Coin

Coins, (sometimes known as Gold Coins and called Mushroom Coins in the Beanbean Kingdom) are the main currency of the Mushroom Kingdom. They first appeared in Mario Bros., where they moved along the floor and were worth one hundred points if Mario or Luigi caught them.

They later appeared in Super Mario Bros., where they were demoted to ten points per coin. If Mario jumped up and hit a ? Block, sometimes Coins would pop out. When one hundred Coins were collected, the player was rewarded with an extra life. Coins served the same function in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3, and New Super Mario Bros.

In Super Mario Bros. 2, Coins could only be retrieved by using a Magic Potion to create a door near unplucked Vegetables. When this door appeared, the Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Toad could use it to travel to Subspace and pick out the aforementioned Vegetables, who would then be extra point-rewarding Coins.

In the Mario Party series, these Coins are used to buy Stars, Items, and Orbs. They are usually obtained by winning a mini-game, when using Orbs, or at the start of the game. The way the Coins look dramatically changes with each game since Mario Party.

In Yoshi's Island and its sequel, Coins would give an extra life for every hundred collected.

Super Paper Mario explains that Coins came from the Sammer Guy warrior Footsteps of Coins, who is the one who purposely drops coins around the universe. The coins are his, and despite dropping them in bizarre places, he doesn't want anybody else to take them.

Other Coins


Super Mario World introduced the Dragon Coin, a special Coin that could only be found in certain places. There were only five in each level.

Coins had a very important role in Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. Six Golden Coins were actually the key to Mario's Castle, and Wario had scattered these Coins across Mario Land. Each Golden Coin was guarded by a different creature; a Rat, a Giant Bird, Witchella, Tatanga, the Three Little Pigheads, and an Octopus were all guardians of the Coins. Regular Coins could also be used to buy extra lives and power-ups through a gambling minigame whose stats could be changed depending on how many Coins were spent.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island also introduced Red Coins, which were disguised as regular Coins until Yoshi touched them. Super Mario 64 introduced Blue Coins and Yellow Coins, two more different types of coins, and every normal Coin it featured was actually a Star-imprinted Yellow Coin. Super Mario Sunshine followed the same formula as Super Mario 64, although it featured normal, classic Coins rather than Yellow Coins.

Super Mario Advance introduced a new type of giant, red coin called the Ace Coins. Regular coins could also be found, although they were harder to find (and, as was in the original Super Mario Bros. 2, could only be found in Subspace).

Coins were the most common treasure in Luigi's Mansion. They were worth 5000 G, and could be found all over the mansion. Whenever Luigi took damage, he would lose a few Coins, which would disappear if they were not reclaimed quickly enough.

In New Super Mario Bros., a Star Coin could be found in any level (there are three in each level). If Mario or Luigi collects five Star Coins, he can unlock other Mushroom Houses. Fifty Star Coins are required to get a new screen holding the information needed to access Blue Mushroom Houses. (In order to get Blue Mushroom Houses, Bowser and Bowser Jr. must be defeated in the last level.)

RPGs and Tournaments
In the Paper Mario series, Coins are very common. Coins will appear whenever an enemy is defeated. However, when Mario runs away from a battle, he will lose coins.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga introduces regular coins and Beanbean Coins. Prince Peasley made a bet of 999,999,999 Mushroom Kingdom Coins with Mario and Luigi, about who should find the pieces of the Beanstar first. Mario and Luigi win, and Prince Peasley rewards them with the promised coins. However, since they were Mushroom Kingdom Coins, the exchange rate translated into only 99 Beanbean coins.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, a Coin appears as a trophy, although this trophy (which is labeled "Gold Coin") appears to be depicting a Yellow Coin from Super Mario 64. This game also introduces Smash Coins.