Mystery Box

Mystery Boxes are boxes Mario can access in Super Mario 3D Land. They are found in most Worlds of the game, 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 will 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 encounters a Mystery Box on the world map, he or she is required to enter it before moving on.

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.

There are a total of 20 unique normal Mystery Box contents and 15 unique golden-sided Mystery Boxes contents. Golden-sided Mystery Boxes are less likely to 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, "falls asleep", and becomes inaccessible. It may be accessed again 24 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 infomation with other 3DS holders 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, which the goal is to collect as many coins from the blocks within the time limit.

List of Mystery Box contents

 * Three Question Blocks, two of which contain a single Coin, the other of which continues to produce coins as long as time remainson the Box's timer. Found in

Normal Mystery Box
Defeating every enemies in a given box will cause 15 Coins and a Star Medal to appear.
 * A red Biddybud walking around a Fire Flower. Found in World 1 and Special 3.
 * A Fire Flower, a Goomba Tower, two Goombas high, and a Venus Fire Trap. Found in World 2.
 * A Goomba and a Piranha Plant. Found in World 3 and Special 5.
 * Three Goombas. Found in Special 1.
 * Two Tail Goombas and a Super Leaf.
 * Two Venus Fire Traps and a Fire Flower.
 * A Biddybud of each of the species's five colors walking in a circle.
 * Three Biddybuds, a Fire Flower, and a Super Mushroom.
 * A Hammer Bro. and a Boomerang Flower.
 * Two Goomba Towers, two Goombas high each, and a Fire Flower.
 * A Fire Flower, two Goombas, and a Venus Fire Trap.
 * Three Piranha Plants.
 * A Goomba and a Super Leaf.
 * Two Tail Goombas and a Piranha Plant.
 * Two Goomba Towers, two Goombas high each.
 * A Hammer Bro., a Boomerang Bro., and a Boomerang Flower.

Golden Mystery Box
In addition to the features listed here, each Box contains two Star Medals.
 * 15 Super Leaves and a P-Wing.
 * The game's five supporting Toad characters. Found in World 1.
 * Goomba Signs, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in World 2.
 * Crates, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in World 4.
 * 12 cacti, four of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms, and a Boomerang Flower. Found in World 6.
 * dandelions, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in World 6.
 * Four P-Switches. Found in World 6.
 * 1-Up Mushroomss. Found in Special 1.
 * 1-Up Mushroom Signs, some of which contain real 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in Special 1.
 * flowers, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in Special 3.
 * Six 1-Up Mushrooms and six Poison Mushrooms. Found in Special 5.
 * 12 Question Blocks containing Coins and four invisible Question Blocks containing 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in Special 5.
 * Three Question Blocks containing 1-Up Mushrooms and a Question Box. Found in Special 7.
 * Four unlit torches and a Fire Flower. Lighting the torches causes 1-Up Mushrooms to appear. Found in Special 7.
 * plants, some of which contain 1-Up Mushrooms. Found in Special 7.

Trivia

 * If the player waits outside of a Mystery Box on the World Map, the "Never Ending Stairs" theme from Super Mario 64 can be heard.