Bucket

A bucket is an object that appears within several games in the Mario franchise, often serving a minor role that varies widely between appearances. It first appears in the Japan-exclusive game Mario & Wario as a central game mechanic.

Mario & Wario
In Mario & Wario, the bucket is among the objects used by Wario to obstruct the vision of the protagonists—Princess Peach, Mario, and Yoshi—by dropping them on their heads; Wanda the fairy has to guide the blinded heroes through each of several stages. The Bucket itself is used in the very first stage of the game, Yōsei no Mori, and features Mario's "M" insignia when upright; when turned upside-down while over a character's head, the "M" becomes Wario's "W," referencing his "power" over the character. Later stages outside the EXTRA stages will feature multiple different objects.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
A bucket appears in Moleville in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, where it serves as a hidden warp to the Midas River. If the mole girl standing on top of it is given a Carbo Cookie, she jumps off of the bucket, granting access to the river and the Midas Waterfall Course.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
The bucket from Mario & Wario appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a trophy. It can be obtained from the Lottery or when it appears at random in one of the game's single-player modes.

Mario and the Incredible Rescue
The book Mario and the Incredible Rescue has Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Toad fighting Wario in Booster Pass. The fight has Wario driving his plane, as he throws Buckets down at the gang. Mario and Yoshi defeat him by jumping up to his plane and placing a Bucket on his head, blinding him and causing him to lose control of his plane and spiral out of view.

Other appearances
The bucket Mario wears on his head appears as a collectable treasure in the "Great Cave Offensive" mode of Kirby Super Star and Kirby Super Star Ultra.