Item Box

Item Boxes are boxes found in the Mario Kart series. Item Boxes look like ? Blocks but are transparent and often multi-colored, and in more recent games they have a iridescent checker board pattern. When a character passes through them, he/she will get a random item. These blocks also appear in Mario Tennis and Mario Power Tennis. They have appeared in all the Mario Kart games, except Super Mario Kart where they used ? Panels instead.

Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart 64 was the first game to utilize Item Boxes. They replaced ? panels from Super Mario Kart. They had a diamond-like shape with a ? in the center of it. They gave the player an item whenever a character ran into it. The item received in result of running into an item box will determine on the place of the character; the lower the place ranking, the more powerful items will get to help the losing player out. They can regenerate unlike the ? panels in the previous games and they had this rainbow color instead of a plain yellow color.

Mario Kart Super Circuit
Item Boxes take on a different appearance in Mario Kart Super Circuit. Here, they looked like cubes that changed color instead of their previous diamond-like shaped. Most are found in groups of 3,4,5 but some boxes are isolated in desolate locations in the track. Other than appearance and location changes, no function related changes has been made.

Mario Kart Double Dash!!
In the game, Mario Kart Double Dash!!, item boxes, along with new types of item blocks can be found which are the Double Item Boxes, which can grant both the driver and the thrower items, and the Bob-omb Item Box, which can only be found in Bob-omb Blast, gives the player bob-ombs only. They take on a different appearance again. They are still cubes, but they have a checkerboard texture, similar to a race flag.

Item Boxes can either stay stationary or move along the track, as seen in Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City. Item Boxes can also move back and forth from left to right, as seen in Peach Beach, Sherbet Land, and Dino Dino Jungle. Regardless they move or not, they still grant the player an item depending on the player's place.

In split-screen mode except for Battle Course stages, Item Boxes are brighter checkerboard texture than the normal checkerboard texture.

Mario Kart DS
In Mario Kart DS, the boxes take on the same appearance as in Mario Kart Double Dash!! and even serves the exact same function. Like in the previous games, they still grant the player an item depending on the player's place.

In the Mission Mode of Mario Kart DS, the player's task occasionally is to destroy a certain amount of Item Boxes (which often contain Mushrooms to give the driver a boost).

In DK Pass, there is an item box sitting on top of a large hill that breaks the function of item boxes. It will give the player, no matter what place he/she is in, either a Star, Red Shell, Triple Mushrooms, or a single mushroom. It is sometimes referred to a Super Item Box. This is the only location of such in the entire game.

Mario Kart Wii
In Mario Kart Wii, the item boxes lose their checkerboard textures and gain rainbow dot textures. They act in a similar manner as in the previous games and nothing has been changed relating to function when an item is received. However, they do reappear at a slower rate than its precedents.

In Mario Kart Wii, during the Grand-Prix, Vs., and WFC modes, there are many item-boxes display without spinning question marks, while in split-screen mode, the question marks are moving like a spin.

The concept of a "Super" item box returns only in the battle mode stage, Chain Chomp Wheel. There, the item boxes float in the center of a large ring, bearing in shape of a star. If the player can aim correctly and touch the item boxes, he/she will mostly receive a star and sometimes the occasional mushroom.

Mario Kart Arcade GP 2
Item boxes in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 serve the same function, except instead of their current cube structure, they take form as rainbow hexagons. They are usually found in hordes in most places, like what all other item boxes can be found.

Super Smash Bros. series
An Item Box appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as a sticker. It increases ice attack power by eight. The artwork shown in the sticker is from the Mario Kart: Double Dash!! version of the Item Box.

Mario Tennis series
Item boxes are only used in the two games, Mario Tennis for the N64 and Mario Power Tennis and the former can only utilize item boxes in a certain stage. They both have similar functions to each other and to the Mario Kart series as they will both give the player an item when hit, which is in this case, hit by the tennis ball. They both give similar items as seen in the Mario Kart series; even as far as having the same sound effects of Mario Kart Double Dash!! in Mario Power Tennis.

Super Mario Bros. series
Item boxes make little appearances in the Super Mario Bros. series. However, they will appear in Super Mario Galaxy 2, in the same style of a spinning box, only that instead of having a question mark inside, they have pictures of a Bowser face, a Coin, and 1-Up Mushroom on their sides.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
In the most-to-all Dream Events in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, item boxes are used. They, like in the series they debut in, give the player an item if the player happens to run into the item box.

Trivia

 * In Mario Kart Wii, it is seen that Item Boxes are created by normal Brick Blocks in Toad's Factory.