[yaegers]

I don't think the whole point of the game could have been to "clear" the levels. I mean, Mario auto runs and auto hops enemies. Save from having to manually jump pits its not really that hard to get to the end of a level.

I think the whole point is to get a coin highscore and/or collect the purple coins in every level.

[dcw303]

I may not have expressed it well, but I agree with you 100% - clearing the levels for the first time is only one part of the fun.

[scrabble]

The point is definitely collecting the special coins. The pink coins seem to get harder to obtain as the game goes on. The purple coins afterwards are even harder, and the onyx coins are really challenging.

The levels also have different obstacle and coin layouts depending on the special coins you are going for.