There are usually three or four stacked routes in operation at any one time. Most of the branching pathways across this somewhat rigidly tiered structure don't last long before they converge back with others, but you can cross them in a number of ways, using the large pump devices in tighter corridors to move to the next one above, launch a powerful jump upwards off of the wooden swings, or simply drop carelessly into the wide gaps between the high up precarious platforms. All manner of slopes, steps and curves give the valley its characteristic hills and bumps in all other areas. Back to the patterned, grass-topped structures themselves, and pathways here are rarely straight, except for within the occasional tight internal corridors between large platforms supporting different routes. Many end before they reach the next ledge in fact, instead flinging you, using your momentum alone, through the air with a short ramp. They provide the level with its main source of pace, filling the map with loops and curves darting in all directions - somewhat unusual compared to the traditional first levels before it, which tended to favour their loops to be included in the ground structures themselves. These gaps are often crossed with powerful diagonal springs or by getting your timing right on the wooden swing objects, but most frequent are the long speedy vine pathways built into the layout to connect everything together.

The lower paths tend to span across large, stable pieces of ground, while the further up you go in the stack, it seems, the more sparse and smaller the platforms and ledges become, allowing ever more easy drops to the routes below. Note that the extruded, patterned ground on which everything sits remains the same throughout all seasons.ДЇor a first level, this feels like a slightly larger zone than normal, and it makes the most of its space with an array of interchangeable multiple routes stacked up on top of each other. The tree trunks are also discoloured, though there's no snow, and pathways and floating leaves are a duller brown colour. The sky now is nearly white, as are most of the leaves, some of which look rather frosty. Reach a certain point and each route will briefly delve into an internal area, allowing the environment outside to shift entirely to Winter upon your exit out the other side. Predictably the once lush green grassy paths and thick curving vines are now a bright and crisp brown colour, and running along them upheaves fallen leaves rather than little floating buds. The level changes to Autumn very early on in Act 2, where the sky becomes darker and the leaves on the trees and bushes become much less bright and more olive green. They appear the same, only with certain colour palette changes made. If you consider Act 1 to be based in the Spring and/or Summer, then Act 2 moves you into Autumn and Winter versions of this location.

The pattern is a kind of oval-based one, of brown and a dull yellow colour. Like Green Hill Zone, the ground follows a simple pattern, and with blocky extrusions and intrusions all over it, of various shapes and sizes. As grassy paths curve into speedy loops they begin to constitute thick vines, with much thinner ones wrapping around them. The pathways are of bright green dewy grass, and as you run along them, a great little graphical touch throws tiny little yellow buds in the air, gradually floating back down.

The forest floor in front of them is lined with bushes growing darker as you go further down, and there are rows of smaller trees behind them. The thick, green leafy canopy at the very top is supported by thicker, darker brown tree trunks. In the background, extremely tall and thin, light brown tree trunks reach high up to the top of the level, with the light clear sky between them, and moss growing at their bases. Going for something other than the standard tropical paradise for a change, the first level of Sonic & Knuckles follows the surprisingly uncommon location of a deep woodland forest, characterised more than anything else by its colourful, animated mushrooms of varying sizes.

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