Collectibles

At the end of each level, the game gives you a score based on how many stars, red coins and flowers you collected. Each star and red coin is worth 1 point and flowers are worth 10. In Any% speedruns, these are purposely skipped because they take extra time to be counted on the score screen and they are simply not needed. In 100% however, it is required that you finish each level with 30 stars, 20 red coins and 5 flowers. Completing each level in a world with a score of 100 will unlock an extra level for that world and it is also required that you get 100 points on those as well.

Stars File:Star.png

Stars serve as Yoshi's health, increasing the timer that counts down when you get hit by 1 unit per star and caps at 30. The more stars you have, the more time you have to reclaim Baby Mario before he is taken away. They can be obtained from winged clouds (3 or 5 depending on the cloud), crates (6), tulips (8) or middle-rings (10). You can also get 2 stars by hitting an enemy (or other interactive sprite) with a red egg, as long as the egg will break/crack open. Stars are collected on contact or when tongued by Yoshi. If you have more than 20 stars when collecting a middle-ring, the freeze that it causes can be shortened by 8 frames per star, so it's preferable to have as many stars as possible if it cannot be skipped. This freeze can also be skipped entirely if you throw an egg at a winged cloud at the right time. In Any% speedruns, stars are available as a "safety net", but are usually ignored, except for in 3-4. [1]. There is theoretically no limit to the amount of stars you can get in a level, as long as you can make red eggs and hit something with them. In 100% speedruns, you must finish every level with 30 stars.

Red Coins File:Redcoin.gif

Red coins are disguised as normal, yellow ones. However, while they are disguised, they have a reddish tint. (Some normal coins have a red tint as well). They are also slightly larger than the yellow counterpart, allowing for easier collection. There are 20 red coins in each level and in 100% speedruns, you must finish the level with 20 but you can duplicate red coins to skip slower ones. This would give you 20 points towards the 100 total. In Any% speedruns, it's best to avoid these, as their listing on the score screen takes a few frames.
*3-E has 21 red coins. It's most likely the one hidden in a post underneath a Tap-Tap.[2]

Flowers

There are five flowers in each level. Some are out in the open, some are hidden in winged clouds and others can be earned through destroying all the enemies in specific rooms. They can be collected by touch or by contact with a thrown egg or a spit out enemy. In 100% speedruns, you must finish each level with 5. This gives you 50 points towards the 100 total, plus an extra life. In Any% speedruns, flowers are avoided because they can trigger bonus challenges as well as add extra time to the score screen.
*5-7 has six flowers. The sixth one is hidden off-screen but can still be collected with an egg. This is actually used in 100% speedruns to skip a much slower flower. [3]