5. The Care Package
You pop the smoke and a red fog surrounds you. In the distance you hear the sound of helicopter blades. Something falls from the air, bounces, and comes to a rest at your feet. It’s a box. What’s in it? What did they bring you this time? In the words of Brad Pitt, “What’s in the box?! Whaaat’s in the box!!! WHAAAAAAAT’S IN THE BOXXXX! “ It might not bring you what you want every time, but it brings you what you need. The care package is now a staple of the Modern Warfare games and has appeared any a variety of first person shooter and strategy games. Wherever you find the care package in video games, you’ll find quality boxes you’re guaranteed to want more of.
4. The Metal Gear Solid Cardboard Box
You’re Solid Snake, sneaking through an enemy headquarters to get top secret intel on Metal Gear. You have a plethora of high tech gadgets at your disposal and you’re armed to the teath. What’s your go to gadget for getting past a team of armed guards? A cardboard box. Really though, why not? Boxes are everywhere. Why would anyone look suspiciously at one. Especially sitting right in front of this door that leads to the self destruct mechanism for the headquaters. We salute you cardboard box.
It’s the heart. It just draws you in and makes it seem so…cute and loveable. Whoever said you can’t fall in love with an inanimate object hasn’t played Portal. The Companion Cube is always there when you need it. It unlocks doors that otherwise wouldn’t open. It will stand in the way of bullets and lasers for you. Many a player, and this writer, will always have a soft spot for this Heart Shaped Box.
2. The Super Mario Brothers “?” Box
The most famous box of all is the Super Mario Brother’s “?” Box. It’s become an icon that’s instantly recognizable by just about anyone that has ever played a video game. In the 80′s and 90′s Mario’s iconography even surpassed Mickey Mouse in terms of recognition. The simple “?” doesn’t leave much mystery into why this is one of the top 5 boxes in video game history.
When is a box not a box? When it’s a ball. A simple pixel square that launched a multi-billion dollar industry. Video games wouldn’t exist without this one little box. It’s so simple, yet it’s the beginning of a vast amount of history. The story began with a box and every story truly ends in a box doesn’t it?
Bravo. I’m glad you included the cardboard box. That was my favorite part of those games.