For 1-1, a lot of the flowers are mines. It’s a good rule to avoid touching any flowers you see.
In the three zones, they give you a fair chance to see where the pitfalls are, giving you a slight advantage where not to jump. When the ground looks a little jagged, you can see that it has a slight drop, it looks a little like the ground was lifted an inch up from the lower portion. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s best seen on 1-1 by the shop where the checkpoint gate is.
The obvious/easy looking route is always the wrong route. Don’t be fooled, Anet isn’t throwing you a bone anywhere in this mode.
Some zones will occasionally lead you into a hidden area, or through the entire checkpoint room. It’s not going to be a straight shot filled with hard jumps, you’ll often be zig-zagging throughout the zone, and even backtracking a little in some cases.
Avoid open spaces. Not every open space is a death-trap, but it’s a good rule nonethless that most open spaces are hidden pitfalls that don’t have a slightly lowered ground.
A lot of jumping is precision based, meaning you’ll be jumping at the very edge of the ledge, and landing on the very edge of the next ledge. You’ll have to run straight on, even being a little side-ways could ruin your jump, costing you a life.
The balloon you pick up can act as a check-point marker if you can reach the cloud associated with it. Just hit the 2 key, (or whatever you have it mapped to) to unlock the checkpoint.
1-3’s first balloon for the checkpoint is behind you when you spawn in.
Monkeys are your worst enemy. I’d suggest having baubles with you and a sling-shot. Anytime you have room to breathe is a good time to find them and kill them.
Rocks are rarely rocks. They’ll be disguised as rocks, but usually turn into enemies that jump up and will knock you back. The knockback also has a fair radius, meaning you’ll either need to dodge it, run past it quickly, or very quickly back-track to a safe ledge then run and gun while it resets itself. All three options are generally in effect.
If you’re having trouble defeating the second zone’s boss, stand on the far left after you get up their, and use both your dodges for the lasers. When he moves his head back, run to the right quickly and use a dodge, then it’s usually repeat. Every 25% of the cage health causes him to stop attacking for a bit, and it will interrupt his laser.
For the King Toad, you’re limited only to the center lily pad. The bog water is still a one-shot. I’d suggest dodging his left and right jumps by walking to the back and rolling forward, or vice-versa; then go to the rocks in the back for his double-stomp. Usually after three stomps he opens his mouth so you can throw the crystal.
More often than not, in 1-2 and 1-3, and middle section of a limb, or middle of a split to two leaves will have a spike trap.
