Top 5 Thursday: Forest Worlds

We’ve covered sea, we’ve covered snow… yet not forest, it seems. This week, Forest Worlds is Top 5 Thursday spotlight.

5. Silent Forest

Source: radiosega.net

Sonic Lost World’s “forest world” could also be considered a jungle. Either way, Sonic Lost World certainly is a neat little area. The first level has you spiraling rod-platforms, dodging mud-dwelling robo-alligators, jumping on top of poisonous flower, and slamming into mushroom robots. The music here is pretty good. The “halloween” like levels are the best. One of them has to deal with light puzzles, and the other has you hiding from an evil owl that’ll snatch you up if he sees you. That level had me dying the most, by the way. Still, I think this is a cool world.

4. Forest of Illusion

Source: gifstumblr.com

Which way, which way? One of the tougher worlds in a Mario game, the Forest of Illusion is one of the more recognized area of Super Mario World. It’s hard to figure level design, it’s confusing level exits, and peculiar twists make it both fun AND challenging. While a bit lacking in overall creativity, it’s very memorable making it one of my favored Forest Worlds. Plus… I mean, this is such a neat idea for the ninety’s, and Nintendo has yet to match it.

3. Boggly Woods

Source: mariopartylegacy.com

I think this place has a really neat atmosphere in particular. Boggly Woods certainly is an interesting concept, too. A luminescent forest, with black and white trees and a forest floor? Not to mention it’s strange inhabitants. To make matters even… stranger, Mario must deal with the X-Nauts and their bizzare leader, ghosts, and of course, puzzles! Paper Mario and the Thousand Year introduced this level pretty early in the game. Alongside it, I am happy to have it in the game in the first place! For once, we have a TRULY ingenious forest world.

2. Forest Haven/Forbidden Woods

Source: zeldadungeon.net

This place is a really unique area, too. You have two separate areas, the Forest Haven (the good side) and the Forbidden Woods (the bad side). The two are parallel to each other, with only a strip of sea to seperate the two. Both of them are very beautiful, too. I think they look a MILLION times better in Wind Waker HD, as one would expect. However, the dungeon itself was pretty fun, too. While some bits of it were frustrating (the thorn maze) there were more fun parts to overshadow it. I mean, swinging with the rope and hook was TOO fun. 

1. Faron Woods (Skyward Sword)

Source: zelda.wikia.com

In all honesty, I could care less about the actual layout of the area. Faron Woods is very pretty, not as pretty has the previous one, but pretty enough. It’s the first “world” of Skyward Sword. It introduces several aspects of the game that weren’t introduced in Skyloft. Plus, there are neat areas to explore, and the ever hilarious Kikiwi. Alongside it, I imagine this place as the… pinnacle of Zelda forests, in a series FULL of them. It’s exactly as I would picture them to be, either that, or the Kokiri Forest. Both are ideal forests I see for the series. This one is more… bright, though. Plus, I think the actual layout (now talking about it, guys, heh) is much better than Ocarina of Time’s “forest.”