Level in the Clouds

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow end-mission…
^{Clockwise from top left} The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, TaleSpin (Capcom), The Legendary Starfy, Mario Kart 8, Ristar, Yoshi's Woolly World

"Wow! We're in the clouds! We're floating! It feels comfy, but I just don't quite trust it. Mario, am I sinking? Am I?"

— Goombario, Paper Mario 64

A video game area that takes place in the sky. The characters may be seeking out a landmass or building in the sky, but they also might just be wandering through a huge field of unusual platforms like Solid Clouds, overgrown beanstalks or comically oversized floating objects. Naturally, not falling to one's death is the biggest challenge of such an area, not only because almost the entire bottom acts as a bottomless pit, but also because of the numerous flying enemies and the boss often being a Cumulonemesis, a large bird or a warlike airship. Other hazards, like mist that hinder sight, lightning bolts from stormy clouds and wind currents that may mess with the jumps' timing, are likely to be present as well.

Fluffy Cloud Heaven is often portrayed this way in video games. It's interesting to mention that already the first sidescrolling platformer — Jump Bug, released in 1981 — already featured this setting in a level with Solid Clouds.

Super-Trope to Levels Take Flight (which focuses on aerial vehicles like skyships, zeppelins, airplanes and living vessels; be it that you're infiltrating within one or you're driving/riding it), Funnel Cloud Journey (which takes place within, or next to, violent tornadoes) and Bonus Level of Heaven (the holy equivalent). May overlap with Big Storm Episode if the level takes place in stormy clouds.

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Examples:

Action-Adventure

• Jables's Adventure: Many above-ground areas have a line of cloud platforms near the top, and even those that don't will lead to a cloudy sky area if you fly off the top of the screen.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: Cloud Tops, one of the later dungeons, consist of solid clouds that you can walk on, and is inhabited only by airborne fish and cloud-riding lakitus. Also, there are such clouds you need to explore in order to get to the dungeon in the first place, and you obtain a special set of shovel-like claws to dig through some of them.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures: The Realm of the Heavens and the Dark Cloud are set high in Hyrule's skies, and their terrain consists of solid clouds. The enemies, however, are the same kinds found elsewhere in the game.
• An Untitled Story: CloudRun is a dense sky stage where clouds not only act as platforms, but also as tall walls that make progression harder. It is unusual in that this location is actually one of the lowest lying areas in the game world. It is also pink instead of blue.

Fighting Games

• Kart Fighter: Peach's stage is located in the sky, and is made completely of clouds.
• Super Smash Bros.:
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee: One of the unlockable stages is Poké Floats, which consists of several floating platforms shaped like Pokémon in the skies during the afternoon. The floats are based on, respectively: Squirtle, Onix, Psyduck, Chikorita, Weezing, Slowpoke, Porygon, Wooper, Soodowoodo, Snorlax, Venusaur, Seel, Wobbuffet, Unown, Goldeen, Lickitung, Chansey, and Geodude.
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The Subspace Emissary starts with a few levels which are made out of clouds, based mostly on Kid Icarus. Pit is sent here by Palutena shortly after the Ancient Minister interrupts the fight between Mario and Kirby in Midair Stadium to start his invasion. The game also features a fighting stage set in Skyworld from Kid Icarus (1986); many pieces of the stage are breakable, leaving only the fragile cloud platforms (though the stage rebuilds itself after a short while).
  • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS: Magicant, of Mother fame, is a surreal stage composed of pink-colored clouds on which some seashell-shaped houses are suspended. The landmass can be seen from the distance, and the sky is adorned with beautiful auroras colored green, purple and pink. At one point, a Flying Man will appear on the stage; if a character approaches one, it will support them by fighting the rivals.
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: In addition to bringing back Skyworld and Magicant as part of its base content, the game also adds the Cloud Sea of Alrest as part of its DLC lineup. Unlike in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (where the setting was part of a full-fledged Floating Continent), here the stage takes place exclusively aboard Azurda (a.k.a. Gramps) who is soaring the cloudy skies, so the combatants must keep an eye on their positions to avoid falling down (especially because Azurda sometimes moves his head and neck).

Party Game

• Mario Party:
  • Mario Party: Mario's Rainbow Castle is a board located in an idyllic cloudy city made up of Solid Clouds, castle rooftops, and a rotating turret where Toad and Bowser are. Whoever is seen on-screen takes control: Toad gives a Star to any character who pays 20 coins, while Bowser gives a Ztar (a bogus item that doesn't increase the number of Stars, though at least it won't reduce it either) and charges 40 coins to any unlucky player who reaches him; their positions can also be swapped by landing onto an Event space. Among the minigames, there's Platform Peril, an obstacle course in the skies where the characters have to jump across floating platforms while the screen scrolls, and whoever reaches the goal first wins.
  • Mario Party 2: Rules Land is a board set in the clouds, but it cannot be played as it's only used a cinematic tutorial on how to play the game.
  • Mario Party 5: Rainbow Dream is an idyllic, paradisal board that takes place in four islands suspended in the skies thanks to the dense clouds supporting them. Each island is placed in a different compass direction, on top of being at a different height (save for the two in the sides of the middle) and also alluding to a common state of weather. The southern island is the lowest, and hosts an Amp-shaped energy generator that represents storms (and can be charged with a battery wheel to earn Capsules); the western island resembles a plaza with a lake housing water lilies, and receives water from a Cheep Cheep statue that represents rain; the northern island is the highest, and houses a large chapel with beautiful stained glasses that portray clear skies (from left to right: sunrise, midday and sunset); the eastern island as a whole represents a snowy climate, having snowmen and a conveyor belt that turns snowballs into snowflakes for their storage in an igloo.
  • Mario Party 6: The minigame What Goes Up puts all characters in a cloudy sky. The objective of the minigame depends on the current time: If it's day, then they have to hop upward between winged Paratroopas to see who reaches higher after 30 seconds. If it's night, they have to fall down from the top to a cloudy platform at the bottom (clashing against a Paratroopa will slow down the fall and waste previous time).
  • Mario Party 7: The minigame StratosFEAR! takes place atop a large mushroom platform above the cloudy sky, with other mushroom platforms alongside assorted features viewable in the background. Three players are standing on the platform, while the fourth one is atop a cloud platform using the Mic to control the height of said platform; from the horizontal ways, several Bullet Bills are passing by, and the solo player has to move the platform up or down to make the Bullet Bills hit the rival trio, winning the minigame if they succeed. The trio wins if at least one of them manages to survive during 30 seconds.
  • Mario Party 9: Skyjinks is a minigame where players have to navigate through platforming obstacles while high up in the sky. Falling off the platforms will cost players one of their three "lives".
  • Mario Party: Island Tour: The board Star-Crossed Skyway takes place in an idyllic, paradisial landscape located upon large clouds in the skies, and featuring elements like overgrown beanstalks, checkered pink pavements, large bodies of grassy rock where some flowers have grown, and a spooky forest with purple (likely toxic) water. The objective in this board is to collect as many Mini-Stars as possible before reaching the end, much like in the boards of Mario Party 9; they can be earned by winning minigames, playing board events, or landing onto certain spaces. There are also Mini-Ztars, which have to be avoided.
  • Mario Party 10: Airship Central combines this setting with Levels Take Flight, as you have to go through not only cloudy platforms (some of which also have overgrown beanstalks nearby), but also Koopa airships placed in rows. Another unique trait is that the board is played during afternoon instead of morning or midday.
  • Mario Party: Star Rush: Silver Lining takes place high up in the sky, and the only footing the players have to work with are Bouncy Clouds.
• Nintendo Land: The entirety of Balloon Trip Breeze revolves around the protagonist of Balloon Fighter traveling across the skies to the west.

Platformers

• Adventure Island: Several levels take place in the sky and feature solid clouds. The sixth island in Adventure Island II is called Cloud Island, but only two levels in it display the setting proper, being also filled with hovering spiders and Cumulonemesis monsters; it is recommended to play them with a pterodactyl, with whom you can advance while flying instead of having to jump between clouds.
• Aladdin (Capcom): The Genie stages have some areas with cloud platforms, including one where the Genie determines which platforms you get based on how well you did on the stage so far (with the clouds being the easiest platforms to use).
• Banjo-Tooie: Cloud Cuckooland is a quirky landscape in the sky that can only be accessed with a bubble from Isle O' Hags, and consists of a cloudy mountain with a large calcified cavern within and several unique islands that float around it (such as one having a large piece of rotting cheese, one with a red gelatine castle, and so on). There are two Mumbo Skulls, one which has Mumbo Jumbo as usual and another which has an evil impersonator (Mingy Jongo, the level's boss).
• The California Raisins: The Grape Escape: The final level is Sky High Records which features solid clouds the Raisin walks on.
• Crash Bandicoot (1996):
  • The secret path in Native Fortress (with the red gem) leads you to a section in the sky where you'll be running on clouds to break more crates.
  • The levels Road to Nowhere and The High Road have Crash cross a prolonged, decayed bridge above the dense clouds in the sky. Crash has to watch for the fragile parts of the bridge to avoid falling, and use upside-down turtle shells to jump large gaps.
• Densetsu no Stafy 4: Cupid Village mixes this up with Level Ate, being a cloud-themed level full of sweets where angels live.
• Donkey Kong:
  • Donkey Kong Land: Chimpanzee Clouds is a sub-area which, along with Monkey Mountains, makes up for the third world. It has only three levels, but they're long (the second is in fact the longest in the game), and in them you have to navigate with the help of aerial platforms. The small cloud platforms collapse shortly after Donkey and Diddy stand on them, but the larger ones are durable.
  • Donkey Kong Country Returns: The Golden Temple (solo level in the Wii version, ninth in the 3DS version) combines this setting with Level Ate. Several giant fruits are suspended in the sky, and Donkey and Diddy have to take them with extra care in order to avoid falling into the abyss. This being a 2.5D game, the vertical-moving bananas can only be stepped on when they're aligned with the axis of the characters (they're looping from the background). Horizontal-moving bananas simply oscillate, cherries explode shortly after they're stomped on, strawberries and blueberries have trouble resisting the Kongs' weight. Lastly, several Tikis appear from small portals to attack the Kongs with projectiles.
  • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: The seventh world, Secret Seclusion, features three levels set in the sky, and they're also Brutal Bonus Levels. Features include propellers that start moving upon contact, small clouds that blow the Kongs upward, ancient floating setpieces, and (in the second level) brief sequences based on the Minecart Madness and Rocket Ride levels.
  • Donkey Kong Jungle Beat: Cloudy Heights, where it is possible to rack up a combo of over 3000 beats. Donkey travels across it with the help of extended vines that surround overgrown beanstalks, as well as a bubble that emanates from a special flower called Bubble Shrub.
• Drake and the Wizards: Mystic Clouds is a world set in the clouds.
• Garfield's Nightmare: World 3 takes place in the skies, and Garfield has to make his way through a path made of Solid Clouds, tall beanstalks and thick poles colored red and yellow in a checkered pattern (Garfield jokes that he has lost so much weight that he can walk over the clouds). Among the present assets and looming hazards, there are whirlwinds that move back and forth, ventilation fans that can be turned on and off with switches, fiendish crows, thorny branches, clouds that attempt to zap Garfield when he's beneath them, floating mines, fairground rockets, and cloud platforms that dissolve shortly after Garfield stands on them. Interestingly, in an inversion of the Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography, the first level shows the sky being stormy, the second is played during a calm rain, the third takes place during a sunny morning with a rainbow in the background, and the fourth not only shows the sun but is also placed closer to the ground (the music also goes from tense to cheery over the course of the world).
• Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu: The second part of the fourth level largely takes place on clouds.
• Kaze and the Wild Masks: The extra level "Watch Your Steps!" in World 1 combines this with Interface Screw. Falling would normally be enough of a problem as it is in such a stage, but after taking a few steps forward, the platforms become invisible; meaning you can only know what's safe and what's a deathpit by paying attention to where the crystals and enemies are. You will need the helicopter ears for this one.
• Kid Icarus (1986): The third world and the final level take place in this setting. Pit has to climb upward with the help of hovering rocks and uniquely colored cloud platforms (green in 3-1, pink in 3-2, and white in 3-3), all while dealing with numerous enemies. Most of the Game Boy sequel takes place here as well.
• Kirby finds himself in the sky a lot, what with his flying ability and all:
  • Kirby's Dream Land, the first game, has Bubbly Clouds. The area vaguely resembles a temple in the sky constructed of a mix of stone and Solid Clouds. This even extends to stage boss, Kracko, who is a living storm cloud.
  • Kirby's Adventure: Grape Garden is a level in the sky. In the first stage, the clouds not only make up the floor, but also the walls; the second half does have brick-based platforms, for the sake of variety. The second stage has Kirby travel through the topmost parts of buildings. The third stage features zeppelins powered by currents of wind, thus combining this trope with Gusty Glade. The fourth stage starts in what appears to be a forest in the sky, but then transitions into a more down-to-earth location. The fifth stage brings back the setting of the second, and features a Mini-Boss battle as well as a palatial spring. The sixth stage takes Kirby into one of the sky's palaces, and features a Blackout Basement section. The boss stage starts as Kirby hops skyward with the help of cloud platforms before reaching the top to fight the boss proper.
  • Kirby's Dream Land 2: Cloudy Park takes place in the sky. Kirby navigates through it with the help of Coo the owl while avoiding the Gordos (spiky hovering enemies).
  • Kirby Super Star: Bubbly Clouds shows up again in the Updated Re-release of the original, along with the "Skyhigh" level in the Milky Way Wishes mode.
  • Kirby's Dream Land 3: Cloudy Park makes its second appearance in the series. Features include hills made of clouds, a maze inside the top of a mountain, a rainy stage that included a partially flooded side, the interior of a cumulus with wind currents, tall stone pillars, and a boss battle against Adeleine.
  • Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: The second stage of the icy Shiver Star has Kirby being shot by a Zebon into the clouds, where he adventures through.
  • Kirby: Squeak Squad: The Cushy Cloud level has a few stages with cloud clumps that can be destroyed with fire abilities, including with a flaming sword.
  • Kirby's Return to Dream Land: Nutty Noon mostly takes place on a giant tower extending deep into the stratosphere, and the last piece of the Lor Starcutter is guarded at the very top.
  • Kirby: Triple Deluxe: Much of the game takes place here, on a chain of six floating islands known as Floralia.
  • Kirby and the Rainbow Curse: Blue Sky Palace is a building sustained in the sky thanks to several mechanical contraptions. There are foggy clouds that can be removed as Kirby passes across them to collect hidden items. There are also clouds with more solid textures, but each piece can only be stepped on once before they go poof. Gusts of wind that blow upward are present as well. At different points, Kirby has to enter the inner parts of the palace, breaking metallic boxes and detonating bomb blocks to remove obstructions in the process.
  • Kirby's Blowout Blast: Kirby travels through a cloud level with background spires and tiles directly taken from the very first sky level in the series (Bubbly Clouds, from the first Dream Land).
• Little Nemo: The Dream Master: The sixth stage (Cloud Ruins) starts in the roofs of a city's houses, but transitions into a sky area as Nemo uses a powerup to fly upward as a bee, using cloud platforms to regain flight momentum and avoiding birds who drop eggs as projectiles. At certain points, Nemo passes through the higher floors of a skyscrapper.
• McKids: Part of Birdie's Treehouse world. The other is a Slippy-Slidey Ice World. Some levels have some sneaky enemies that are obscured by the clouds, and can only be seen by the item they are carrying overhead, forcing Mick and Mack to be a little more cautious.
• Mega Man:
  • Mega Man 2: Air Man hides in a sea of clouds and odd blocks with evil faces on them.
  • Mega Man 3: Snake Man resides in a cloudy tower, full of giant snakes and missiles hidden in clouds.
  • Mega Man 4: Ring Man waits in a cloudy tower, although it reaches to space and is filled with hippos and spinning Saturns, instead of snakes and missiles. Also, the third section of Dr. Cossack's Siberian Citadel takes place in the sky above the citadel, full of clouds that often obscure the platforms.
  • Mega Man 5: Gyro Man has a base full of cloudy areas.
  • Mega Man 6: Wind Man's base has a variation; his level is semi-cloudy, but has more of a Chinese motif.
  • Mega Man 7: Cloud Man's level is at a research institute, but clouds are major platforms.
  • Mega Man 8: Tengu Man's level eventually gets to the point where there are no more cloud platforms. To continue, Mega Man has to undergo an Unexpected Gameplay Change and fight through a SHMUP section. There are still clouds, but no platforms. His level in Mega Man & Bass is just a regular example of the trope.
  • Mega Man 9: Tornado Man has the clouds in the level change from normal, to snow, to rain.
  • Rockman 7 EP: Freeze Man's stage uses Cloud Man's old tileset, so it takes place in the skies.
• Psycho Fox: Stage 4, Wind Zone, combines this setting with Palmtree Panic, having some coastal ground and bodies of water, but otherwise being heavy on cloud platforms and a significant height of the levels explorable thanks to them.
• Ristar: The first section of the Game Gear-exclusive Planet Terra takes place on giant clouds and rainbows in the sky, but only in the Japanese version, where it is instead called Planet Fanturn. Non-Japanese releases drop this section and has you start the planet out in its Gangplank Galleon, instead, making the entire level shorter as a result.
• Sesame Street: Countdown: The bonus stages take place in the clouds, accessible by riding balloons. There, The Count must solve a math problem to get the number he chose, which can involve simply finding the number hidden in a box, adding or subtracting the numbers to get the right one, or adding or subtracting the number of items in a jar.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Sky Sanctuary is a construction explored from its top, which rose above the clouds. In Sonic's story, the title character must make his way across the platforms to intercept the Death Egg before it reaches orbit. In Knuckles' story, it's a Boss-Only Level where Mecha Sonic is fought; the longer it takes to defeat Mecha Sonic, more and more of the Fortress crumbles and, after 10 minutes pass, the whole place succumbs and it's Game Over. This zone returns in Sonic Generations as a Nostalgia Level.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) has Sky High Zone, where it is impossible to tell the difference between clouds which are walkable and clouds which are not. The second act of the stage takes place in stormy weather.
  • Sonic: Before the Sequel has Cloudy Crowd. The cloud tileset is borrowed from that of the sky levels of Kirby Super Star, though it also features tiles from Star Light and Chemical Plant. Other features include a magnetic pole that operates with a switch, springs that can make you jump high or low (depending on which end of the spring is touched when jumping), fans that can blow away clouds, and a jet platform with lights that tell when it will burst flames.
• Stinkoman 20X6: The game has Level 6: Stratosfear, AKA the Pink Cloud Zone. Many enemies are electricity-themed, and The Liekand, a sunglasses-wearing tornado, is the boss.
• Super Mario Bros.: Mario seems to end up in the clouds quite often. In the standard Mario world layout, this is the penultimate setting before Bowser's Castle. Such worlds and levels include:
  • Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: The end of World 8-2 and entirety of 8-3 and A-3. The former one can only be found by climbing a secret beanstalk (as the rest of the level eventually loops). The latter two are more traditional sky levels, and the placement of the cloud platforms as well as that of most enemies make the levels among the most challenging (especially if played with Mario, who doesn't jump as highly as Luigi).
  • Super Mario Bros. 2 has World 7, mostly the first level (as the second is the last one in the game, and takes place predominantly inside Wart's castle). It focuses on featuring a heavy concentration of enemies (including Albatosses that drop Bob-Ombs which break the floor upon exploding), and at one point Mushroom Blocks have to be used to reach the next point (while having to deal with Sparks).
  • Super Mario Bros. 3 has the second half of Sky Land (the first is Green Hill Zone). In addition to large chasms and cloud platforms, these levels see the debut of Fire Chomps (flying Chain Chomps that spit fire and, once they run out of it, approach Mario or Luigi to explode near him) and flying Parabeetles.
  • Super Mario World: The Twin Bridges levels, as well as Groovy from the Special Zone, are set in the skies. Instead of having cloud platforms, they feature bridge corridors and rails through which ropes and moving platforms operate (in the case of Butter Bridge 1, the platforms used are tall mushrooms that act like scales — the one Mario and Luigi stand on lowers while the one next to them rises).
  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: The final level of Tree Zone takes place at the very top of the large tree and thus plays as a sky level. The hidden bonus level in Macro Zone is sky-themed as well, as Mario navigates onto floating solid blocks.
  • Super Mario 64 has Rainbow Ride and a couple of bonus levels. Much of Rainbow Ride can be accessed while boarding a flying carpet railroaded by a rainbow, though Mario still has to keep an eye on any obstacles the carpet is approaching. The first sky bonus level is notable for enabling the use of the Wing Cap in the other levels in the game, while the second is infamous for forcing Mario to trek all the way back up through the castle if he falls down (instead of simply making him lose a life, putting him right outside the course).
  • Super Mario Sunshine has the daytime obstacle courses, as well as the highest area of Pianta Village. The obstacle courses consist of wooden contraptions floating in the sky, and in each case Mario has to deal with their gimmicks in order to clear them (for example, the Pachinko stage has a collection of red coins necessary to claim the Shine Sprite, but the surrounding physics of the contraption makes their collection difficult). The high area of Pianta Village can be accessed with the fluffs that appear in Episode 8, and one of the necessary red coins in that episode lies in the floating clouds. The oddity is that the cloud platforms can be enlarged with FLUDD's water.
  • New Super Mario Bros.: The sub-series has World 7 in all games except New Super Mario Bros. 2 (where it's the fifth world, and comes along with a smidgen of Death Mountain). The sub-series introduces a type of white fog that hides items (they can be dispelled with an aerial spin, however). The Wii and U also have levels with floating bodies of water.
  • Super Mario Galaxy: Gusty Garden Galaxy has all the various platforms being suspended in the sky. The third Star mission in particular evokes this. Other levels have clouds, but they are only solid when Mario has the Bee powerup.
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 has Fluffy Bluff Galaxy and Cloudy Court Galaxy. In this game, not only the Bee powerup allows Mario and Luigi to walk over the clouds; so can the Cloud powerup, which in addition allows Mario to create his own clouds! Cloudy Court also features windmills that make wind blow, which allows the plumbers to ride with their cloud platforms into areas that would be inaccessible otherwise.
  • Super Mario 3D Land: World 5-5 is set within the sky, and features numerous raised grassy platforms, which can be climbed with both cloud platforms that move up and down and mushroom trampolines. The climbing is made easier by using a Propeller Box. During the second half, Mario has to carefully fall down to the exit area.
  • Super Mario 3D World: The map of World 6 and the levels Clear Pipe Cruise, Pretty Plaza Panic, and The Great Goal Pole are all sky-themed. While the entire map of World 6 is sky-themed, Clear Pipe Cruise is the world's only sky-themed level, and in addition to cloud platforms, there are Donut Blocks and Clear Pipes required to travel across the sections of the level. The latter two levels have strict time limits, so Mario and his friends have to move quickly through the clouds and floating platforms.
  • Super Mario Maker: The Airship course theme makes this setting possible as long as you rely less on the airship motifs themselves and more on the cloud blocks, bridges, donut blocks and mushroom platforms.^note You can also get rid of the tense Airship theme by embedding the Bonus music onto Mario
  • Super Mario Odyssey: The Cloud Kingdom is located in the cloudy skies above another kingdom. It is here where Mario fights Bowser for the first time in the game, as well as the second level where certain cloud platforms can be activated by hitting their "null" forms with Cappy (with the first being the Cascade Kingdom).
  • Super Mario Maker 2: This is one of the added settings for the game (it is theoretically possible to invoke this trope with the Airship theme in the first Super Mario Maker, but it requires some difficult workarounds), and is present in four of the game styles; in the 3D World one, the designated "sky" themed is based specifically on the Toy Time level present in the original game's World Star). In night mode, gravity is reduced.
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder: The northern side of Fluff-Puff Peaks takes place within a cluster of pink-colored clouds. Features present in the levels include extendable and retractable rails, spongy platforms that can be shrunk with a Ground Pound, platforms that can only be stood on a limited number of times (said number is also shown beneath them), and a stormy area whose Wonder Flower unleashes big, powerful lightnings.
  • Super Princess Peach: Giddy Sky consists chiefly of solid, smiling clouds interspersed with some balloon platforms, and is mostly inhabited by flying versions of common enemies, cloud-riding Lakitus, and parachuting Bob-ombs.
  • Fan Game examples:
    • Something: World 2 in in Something else takes place in the clouds, with solid cloud platforms and heavy focus on athletic platforming. Three of the levels take place in the tall trees.
    • Super Mario 63: Rainbow Ride and The Secret in the Sky. The former is a 2D adaptation of the Super Mario 64 level with the same name, bringing back the carpet that transports Mario across the sky while passing near hovering ground; the latter is a more traditional sky level with cloud platforms and wind gusts that blow upward.
• Wario:
  • Wario Land 3: Above the Clouds. In this area, cloud platforms appear and disappear periodically, so timing the jumps will be important. Wario also has to cut a balloon's tie to make it float and enable access to a new area.
  • Wario World: Unlike the underground ones, which are more puzzle-based, the sky sublevels are more like obstacle courses which require good dexterity and knowledge of the controls to cross.
• Wizards & Warriors: Ironsword: The Wind Elemental level takes place on clouds. An eagle will take you there. The level is made entirely of clouds, and you have to keep an eye on enemies like birds, yellow spectra and incoming whirlwinds. You can also get inside the clouds and the boss is a cloud-shaped Eldritch Abomination.
• Yoshi's Island:
  • Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: The second half of World 5 takes place in clouds solid enough to have Piranha Plants rooted into them. Enemies found here include Lakitus, missile-like flying ghosts and seagulls. The first half of the world's extra level takes place in the cloudy skies as well, with the added caveat that Kamek is harassing you.
  • Yoshi's Island DS: "In the Clouds" has Yoshi navigate a series of small cloud platforms, while being menaced by an assortment of Lakitus, Shy Guys flying with propellers, and land-bound Mooks standing on the platforms.
  • Yoshi's Story: "Cloud Cruisin'" on page three takes place along the usual series of cloud platforms, although some sections are crossed on the back of a large flying dragon. Enemies include seagulls, Lakitus, flying Shy Guys and large fat butterflies, and the boss is a walking cloud made out of cotton candy.
  • Yoshi's Woolly World: "Fanciful Fluff and Feathers" consists of a series of fluffy white clouds inhabited by a considerable amount of seagull enemies.

Puzzle Games

• Gruntz has this mixed with Level Ate in the world "High On Sweetz". The stage is suspended in the sky thanks to a large cloud-based terrain.
• Hotel Mario: Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel takes place several miles up, and has clouds blocking the screen to interfere with the player's vision.

  Mario: It's hard to see through those clouds, I hope we can get rid of them! Get the hint?

• Kuru Kuru Kururin: The levels in World 6 (Cloud Land) are placed very high in the skies, and several hot-air balloons and zeppelins can be seen in the background. The levels have unusual wall layouts, being shaped like four-point stars, circles or elongated hexagons.
• Panel de Pon: Windy's stage consists of clouds solid enough to walk on and build houses on. Sophia's stage features buildings made of clouds.
• Puzzle & Dragons: World 6 of Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is based on World 7 from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which is sky-themed to begin with. Red Yoshi, Blue Yoshi, and Flying Squirrel versions of Mario and Luigi can be unlocked here.

Racing Game

• Mario Kart: Sky/cloud-themed courses are rare, but they exist:
  • Mario Kart: Super Circuit: Sky Garden, part of the Lightning Cup. It is a racetrack made of a cobble road suspended in the sky, bridges made of vine wires, and clouds that outline it. Large beanstalks can be seen in the background. The course returns in Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Tour and (as DLC) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as a Nostalgia Level.
  • Mario Kart 8: Cloudtop Cruise, part of the Special Cup. The cloud platforms are usually safe to drive on, but a part of the Cloudtop Cruise has the racers enter a large cumulus where the clouds are electrified, and occasionally a thunderbolt zaps the tracks' dash panels; getting struck by one shrinks you, as they have the same effect as the Lightning item.
• Stunt Race FX: Sky Ramp is set on a track in the clouds.

Role-Playing Games

• Baten Kaitos features Diadem. Heck, there's even a castle entirely made out of clouds. Even more relevant in the appropriately named "Cloud Passage" level.
• Faria: Once you get the Sky Shoes, you can go up to the Sky World, which consists almost entirely of walkable clouds and Random Encounters. There is no Edge Gravity when walking around up there.
• Final Fantasy IX: The game brings you to Chocobo's Air Garden if you play enough of the Chocobo Hot and Cold minigame. It is a cluster of landing mass suspended above the cloudy sea and, whenever you resume a save file, its in-game location changes. It is here where Superboss Ozma can be challenged.
• Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]: Sora's version of Symphony of Sorcery is based on "Pastoral Symphony" of Fantasia fame, with him walking on the clouds for the first couple of rooms.
• Lunarhill: Part of the aether region is nothing but clouds. A few of the main characters are surprised that they can walk on them, until it's clarified that the clouds are magical and haven't moved for centuries.
• Mega Man Star Force 2 features Sky Road, which is part of the Wave World and acts as the Hub Level for a lot of later areas. It features many wind currents and cloudy fog.
• Might and Magic:
  • The fourth and fifth games, Clouds of Xeen and Darkside of Xeen, have these at the top of every tower. If your Levitate spell wears off while you're up there, you fall straight through the clouds and take a lot of damage.
  • Celeste in VII is stated to be half in mountains, half in sky. When you get there you can see the city is completely surrounded by clouds, including Bottomless Pits. Should you fall in them you end up in Bracada below the city and get killed without Feather Fall. The walls also seem to be built of clouds as well.
  • Plane of The Air in VIII obviously, though there is solid, invisible ground you can walk on.
• Miitopia has Nimbus, a land made of walkable clouds with futuristic towers in the background. Some of its areas have an Eternal Engine flavour.
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon:
  • The Sky Stairway in Explorers of Time 'Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky''. is a major location erected over a large terrain made of clouds. Rayquaza, one of the Olympus Mons, can be challenged and captured here.
  • The Sky Tower in Red Rescue Team, Blue Rescue Team and Rescue Team DX. Made almost entirely of clouds, it serves as the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, and has 34 floors (of which the last 9 are part of a sub-area known as the Sky Tower Summit). Defeating Rayquaza will be necessary in order to convince it to save the world.
• Siralim: Life Realms take place on continents made up of semi-solid clouds, including trees with cloudy foliage! In later games, this turns out to be the Azure Dream, the realm controlled by Surathli, the goddess of light.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: Nimbus Land, home of the cloud-shaped Nimbus people, is built upon a giant cloud floating high above the rest of the world, which is solid enough to support trees and buildings and only reachable through a single giant beanpole.
  • Paper Mario:
    • Paper Mario 64 provides the page quote. In order to clear the unnatural overcast covering Flower Fields, Mario climbs up a giant beanstalk to get onto the cloud tops themselves, where he battles the living cloud Huff N. Puff and his smaller cloud minions.
    • Super Paper Mario: The Overthere is a literal Fluffy Cloud Heaven in the form of a great field of fluffy white clouds home to the multiverse's blessed souls, and consequently takes this form when Mario travels there on his journey.
  • Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam: There is a cloudy area above Sunbeam Plains which must be accessed upon the second visit to get to Gloomy Woods. Mt. Brr also has a cloudy summit which is used to reach floating Bowser's Castle.

Shoot 'em Up

• Forgotten Worlds: The Sky World (stages 6-7) has the player make their was across a cloudy landscape scratched by frozen elephants, dragon sculptures and tall buildings. There's also a brief part that shows a cherry blossom forest above the clouds.
• TaleSpin (Capcom) has two examples. The third level, The Storm Clouds, combines this with Big Storm Episode. The prologue to the stage reveals that Don Karnage and his Air Pirates have planted mines in the clouds, so Baloo must dodge the lightning as it strikes. The Bonus Stages in the same game take place in the clouds during clear weather. In these stages, you play as Kit Cloudkicker, who rides his air foil as he collects bonuses.

Strategy

• Civilization II: Test of Time has a fantasy world set in the sky inhabited by the bird-like Buteo people complete with Solid Clouds.

Other/Undetermined

• Miracle Girls: Stage 2 (Clouds Island) not only has plenty of cloud platforms, but also floats that make high jumps possible.
• Moshi Monsters: One area is a city made of clouds that features in certain missions.
• Sky: Children of the Light is set in the ruins of a fallen kingdom built upon the surprisingly solid cloudtops.
• Yume 2kki:
  • The Sea of Clouds is, as its name suggests, a land of solid clouds in the air.
  • Cotton Candy Haven is a combination of this and Level Ate, being an area of clouds made of cotton candy and other sweets.

Non-Video Game Examples

• Brawl in the Family: Strip 237 plays with this, showing Mario reaching a cloud level on a vine to different results, such as him falling through the clouds or getting hit by a plane. Strip 238 does it again by having Lakitu deliberately making Mario believe he's in Heaven and step on non-solid clouds.
• Dungeons & Dragons, Lair Assault module Temple of the Sky God. The clouds are solid ground. When characters reach the half-way point of the mission, the clouds mostly dissipate, and the ones remaining become electrified (harming those who stand on them).
• The Magic Goes Away: Wizards can cast a spell allowing them to walk on clouds. Any wizard who makes a habit of this had better have a firm grasp of meteorology, though, because it's not a good thing to be far above solid ground when the weather starts to clear up.
• Rubbadubbers: In "Amelia the Babysitter", a land of clouds that represent diapers is the setting for the "if only".

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