? Block

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A ? Block.

The ? Block (known as the Mystery Block in Super Mario Land and Prize Block in Super Mario World) is one of the many blocks found in the Mario universe. ? Blocks are commonly seen floating in midair, often containing Gold Coins, Super Mushrooms, or Fire Flowers. In some games (for example Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, as well as several classic platformers) there are some invisible ? Blocks. In Super Mario Bros. 3, interestingly, the game shows platform physics about when the Mario Bros. are attempting to hit the ? Block but not just punching below the block. One example is when Mario or Luigi use the Tanooki Suit, the Mario Bros. can use their tails to whack the ? Block. Another example is by using the Koopa Shell, when Mario or Luigi kick the Koopa Shell to the ? Block; the ? Block will pop out containing a Coin or an item.

The ? Blocks of Super Mario World had eyes and seemed to be reanimations of that game's Turning Blocks. They also gave Turning Block-like angry eyes when hit; interestingly, these expressions-when-hit are often seen even in non-eyed ? Blocks today, making the ? Block a possible relative of the Turning Block. In the Paper Mario series, Red ? Blocks contain badges and yellow ones contain coins or items. ? blocks are sometimes invisible at first. They are turned visible by jumping into them (or using Watt in Paper Mario). Once they're visible, they can also be used as stepping stones. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door during Bowser's event, Meat will come out. If the player obtains Four of these Meats, Bowser will grow huge, allowing him to smash through objects.

In Super Mario 64 DS, red ? Blocks replace the red, blue, and green ! Blocks. They had to be activated by hitting the ? Switch. They contain either Power Flowers or Bob-ombs, depending on character and hat status. In the Mario Kart series (starting with Mario Kart 64), similar item blocks, called "Item Boxes" are found on every track. However, they are not flying up in the air but they are on the ground. ? Blocks were also replaced by the Item Box-like ? Panels in the games Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and Super Mario Kart. In New Super Mario Bros., red flying ? Blocks fly around the world map, moving to different levels every time Mario or Luigi die or complete a level. Five items can be inside: a Fire Flower, 1-Up Mushroom, Mini Mushroom, Mega Mushroom, or a Blue Koopa Shell. The original yellow ? Blocks also appear. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, ? Blocks appeared on the Mushroom Kingdom stage and could contain items if smashed from below.

A ? Block in Super Mario Galaxy.

Much mystery enshrouds the ? Blocks, and little details have been given about their origin. Super Mario Bros., however, gave the explanation that Bowser, using the Koopa Clan's famous dark magic, had cursed the Mushroom Kingdom, turning its citizens (presumably the Toads) into a variety of objects, including bricks (which the ? Blocks could alternately be thought of as). The game's manual later talked about how Mario could "come across Mushroom People who had been turned into bricks" and receive items from them. Although this is the only canonical history origin of the ? Blocks, it would appear to have been long retconned out of Mario canon, with ? Blocks now seemingly being a natural feature of the Mushroom Kingdom. ? Blocks are not to be confused with ! Blocks, which are similarly floating blocks.

In Super Mario Galaxy, ? blocks contained star bits and coins, and could usually be hit multiple times before vanishing. If you managed to hit a ? block with star bits enough times, it would, as aforementioned, vanish, though when it does a multitude of star bits will scatter across the stage.

Trivia

• In all Nintendogs games, it is possible to get an item called ? Block.
• In Yoshi's Story, there is mini-game game called Melon Race in which Yoshi must hit a ? Block and race a melon-eating Chain Chomp.