Purple Coin

This article is about the collectible item from the Super Mario Galaxy games. For other uses, see Purple Coin (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Regional coin.

Purple Coin
A Purple Coin from Super Mario Galaxy
First appearance	Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
Latest appearance	Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2025)
Variant of	Coin
Comparable Red Coin

Purple Coins are special coins that first appear in Super Mario Galaxy. They appear in the major galaxies only when a Purple Comet is in orbit of a galaxy. Unlike regular coins, these coins do not restore any of the player's health or refill the air gauge while underwater. They later appear in Super Mario Run as a special collectible in stages after the player completes the Pink Coin Challenge.

History

Super Mario Galaxy

The Purple Coin challenge in Toy Time Galaxy

In Super Mario Galaxy and its Nintendo Switch port, the player always needs to collect 100 Purple Coins to make a Power Star appear. In missions with a time limit, the Purple Coins are sometimes set along a linear path; additionally, once the Power Star appears, it has to be grabbed before the remaining time runs out. Other times, more than 100 Purple Coins are scattered in a big area, and the player has to explore every area and figure out the best path to collect the required 100.

There are two Purple Coin missions that are not activated by a Purple Comet: One is in the Gateway Galaxy, and another is in the Grand Finale Galaxy.

All of the timed Purple Coin missions have background music that contains parts from Gusty Garden Galaxy's theme. The Purple Coin missions of the Battlerock Galaxy and Dreadnought Galaxy have the same music, even though the missions do not have time limits; this is because Mario collects Purple Coins set in a linear path while riding on moving platforms, and he cannot get any coins left behind since the platforms do not backtrack. However, the platforms in the latter mission respawn.

While underwater, in Flying Mario form, or in Bee Mario form, Mario can spin next to Purple Coins to attract them to him and automatically collect them.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Mario collects Purple Coins in Tall Trunk Galaxy.

Purple Coins reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2. They still appear in comet missions but with a small change: the timer stops once the requirements are met. In the Rolling Coaster Galaxy, a Purple Coin is in a purple-colored Star Ball. In this game, Player 2 can collect Purple Coins for Player 1 along with regular coins.

Super Mario Run

In Super Mario Run, Purple Coins are a type of color coin. Each course in the game, except for How to Play, Chase the Snaking Coins, Make the Cut! and Red Block Run, has five Purple Coins. The player selects which kind of color coins appear in a given course before starting it, but they only gain the ability to select Purple Coins for a course after the player has collected all five Pink Coins in that course.

As with all color coins, collecting a Purple Coin is a stylish move, a Purple Coin is not worth any coins upon collection but instead grants ten coins at the results screen of a course, and the player must collect all five Purple Coins in a single run of a course in order mark them as completed. Doing so grants the player two Rally Tickets via a notification. Purple Coins do not change their appearance if they have been collected in a prior run, unlike other similar items in the Super Mario series.

Purple Coins are often placed in areas that are more difficult to reach than Pink Coins are. The layout of a course becomes more difficult if Purple Coins are appearing compared to when Pink Coins are appearing, but not as difficult as when Black Coins are appearing. Collecting every Purple Coin in a course unlocks the ability to make Black Coins appear in that course. Collecting every Purple Coin in every course from World 1 to World 6, 120 Purple Coins in all, unlocks the Purple Coin Pipe. The pipe can be used to access the course Piranha Plant Field, which has no color coins other than Purple Coins. The Purple Coins in Piranha Plant Field are not saved by the game, and the player does not get two Rally Tickets for collecting all of them.

Purple Coins in World ★ are tracked separately from Purple Coins in Super Mario Run's other worlds. The game's menus list them under a ★Purple Coins row.

Purple Coins do not appear in the Toad Rally or Remix 10 modes. However, the locations of Pink Coins in Toad Rally and Bonus Medals in Remix 10 sometimes correlate to the locations of Purple Coins.

Profiles

Super Mario Galaxy trading card

Image	Name	Description
	Purple Coin	Purple Coins are special coins that only appear when a Purple Comet is in orbit of a galaxy. Mario must travel to each of these galaxies, collecting 100 purple coins in each one in order to reveal the Power Star that is hidden there.

Gallery

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  Model from Super Mario Galaxy

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  Sprite from Super Mario Galaxy

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  Sprite from Super Mario Run

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  A Gearmo after Mario collects no Purple Coins in Super Mario Galaxy

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Note(s)	Ref.
Japanese	パープルコイン Pāpuru Koin	Purple Coin		[?]
Chinese (Simplified)	紫色硬币 Zǐsè Yìngbì	Purple Coin		[?]
Chinese (Traditional)	紫金幣 Zǐ Jīnbì	Purple Coin		[?]
Dutch	Paarse munt	Purple Coin	Super Mario Run	[?]
French	Pièce violette	Purple Coin		[?]
German	Lila Münze	Purple Coin		[?]
Italian	Moneta Viola	Purple Coin	Super Mario Galaxy
	Moneta viola	Purple coin	Super Mario Run	[?]
Korean	퍼플코인 Peopeul Koin	Purple Coin		[?]
Portuguese	Moeda roxa	Purple Coin		[?]
Russian	Фиолетовая монетка Fioletovaya monetka	Little Purple Coin		[?]
Spanish	Moneda morada	Purple Coin	Super Mario Run	[?]
	Moneda púrpura			[?]

Notes

Purple Coins in NDDEMO

• In NDDEMO, when the player enters the room "How Many Coins?", Purple Coins can be seen among the many colored coins that fly out of the ? Block after the player hits it.
• The regional coins found in the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey, which are inspired by the Super Mario 64 coin design, aesthetically resemble Purple Coins.