Pirate squelette au chapeau tricorne, sabre au poing, en style papier

Cortese: Spectral Pirate and Guardian of the Sapphire Star

1455 words | Reading time : 7 minute(s)

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The Pirate King guards his gold from Pirate's Grotto — and he does it as a skeleton. Cortese in France, Cortez is the boss of Chapter 5 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, on Keelhaul Key. This profile covers his spectral three-form battle, his arsenal of sword, scimitar, rapier and hook, and his shift from dreaded boss to ferrying ally.

Cortez ("Cortese" in the French version) is the spectral pirate skeleton who serves as the boss of Chapter 5 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, on GameCube in 2004 and then on Nintendo Switch in 2024.

Nicknamed the Pirate King, he jealously guards his treasure and the Sapphire Star inside Pirate's Grotto, before turning, once beaten, into a valuable ferrying ally for Mario.

Contents

Who is Cortez, the Pirate King?

Cortez is an undead: the ghost of a pirate captain whose spirit refuses to leave this world, back as a spectral skeleton. In life as in death, he is said to have terrorized every sea in the game.

That bloody past earned him the nickname Pirate King. Legend has it that he haunts his old lair and curses anyone who dares come near his gold, which eventually drove nearly every sailor away from the region.

You meet him in Chapter 5, on Keelhaul Key (Île Tropatroce in French), a remote tropical island with a reputation for being cursed. That is where Mario lands to get his hands on the fifth Crystal Star.

Because Cortez holds the Sapphire Star, one of the seven Crystal Stars (Gemmes Étoile in French) that the plumber has to gather. The irony: he picked it up without knowing it while plundering a treasure, never once realizing the value of the gem he was guarding.

Cortez, the pirate skeleton floating above his treasure
A captain dead for centuries, still standing guard over his loot.

The hidden treasure of Pirate's Grotto

Cortez's loot lies at the very bottom of Pirate's Grotto, an underground maze carved out beneath Keelhaul Key and riddled with traps, black water and hidden passages.

To carve a path through it, Mario first has to get hold of the Skull Gem (Joyau crâne in French), a relic that works both as a key to open the grotto and as a way to bring the pirate's ship to life.

That gem belongs to Flavio (Marco in the French version), the boastful merchant from Rogueport whose boat carries Mario all the way to the island. His old pirate song even hides the clues needed to solve the grotto's riddle.

At the end of the journey, Mario finally discovers the ghost ship of Cortez and his mound of riches. The pirate appears at once to defend his treasure, triggering one of the longest and most memorable battles of the adventure.

The Sapphire Star revealed in Pirate's Grotto
The coveted treasure is not gold: it is the Sapphire Star that Mario came looking for.

A ghostly battle in three forms

The showdown with Cortez plays out over three successive forms, each with 20 HP: you have to deal 60 HP of damage in total before he finally collapses.

  • First form: a giant four-armed skeleton, a weapon in every hand and its torso rooted to the ground, the most visually impressive phase.
  • Second form: a serpentine silhouette, a kind of snake-skeleton whose ribcage shelters a vulnerable green gem; paradoxically, this is his weakest form.
  • Third form: reduced to a floating head, he animates his weapons as independent enemies and can drain HP from the audience to heal himself, his most dangerous form.

A cruel detail: as long as Mario fails to break his will, the fight ends in a draw, because the pirate's immortal spirit can never be entirely destroyed. Only his surrender puts an end to the battle.

Cortez mid-battle, weapons floating around him
The fight unfolds in several stages: bringing down the body is never enough.

The arsenal: sword, scimitar, rapier and hook

What makes Cortez so distinctive is his four-weapon arsenal, one for each of his skeletal hands: a sword, a cutlass, a rapier and a rusty hook.

His sword combos are multi-hit and form the heart of his offense, quickly eating away at Mario's HP, while his hook has the nasty habit of poisoning its target.

In his third form, those four blades literally break away from him and attack on their own, forcing the player to juggle several threats at once. A true pirate down to the bone.

From dreaded boss to ferrying ally

Once beaten, Cortez realizes that Mario was never after his gold, only the Sapphire Star. A good sport, he hands it over willingly, even admitting he never really liked it.

Thanks to the Skull Gem, Flavio then strikes a deal with the pirate: Cortez agrees to lend Mario a hand and to fight at his side against the X-Nauts landing on the island.

After the chapter, his ship, the Black Skull (Black Scar in France), becomes permanent transport. It shuttles between Rogueport and Keelhaul Key, letting Mario return to the island whenever he likes to dig up treasure and secrets.

A Spanish-flavored name, played up on Switch

Cortez peppers his lines with Spanish expressions, a delicious verbal tic that underlines his theatrical buccaneer identity and gives him an accent all his own.

In the Nintendo Switch remake from 2024, those Hispanic turns of phrase were played up even further than in the original, making the pirate's dialogue more colorful still than in 2004.

His name is no accident: it evokes both the conquistador Hernán Cortés and the Spanish verb "cortar" (to cut), a perfect double nod for a swordsman wielding four blades.

On the release front, the original came out on GameCube on July 22, 2004 (Japan), then on November 12, 2004 in Europe, while the remake landed worldwide on May 23, 2024.

Cortez at a glance

Name (France) Cortese
Name (original) Cortez
Role Chapter 5 boss, then ally
Game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004 / 2024 remake)
Location Pirate's Grotto, Keelhaul Key
Guarded prize Sapphire Star (5th Crystal Star)
Battle forms 3 forms of 20 HP (60 HP in total)
Ship The Black Skull (Black Scar in France)

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FAQ

  • Which game does Cortez appear in?
    He is a boss in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, released on GameCube in 2004 (July 22 in Japan) and reissued on Nintendo Switch on May 23, 2024.
  • Which Crystal Star does Cortez guard?
    He holds the Sapphire Star, the fifth of the seven Crystal Stars, hidden at the bottom of Pirate's Grotto, on Keelhaul Key.
  • How many forms does Cortez have in battle?
    Three successive forms of 20 HP each: a skeleton with four armed limbs, a serpentine form, then a floating head surrounded by its weapons.
  • Does Cortez become one of Mario's allies?
    Yes. Once beaten, he hands over the Sapphire Star, helps Mario against the X-Nauts, and his ship then shuttles between Rogueport and Keelhaul Key.
  • Where does Cortez's name come from?
    It references the conquistador Hernán Cortés and the Spanish verb "cortar" (to cut), echoing his four weapons and his Spanish expressions.

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