I'm a bit late to the party, but I decided to finish Luigi's Cuprolaminophobic (that's the fear of coins) run through off today!
As the post says, Power-ups from the overworld actually don't count as items collected. And since I refused to get the P-acorn, I needed to beat 2-fort by using a baby Yoshi to beat a Piranha Plant encounter, and grab the Propeller Mushroom that came out of the chest. It's the same way I got the Mini Mushroom, which was required for 7-fort. I had to ditch the poor Baby Yoshi each time too, so it wouldn't count towards the goal!
While I did get 0 of everything except goals cleared, there is one nasty mistake I made... I got an extra goal. I was just too weak willed against 7-fort, and decided to defeat 5-fort one extra time to get one extra save point, so I could go straight to 7-fort instead o wasting time with 2 stages before it. Maybe sometime else, I won't be so weak as to get an extra save...
Anyways, I might try and see how many stages are possible to clear while going coinless. Sadly though, I know getting all the exits isn't possible, as the first secret exit forces you to get some coins.
Also, on an interesting note, getting all 0s isn't possible in New Super Mario Bros U in single player. Turns out, in the second stage, it seems like there is a coin you HAVE to get unless you have a Squirrel suit, and you can't get the Super Acorn in the overworld until after 1-fort. Maybe I can play 4 player with myself and see if it's possible then...
Well, I always love self imposed challenges in Mario games, I hope Miiverse means we'll get some for Super Mario 3D World as well, and maybe some more for this game!
But! It'll be fun to watch one way or the other.
