New Super Mario Bros./World 5-4

You may have dealt with growing and shrinking mushroom platforms previously in World 5-A, but that is just one of the odd species growing in World 5. Instead of extending and retracting horizontally in a fixed cycle, the mushrooms growing here rise and fall vertically only when you jump on them. With the screen scrolling by itself, you must prepare to respond to any incoming challenges quickly!

Level walkthrough
Once you start the level, you'll notice that this is one of the few stages in the screen that scrolls by itself. In addition to the danger of falling into pits, you now also have to worry about being unable to catch up with the forced scroll. Crossing the first abyss requires you to jump on two yellow mushrooms. As soon as you step foot on them, you'll notice that they immediately sink down. Jump repeatedly to maintain your height. Around this time, Bullet Bills will start to be fired on occasion, so don't drop your guard.

For the next gap, you can spot a red mushroom with a similar pattern as the yellow mushrooms from before. However, instead of falling, these mushrooms rise when you land on them. They're much more valuable for crossing gaps, but can sometimes hinder instead of help you. For this gap, you must jump across two rising mushrooms and four falling mushrooms, with Paratroopas between them. After landing on a small landmass, jump on to the next falling mushroom to the right, which has a red ring floating above. Jump to collect the first two, make the mushroom fall to get two more, then jump to the right to get the fifth. Jump from the rising mushroom to the falling one, and ride it down for two more red coins. Finally, jump to the rising mushroom to the right for the last coin.

The following mushrooms have red Koopas on them, which makes things a bit more hectic. Once you get on the last rising mushroom before the rock formation to the right, leap forward to land on a ledge. Go right to nab the first Star Coin. If you're already in Mini form, you can go through the tiny tunnel to the right and get the next Star Coin immediately. If you don't, use the Donut Lift to drop down, then run right to the next rising mushroom. Knock the red Koopa into its shell, then throw it to the left once the mushroom takes you up to the tunnel the Star Coin is in. Go right after the rising mushroom and fall to pass the checkpoint.

For the next pit, you must maintain your height as you jump across a series of falling platforms, before one rising platform takes you up to the next landmass. Go forward and hit the Koopa into its shell. Toss it into the block formation with the two brick blocks on your right. This should cause a 1-Up to pop out. Take the falling mushroom down, then run right to collect it. Go right to spot another rising mushroom. Now, you must jump on the rising mushroom, then make a short hop to the right as soon as you land. This should put you on the lower ledge to the right, where you can get a Star Coin.

You've survived the constant altitude shift so far, but the last abyss is going to be pretty intense. There is a series of alternating mushrooms. You must rise up on the red mushroom to get on the falling mushroom, which lets you get to the next rising mushroom and so forth. The Koopas only serve to make your task more difficult. There are three more mushrooms before the flagpole. Use the first rising platform to gain height, then jump on to the two falling platforms to get to the flag.

Star Coins

 * 1) Take the rising mushroom to the left when you see the Star Coin and make a running jump to reach it.
 * 2) If you happen to be Mini, you can go straight to the right to get the second Star Coin after obtaining the first. If not, go around the pathway from below and use the rising mushroom to the right to get to it. Throw the Koopa's shell at it if it scrolls offscreen.
 * 3) The Star Coin appears next to a rising mushroom. As soon as you get on the mushroom, do a slight short hop off to the right and jump right to obtain it.