Destroying children's dreams, for fun and profit
Go find the hyper kid in the Mushroom Kingdom. She's the little squirt running in circles constantly, you can't miss her. Hop onto her head, and after a few laps of the backyard Mario will get dizzy, fall off and pass out. This is endless hours of fun if your name happens to be Pyrasaur. :D Also, stop the kid and talk to her. She'll propose marriage to Mario. Um...K...He doesn't react one way or the other, and oddly enough, Toadstool doesn't either (if she's on your team). But this scene gets even better as soon as Bowser's joined your team. If the kid mentions marrying Mario while good old King Koopa's around, he'll roar his cute little roar(without leaving his comfy perch inside Mario ^_^) and scare her into the house. Why would Bowser object to Mario getting married, hmmm? Food for thought. *chuckles lecherously*
Ask Abby, minus the credibility
Behind the leftmost house in the Mushroom Kingdom, and out of your field of view because of the game's 3/4 overhead perspective, there's a mysterious character who gives you advice. It's pretty crappy advice actually, from about Marrymore onwards it's never anything other than a suggestion to avoid the "pointy monsters" on Star Hill. I guess the programmers just got lazy and didn't feel like giving this mystery person more lines than necessary. But who could this person possibly be? Conspiracy rages, and the most common guess is Luigi. Maybe Mario's just taken too many blows to the head and is taking to the wall....
A riddle within a paradox within an enigma
In the Mushroom Kingdom Inn, you'll find a kid playing on a Gameboy. He's pretty irritable, if you talk to him a few times he'll get hissy at you for distracting him and wrecking his high score. But after a while, Marrymore-ish, talking to him a few times will make him offer to sell you the Gameboy for the low, low cost of 500 coins. Buy this to get a little mini-game to play whenever you want, it's called Beetle Mania and you shoot random flying Koopa shells. The next time you open your menu screen, you'll have a new option of Game. Hey look, Mario's got game! Haha! *gets pelted with vegetables* Toad will appear out of ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE to put in his 2 cents. He asks you not to cheat by using a Turbo controller. Well, since he's said that, of COURSE everyone's going to dig out their Turbo controller. I know I did, when I was 12 and actually owned a SNES. Beetle Mania is mildly entertaining in a Tetris sort of way, and it serves no purpose in the game. But think about it, a game within a game...You're playing a game about a character who's playing a game...That snapping noise you just heard was the sound of my brain breaking.
Cameo appearances
Anytime after Rose Town is back to normal and free of Bowyer's ebil influence, go take a nap at the Rose Town Inn. When Mario wakes up, the other bed will contain the star of the Legend of Zelda series, Link! This game is old enough that he's a brunette, too. ^_^ The elf bishounen is snoozing and you can't wake him up, but talking to him will produce that you-found-a-secret chime characteristic of the Zelda series.
Yoshi races
Getting to Yo'ster Isle is covered in the walkthru, just after Rose Town and Geno's arrival. As soon as you get there, your old pal Yoshi (the green one) will let you ride around on his back just for talking to him, and you can only understand the other Yoshis while seated on your trusty translating steed. It seems that the Yoshi community is miffed because Boshi (that punk purple Yoshi) is being a moo-cow and not letting everyone race together. He'll only allow one-on-one races, with himself as one of the ones. So naturally, you and Yoshi need to kick his ass in a race. Talk to one of the pink Yoshis to get some Yoshi Cookies, these are suitable for betting and Boshi won't race you without them. Go challenge Boshi next, and Toad will appear out of ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE to teach you how to race. You press A and B alternately, a good rhythm means a speedy dino. Practice with Toad, it takes a bit of practice to get the knack of this. If you screw up the rhythm, Yoshi will just hop up and down. Pressing Y lets Yoshi eat a Cookie and get a burst of speed. No worries, Boshi doesn't seem to mind if you end up eating all the Cookies you bet. As soon as Toad thinks you're ready, the race begins. Pay attention to the music and use the cymbal beats to help you keep a steady rhythm with A and B. Am I the only one who thinks it slightly unfair that Yoshi has to carry fat ol' Mario during this race...? Oh well, beating Boshi earns everybody's favourite green dinosaur tons of respect, and now the Yoshis can all race together. And the peasants rejoice! Now you can either race Yoshi yourself or just watch him, Boshi will give you Yoshi's odds of success before you race and you might want to strategise accordingly while placing your bet. One of the pink Yoshis will store your Cookie winnings for you, and another pink Yoshi will give you some Cookies if you run out. All that's left to do now is wonder why Raz and Raini chose to honeymoon on Yo'ster Isle. Psh, losers.
Promoting obesity in Yoshis
Check out that baby green Yoshi in the nest on Yo'ster Isle. Aww, isn't he cute? Feed him 30 Yoshi Cookies (not all at once or anything) and he'll grow up into a really fat little butterball, a startling contrast to the otherwise svelte Yoshi clan. Feed this little monstrocity 40 more Cookies and you'll get a Frog Coin from him. Give him 50 more Cookies after that and you'll get another Frog Coin from him. I really didn't have the patience to pour any more baked goods down his fat little throat, but I've heard that you can get a special item called Yoshiade. Go ahead and try if you like, I'd suggest mooching all the necessary Cookies off the nearby pink Yoshi. It sure beats winning them like some kind of sucker.
Bartering skills, a.k.a. getting swindled
Moleville is home to a dude trying to invent fireworks, he's in the house beside that little girl with the pretend store. He's always trying to get Mario to buy these things, despite the fact that "I've only got the sparklers down, but I ain't giving up!" Do him a favour and buy some explosives, will ya? And you'll notice that the pretend store girl seems to want some Fireworks, she's trading Shiny Stones for them. Hehe, that's so cute, go ahead and give the explosives to the kid. Take this nifty and utterly useless Shiny Stone into the Moleville Item Shop, and trade it to the little girl behind the counter for a Carbo Cookie. Now go give the Carbo Cookie to the kid sitting on the bucket outside. She wants to give you a Frog Coin, but she lost it, so she warns you not to take her bucket seat and wanders off. Needless to say, that's your cue to hop into the bucket and press down a la warp pipe. You'll be warped to the top of Midas Falls. Um, and a little kid was sitting there?! Yeesh. So do the usual coin-collecting that Midas Falls is known for, and when you reach the bottom you'll find a note. The guy who normally works Midas Falls is playing hookey today, and he advises all Midas Falls participants to just keep their coins. So you trade 500 coins for those Fireworks and end up with...60-some-odd coins from Midas Falls. That's right, you got ripped off. MAJOR. If you're enough of a sucker to try this again, the bucket girl will have found the Frog Coin, she'll give it to you instead of vacating her bucket. The cycle of Midas Falls, then Frog Coin repeats itself, for all you masochists and suckers for punishment out there.
Joyriding
Remember the Moleville mountain mine cart ride? Well, you can relive that fun experience, friend! Instead of entering Moleville mountain, use the convinient ledges to hop up to the top of the mountain. You'll find a great big hole from the mole woman who was originally digging there to try finding Dyna and Mite, except that now her husband has ripped her off and opened an amusement ride. He even gave it a cheesey and unoriginal name; "Moleville Mountain". You can just go for a ride for 10 coins, or you can wager 30 coins that you can beat your previous best time. Wagering coins and beating your record gets you 50 coins, but either way you pick up enough coins on the mine cart course to make this game profitable. This is why I recommended in the walkthru that you take as long as possible on the mine cart course when rescuing Dyna and Mite, you can wager coins and keep shaving a few seconds off your record time for easy cash. This was my moneymaking technique of choice when I played this game when I was 12. ^_^ Oh yeah, and in case you're wondering, they fixed the mine cart course so that it doesn't throw you through Ma and Pa Mole's roof. Way to take all the fun out of it.
Useless item + useless item = Funky shtuff!
Go to Marrymore and buy the B'tub Ring. Then go to Moleville and buy the Mystery Egg from that treasure hunter dude. These items' descriptions are "You'll win her heart with this!" and "A product of pure love..." respectively, which really doesn't tell you much, and these things don't really seem to do anything, so one would be inclined to think that the items are junk. However, if you equip the B'tub Ring to Toadstool and have her use the Mystery Egg 10 times in battle, you'll be complimented on your sheparding skills by no one in particular and the Mystery Egg will turn into an item called the Lamb's Lure. This nifty toy will only work for Toadstool(even without the B-tub Ring), it'll make one enemy turn into a kyute little sheep and flee the battle. As if this wasn't cool enough, use the Lamb's Lure successfully 50 times and you'll get the even cooler Sheep Attack. It's like a Lamb's Lure that works on all enemies, and all group members can use it. Gosh, the sheep are so fricking KYUTE!
Booster Hill bounty
What is there to do on this barrel-infested slope, other than chase Booster that one time? Catch beetles, what else? You can buy a Beetle Box in Seaside Town, a price-gouging little bastard Snifit will charge you 100 coins as a membership fee and 50 coins for each Beetle Box. Then go to Booster Hill and catch beetles, it's the same process as getting Flowers from Toadstool. Female beetles are really small, they're only worth 1 coin. Male beetles are fat, they're worth 50 coins. Gold beetles are gold (duh), they're worth a Frog Coin. As soon as you get even one beetle in your Beetle Box, you have to go trade in the bugs and get a new Box when the game's over. Unless you're talented at barrel-and-Snifit-hopping, this game is a huge ripoff, but it's got a bit of entertainment value and you might get a Frog Coin or two out of it.
Granting wishes is good for your karma
See that big hole in the cliff under the Land's End Sky Bridge? A puff of smoke will occasionally come out of it. Jump into it and Mario will find himself in a cave-type place. There's not a whole lot that's interesting down here, just a few baddies and treasure chests. The real surprise comes at the end of this underground area, you'll emerge through a warp pipe in the Kero Sewers that you couldn't reach before. Now, for the love of compost, don't jump down just yet! To your left is a couple of lovely artistic-looking archways and a treasure chest floating above one of them. Hop across the tops of the archways and get the treasure chest. Be careful not to fall, or you'll have to go back to Land's End and do the whole thing over. Inside the chest is some Cricket Jam. You may recall a wish on Star Hill whose owner wanted some Cricket Jam. Think real hard now, who could that possibly be? That's right, Frogfucius! Go give Big Daddy Froggy the Cricket Jam and he'll give Mario 10 Frog Coins just for being such a nice guy. His wish on Star Hill will change too, he'll just hope for world peace or something like that. *shrug*
Kung-fu fighting
Monstro Town has more than its fair share of side quests, and one of the best is in the Fighting Dojo at the top of the stairs. As soon as you walk in here, Bowser's old pal Jagger the Koopa Troopa will basically pull the same routine as Goomba did. You know, apologise for ditching Bowser, explain his lovely new life here with Sensei Jinx, blah blah blah. He says he's going to train and get strong, then return to fight for Bowser someday. Awww. Bowser tells him not to worry, and wishes him a nice life of training. Awww. Well, now that that's over, Jagger will say that Jinx is out right now, but that Mario can spar with him. Accept his challenge and proceed to beat down on him, he's easy to beat. Jagger will compliment Mario's skill at whooping ass, and then Jinx will reveal himself. He's a tiny little shrimp of a guy, he's been hiding in a houseplant the whole time. Jinx will use a few Jedi mind tricks to screw with Mario's head, and then he'll nonchalently claim that he'll accept a challenge any day. Psh, time to show this runt who's boss! You'll have to fight Jinx a total of 3 times (since he keeps claiming to be going easy on Mario), and he gets tougher every time. He has 600 HP for Fight #1, 800 HP for Fight #2, and 1000 HP for Fight #3. He uses Valor Up and Vigor Up, and his moves get deadlier in each successive fight. You'll need to be at a high level (23-ish) to beat this guy, but avoid using items. Your HP and FP will be restored after each fight, and it won't be Game Over if you lose, but any items you use are gone for good. You should definately have Mallow and/or Toadstool on your battle team for these fights, make use of their healing abilities. As for attacking, your A button attacks are the most effective here. When you prove once and for all that Mario r0xx0rz j00r b0xx0rz, Jinx will freak out and hand over his title of Sensei. He gives Mario the Jinx Belt, renames the Dojo in Mario's honour, runs outside to change the "J" plaque to an "M", and then leads Jagger in jumping up and down a la Mario. Ooooookay, what's Jinx smoking and where can I get some? Jinx and Jagger both suck up to Mario from this point on, it's kinda cute. The Jinx Belt is an accessory that jacks up the wearer's Attack, Defense and Speed. Unfortunately, it doesn't do a thing for the Magic stats. And I'm not sure, but it might protect against OHKOs. So, um, yeah, be proud! You just beat up a guy 1/4 your size! Three times, no less! ^_^
Capture the flag
Instead of an Inn in Monstro Town, the ever-so-hospitable Three Musty Fears leave their bed unattended for anyone who wants to take a nap. Well now, isn't that nice of them. And as soon as you accept this offer, they show up to harrass Mario while he's sleeping. Greaper, The Big Boo and Dry Bones are quite impressed by Mario's freaky nocturnal nose bubbles, and they figure that maybe he can hear them while he sleeps. Aren't subliminal messages fun? They challenge him to a game of Find The Flag. This game is as complicated as it sounds; the Musty Fears wander off and hide flags, which Mario has to find to receive a lovely prize. Oh yeah, and the Amanita lamp talks, as if this whole scene wasn't peeky enough. So the ghosties come back and give clues to the whereabouts of the flags. Greaper's is behind a wooden flower, Dry Bones' is under a green bed, and Boo's is between an "O" and an "A". Then they disappear and Mario wakes up, vowing to avoid those repeated head injuries because that was one trippy dream. Where are the flags, you ask? Yeah yeah, I'm getting to that. Greaper's is behind the Welcome sign in Rose Town. Dry Bones' is under Mario's bed, back at good old Mario's Pad. And Boo's is at the "Goal" of the Yo'ster Isle racetrack. See now, that wasn't so hard to figure out! Once you've got the flags, snooze in the Three Musty Fears' bed again, they'll reappear to congratulate Mario and hand over the prize. They leer over him dodgily and and chirp their catch phrase, "Don't forget what we told you!", not that it makes sense anymore, but oh well, and then they vanish. Mario wakes up, and checking your equipped items reveals that he's now wearing the Ghost Medal. Yay! That's good right? No, actually, it's not. The Ghost Medal doesn't do a damn thing! It doesn't raise stats, it doesn't protect you from status conditions, and its description says that it "raises defense while attacking", which is fancy RPG-speak for "is frickin' useless". Seriously, if anyone can figure out a benefit to wearing the Ghost Medal, let me know. On the bright side, it's worth 800 coins if you sell it. And whenever you stay at the Fears' place, they'll glow with pride if Mario's wearing the Ghost Medal and sulk if he isn't. That's about it.
Otherworldly visitors
Ooooohmygawd, this is an amazing side quest if ever there was one. You know that sealed door in Monstro Town? The piranha plant next door has this hint to offer: "It's really weird. Sometimes I hear the guy next door. He's always mumbling about a Crystal-this and an Evil-that. Isn't a 'Crystal' some kind of shiny rock...or something? I know I've seen those somewhere!" The answer lies in Moleville, with that dumb little kid running the pretend store. Go into the house beside her and buy some Fireworks for 500 coins from the mole guy, then trade those Fireworks to the kid outside for a Shiny Stone. Don't feel ripped off just yet though, go back to Monstro Town and check out the sealed door. The Shiny Stone reacts with the seal, causing the door to become openable! Needless to say, this is your cue to barge in. And there was good reason to seal this door, the room it contains is some kind of skeery alternate universe, and Mario is approached by a creature that reminds me of a Metroid. This little fellow introduces himself as "Culex, Dark Knight of Vanda", explains that he's looking for the "strongest knight" of this world, and cooly asks if Mario will accept this challenge. Thankfully, you can refuse. He'll agree that the plumber's hesitation is wise, claim that Mario stands no chance, and then boot you out of the room. Looks like SOMEBODY needs to be taught a lesson! Don't kid yourself though, Culex is one tough customer, most SMRPG fans wouldn't argue if you said he's tougher than Smithy. I guess it's a good thing Culex doesn't want to take over the world then....Make sure you're at Level 24 minimum, you should have cleared Bowser's Keep and gotten your team members' strongest possible weapons and armour before you challenge Culex. The Lazy Shell's defensive powers can come in handy here too, you could always give it to Toadstool and keep her busy healing. Once you're stocked, equipped and ready to rock, accept Culex's challenge. He's a much more imposing figure in battle than in casual convo, now he's some kinda bishounen-lookin' demon creature wearing nothing but...um...some ice....He gives a profound and poetic little speech that translates to "Bring it ON!", and calls out his 4 elemental crystal buddies to help him fight. This group is dynamite, they've got super-powerful magic attacks and will fire off 5 or 6 different attacks during their turn. On a completely unrelated note, the music rocks. ^_^ Firstly, the Wind Crystal only has 800 HP, so take it out. It takes barely any damage at all from physical attacks but magic attacks work great, use mostly Mario's Super Jump and/or Geno's Geno Beam. Note that Mallow's Shocker does nothing. While Mario and/or Geno are attacking Windy, the remaining team member(s) should attack the Water Crystal with their A button attacks if they're not busy healing. When Windy's defeated, attack the Water Crystal with Mario's Super Flame and everyone else's A moves, it's got 2500 HP. Now that 2 of the crystals are gone, you'll be taking fewer attacks and it'll be easier to keep your team from fainting. If you're running out of healing items, sparing use of Red Essence can help a lot. Focus your attack on Culex, Mallow's Shocker and everyone else's A attacks work fine. Keep at it, he's got 4100 HP and can't heal. As soon as Culex is defeated, any remaining crystals will disappear and you'll have won. You get more Exp. Points than you can shake a Froggie Stick at, and what's that familiar tune? Why, it's the Final Fantasy victory theme! Methinks Culex hails from somewhere in the FF series. Accompanied by more Final Fantasy music, Culex says that Mario has a strong spirit, and thanks the "brave knight" for a lovely duel. "Perhaps in another time, another game, we may have been mortal enemies...Let us part as comrades in arms." He gives Mario a Quartz Charm and makes his dimensional exit, then his door in Monstro Town disappears. The shame of this is that the Quartz Charm is pretty useless, it doesn't boost any stats and I think the only thing it does it guard against OHKOs. But at any rate, be proud! You've beaten the toughest opponent in the game! Fellow gamer with no life, I salute you!
Dares are fun!
That Chow in Monstro Town sure does take an interest in how many consecutive Super Jumps Mario's done. He'll cite your record and challenge you to do 30 jumps in a row every time you talk to him. It has to be Super Jumps, not Ultra Jumps, and it takes amazing timing with your Timed Hits to bounce 30 times on one enemy. I've never gotten more than 14, so for this side quest I'll be relying on rumour. Successfully Super Jumping 30 times causes the Chow to give you the Attack Scarf, this little beauty cranks up your attack power as its name would imply. Then the Chow will challenge you to 100 jumps. Yikes. Completing this challenge gets you the Super Suit, it's Mario's ultimate armour. Successfully Super Jumping 100 times also places you in the official ranking of One With No Life, and gains you both my grudging respect and my slack-jawed pity. Good luck!
Grate Guy casino
You may have noticed a travelling mushroom dude who's totally obsessed with finding some rumoured casino. And in Nimbus Land, this guy drops the hint of "three jumps, a Bright Card and no Chomps". Well, the place exists, and Mario can go there to happily gamble away all the cash he earns walloping baddies! Firstly, wander back through Booster Tower. Just after the place where that Snifit used to cough up bullets at you, you'll stumble across our old pal Knife Guy, sitting in a corner and juggling. He apologises for trying to kill Mario-tachi that time, and offers up a little mini-game. He juggles some red balls and a yellow ball for a few seconds, and you have to keep an eye on which hand the yellow ball ends up in. Easy enough. You get craptacular prizes like Wilt Shrooms and Rotten Mush, they're about as useful as they sound. But occasionally you get something good like a Mid or Max Mushroom, and as you win more games you'll notice Knife's juggling speeding up. Keep playing the game and don't worry if you lose a few times, you don't need to get all of your wins in a row for the eventual reward. After lots of wins and lots of stupid prizes, Knife Guy will give you the Bright Card. "It'll let you get into my brother's Casino...wherever THAT is..." You can still play with Knife Guy's balls (you perv :p) for fabulous prizes if you like, but now you get to go find Grate Guy's casino too. No worries, it's easy if you know where to look! Go to the area of Bean Valley with 5 warp pipes and 5 piranha plants guarding them. Go down the topmost pipe to find an area with some Geckits and a Chain Chomp. Defeat the Chain Chomp, then stand beside where it used to be and jump 3 times. You should hear a discovery chime at each jump, and on the third jump a yellow block and a new pathway will appear. Use the block to reach that new pathway and you'll be taken to the map screen, which now has Grate Guy's Casino as a new and visitable area. Woohoo! You can enter the casino as long as you have your Bright Card, so don't sell it to the geezer in Marrymore unless you dislike gambling. I'd advise against playing Blackjack, Frog Coins are too hard to come by and it's an addictive game. If you talk to Grate Guy a few times, he'll play Look The Other Way with you for free. It's a weird game where you have to not look the way he points. You have a 50/50 chance of winning, so I wouldn't bust my brain on a strategy. You get the same stupid prizes as Knife Guy gives you, but you'll occasionally get really good things like KeroKeroCola, Red Essence and Rock Candy. I also heard that winning a lot can get you a multi-use group attack item called the Star Egg, but I've never had the patience to confirm that.
Adding expenses to Mario and Pyra's psychiatric bills
When you stay at the Nimbus Land Inn, the innkeeper will offer you the use of a Dream Pillow for merely 30 coins. If you choose to use this, you'll get to see Mario have a dream. Most of them aren't worth the money, but they're entertaining anyways. Stuff like Gaz encouraging Geno (awww), and the Chancellor telling Mario that everyone's counting on him (no pressure or anything), and a Heavy Troopa sitting on Mario's chest while doing something questionable (I'm not touching that one with a 10-foot pole). However, the dreams are randomized, and in one of them Toad be...bouncing happily...on Mario...*shudder* Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a sick freak. After this, dream-Toad will confess that he's actually a monster in disguise. When Mario wakes up, Toad is standing right there by his bedside. That'd freak anyone out, so the plumber runs over to a convinient corner to shiver and cower and all but mess himself. The little hallucinogen is worried about Mario, so he gives you 2 Red Essences and then runs off to nurse his broken heart, shattered by that look of complete terror in Mario's eyes upon seeing him again after that long absence...*sigh* It's a regular Shakespearian romance. *shudders again* Bleh. I'm pretty sure that this event will only happen once, since Red Essence is such a rare and useful item.
Holy cra-I mean, matrimony!
Any time after clearing Nimbus Land, take a walk back through Booster's Tower and look in at Toadstool's old balcony. Booster and his Snifits are there, plus Valentina. Apparently, Booster thinks that Valentina is his new Bride From The Sky. She thinks he's a few bricks short of a load, but Booster whispers something into her ear that makes her change her tune real fast...They cosy up together while the Snifits turn away and quiver in disturbedness. Mario backs away from the door as if to say "YIKES!". True that Mario, true that. What would the children look like? *twitch* Ewwww....
In my day, we didn't have side quests....
Any time during the game, you can visit Frogfucius and get some crummy advice on what to do next. The only time this is really necessary is when you need to go to Star Hill, any other time it's just something to do if you're bored and don't feel like clobbering baddies. However, visiting Froggy after clearing Nimbus Land causes Mallow to hop out and tell his grandpa about his home up in the clouds. Hee, Mallow's so kyute.
More cameo appearances
See Hinopio's toys, on that stack of crates in the corner? You might recognise them as an Arwing (from the Starfox series) and two F-Zero racers (from the F-Zero series). And Samus (from the Metroid series) may have already gotten her cameo in the Mushroom Kingdom (before you get to Nimbus Land), but she had a smaller one even before that. Check Booster's toy box, in the same room that you played the curtain game. Everybody's favourite princess-marrying nutbar has a Samus doll. And you know what else? Several people in the game have dolls of Mario (from the Mario series)! *dorkish grin*
Sky candy fun
If you're carrying some Moleville Fireworks when you beat Smithy, the fireworks display at the end of the game will be more impressive. Oooh...purdy...You can carry up to 5 Fireworks, I think.
And you could always replay Midas Falls, the Pipe Vault Goomba Thumping mini-game, or Bowser's Keep. If you're looking for a way to earn coins and/or get free stuff, but you don't feel like playing the quests listed above, I can suggest the following.
-Sell your old armour. It sounds obvious, but you wouldn't believe how much underpowered junk you'll accumulate.
-Fight Rat Funks in the Forest Maze. They give you 6 coins a pop and Mallow's Thunderbolt works wonders on 'em.
-Check into the Marrymore Hotel suite, buy KeroKeroColas for 150 coins each, and sell them later for 200 coins each. The bad part about this method is that to make a profit, you need to sell 5 or more KKColas. It will, however, bring you closer to your goal of mooching free gifts off the hotel.
-Check into the Marrymore Hotel suite, but this time with just enough coins to cover the 200-coin fee. If you choose to stay another night or longer, you'll have to pay for it. And since you don't have the cash, the hotel manager will make Mario work off his debt. Hehehe, so you get to swipe the bellhop's job and guide people up to their suite, Mario's actually fairly talented at working with the public considering how much time he spends clobbering things. The hotel patrons will sometimes give you tips, too. You might get something nice like a Max Mushroom.
-Bring Mushrooms from the Forest Maze to Mushroom Boy. Even if you don't get any Rock Candy or Flower Tabs, you'll get some Maple Syrup to sell.
-Fight the Machine Mades in the Factory, especially the Bowyer and Yaridovich ones. You might get Ice Bombs or Rock Candy as random battle prizes, especially if you beat them really fast.