Music Box

The Music Box is a common item found in Super Mario Bros. 3. It makes all Hammer Brother, Fire Brother, Boomerang Brother, and Sledge Brother Enemy Courses, as well as the Piranha Plant stages in Pipe Land, fall asleep so that Mario and Luigi can sneak past them. After one clears a level or loses two lives, they wake up again. The song that is played is a soothing version of the Super Mario Bros. Ground Theme. The pitch level of the music was adjusted for the SNES remake in Super Mario All-Stars.

Music boxes also have a large role in Wario Land 3. In fact, this game is set within an enigmatic music box with an entire world inside of it and focuses on the collection of five different Music Boxes, which, if all played, can free a hidden figure who, claiming to be the music box world's unjustly accursed leader, helps Wario through his quest. Wario, in the end, collects the five music boxes scattered around the larger one and frees the figure, only to discover that he is evil; Wario then defeats him and saves the music box, which he is permitted to leave. The music box world later makes a cameo in Wario's House in WarioWare: Twisted!.

In the book Koopa Capers from the Nintendo Adventure Books series, Luigi tries to whistle the tune from the Music Box to escape the Sledge Brothers. While it does make them drowsy, they avoid falling asleep completely.

Super Mario Bros. 3

 * Wii Virtual Console manual: "Use this item to make enemies on the map screen fall asleep temporarily."
 * 3DS Virtual Console manual: "Allows Mario to put the Hammer Bros. and other map-screen enemies to sleep."

Trivia

 * The tune was remixed in Mario Party 10 as the results music when a Bowser Party is finished.