The first Mario platformer for the Nintendo Switch has finally arrived. Super Mario Odyssey launches today and gives Nintendo fans a very new and different gameplay experience than the most recent installments on the Wii U and the 3DS. One of the biggest changes to Mario's world is the way that coins work in the new game.

In Super Mario Odyssey, coins serve two purposes and there are two types of coins. Let's start off with world-specific coins...

World-Specific Coins

In every world there is a limited number of coins that are specific to that zone. There are about 50 of these coins in each world and they can be used to purchase items from the world-specific shops. The shops have a lot to offer, including clothing and other rare items. The coins for each world have their own look, but they will always stand out from the standard gold coins. It's very easy to see the difference between the two currencies.

Gold Coins

The more common currency is the classic gold coin. Despite looking similar to the way they usually do, these coins are not just used to earn 1-ups like in the past. The first gold coin use is to purchase items in shops. For the gold coins, it doesn't matter which world you're on, they can be used in any shop for certain items. In addition to the shopping use, these coins are also used as Mario's life force once he runs out of other lives. When Mario is out of lives and dies, instead of getting an old school game over players will just lose a handful of the gold coins.

That should give you a solid understanding of how to use coins in Super Mario Odyssey. Now head out there and start collecting!

Super Mario Odyssey is available on the Nintendo Switch now.