I have 39 shines... haven't played the game in 6 days...
Gekko, I think you are right about the Blue coins, they suck, I got 27 for the first level, and have no CLUE where the last three are.
Collecting Gold coins isn't bad, you just have to know the right level, and how to kill enymys to get the most coins out of them. Also, from what I've seen, the hidden missions arent that bad... well, not as bad as blue coins anyway
I haven't touched level 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 even though I got them all unlocked.I like to go one level at a time, but in this game I may make an exception.