Item Box

Item Boxes (アイテムボックス), also referred to as Video Monitors, Monitors and Item Capsules, are breakable containers in Sonic the Hedgehog series. First appearing in the original 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, Item Boxes contain various kinds of power-ups or bonuses which can be used by the player. Placed on the ground, mid-air or even hidden in many places of Zones, the player can break open it to get power-up or item by simply jumping onto, spin through or doing other technique. In earlier games, Item Boxes were first illustrated as grey monitors with flickering screen. In later games, these monitors have become floating, glass capsules.

Description
Item Boxes are usually placed on the ground, but these containers are also set to float on the mid-air or they are placed in hidden areas or Zone's environment like palm trees. Item Boxes can also found floating in the mid-air. Item Boxes can be break open by usually Spin Jumping on them, performing Spin Attack or any other attack. Homing Attack will target Item Boxes the same way as it will target enemies, and some chasms can be crossed by using Homing Attacks on a string of floating Item Boxes. Also, certain playable characters can use weapons to break Item Boxes. In some games, if the player can hits a floating Item Boxes from below, it will make it drop to the ground where it can be broken easily. If the player holds the jump button while destroying a Monitor, the bounce back is the same as that of a Badnik; that is, the longer the distance the player fell onto the monitor, the higher he will bounce back up. Since Sonic Advance 2, Item Boxes can be open by simply touching them in certain games. After breaking it open, the item icon, that is seen in the Item Box will pop out and the player has gotten the power-up or item.

Items in these containers are variable in each game. Items can give Ring, time or score bonuses (Super Rings), are protective against hazards and enemies (Shield and Invincibility), affect the player's speed (Power Sneakers and Speed Downs), give different upgrades or weapons (Rocket Shoes and Mines), recover energy (Fly Charge and Damage Recover), grant extra lives or even cause damage to the player instead of helping them (Eggman Marks). Some of items can't be used normally in-game instead of using Debug Mode such as S items.

The appearance of Item Boxes have changed on several occasions. In the early games of the series, Item Boxes took the form of grey, rectangular computer Monitors with the icon of the power-up contained inside shown on the flickering screen. Even though they have got replaced in later games, Monitors sometimes have make appearances in recent games, such as Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and Sonic Generations.

Since Sonic Adventure, Item Boxes had a redesigned to look more like glass capsules with a picture of the item or power-up floating inside. Variously, Item Boxes have seen having aid base beneath them or containers just float in the mid-air. In recent games such as Sonic Lost World, Item Box's appearance have been simplified with glass dome and red top and bottom covers.

Some of the 3D Sonic games use some form of the Item Boxes until since Sonic Unleashed, as being replaced with completely different items instead of item boxes such Super Rings and floating extra lives. Despite that, both usage of Item Boxes have been varied considerably at recent games in some form.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Item Boxes first appear in the original 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, where these items were mentioned as Video Monitors. Video monitors are illustrated as simple grey cubic televisions with static screen. In the game, the player can easily pick up power-ups by doing Spin Jump or Spin Attack. The game presented first time video monitor items being Super Rings, Shields, Power Sneakers, One-Ups and Invincibility.

Monitors also appear in the 8-bit version of the game with same name, also being called video monitors in American instruction manual and having all power-ups from 16-bit counterpart. However the game introduces to Arrow Monitors, which since then replaces Star Posts in Game Gear and Master System installments.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Item Boxes repeat their roles in 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, having a same appearance and same power-ups, although being called now just Monitors in American instruction manual. Item Boxes are also featured in multiplayer mode of the game, where monitor power-ups can be randomized and on-screen being just static. The multiplayer mode introduces to Teleportation monitor which only appears in this game and Robotnik monitor, which actually first appeared as an inoperable object from Debug Mode in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. In multiplayer mode, each of players can win the round depending on how much monitors are broken.

In the 8-bit version of the game with same name, Item Boxes appear generally and having same power ups, excluding the Shield, which is not featured in the game. The game also keeps featuring Arrow Monitors as well.

Sonic the Hedgehog CD
In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Item Boxes appear normally, having also appearance and all power-ups from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. In the game's Special Stages, if the player blows up one of UFOs, the player can receive Super Rings or Power Sneakers like from monitors.

Sonic Chaos
Item Boxes appear generally in Sonic Chaos, having all power ups from the previous titles. However the game also features Rocket Shoes, which can only be used by Sonic and found monitors with Rocket Shoes icon on the screen. The game also doesn't feature Arrow Monitors, which were widely included in Game Gear and Master System titles. This is possibly due the fact that all zones are being quickly passed in the game.

Sonic Drift
Sonic Drift features two different coloring of Item Boxes in racing tracks. Red monitors gives burst of speed to the player and blue monitors gives invincibility to the player with a 8-bit variation of neat and familiar song.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, the monitors repeat its role as having almost all power ups from previous games. However monitors now took the form of a light grey device instead of general grey cubic appearance. Monitors can pop out if the Goal plate falls down at a certain spot.

Despite having no normal shield, the game introduces three elemental shields, which are fire, water and lightning types. As the player enters to first and second Bonus Stages, many elemental shields and rings can be collected from multiple colored floating orbs. Both games also features Eggman monitors which are visible at some sections of the zones, where the player would not like to face them.

The Competition Mode features different kinds of items, having only rings and power sneakers being familiar ones. Competition Mode doesn't have monitors in it, as they are collected from small bubbles.

Sonic Triple Trouble
Monitors are featured in Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, having appearance and power ups from earlier games. As featuring Rocket Shoes once again, there are monitors having power up which can make the player fly forward at high speeds. It can be only used by Tails.

The game also features Pogo Springs at Meta Junglira Zone, Jet Boards at Robotnik Winter Zone and Propeller Shoes at Tidal Plant Zone as the last two can only be used by Sonic. To enter Special Stages, the player has to find emerald monitors which are hidden in every first and second acts of zones. In Special Stages with platforming, there are also time monitors, which helps the player to reach to the end of the Special Stages.

Sonic Drift 2
Sonic Drift 2 features different colored Monitors lying on the tracks. Like in Sonic Drift, the red ones grant a boost in speed and the blue ones makes the racer invulnerable. There is also two new types of Monitors: yellow and black. The yellow ones makes the racer jump and the black ones allows the racer to set up Mines. To utilize the Monitors' effects in this game however, the player has to press up on the D-pad after obtaining them. The blue monitor's invincibility jingle in the game is one from Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Knuckles' Chaotix
Monitors appear normally at Knuckles' Chaotix as with rings, shields, power sneakers and invincibility, the game also has even more obscure features. New monitor features are Combine Ring which obviously combines all collected rings to blue one if the player lose it, the one that changes to other character to another, swap monitor which swaps characters or making the second character big or small.

Sonic 3D Blast
Monitors are now featured at isometric perspective in Sonic 3D Blast (also known as Sonic 3D: Flickies Island), despite that having same role from previous games. As having rings, invincibility, power sneakers, 1-UP and shield, the game has two shields. Red Shield is like Flame Shield from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, although without quick jump dash and Gold Shield, that allows the player to perform Blast Attack.

Sonic Blast
Monitors also appear in Sonic Blast as there are 8 different power ups in the game. As giving rings, shield, power sneakers, invincibility and arrow monitors, there are now separate 1-UP monitors for Sonic and Knuckles, which do nothing, if the player has different character to collect 1-UP of another character. There are also Eggman monitor and monitor with question mark, which gives randomly one of eight power ups.

Sonic Jam
Monitors appear briefly in compilation Sonic Jam as hiding in Sonic World. Monitors included cheat codes and major information from games which are featured at compilation.

Sonic Adventure
Monitors are featured in Sonic Adventure as since this game, these objects are renamed as item-boxes. Instead of gray cubic design, item-boxes look more glass capsule with icon of power up floating inside of it which later is showed the screen below after braking the item box. If the player has Sonic, there are also easier to hit with Homing Attack.

Sonic Adventure features basic power-ups such as Power Sneakers, Invisibility, Shield, Magnetic Shield which actually is Thunder Shield from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 without double jump and extra life. However the game introduces concept of different set of rings, as there would be five or ten. There is also one with question mark, which could possibly give one, five, ten, fifteen, twenty or even forty rings. There's also a Bomb power-up which destroys all enemies nearby.

Sonic Pocket Adventure
Item Boxes appear in Sonic Pocket Adventure, where item boxes have the original grey television design but were called with the new name in game's instruction manual. The game has all five basic power ups from previous games.

Sonic Adventure 2
Item Boxes make another appearance in Sonic Adventure 2 where Item Boxes have slightly same look from Sonic Adventure. Power ups are almost the same from the previous game, however there are also twenty rings alone and health power ups from Tails and Eggman. Sonic Adventure 2 introduces to item box balloons (see below). Also many item boxes are seen floating in the air without footrests as well.

Sonic Advance series
Item Boxes appear in Sonic Advance games, including all basic power ups from Sonic Adventure. In Sonic Advance Item Boxes have a slightly different shape as its glass section is more cubic, but in Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Advance 3 Item Boxes are more round-shaped. In Sonic Advance 2 the player can break open Item Boxes by simply touching them, marking the first game to do so.

Sonic Heroes
Item Boxes and its balloon variants appear in Sonic Heroes as normal item box's look is triangular prism shaped. It is more of mix of the original monitor from earlier games and item boxes from Sonic Adventure as having three screens of showing power up, but also having able to hover at one point. Item boxes can also found inside of small cages, that power-type characters can break.

Both of boxes and balloons have same power ups from Sonic Adventure 2. The game also features power cores which can be collectible by destroying item boxes and enemies, Team Blast, Rings and Fly Change, which is only available for fly-type characters which fills immediately flight meter fully. The game also features spin targets that only appear in this game.

Sonic Rush series
Item Boxes appear in Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure, as the appearance of the Item Boxes is different in the two games. Power ups in both games are generally five rings, random ring bonus (which gives one, five, ten, thirty or fifty rings), normal shield, magnetic shield, speed up, invincibility and extra life. Both games introduce Tension Bonus which fills the Tension Gauge to one level and Max Tension Bonus, which raises the Tension Gauge to maximum.

The multiplayer mode in both games features random ring bonus, a power-up which can slow down the other player, Max Tension Bonus which fully depletes the other player's Tension Gauge in addition to its single player usage, Confusion which scrambles the controls of  the other player for a short while and Attract which brings the other player to the place where the user is.

Shadow the Hedgehog
In Shadow the Hedgehog, item boxes have similar appearance from Sonic Heroes and having same power ups from Sonic Adventure 2. Many item boxes are also seen to be floating indirectly in the air. The game also features Heat Barrier that damages surrounded enemies and Damage Recover, which as the names says, recovers the health of the vehicle.

Sonic Riders series
All three Sonic Riders games features Item Boxes in tracks with different power ups that take advantages of the board's features. Item Boxes in these games also have a slightly similar appearance from Sonic Adventure 2. There are mostly eight item boxes in the row and all of them are shown to be randomized items with a question mark icon on the Item Boxes.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
Item Boxes appear in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), where look of them is more detailed and at same time similar for ones in Sonic Adventure. Also power ups are almost same. After getting item box with extra life and losing a life, these particular item boxes are completely empty.

Although the game features Gauge Up power up, which replenish the Action Gauge. Because the game's unfinished, it has no effect when it is picked up by Sonic. The game also features invincibility Item and High speed Item. Tails also got the ability to throw fake item boxes to enemies which then explode with dummy rings popping out of them.

Mario & Sonic series
Item boxes (especially balloon item boxes) are featured in Dream Events of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Power ups in these games are such as bombs, shields and speed shoes. There are also extra items from Mario games such as Super Stars, Mega Mushrooms, green and red shells.

Sonic Unleashed
Since Sonic Unleashed, Item boxes seem to be completely replaced by other items. The Super Ring Item Box is replaced by a ring with ten written in it. Extra Life is replaced by a square with Sonic's head symbol in it. They can't be targeted by a Homing Attack, and no other items remain in Modern Sonic's gameplay.

However unlike the PS3/Xbox 360 version, the Wii/PS2 version of Sonic Unleashed feature item boxes being called as Item Capsules. They are dispersed throughout the stages and puzzles in the Gaia Temples, and when broken, give Sonic an item. These items are extras like movies, hints, music, and pictures, but also sometimes give the player a permanent extra life. In the night stages, many item boxes contain Gaia Force which helps the Werehog build up his strength for Unleashed mode or contribute to the total at the end of the level.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing series
In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, item boxes appear throughout the tracks. When collected, the player can get weapons, power-ups, or if they are lucky, an All-Star Move.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4
Monitors make a reappearance in all three episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Monitors have given a different design, but still having a small resemblance to the original design from earlier games. Despite the appearance, the power-ups are all similar to ones from original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 games.

However in Episode II, there are some of monitors that hover in mid-air. There is also one special power up at golden monitors (called "Special Combination"), which includes a Combo Attack performed by Sonic and Tails that can be activated by destroying the golden monitor with the icon of it in Oil Desert Zone and Sky Fortress Zone.

Sonic Colors
Like in Sonic Unleashed, the Wii version of Sonic Colors doesn't feature item boxes. However, this is the opposite in the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, as there are item boxes and they can also been opened by using homing attack that works for Wisp Capsules. Its appearance is similar to ones from Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Advance 3.

In Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, there are ring, shield, thunder shield, life and invincibility capsules in the levels, but in versus mode, there are different capsules that the player can use to throw obstacles at the other player or reduce their speed. Those obstacles are springs, spike balls and Egg Balloons.

Sonic Generations
Monitors return in Sonic Generations as objects for Classic Sonic's acts, having similar appearance from earlier games. All power ups appear in the game such as rings, invincibility, power sneakers and extra life, although normal shield has to buy from store. The game also marks return of elemental shields, which only appears at item boxes in few challenges, but are only found at store like other items and features. Classic Sonic also has feature to use Skateboard, which can be found from a monitor in City Escape.

Monitors repeat its role in Sonic Generations for Nintendo 3DS, where also Modern Sonic can find Ring and Life monitors through the Classic and the Dreamcast Era.

Sonic Jump (2012)
Monitors appear yet again in 2012 remake of Sonic Jump. Monitors have many familiar power ups from previous games, but which also includes magnets, bombs and different set of shields.

Sonic Dash
Item boxes are featured in Sonic Dash, as the player runs towards it, they contain ten rings or magnets, that are similar to ones from Sonic Jump. The look of item boxes are identical to ones in Sonic & All-Stars Racing. Item boxes can be found at normally at corners, but also behind of walls, totem poles or any other obstacles as well.

Sonic Lost World
Item Boxes reappear in Sonic Lost World, where they are shown to have more basic appearance with large cup with red footset and top. While the Wii U version of the game only features item boxes for having Wisps, they are featured more generally at Nintendo 3DS version, where item boxes are able to give ten rings, elemental shields, power sneakers and invincibility. Item boxes can be found under rocks and other breakable objects and structures. In Wii U version, many of these power-ups can be rewarded by completing certain missions in Zones and used in regularly activate them in Zones at any time.

While many item boxes include Super Ring bonuses in both versions, there are also separated, floating five- or ten-ring bonuses and extra lives without item boxes in the Wii U version, similar to the previous installments such as Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. Five-ring bonuses and extra lives also appear in the Nintendo 3DS version as well.

Item Box balloons are also featured in the Tropical Coast Zone 2 and 4 in Wii U version, which function differently from previous games. The player has to aim on them with Orange Rocket. If the player success, balloon reveals to have golden cannon inside and the player gets another chance to use Orange Rocket and aim to another location.

Balloons
There is one alternative form of item boxes: the balloons or floating item boxes in Sonic Rush. These balloons are red and they have a white and blue circles with a star on them. They act like capsules, except that they are always floating in the air. Since they don't have a picture, there is no telling what each one contains. Balloons sometimes contain special bonuses that do not appear in item boxes, like the wing, which gives Knuckles an extra boost into the air as he glides. They first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2, continued on Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic Rush and has been used only in spin-offs such as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

Target Switch
Target Switch are one of variants of item boxes that only appear in Sonic Heroes. Spin Targets are round-shaped, flat plates that float in the air. Spin target has red background, white and blue circles with a star on it. If the player tries to fly too close to it, the target will spin and cannot be hit.

The flight-type character has to use Thunder Shoot to throw another character through to make it spin around and thus earning the power up after the spin target disappears after spinning an while. Spin targets usually contains power cores, rings.

Item Boxes
Key: SA1 = Sonic Adventure, SA2 = Sonic Adventure 2, SH = Sonic Heroes, ShTH = Shadow the Hedgehog, STH = Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), SR = Sonic Riders, SRZG = Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

Items
Introduced in Sonic Unleashed, Colors and Generations, some traditional power-ups are no longer contained in item boxes. Instead they can be collected simply by touching them.

Key: SU = Sonic Unleashed, SC = Sonic Colors, SG = Sonic Generations, SLW = Sonic Lost World

Stay Sonic
Monitors have given sort of back story in Stay Sonic. As planning to use his Retro Orbital Chaos Compressor to contain all the negative energy of the planet within six emeralds, Doctor Ovi Kintobor required a seventh gem to stabilize the process, but could not locate one himself. To broaden his search, he set up a network of monitors across the entire planet that served as an interlinked communications system, allowing the people of Mobius to pass along any information to him that they could about the final emerald's potential whereabouts.

Sonic the Comic
Monitors also appear in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, as sharing the same kind of background from Stay Sonic. The another one of Kintobor's creations was an artificial duplicate of Sonic known as an Extra Life, which was stored within one of the planet's many monitors.

Unfortunately, the Extra Life was never needed and so remained trapped in its monitor for years, slowly becoming corrupted and bent on revenge, until it duped Tails into freeing it by pretending to be the real Sonic. After besmirching Sonic's name by causing chaos in the Emerald Hill Zone, the Extra Life was sucked back into its monitor by Tails, and the box was then kicked into space by the real Sonic.

Archie Comics
In Archie ' s Sonic the Hedgehog comics, monitors or item boxes hasn't been seen until one item box has been seen to being developed in Sonic Universe issue 38, which has been created by Hope Kintobor and possibly GUN. It was originally invented to be device to help E-123 Omega during combat battles.

However Snively teleported himself to the GUN laboratory and tries pleasing Hope being part of their family and rule the world with him and Regina. Hope disagrees to join him after the conversation and activates the item box which has Flame Shield in it, forces the Snively to leave him and activates the alarm. Snively leaves the place and Hope has been seen crying alone with Flame Shield still on it at the laboratory where later Omega finds him.

Trivia

 * Monitors from original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog CD are based on basic CRT monitors, while Monitors in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles bear resemble to Apple's Macintosh from mid 1980's. Later on Monitors in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 seem to loosely based on modern flat-panel LCD TV, while Sonic Generations brings back the original CRT design.
 * In earlier games, when the player has both Sonic and Tails, Tails couldn't destroy monitors as his own. This was although possible in early prototypes of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, as Tails was a "copy-paste" programmed character of the main playable character.
 * There are certain monitors at above sections that can't be reached with Sonic or Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. However, with lock-on technology of Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Knuckles can reach these sections that have those monitors.
 * Although monitors don't appear at Competition Mode of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, one monitor can be seen at options menu of Competition Mode as items can be set on and off.
 * The same way, Tails Adventure doesn't feature monitors, although one can be seen upper left corner of gameplay hud, showing the amount of the rings that player has.
 * As it can be seen above, City Escape has advertisements of different things in Sonic Adventure 2 as one of them being item-boxes with ten rings and various other power-ups.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, an extra-life monitor can be seen at top of loop in Green Hill stage.