Mystery Box

This article is about the box from Super Mario 3D Land. For the item from the Paper Mario series with the same name, see Mystery Box (item). For The Captain Command in Bowser Jr.'s Journey, see Mystery Box (Captain Command).

Mystery Box
Artwork from Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
First appearance	Super Mario 3D Land (2011)
Latest appearance	Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (2021)

Mystery Boxes are objects debuting in Super Mario 3D Land.

History

Super Mario series

Super Mario 3D Land

In Super Mario 3D Land, they are found in most Worlds, with their primary task being to defeat all the enemies in the box within ten seconds. Enemies can range from Goombas to Boom Booms. When Mario completes the task, Coins and a Star Medal appear. Other items, such as 1-Up Mushrooms, Super Leaves and Fire Flowers are also found within Mystery Boxes. However, if Mario loses a life in a Mystery Box, he will be forced to quit the level. Whenever the player first encounters a Mystery Box on the world map, they are required to enter it before moving on. The Mystery Box theme is a remix of the Teleporter theme from Super Mario Galaxy 2.

A golden Mystery Box. Note that there are two Star Medals and even a P-Wing.

Mystery Boxes can also be golden on the inside, while still appearing purple on the outside. All of the golden-sided Mystery Boxes contain two Star Medals, and at least three 1-Up Mushrooms, with some containing as many as eight. No golden-sided Mystery Boxes contain enemies, and as such, Star Medals appear immediately upon entering a box. They can contain many different things, such as Poison Mushrooms, Toads, or even P-Wings. These Mystery Boxes have a cover of the main theme from Super Mario Bros. as the background music.

There are a total of 20 unique normal Mystery Box contents and 15 unique golden-sided Mystery Boxes contents. Golden-sided Mystery Boxes more rarely appear than normal ones. Each normal Mystery Box can be found in two different Worlds, while each golden-sided one can only be found in a single World.

After completing a Mystery Box, it turns gray on the overworld map and "falls asleep", rendering it inaccessible. It may be accessed again 20 hours later. The contents of each Mystery Box changes each time it is re-entered.

Mystery Boxes can also be accessed via StreetPass, a wireless feature that automatically exchanges information with nearby Nintendo 3DS systems while the system is in sleep mode). The only difference in a StreetPass Mystery Box is that it is guaranteed to have a Star Medal or two, unless of course all Star Medals have been collected.

Mystery Boxes also can appear in some levels of Super Mario 3D Land, which the goal is to collect as many coins from the blocks within the time limit. In the early versions of the game, these Mystery Boxes used the same design as that of the current Warp Box; similarly, the early Warp Boxes used the current Mystery Box design, albeit with an exclamation point instead of a question mark. The colors were switched in the final version of the game.

Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Mystery Boxes in Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port can only be found in levels. Each of them has a Green Star which must be collected within the time limit. If Mario fails, he is sent back to the proper level. The Green Stars must be collected in different ways, like defeating every enemy present, navigating through a small obstacle course, or using given items or forms to reach it. Certain worlds also feature special courses called Mystery Houses, which consist of clearing a number of Mystery Box courses in quick succession. In one area of the Shiftier Boo Mansion level, a fake Mystery Box appears, which summons a Big Boo when interacted with.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Mystery Boxes also appear in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and its Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS ports, appearing only in Coins Galore bonus levels this time. After entering a Coins Galore level, Captain Toad or Toadette can select two Mystery Boxes: one that accesses a bonus area with Super Pickaxes and other that access a bonus area with Double Cherries. The task is to collect many coins or Gold Mushrooms within 10 seconds. After completing a Coins Galore level, it cannot be entered again. However, if the Toads complete every level of the game, these Coins Galore levels will be permanently open and can be accessed at any time from the Bonus Episode.

Contents

Super Mario 3D Land

Image	Content	Appearance
File:SM3DL W1-3 MB (inside).jpg	3 ? Blocks, two of which contain a single coin and the other of which continues to produce coins as long as time remains on the Box's timer 2 Hidden Blocks (Note: They appear where there are gaps between the ? Blocks.)	File:SM3DL W1-3 MB.jpg
File:SM3DL W1-4 MB (inside).jpg	3 Long ? Blocks containing two coins and a Super Leaf, a single set of three coins, and multiple sets of three coins, respectively	File:SM3DL W1-4 MB.jpg
	3 Roulette Blocks	(Note: A yellow Toad will also be found here and will give a 1-Up Mushroom if the player watched his entrance into the hidden Box through a pair of Binoculars.)
	3 coin throwing Rocky Wrenches 1 Star Medal
	45 Brick Blocks each containing a coin 3 Hidden Blocks each containing a coin 1 Hidden Block containing a 1-Up Mushroom

World Map Mystery Boxes

Defeating every enemy in a Box will cause ten Coins and a Star Medal to appear.

Image	Content	Appearance(s)
File:SM3DL W1 MB (inside).jpg	2 Goomba Boards 1 Fire Flower	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg (Note: This is also the tutorial.)
	3 Piranha Plants	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg
	3 Goombas	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg
	1 red Biddybud 1 Fire Flower	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg
	1 Fire Flower 1 Goomba Tower, two Goombas high 1 Fire Piranha Plant
	2 Tail Goombas 1 Piranha Plant
	1 Goomba 1 Piranha Plant
	3 Biddybuds (yellow, green, and red) 1 Fire Flower 1 Super Mushroom
	2 Fire Piranha Plants 1 Fire Flower
	2 Tail Goombas 1 Super Leaf
	5 Biddybuds (yellow, green, red, blue, and pink)
	2 Goomba Towers, two Goombas high each
	1 Hammer Bro 1 Boomerang Flower
	1 Goomba 1 Super Leaf	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg
	1 Boomerang Bro 1 Boomerang Flower
	1 Hammer Bro 1 Boomerang Bro
	1 Hammer Bro 1 Boomerang Bro 1 Boomerang Flower
	3 Fire Piranha Plants
	Boom Boom (requiring only one hit to defeat)
	2 Goomba Towers, two Goombas high each 1 Fire Flower

Golden Mystery Boxes

In addition to the features listed here, each Box contains two Star Medals.

Image	Content	Appearance
	15 Super Leaves 1 P-Wing	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg
	5 Toads (red, blue, yellow, green, and purple)	File:SM3DL W1 MB.jpg
	9 Goomba Boards, five of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms and others which contain coins 1 Fire Flower
	10 Crates, four of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms 2 ? Blocks containing a Super Leaf and a Fire Flower, respectively
	12 cacti, four of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms 1 Boomerang Flower
	7 white dandelions 4 yellow dandelions containing 1-Up Mushrooms 1 ? Block containing a Super Leaf
	4 P-Switches pressing each of which causes a 1-Up Mushroom to appear
	7 1-Up Mushroom Boards, four of which contain real 1-Up Mushrooms A 5th 1-Up Mushroom 1 ? Block containing a Fire Flower
	6 1-Up Mushrooms 6 Poison Mushrooms
	12 ? Blocks containing coins 4 Invisible ? Blocks containing 1-Up Mushrooms
	3 ? Blocks containing 1-Up Mushrooms 1 ? Box
	4 torches containing 1-Up Mushrooms 1 Fire Flower
	8 1-Up Mushrooms
	Flowers, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms, and some of which contain coins 1 ? Block containing a Fire Flower
	Plants, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms, and some of which contain coins 1 Coin Coffer hiding in one of the plants 1 ? Block containing a Super Leaf

Super Mario 3D World

The player obtains a Green Star by completing the following objectives:

Level number	Level name	Objective
World 1-2	Koopa Troopa Cave	Defeating two Koopa Troopas
World 1-5	Switch Scramble Circus	Destroying the crate in the left-hand corner
World 2-3	Shadow-Play Alley	Pressing the P Switch to open a hidden room underneath the stairs
World 3-3	Shifty Boo Mansion	Dodging the Peepas in the rotating room to reach the Star
World 3-6	Mount Must Dash	Catching the Rabbit
World 4-2	Piranha Creeper Creek	Using four Piranha Creepers as platforms to reach the Star
World 4-4	Big Bounce Byway	Jumping with a disabled Hop-Chop or using the Cat transformation to climb to the Star
World 4-Castle	Lava Rock Lair	Pressing the three P Panels
World 5-7	Searchlight Sneak	Climbing the stairs to the Star while dodging Cat Bullet Bills
World 6-3	Hands-On Hall	Defeating the Spike
World 6-5	Ty-Foo Flurries	Skating to the Star while dodging Walleyes and Skating Goombas
World 6-6	Bullet Bill Base	Navigating the circular vertical conveyor belt to reach the Star
World Castle-4	Boiling Blue Bully Belt	Pushing a Bully into the lava
World Bowser-1	Spiky Spike Bridge	Climbing up the wall to the P Switch to reveal the Star and climbing the opposite wall to retrieve it
World Bowser-3	Cookie Cogworks	Navigating the giant cookie rotating counterclockwise to reach the Star
World Bowser-4	Footlight Lane	Navigating the invisible floors and dodging the Thwomp to reach the Star
World Bowser-6	A Beam in the Dark	Defeating six Boos with Light Boxes or the Lucky Bell
World Star-3	Rolling Ride Run	Rotating the room to the right or using the Cat transformation to reach the Star
World Star-5	Super Block Land	Extending the blocks in the room or using the Cat transformation to reach the Star
World Star-8	Peepa's Fog Bog	Throwing a snowball at the Star to collect it; going near it causes it to vanish
World Flower-1	Switch Shock Circus	Turning on all four Switch Panels on the wall to reveal the Star

Gallery

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  Super Mario 3D Land

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  Super Mario 3D World

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ミステリーボックス Misuterī Bokkusu	Mystery Box
Chinese	神秘箱[?] Shénmì Xiāng	Mystery Box
German	Rätselbox[?]	Mystery Box
Italian	Cubo Mistero[?]	Mystery Cube
Portuguese	Caixa Mistério[?]	Mystery Box
Russian	Ящик с секретом[?] Yashchik s sekretom	Box with secret
Spanish	Caja misteriosa[?]	Mysterious box