Tox Box
- Not to be confused with Toy Box.
| Tox Box | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork of a Tox Box from Super Mario Galaxy | |||
| First appearance | Super Mario 64 (1996) | ||
| Latest appearance | Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020) | ||
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Tox Boxes are enemies resembling metal or stone boxes with multiple faces that roll along set paths. Tox Boxes first appear in Super Mario 64. The paths they go on are usually similar to their width, making it nearly impossible for Mario to walk around. Tox Boxes have faces on all but one side; the last side is only a square hole, which is for Mario to stand in as a Tox Box passes over the tile he is standing on, thus letting him survive without being crushed. However, the edges of the holed side still crush Mario if he stands under them. Tox Boxes appear as red industrial metal boxes with spray-painted faces in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, but they were redesigned for Super Mario Galaxy and later games, currently appearing as a relative of Thwomp designed after the Japanese oni. The Japanese name was changed to reflect the new appearance.
Shigeru Miyamoto regards the Tox Box as one of his best designs and a "masterpiece," stating Tox Boxes embody his game design philosophy of making gameplay mechanics clear and quickly understood at a first glance.[1]
History[edit]
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario 64 / Super Mario 64 DS[edit]
Tox Boxes appear in Shifting Sand Land. They attempt to flatten Mario by rolling over him. The path is a small maze of tiles surrounded by darker, faster-moving quicksand that sucks Mario in instantly. The tiled maze that the Tox Boxes travel on has a few Red Coins on it, as well as the course's only cannon. If Mario gets squished by a Tox Box's side, he loses three wedges of health. Long-jumping into the side of a Tox Box's face that is above quicksand, off the side of the track, makes Mario lose a life instantly, playing the animation as if he has just fallen into the quicksand.[2]
While Tox Boxes cannot be defeated in the original Super Mario 64, they can by Wario in Super Mario 64 DS if he is inside one of them and punches (or jumps). In this case, the Tox Box flies somewhere into the quicksand and sinks, or onto a metal platform and shatters. If the Tox Box falls in the sand that the characters can normally stand in, it simply stays in one spot until the player leaves the level. Tox Boxes also appear in the Super Mario 64 DS minigame Tox Box Shuffle, where three of them each hide a Green or Light Blue Yoshi and the player must guess which Tox Box it is in. In the main game, they no longer have noses and the smiling face now has "happy" eyebrows, but in Tox Box Shuffle, they use the original model as the basis for their sprites and as such have the noses and angry brows.
Super Mario Galaxy[edit]
Tox Boxes reappear in Super Mario Galaxy. These redesigned boxes usually appear alongside Thwomps. They appear only in the Beach Bowl Galaxy and the Toy Time Galaxy. In both galaxies, they appear on small pathways, much as they did in Shifting Sand Land.
Unlike the Tox Boxes in Super Mario 64, these ones resemble Thwomps; instead of having the faces spray-painted on, they are carved in two subtly different ways which match on opposite ends, both resembling a Thwomp's face and appearing as a different face depending on which side is upward. These Tox Boxes also lack a face on the side opposite the hole. The hole itself has also been expanded quite a bit, and is colored in red to resemble a mouth. They cannot be defeated like in the original Super Mario 64, and Mario or Luigi loses a life if he gets crushed.
Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, Tox Boxes reappear in the Stone Cyclone Galaxy, which is a remake of the Cyclone Stone in Super Mario Galaxy, but they move faster than they did in the previous game. By using the various blue switches found in the galaxy, the Tox Boxes, along with the other obstacles in the galaxy, drastically slow down.
Super Mario-kun[edit]
A Tox Box makes an appearance in volume 16 of Super Mario-kun. It is an obstacle against Mario's path to retrieve his lost hat from Klepto. Hatless, Mario tries using a ! Block to combat against the Tox Box; he still ends up getting smashed. In the manga, the Tox Box is able to smash Mario, even on the safe side.
Mario Party: Island Tour[edit]
Tox Boxes, taking on their Super Mario Galaxy design, appear in the minigame Hide 'n' Splat in Mario Party: Island Tour, where they try to squish the players while becoming gradually faster as the time limit decreases.
Profiles[edit]
Super Mario Galaxy trading card[edit]
| Image | Name | Description
|
|---|---|---|
 |
Tox Box | High above the penguin-filled beaches in the Beach Bowl Galaxy, a Launch Star has catapulted Mario onto the Cyclone Stone where he must avoid the attack of the Tox Boxes. These huge metal boxes rumble along their own pathways crushing anything in their path. To avoid being squashed, Mario can run under the enemy's one open side and wait in its hollow center until it rolls ahead on its path. |
Gallery[edit]
Model from Super Mario 64
Texture from Super Mario 64
Texture from Super Mario 64
Texture from Super Mario 64
Screenshot from Super Mario 64 DS
A grounded Tox Box in Super Mario 64 DS
Sprite from Super Mario 64 DS (Tox Box Shuffle)
Sprite from Super Mario 64 DS (Tox Box Shuffle)
Model from Super Mario Galaxy
Tox Boxes in Super Mario Galaxy 2
Additional names[edit]
Internal names[edit]
| Game | File | Name | Meaning
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Mario 64 DS | ONIMASU | ONIMASU | See below |
| Super Mario Galaxy Super Mario Galaxy 2 |
ObjectData/Onimasu.arc |
Onimasu | See below |
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | オニマスクン[3] Onimasukun |
Portmanteau of「鬼」(oni) and「枡」(masu, measuring box) or possibly "mask" followed by the Japanese honorific「~くん」(-kun) | Super Mario 64 |
| オニマスドン[4][5] Onimasudon |
Portmanteau of「鬼」(oni) and「枡」(masu, measuring box) or possibly "mask" followed by「ドン」(don, Japanese onomatopoeia for colliding noise) | Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 | |
| オニマス[?] Onimasu |
Portmanteau of「鬼」(oni) and「枡」(masu, measuring box) or possibly "mask" | Super Mario Galaxy 2, in-game mission name | |
| Chinese (simplified) | 鬼面[?] Gǔi Miàn |
"Oni" Face | |
| Dutch | Tox Box[?] | - | |
| French (NOA) | Cubrik[?] | Contraction of cube Rubik ("Rubik's Cube") | |
| French (NOE) | Blotoc[?] | Likely a contraction of bloc ("block") and the first syllable of toxique ("toxic") | |
| German | Cubus Hohlicus[6] | From cubus (Latin word for "cube") and the pseudo-Latin form of German word hohl ("hollow") | Super Mario 64 |
| Tox-Box[?] | - | ||
| Italian | Don Box[?] | Don (honorific prefix) Box | |
| Pietra rotolante[7] | Rolling stone | ||
| Macigno rotante[8] | Rotating boulder | ||
| Korean | 되도깨비[?] Doedokkaebi |
From "되" (doe, Korean unit of volume equivalent to about 1.8 L) and "도깨비" (dokkaebi, also known as "Korean goblin") | |
| Portuguese | Caixa Tox[?] | Tox Box | |
| Russian | Мистер Ящик[?] Mister Yashchik |
From "mister" and ящик (yaschik, "box") | |
| Spanish (NOA) | Don Cajuelo[?] | Honorific prefix + masculine form of cajuela ("trunk") | |
| Spanish (NOE) | Cajuelo[?] | Masculine form of cajuela ("trunk") |
References[edit]
- ^ "Miyamoto sees the Tox Box, a cube that is constantly moving to crush Mario but has a hole on one side he can safely hide in, as one of his best designs. When the hole is on your side, Mario can just get into the cube and you’re safe, but if he doesn’t, you get squashed. And it’s easy to see. It’s very clear and understandable. It’s also easy to predict, he says, smiling. But once you actually start thinking about it, then it becomes complicated. Once you start trying to put that into action, it becomes complicated. I feel like that is probably one of my masterpieces." – Goldfarb, Andrew (June 27, 2017). E3 2017: Shigeru Miyamoto and the Legacy of Mario. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
- ^ May 15, 2019. Supper Mario Broth.
- ^ 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, Super Mario 64 section. Shogakukan. Page 85.
- ^ 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, Super Mario Galaxy section. Shogakukan. Page 127.
- ^ 2015. Super Mario Bros. Hyakka: Nintendo Kōshiki Guidebook, Super Mario Galaxy 2 section. Shogakukan. Page 159.
- ^ Kraft, John D., Thomas Görg, and Marko Hein, editors (1997). Der offizielle Nintendo 64 Spieleberater "Super Mario 64". Großostheim: Nintendo of Europe GmbH (German). Page 6.
- ^ Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Guide. Page 135 and 136.
- ^ Super Mario Galaxy PRIMA Guide. Page 246.
| Thwomps | ||
|---|---|---|
| Characters | Dossunmengyo • Gattai monster • Head Thwomp • Mr. Thwomp • Mrs. Thwomp • Sphinx Zō • Super Dossun • Thwomp Bros. • Thwomp Elevator • Waruiwa-gumi (leader) • Whomp King | |
| Species | Grindels | Grindel • Spindel |
| Pouncers | Omodon • Pouncer | |
| Whomps | Big Whomp • Whimp • Whomp | |
| Miscellaneous | Big Thwomp • Bone Thwomp • Karamenbo • Kongā • Mega Thwomp • Security Thwomp • Shoomp • Sniffle Thwomp • Spiked Thwomp • Star Thwomp • Stone Elevator • Tail Thwomp • Thwimp • Thwomp • Thwomp Platform | |
| Relatives | Grrrols | Grrrol • Mega Grrrol |
| Ka-thunks | Ka-thunk • King Ka-thunk | |
| Konks | Konk • Wonder Gottsun | |
| Spiny Tromps | Spiky Tromp • Spiny Tromp | |
| Thwacks | Thwack • Thwack Totem • Wonder Thwack | |
| Wallops | Wallop • Walleye | |
| Other | Bomp • Flomp • Grumblump • Rhomp • Stairface Ogre • Stone-Eye • Tox Box • Tsubushi • Walking Block | |
