History Main / GreenHillZone

* DonkeyKong64 has JungleJapes, a basic tropical forest themed level where you first learn about many game mechanics and acquire basic moves.

* The first forest levels of the original ''{{Rayman}}'' game before the game becomes {{Nintendo Hard}}.

** ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has Queensdale, the human starting zone.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Denmark, flat, relatively green land compared to the more rugged and frozen parts of Scandinavia, where the Vikings "started out".
* Real life, sorta: Green circle runs on ski hills (runs marked with green circles are for beginners; blue squares are intermediate; black diamond is about as intimidating as it sounds.). Or, a Hill's Green Zone (bad-dum ''ching!'') Though if it's tropical, it's probably not very fun.
[[/folder]]

A calm, colorful (usually green), vibrant land that may have tropical elements. [[SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography Very often the first level]] and usually easier than the other stages, to let the player get used to the controls, powerups, and enemies. Often the first area of a PlatformGame, and typically the home of the WarmupBoss. A more cheerful subtype of Green Hill Zone is a flower-themed level.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' Episode 1 starts you off in the forest area, filled with mostly harmless mooks.

* This is a recurring theme in the Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog series, showing up in almost every game. It's easier to list the ''exceptions''.
** ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Sonic 2]]'' for the MasterSystem[=/=]GameGear is the earliest exception: its own Green Hill counterpart, imaginatively titled ''Green Hills'', doesn't appear until the fourth zone. It's hardly a warm-up level either; the third act contains a series of blind jumps which makes the player lose lives like water in a sieve.
** [[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Angel Island]] starts out as a textbook example of this, [[SubvertedTrope until halfway through the first act]], when the miniboss sets the place ablaze.
** Mecha Green Hill, from ''SonicTheHedgehogChaos'' on Master System, is a GreenHillZone ''mechanised'' by Eggman, with polluted streams choked with oil and chemicals, and [[MadeOfExplodium exploding coconuts falling from mechanized palm trees]]. Complete with a reworked version of the music from the previous game's ''Green Hills''. The Japanese ''Sonic CD'' theme was also a reworked version of ''Green Hills''.
** In the time-traveling ''[[SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'', the Good Futures of Zones are generally garden-like paradises or clean hi-tech utopias completely devoid of enemies, with technology working in harmony with nature. They are also the easiest versions of the levels to pass through. The Bad Futures on the other hand are hideously polluted nightmares that are much more difficult to complete.
** The Labyrinth of the Sky from ''SonicLabyrinth''.
** ''[[SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 3]]'' is another exception. The first zone is Route 99, a city level. The Green Hill Zone comes afterward.
** ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' has Planet Wisp, a mash-up of Green Hill Zone and EternalEngine. Unlike most examples, it's the fourth zone of six in the game.
** Plant Kingdom in Sonic Rush Adventure is a mix of this and PalmtreePanic. As is Leaf Storm in ''SonicRush''
* This is a common theme for the earlier levels in ''SuperMonkeyBall''.
* Most ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games place the first level here, being usually set in a cutesy magic fantasy kingdom of sorts. Still, just because later levels are unusually green and leafy doesn't mean they aren't harder (see World 3 in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' and the Forest of Illusion in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'').
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', the first planet of Good Egg Galaxy is your standard grassy fare, but the rest of it is a hodgepodge of various elements. Honeyhive Galaxy is this trope overlapped with TheLostWoods.
** Frequent in the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games:
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' has Beanbean Outskirts, which also serves as something of a HubLevel. Unusually, you have to trek through two separate areas with different themes before you can reach it for the first time.
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' has the first portion of Hollijolli Village, before quickly segueing into SlippySlideyIceWorld.
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' has Bumpsy Plains.
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' actually has ''two'' of these: Pi'illo Blimport, which is the tutorial area, and Mushrise Park.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAdventure'' has the first world, Koopa Plains.
* Beanstalk Way from ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'', although it's the sixth of eight levels.

* Most ''{{Kirby}}'' games have such a level, [[NostalgiaLevel usually titled]] Green Greens after the first game's example.
* Besaid Island in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' being the first location in Spira, and having a tropical feel.
* New Bodhum -003 AF-, where ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy XIII-2}}'' starts, is an idyllic seaside town with lots of greenery and hills. It ''is'' populated by a large number of monsters, but then again, it's located on Gran Pulse.
* Destiny Islands from ''KingdomHearts'' provides the tropic-themed DoomedHometown [[KidHero Sora]] starts up from. It's all downhill from there on.
** The idyllic Twilight Town from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' provides a more urban setting, though our resident KidHero steals a moment of blissful peace atop a literal green hill before eveything goes wrong for him. [[AvertedTrope The place isn't doomed, though, and can be revisited]].
* The first few levels of every ''EccoTheDolphin'' game, albeit in [[UnderTheSea Blue Water Zone]] form...
* Sandover Village in ''JakAndDaxter''.
* ''SuperSmashBros Brawl'' has a stage called Green Hill Zone, from the Sonic game, and it fits visually; however, the dips, hazards and collapsing middle make it quite complicated. The stage Battlefield fits this trope better.
* Planet Flora from ''{{Ristar}}''.
* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'', Mulgore (starting area for Tauren), Elwynn Forest (Humans), Eversong Woods (Blood Elves) and Azuremyst Isle (Draenei) are straight examples, being lush, green rolling hills, with varying degrees of forest cover and untamed wilderness. The Lost Isles for the Goblins are more tropical (complete with exploding volcano). Meanwhile the Night Elf areas have a more LostWoods flavor. The other starting areas are quite different. Some other areas such as the Arathi Highlands and Hillsbrad Foothills qualify.
* Warcraft 3 begins with the human campaign, the first part of which takes place in green and pleasant farming country before progressing to some noticeably more hostile environments.
* ''N. Sanity Beach'' and the surrounding tropical forests in many of the ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' games.

* Corneria in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series.
** Thorntail Hollow in ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures''.
* The planet Diamondus in ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit''.

*** And to practice firing downwards (Jump then hold down), on one enemy whos weapon blocks attacks

* Real life, sorta: Green circle runs on ski hills (runs marked with green circles are for beginners; blue squares are intermediate; black diamond is about as intimidating as it sounds.). Or, a Hill's Green Zone (bad-dum ''ching!'') Though if it's tropical, it's probably not very fun.
* Parum in the ''Phantasy Star Universe'' series. Its improbably idyllic, GhibliHills-esque nature is actually lampshaded and justified in ''Phantasy Star Portable'': it's all artificially created. All of Parum's ''real'' wilderness was destroyed in the backstory's 500-year-long war between the races.

* The first world in SigmaStarSaga is the [[SingleBiomePlanet Forest Planet]].
* The first world in VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}} is in a forest.
* The green, temperate Ascadian Isles in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', in very great contrast with the Bitter Coast swamps, or even worse, ''the Ashlands and [[LethalLavaLand Molag Amur]]''. Also subverted in the Grazelands, dotted with rogue Ashlanders and Daedric shrines full of insanely powerful monsters, with the occasional monster out in the wild.
** Falkreath Hold in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' appears to be a relatively peaceful boreal forest surrounded by wartorn mountains, tundra, swamps, and glaciers.
* The ''SpyroTheDragon'' games make use of this trope, with the exception of the ''Legend of Spyro'' games.
* ''Croc'''s first world is like this, though its levels do contain lava and underground sections.
* The first forest levels of the original ''{{Rayman}}'' game before the game becomes {{Nintendo Hard}}.
* The first sector in ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Three''. Sector 5 is the [[HappyRain rainier version]] of this.

* First level of ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}''.

* Lampooned in ''Webcomic/ToothpasteForDinner'' on October 18, 2009: Water, ice and lava are OK for later world themes, but the first world must always be just "outside world".

* Insectia in ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'', a grassland level which is obviously full of insect Mooks (and the occasional snail).
* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' Episode 1 starts you off in the forest area, filled with mostly harmless mooks.
* In ''VideoGame/JablessAdventure'', the first area you encounter is the green fields outside the town. Ironically, it may be one of the harder areas in the game, as you start off with few health points and no weapon--and the path to the weapon has a number of erratically-moving bird enemies.
* Two of the ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' starting zones are this type of terrain: Pre-searing Ascalon and Shing Jea island.
** ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has Queensdale, the human starting zone.
* Act I of ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} II'' takes place in the forested areas between the Rogues' encampment and their Monastery.
** Act I of ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} III'' takes place in and around New Tristram, which was a farming community [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies before being overrun with the walking dead.]] That may not sound very friendly, but considering that the subsequent zones are a [[ThirstyDesert burning desert,]] a [[GrimUpNorth frozen wasteland,]] and [[spoiler: the war-ravaged ruins of Heaven,]] the gloomy rain-soaked New Tristram seems positively welcoming.
* ''VideoGame/{{Athena}}'': World of Forest, the first level.

* In all main series ''{{Pokemon}}'' games,the first area outside the player character's hometown is a grassy area with low level trainers and {{com mons}}.
* In ''VideoGame/PsychoFox'', despite its name, Zone 1 (Mystical Mountains) fits this trope fairly well.

* Most ''SuperMarioBros'' games place the first level here, being usually set in a cutesy magic fantasy kingdom of sorts. Still, just because later levels are unusually green and leafy doesn't mean they aren't harder (see World 3 in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' and the Forest of Illusion in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'').

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* The Calm Lands of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is more or less a Green Hill Zone, even if it is nearer the end of the game. Admittedly, you learn a lot about controlling Chocobos here.
** The Calm Lands appear calm, but actually have a ''really irritatingly high'' encounter rate; some of the monsters you encounter are much more difficult than the average random encounter. This can be quite a shock to the system for player who have cruised through up till then.
** Besaid Island fits better, being the first location in Spira, and having a tropical feel.

** Plant Kingdom in Sonic Rush Adventure is a mix of this and PalmtreePanic.
*** As is Leaf Storm in ''SonicRush''

*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' has Beanbean Outskirts, which also serves as something of a HubLevel. Unusually, you have to trek through two separate areas with different themes until you can reach it.

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Named for the first stage of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', which pretty much defines this trope.

** Angel Island starts out as a textbook example of this, [[SubvertedTrope until halfway through the first act]], when the miniboss sets the place ablaze.

* This is a recurring theme in the Sonic series, showing up in almost every game. It's easier to list the ''exceptions''.
** ''Sonic 2'' for the Master System / Game Gear is the earliest exception: its own Green Hill counterpart, imaginatively titled ''Green Hills'', doesn't appear until the fourth zone. It's hardly a warm-up level either; the third act contains a series of blind jumps which makes the player lose lives like water in a sieve.

** ''[[SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 3]]'' is another exception. The first zone is ''Route 99'', a city level. The Green Hill Zone comes afterward.
** ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' has Planet Wisp, a mash-up of Green Hill Zone and EternalEngine. Unlike most examples, it's the second-to-last zone in the game.

* ''{{Kirby}}'s Dream Land'' and its Green Greens.
** The nostalgia-heavy Kirby games to follow generally follow suit. Though in the multiplanetary ''[[VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards Kirby 64]]'', Pop Star itself was the Green Hill Zone.

A calm, colorful (usually green), vibrant land that may have tropical elements. Very often the first level and [[SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography usually easier than the other stages]], to let the player get used to the controls, powerups, and enemies. Often the first area of a PlatformGame, and typically the home of the WarmupBoss. A more cheerful subtype of Green Hill Zone is a flower-themed level.

A calm, colorful (usually green), vibrant land that may have tropical elements. Very often the first level and usually easier than the other stages, to let the player get used to the controls, powerups, and enemies. Often the first area of a PlatformGame, and typically the home of the WarmupBoss. A more cheerful subtype of Green Hill Zone is a flower-themed level.

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'', Mulgore and Elwynn are both lush, green rolling hills. Night Elf areas are also pretty green and hilly but have a more LostWoods flavor.
** So do the Glades of Tirisfal.
** Eversong Woods for the Blood Elves plays it straight.
** The Arathi Highlands.
** As do the Lost Isles for the Goblins, sort of; they only wind up there as shipwreck survivors after being forced to flee their homeland, Kezan, when a volcano explodes on them.
*** And then ''another'' volcano explodes on them and they're forced to flee ''again.'' To be fair, the second eruption was more or less their own fault...
** Warcraft 3 begins with the human campaign, the first part of which takes place in green and pleasant farming country before progressing to some noticeably more hostile environments.