Editing Whirling Fortress

When using Whirling Fortress, Bowser retreats into his shell and spins rapidly while damaging nearby foes. Prior to ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' the grounded version consists of two hits, but after ''Smash 4'' it is a multi-hitting attack, whereas the aerial version has always been a multi-hitting attack in all games. It is similar in execution to [[Donkey Kong]]'s [[Spinning Kong]], being a move that makes the user quickly spin around with a mostly-horizontal recovery, though in later games the two have been somewhat differentiated. The move has very low startup lag in every game (especially compared to the rest of Bowser's moveset), which makes it a notoriously strong [[out of shield]] option in every ''Smash'' title, being a key part of how Bowser gets out of disadvantageous game states.  

This special attack is shared by [[Giga Bowser]], both in his boss appearance in ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and in his [[Giga Bowser (Final Smash)|playable appearance]] in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' and ''Super Smash Bros. 4''. It grants him multiple frames of [[invincibility]], making it difficult to attack him out of the move. In ''Melee'', Giga Bowser's Fortress also gave him much more vertical [[recovery]] when used in midair, and the ground attack can deliver multiple hits to nearby opponents; in ''Brawl'', however, the ground attack only deals up to two hits, reducing its overall damage output.

In ''[[Melee]]'', Whirling Fortress is known for the defensive and maneuvering attributes it adds to Bowser's gameplan, filling several holes in his otherwise slow moveset. As a result, it is widely regarded as one of Bowser’s few saving graces as a character. Several unique properties make it highly beneficial to Bowser's kit;

*It has very little start-up (4 [[frame]]s), during which Bowser is [[invincibility frame|invincible]], and has relatively little cooldown [[lag]].

*It can be used to [[edgeguard]] quickly and efficiently. Spinning off the side of a stage leads directly to an [[edgehog]], known as Fortress hogging.

{{YouTube|oGgg8YomIDI|'''Fortress hogging'''}} is a [[:Category:Techniques (SSBM)|technique]] in ''Melee'' and to a lesser extent in ''Brawl'' that allows {{SSBM|Bowser}} to grab onto the edge after simply using his Whirling Fortress on the stage. It was popularised by {{Sm|MagnuM}}. Fortress hogging is performed by timing the Whirling Fortress so that the end of the animation allows Bowser to fall past the stage and in turn, grab on to the edge. However, on stages where there are sloped edges, like [[Yoshi's Story]], Bowser will automatically Fortress hog onto the edge regardless of the position he is facing, given he is not facing away from the stage after falling.

 

In ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', Whirling Fortress has seen multiple changes, both positive and negative. One negative change with both versions is that the move comes out one frame later on frame 6. This barely affects the move at all. The grounded version has an additional frame of intangibility to make up for its slower startup lag. In addition to this, the move can now be performed on the first frame of Bowser's jumpsquat (rather than the second frame), which means that it can still be performed just as quickly out of shield and, Bowser can now become intangible on frame 1 OoS, rather than frame 2, making it a better escape option OoS. One positive change with both versions is that they have more range. This especially helps the grounded version, as it has more range to punish moves from further away, allowing it to punish even more moves OoS.

 

The grounded version of the move has seen a rather significant nerf. The first hit is considerably weaker, dealing less damage (11% down from 13%) and knockback. It does not KO {{SSBB|Mario}} on Final Destination until 131% without DI, although as the move has vertical knockback, it can KO fast fallers just as, if not earlier than it could before, due to the universally decreased falling speeds and the introduction of the [[gravity]] penalty. As the move has lower base knockback, it can also be unsafe on hit at lower percents in some situations. The second hit has a shorter hitbox duration, which can make it harder to land from far distances.

 

The way the grounded version handles momentum has been changed. Previously, it was largely based on stick position, so if the player let go of the control stick, they would stop moving. In ''Brawl'' however, if the player lets go of the stick, they will keep moving. This also makes turning less sharp than it was before.

 

The aerial version has seen a few changes of its own. Despite its higher startup lag and slightly larger hitboxes, the hitboxes are largely identical to how they were before, dealing an even higher amount of damage due to the changes to [[stale move negation]]. The aerial version travels slightly higher than it could before and Bowser can now grab ledges while he is rising (at least if he is facing them), which makes it a better recovery move overall. The move still does not go very high however, the multi hits can still easily be avoided and opponents can still easily hit Bowser out of it, so it still remains a poor recovery move overall.

 

A rather noticeable nerf the move has received is that it has much more landing lag, going from 10 frames to 50 frames. This makes it much more punishable if Bowser tries to recover high, or even if he just slides off a platform and then lands. Bowser can reduce this lag by landing just before he enters free fall, although he is still in a noticeable amount of lag if he lands before entering free fall. The move also now suffers from [[RCO lag]], so Bowser receives additional landing lag if he hard lands at any point after using the move in the air. Bowser only gets four additional frames of hard landing lag however, and he does not get any extra lag from a soft landing or his aerials, so RCO overall does not hurt Whirling Fortress as much as some other recovery moves.

 

Another nerf the move received is that while Bowser can grab ledges from the front much sooner, he cannot grab ledges from behind until later. While this does hurt his recovery if he is facing away from the ledge, this mainly affects him when trying to perform Fortress Hogging (as the animation now has a fixed point when Bowser can grab ledges from behind). Fortress Hogging does still work if Bowser is facing the ledge, although the altered momentum the move has does make the execution different if he is further away from the ledge. If he is facing away from the ledge however, Bowser has less access to the technique. If he slides off the ledge too early, he will just fall down, often to his death on tournament legal stages. The only way he can grab the ledge is if he falls off late into the animation where it becomes much less useful.

 

Overall, Whirling Fortress on the ground is more versatile yet less rewarding out of shield option. While it is not as strong and Bowser cannot utilise Fortress Hogging as much, the move still has respectable KO power despite its reduced strength and its greater range makes it even easier to land, allowing the move to continue being one of Bowser's best moves. The aerial version is a better recovery move overall with slightly more range and it can grab ledges much earlier, although it still remains a very poor and exploitable recovery move, while also continuing to be a very poor attack on its own.

# '''Flying Fortress''': Has slightly increased startup, making it slightly less effective out of shield, but increases vertical distance, to about twice the regular height, at the expense of horizontal distance and damage dealt. Launches foes sideways, only hitting once for 4% damage clean (contrary to its in-game description saying that it doesn't do any). Synergizes well with [[Flying Slam|Dash Slash]], where the Claw can move Bowser horizontally and then Flying Fortress to go vertically. However, when using this move while taking knockback, it won't rise as high or at all. Bowser also sustains slightly increased landing lag.

While unique to ''[[Super Smash Bros. (series)|Smash Bros.]]'' as a whole move, Whirling Fortress is similar to how [[mariowiki:Koopa Troopa|Koopas]] retreat into their shells when jumped on in the [[Mario (universe)|''Super Mario'' series]], which can be held and thrown or kicked by the {{s|mariowiki|Mario}} [[mariowiki:Luigi|Bros.]] as a spinning attack. {{h2|Koopalings|Ludwig von Koopa}} had a move similar to Whirling Fortress in ''[[Super Mario World]]''. In ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario Kart: Double Dash!!}}'', released a few years after ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', a special item called the "{{s|mariowiki|Bowser's Shell}}" was given to [[Bowser]] and [[Bowser Jr.]], featuring a large, spinning Bowser shell, vaguely similar to Whirling Fortress.

Despite the above, Bowser himself never used a move remotely like Whirling Fortress outside of ''{{iw|mariowiki|Mario's Time Machine}}'', where he would perform a move similar to Ludwig's attack in ''Super Mario World'' after being attacked, though this was not Nintendo-developed and likely didn't inspire the move. In fact, Bowser was never seen retreating into his shell in any Nintendo-developed game prior to the move's debut in ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. Like the [[Egg Roll]] and [[Green Missile]], however, the move's concept later led back into the Nintendo-affiliated ''Mario'' series starting with an appearance as Bowser's defensive power shot in ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario Power Tennis}}'', his shell-retreating move in''{{s|mariowiki|Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time}}'' and Bowser also has used the move in ''{{s|mariowiki|New Super Mario Bros U}}''. In ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Paper Mario}}'', Bowser performs a similar move in one of his {{s|mariowiki|Stylish Move}} animations, and in ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario Sports Mix}}''. In ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle}}'', Bowser (as {{s|mariowiki|MegaDragonBowser}}) uses the Whirling Fortress during the final phase of the final boss fight. Bowser also uses a similar move in ''{{s|mariowiki|Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope}}'' for his dash and spinning animations.

WhirlingFortressSSB4.png|Whirling Fortress in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''

[[es:Fortaleza giratoria]]