Das Geheimnis der Happy Hippo-Insel/Der Sonnenstrand

Der Sonnenstrand ("The Sun Beach") is the first area of the game you will have to travel through. It consists of three small, primarily horizontal and straightforward Levels, intended mainly as an introduction to the game's basic elements. Apart from volcanic bombs that fall down in a few parts, the only enemies you will encounter in this area are lizards, which do nothing but walk left and right; you have no way of fighting them at this point of the game, so simply avoid them.

Level 1
This first Level is very linear and does not contain many hazards. Start by talking to Benno Buschmann (simply approach him to do so), who will explain (in German) how to extinguish fires and refill your water supply (advance the conversation with ): use to spit water and collect the floating water balloons to refill the blue water metre at the right side of the screen. Try it out on the fire near the beginning; hitting it with water extinguishes all connected flames, letting you pass them safely. You can refill your water afterwards by waiting until the balloon to the left has respawned and collecting it; every water balloon in the game will regularly respawn, so you do not normally need to worry about wasting too much water.

The lizards found throughout the Level cannot be defeated and will make you lose water balloons on contact, which you can pick up again if you are quick. If you have no more water and touch them, however, they send you back to the start of the Level, so avoid them at all costs! In order to reach the balloon under the hill in the centre of the Level, you need to crawl through the tunnel leading there; to accomplish this, first hold and then either  or, depending on which direction you wish to move in.

When you reach the small hole near the end, make sure not to fall into it, as doing so makes you restart the Level immediately, no matter how much water you have left. On the other side of the hole, right before you reach the rightmost edge of the level, a volcanic bomb will fall from the sky and set the ground on fire; be careful not to get hit by it, and remember to extinguish the flames before proceeding. Leave the Level at its right end to complete it.

Level 2
This is another linear Level. Simply proceed from the left to the right, avoiding the lizards. Watch out for bombs chucked by the volcano; they will fall down at three predefined positions in the Level and set the ground on fire. Their locations are shown on the Level map above (the small, red spots); walk slowly when approaching these locations so you do not run straight into the fire.

The cave below the final volcanic bomb can only be accessed by crawling and contains a water balloon. Pick it up if you have run out of water by this point, but watch out for the lizard; it can be difficult to jump over due to the low ceiling. If you need to jump, the best place to do so is the centre of the cave, where the ceiling is elevated a tiny bit.

The two floating platforms near the end are above water; falling off forces you to restart the Level, so be careful.

Level 3
At the beginning of this Level are three vertical lifts; although using them is not a requirement, doing so makes it easier to reach the platform at the bottom without accidentally landing on the lizard patrolling on it. If you are planning to make use of them, you may drop off the first one towards the right and the second one towards the left immediately to speed up reaching the final lift.

To continue onwards from the floating ledge, the horizontal lift to its right is required; you may have to wait a little until it arrives. Once you reach a small island, get off the lift and wait for the second one, then use that to reach the rightmost part of the Level.

Extinguish the fire here (if you are out of water, you will have to travel back to the ledge with the lizard to refill your supply) and talk to the panicked hippo by touching him. He will thank you (advance with ) and hand you a key, which is needed to open the door above and reach the end of the Level. Behind this character is a tiny cave containing a water balloon. Once more, you need to crawl to get inside; do so if you do not have at least one unit of water left, otherwise continue upwards right away. Jumping over the gap between the platforms right after passing through the door can be difficult; you will need to already be moving to the left and nearing the edge of the platform when you jump, but its collision box is a little smaller than it may seem, so moving close to the edge without falling off can be tricky until you get a better idea of where Max can and cannot stand without falling. If you should fall off, move below the rightmost edge of the left platform while falling in order to land on the small island below instead of the deadly water. Once you get to the two horizontal lifts near the top, use these to reach the top of the mountain on the right; do not hesitate on the leftmost floating platform for too long or a volcanic bomb will fall.

You cannot finish the final Level of an area by exiting it to the right; you will need to water a Happy Flower like the one atop the hill instead. Attempting to walk past it will only cause Benno Buschmann to remind you of this, so simply do as he says and spit some water at it with the button. Watering the one in this area triggers the following exchange (advance with once more), explaining the flowers' significance (translated to English):

Max: What kind of flower is that? Benno: ''That's a Happy Flower! There are 5 of them on our island. They bring us luck and joy. The heat of the volcano dries them up! Find all flowers and water them! But first, I want to teach you something. A new ability!''

Ability and Mini-Game
Upon completing Der Sonnenstrand, Benno Buschmann teaches you how to toss nuts. Nuts are respawning items that can be found in all following areas of the game, and can be thrown with the button while Max is holding one and standing on the ground, harming enemies they hit; Max cannot spurt water while in possession of a nut, however, and throwing one breaks it.

The mini-game you are sent to to practise the ability is Papageienparade. Toss the respawning nut at parrots while avoiding the eggs they drop; the game goes on until you get hit by three eggs. Note that you do not have to achieve any points in order to proceed; you are sent to the next area as soon as the mini-game ends, no matter how well you performed. Go here for more information about this mini-game.