Super Mario Bros. it is a black flag (or red for secret exits) with a white skull. Interestingly, while being Mega Mario or Luigi, they knock over the flagpole and turn around to look at the rubble they made, and then shrink into Mario or Luigi and head into the castle.

Mario could also jump on flagpoles in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, in the Flagpole Leap mini-game. This game answers the question, "Why jump on the flagpoles?" The answer is, "Why not?"

Flagpoles also appear in the Bowser inter-missions in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, there is a flagpole in front of the Little Fungitown that can be slid down on in the Beanbean Kingdom. This is the only flagpole in the Beanbean Kingdom that is seen.

In the opening cinematic of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool can be seen sliding down multi-colored flagpoles.

Trivia

• File:Ac-cam-flag-pole.jpg

  Flagpole as it appears in Animal-Crossing for the Nintendo Gamecube
  In both Animal Crossing and Animal-Crossing: Wild World it appears as a furniture item.
• In some levels, it is able to jump beyond the flagpole and castle. However, upon doing so, the player has to wait for the timer to get to zero.