The Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube is a small cube that serves several purposes in Mari0. For more information about its uses in the Portal universe, please refer to the Portal Unofficial Wiki.
In-Game
Cubes sit utterly motionless in the game and can do nothing unless acted on by an external force. Mario can pick up and put down cubes by pressing the "use" button (E by default). Mario can also slowly push them without grabbing them for fine adjustments.
Cubes are often used in puzzles. The simplest use of a cube is to hold down a button, often so that Mario may pass through a door. Since cubes are solid, Mario can jump off of one for extra height. Cubes will block lasers, letting Mario slip through a dangerous corridor, or blocking a laser from activating some sort of trap. In 1.6, they can squash Goombas and Spinies, and will block all enemies approaching from either side.
Cubes can be destroyed by Emancipation Grills. If they are destroyed in any way, they will send an output.
In Mari0: SE
"I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation"
Cubes in Mari0: Special Edition will function exactly as in previous versions, with new features. The blue ring on the cube will light up yellow when it is holding down a button, similarly to Portal 2. When a cube passes through an Emanicpation Grill, it will have a special fizzling animation instead of simply disappearing. Additionally, cubes will stick to purple gel.
They can stomp any enemy with the properties stompable and destroyedbyboxed. Having only destroyedbyboxes will cause the box to bounce off of it without dealing any damage. It will only collide with enemies that have the correct mask settings.
Trivia
- It is called a companion cube in Mari0. However, the companion cube doesn't actually appear in the game anywhere.
- In the code, it is simply called box.