Green Hill Zone

The Green Hill Zone is the first, and most famous, zone in all of the Sonic the Hedgehog games; especially to older gamers. It's also known for being one of the most famous video game levels of all time. Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) shipped with most Mega Drive / Genesis systems, and thus Green Hill Zone was the first Genesis experience for many people. It is a picturesque paradise with green fields and beautiful blue lakes. Perhaps most distinctively, the soil is checkered brown. Obstacles include crumbling platforms and spikes in the original iteration. Subsequent portrayals largely remain true to the zone's theme of being a 'first level', lacking quite the same density of hazards as later zones (although there are still plenty).