There's plenty more to see around you. All the ground takes a very lime green/yellowish colour, and much of the large, thick platforms that comprise it are made of those same square tiles from Hidden Palace Zone, only yellow, not turquoise. These are supported by long green pillars evenly spaced out across it, and topped by thick stone roads that are covered in bright green moss. Often book-ending these many isolated platforms are tall, thick green pillars - a characteristic piece of Sky Sanctuary architecture, with rows of small dark windows across them, blue circles along the top, and each pillar tapers to a point at the bottom. There are tall silver water fountains and purple stands with clear spheres on top of them, as well as more crumbled pillars reaching upwards from the roads. Built on small bricks at the bottom, there are also pairs of tall, thin purple posts on either side of the road, some of which reach up to quite a height and may contain poles to grab onto or a swinging spike trap. Sky Sanctuary Zone appears to be the remnants of a peaceful and beautiful city, left by Knuckles' lost race of people thousands of years ago... so be careful with all these priceless artifacts around, won't you?

Roads of the platforms are either straight or slightly sloped, and there are no loops and curves to speak of. Some of them are linked by long diagonal lines of thin road that falls away as you run across it, other gaps you will have to traverse via many platforming segments, though nothing you can't handle by now. The large platforms often overlap, leading to several brief alternate routes separating out and converging again at numerous intervals, or just well hidden areas holding item boxes. Well-timed jumps on objects such as bouncy clouds or rising horizontal poles will often get you there, as well as making use of the aforementioned large, gently bobbing platforms. These alternate routes don't last long however, and the only significant shortcuts that can be taken require the use of Tails, who, with good knowledge of the map, can be used to skip out massive portions. With some paths leading left and some right, it can be easy to get lost when coming to the end of an alternate route, so consult the map if you're not sure. Lastly, to give the impression of more height, this is another level that loops vertically - the top of the map seamlessly leads up into the bottom, so the highest platforms are actually situated at the bottom right of the map. Before you attempt to take advantage of this by just simply dropping down there shortly after the start though, bear in mind that you are of course prevented from doing this by placement of a death drop below all of the first platforms. So if you fall off the level anywhere along the beginning of it (and also on the collapsing road just before boss 2), you'll die. If you slip off anywhere above, there's a good chance you'll be saved by a platform somewhere in the middle, but you will obviously have to make your way back to the top all over again from that point.

The only badnik in this zone is Eggrobo, Eggman's first real foot-soldier type badnik, modelled on himself. The same badnik that acts as Eggman's substitute for most of Knuckles' bosses, and the Death Egg is sending out legions (well, a dozen or two) of them to intercept Sonic - you can see them shooting up out of the background occasionally, throughout the stage. What they do is hover in one spot, always facing you, and when they spot you, they simply fire a horizontal laser from their gun. Easily taken care of with a bop on the head. Watch out when entering some of the long green pillars, if animals starting flooding out, it means they'll closely be followed by one of these dudes, hoping to catch you out!

- Technically, Sonic's version of the level is Act 1, while the tiny platform Knuckles has access to is Act 2. Therefore, it's easy to play as Knuckles in Act 1 and Sonic and/or Tails in Act 2 using the Stage Select cheat. However in order to be allowed access, you have to activate the debug cheat (see the Miscellaneous page), then return to the level select by pausing the game and pressing A. Despite their different abilities, no character appears to have a problem getting through either act. However, as to be expected, you will encounter some weird stuff. Knuckles will meet a duplicate version of himself upon entry, and Sonic's encounter with Eggrobo (who turns into Eggman) highlights his lack of gliding sprites. Weirder still is that upon beating Super Mecha Sonic as Sonic, Knuckles pops in for his game ending sequence, in a dashing shade of blue. Weirdest of all though? Do it as Tails. Blue Knuckles will have twin tails, which don't get any smaller as the Tornado flies into the background.