I have no recording of this, and this may only apply to All-Stars, idk, but I've been playing LL and I noticed that shooting OR not shooting the piranha plant in the first upside down pipe can change how high the FIRST paratroopa is when he first appears on screen. Here's these simple directions:

Shooting that piranha plant = The paratroopa will "fly" at regular height, and he can be killed with fire by BARELY slowing down at all.

NOT shooting the piranha plant = The paratroopa will appear around a block's worth higher. So if you (like me), tend to kill the paratroopa by fire, you'll have to slow down 2 - 3x more than if it was lower.

The only typical downside for the "low paratroopa" method is that you miss the piranha plant. Which can be a big deal in 8-1 especially for those who are used to playing as fire, not small mario.