Cardboard Box

"Cardboard Box? Are you moving house or something?"

- Big Boss to Solid Snake, during Operation Intrude N313

The Cardboard Box is one of the trademark items of the Metal Gear series. It is used to help hide the main character from the enemy or surveillance cameras.

Uses
Wearing a cardboard box in the wrong place or running around while wearing a box will raise a guard's suspicions, while being in a guard's patrol route or being discovered by troops clearing an area can lead the soldiers to expose Snake. During modes of gameplay such as "Evasion" and "Alert" it is likely that a sentry coming into the path of the box will become inquisitive and investigate the cardboard box. In the "Evasion - Clearing" mode, soldiers are liable to fire directly at the box or remove the box from the ground for inspection. Sometimes, moving around in a cardboard box in front of a guard will make a guard shoot at it. If the player stops moving, the guard may lose interest and resume his patrols.

Cardboard boxes may be destroyed from too much gunfire or physical assault. Wet cardboard boxes will break apart faster.


 * In Metal Gear, Snake could use the cardboard box to avoid detection from surveillance cameras and guards;
 * In Metal Gear 2, Snake could transport himself around Zanzibar Land by climbing on to conveyor belts while wearing a cardboard box;
 * In Metal Gear Solid, climbing into the back of a truck and then equipping one of the three boxes will cause a guard to turn up and drive the truck to the destination that is on the side of the box. Obviously, it also still functions as a disguise;
 * This also works in a similar fashion in Metal Gear Solid 3 with the trucks around Groznyj Grad;
 * The box in Metal Gear Solid doubles as wolf repellent. Find Meryl right before the battle with Sniper Wolf and punch her; quickly equip a box and one of the nearby wolves will urinate on it. For the rest of the game, the wolves will recognize their scent on the box and not attack you as long as you have one equipped.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 2, climbing onto the conveyor belts in Strut E has a similar effect as the trucks in MGS1, although there is no writing on the box; the player must make his/her best guess as to where the box would be sent based on its appearance (for example, a box meant for holding food would be sent to the Kitchens in Strut C);
 * In Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Snake had to use three different colored boxes on a color-coded conveyor delivery system to get to different areas of a building;
 * In Metal Gear Online, the cardboard box can also be used for surprise attacks. If the player's stamina is low, getting in a cardboard box and staying still will heal it. In the original included with Subsistence, the box served little purpose as the player's name would still appear above it. This was fixed in MGO's latest incarnation, with the player names removed when in a box, and other boxes scattered around areas to give the camouflage some value. It is also used for "box dodging." This allows the user to dodge headshots if it is equipped very fast while running, then removed in less than a second after its been equipped; When you catch fire, equip this nifty item to immediately extinguish it.
 * In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, team-mates will hide in one while the selected character is in the field. Dragging an unconscious soldier over to one and phoning a certain frequency will instantly transport the fallen soldier to the truck to quicken recruitment efforts;
 * In Metal Gear Solid 4 the Cardboard Box makes an appearance alongside a new, similar item, the Drum Can. In Act 1 of Guns of the Patriots, the new "era" of MGS is symbolized by Snake's usage of it as purely a distraction rather than a disguise, actually using his OctoCamo to hide elsewhere. Writing on the box reads "NO PLACE TO HIDE" and "NO PLACE FOR HIDEO". When hiding in the box, Snake's Psyche will heal quicker than usual. Although regular Gekko can detect Snake in spite of his cardboard disguise using thermal imagery, the scanning beam of a Dwarf Gekko is not so advanced: the smaller robots will only raise the alarm if the cardboard box is moving while being scanned.
 * Several different types of boxes are in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, such as a "Tank Box" and a "Love Box". Gameplay previews have suggested that these new boxes will accommodate two players at a time. on the second gameplay trailer of ten that are to be released before the Japanese release of Peace Walker, it is revealed that the Tank Box can be used as an offensive weapon against enemies by firing shells from the muzzle as if it were a real tank. Two additional boxes are revealed in the third gameplay trailer: One is the Bomb Box, which detonates in front of an enemy, and the other is the Rescue Box, a Box designed to resemble an Ambulance (complete with a siren) to revive fallen comrades in shorter time than using CPR

Other Appearances
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in addition to appearing as a trophy, all of Snake's taunts involve him hiding underneath a Cardboard Box, which he removes after a few seconds. Other characters can remove the box while Snake hides under it. Hiding under the box will also cause the player number icon above Snake to disappear when in a multi-player match.

Snake also hides under the box twice during the course of The Subspace Emissary. The first time, Snake stows away on the Halberd by hiding within the Cardboard Box. The second time, Snake hides beneath his box upon seeing Lucario and Meta Knight approaching; however, Lucario uses his Aura powers to see Snake beneath the box and takes it off, surprising Snake (complete with an exclamation mark appearing above his head and Metal Gear's trademark alert sound).

Removing the cardboard box at the end of the taunt deals a minor amount of damage and knockback, making Snake's taunt one of the few that can double as an attack. Crazily enough, the damage dealt by the box this way will actually instantly break a smash ball if it manages to hit a Smash Ball as it flies by. Similarly, the box has enough knockback to instantly defeat an enemy on Super Sudden Death mode if Snake manages to hit them with the box.

The Cardboard Box also appears as a trophy in Brawl; its description is as follows:


 * A common, run-of-the-mill cardboard box that is somehow very effective at preventing detection by enemies. Hide inside it and enemies will walk on by. But put it somewhere too odd and you'll be discovered. You can move while in the box, but if anyone sees the box moving, you're in trouble. Both Liquid and Solid Snake have a deep affection for cardboard.
 * First Game: Metal Gear, 1987

In a trailer for Rayman Raving Rabbids, Rabbids attempt to get inside a building inside a cardboard box, but they are spotted by a guard with the trademark alert sound. The guard then calls his superiors, accompanied by a Codec sound effect.

Trivia

 * In the Tanker Chapter of Sons of Liberty Snake can find a wet box on the hull of the ship. It falls apart more easily than other boxes and is generally less conspicuous.
 * In the Plant chapter of Sons of Liberty, Olga recalls seeing somebody running across a bridge wearing a cardboard box. If the player, after meeting with Peter Stillman, goes directly outside to the CD Connecting Bridge, a knocked out guard and a man running in a cardboard box can be seen. The box can also be destroyed by shooting at it, something which will be later mentioned in a conversation with Pliskin. If Raiden finds his own cardboard box, Pliskin will tell him to "treat it with love"; he'll also comment "Y'know, I've lost a couple thanks to you" if the player has already shot Snake in a cardboard box on the CD Connecting Bridge prior to the conversation.
 * Saving the game in the Plant chapter with a cardboard box equipped in Sons of Liberty will result in a conversation in which Rosemary gives ridicule to Raiden for wearing "that stupid box".
 * In Snake Eater, calling Sigint whilst having the box equipped will result in an amusing conversation from Naked Snake, saying that it was his destiny to be in the box.
 * In Peace Walker, when Big Boss is shown the tank box design developed by the R&D section of Mother Base via Miller, who wasn't impressed with it, he shocks Miller by claiming that the design for the tank was brilliant, and Paz even agreeing with Big Boss.
 * Ironically, in Metal Gear, Big Boss is puzzled by Snake's use of a cardboard box even though he used it himself numerous times when he was younger.

Types

 * THE ORANGE Box: (MG, MG2, MGS, MGS2, MGS3, MGS4)
 * The love box: a box that fits two. (MGSPW)
 * Rescue Box: an ambulance that gives health. (MGSPW)
 * Tank Box: a box shaped like a tank that in CO-OP shoots grenades. (MGSPW)
 * Stun Tank Box: a tank box that fires stun grenades in CO-OP. (MGSPW)
 * Smoke Tank Box: a tank box that fires smoke grenades in CO-OP. (MGSPW)
 * Box Bomb: a love box that when damaged or looked under explodes. CAUTION: also inflicts damage on user (MGSPW)
 * Stun Box: a love box that when looked under or damaged explodes in stun. CAUTION: also stuns the user (MGSPW)
 * Smoke Box: a love box that when looked under or damaged explodes in smoke. CAUTION: also affects the user if in close proximity (MGSPW)
 * Assassin's straw box: A love box designed to look like a barrel of hay, can pull patrols into it instantly knocking them out. If a co-op partner in the box has fulton recoveries equipped, anybody brought into the box will be instantly fultoned away. (MGSPW)