Same character in 2 player mode
If both players want to use the same character in the two player mode, use this code. At the title screen, press down, down, up, up, right, left, right, left, L, R on player 1's controller. If entered correctly the background should change color from black to blue. Now, when you enter the character select screen, both players will be able to choose the same character.
To prevent confusion, each character has a second costume color so you can easily tell who is playing as who.
Italy hidden items
At the start of the Italy round, there are points items hidden behind the pillars -the second image above has been taken when some sprite layers have been taken off, so you can see what kind of position the items are in.