Ring

Rings (リング), also known as Gold Rings or Power Rings, are the most distinctive collectible items in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. These golden items are found spinning around in mid-air in groups. They are also been available as items in Item Boxes, power sources for some Badniks or many other purposes. Where ever the player is moving around, Rings are spread throughout the Zones in the Earth and other places beyond.

Rings maintain an unique health system as allowing players possess at least one ring to survive upon sustaining damage from an enemy or hazardous object. Instead of straight up losing a life, the player's Rings are sacrificed; in most Sonic the Hedgehog games, a hit will cause the player to lose all of Rings, although in certain situations a hit only costs a set number of rings rather than the entire collection.

Appearance
In almost every game appearance, Rings's look is based on the basic and round-edged wedding ring. The size of Rings varies in certain games, as in-game sprites and models verify as about the half of the playable character's size, while certain cutscenes or promotional material show as small enough to hold it on two fingers. Rings spin around at one place, generally placed on large groups or strings on pathways, ramps, above Springs, around shuttle loops, grind rails or simply hovering in the mid-air.

It is not known, where Rings have originally derived from and no backstory hasn't given them in any game. Rings are spread all around, every place possible in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog. Aside the main setting earth, Rings are even known to exist underground caverns, space stations, outer space, natural, satellites, another planets, the internet and even other dimensions. Rings are known to disappear once collecting them, leaving only momentary sparkling behind.

Functionality
Unlike any other item, Rings have recognizable attribute of preventing its user for losing a life. Possessing Rings allows the player to survive attacks, impacts of enemies or any dangerous obstacles. As this happens, Rings scatter in a circular pattern and bounce around the environment, while the player gets stunned and pushed backwards. There is change to collect only remaining Rings from the place, as eventually all of them will disappear after bouncing for while. As long as the player is in the possession of at least one Ring, they can avoid most lethal attacks, but after getting hit once, the player has given momentary period of invulnerability (represented by a rapid flashing between visible and invisible).

In many games, fewer "recoverable" rings are displayed on-screen than the number actually lost, as this varies usually a maximum of around twenty; fewer in games on Master System and Game Gear, about fifty in Sonic Rush, while the player can recover 32 in Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Ring's scattering pattern also varies in many later games, as in Sonic Rush Rings are bouncing far wider as player takes multiple hits. Ring are known to protect from impact of enemy attacks spikes, harmful pits. Certain causes cannot be prevented by even when holding a Ring, including being crushed by obstacles, falling into a bottomless pit, failing a mission held through a time limit and drowning in underwater sections.

Once collecting 100 Rings rewards the player with extra life and even another one after collecting 200 Rings. the player earns points or continues. Certain amount of Rings has to be collected in order to meet the requirements such as summoning Star Circle or Giant Ring to enter Special Stages. In many games, it is also required to collect enough amount of Rings to proceed the next stage or getting Chaos Emerald in Special Stages. Once transforming the Super form after collecting 50 Rings, the player's Ring count falls steadily per second, and the playable character reverts to his neutral state once it reaches zero. Many Zone gimmicks can also reward the player with Rings as well. Rings also serve for many different other purposes in games, as they are used as currency to buy items, additional components or abilities. They can also be used to pay for using special moves in-game gameplay or fill the gauge for the boost. Even in some cases, Doctor Eggman has used Rings as power sources for his Badniks.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, the Golden Rings are an apparently naturally-occurring phenomenon of Planet Mobius. They were used by Doctor Ovi Kintobor in conjunction with his Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (ROCC) to transfer most of the evil energy on Mobius into six Chaos Emeralds. They possessed strange properties (possibly inherently, or possibly as a result of their use in the ROCC) and emitted special Ring Energy. Robotnik was able to use the rings to power his Neutrino Accelerator. According to Tails, this Ring Energy was also responsible for Sonic's first transformation into Super Sonic, although Sonic had absorbed so much Ring Energy over the years that later transformations were caused purely by stress.

During the explosion of the ROCC, Kintobor's personality was once somehow imprinted on a Golden Ring. Porker Lewis was able to use this ring to create the Kintobor Computer.

Larger versions of the Golden Rings, known as Mobius Rings, which lead to other dimensions such as the Special Zone, are located all over Mobius.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
In an episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, called "The Mobius 5000", Rings appeared as a part of the Special Zone where they were needed to access other locations from the Special Zone.

Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs, Power Rings were originally natural byproducts of Chaos Emeralds. They were artificially created by the brilliant Overlander scientist Nate Morgan as a clean alternative to fossil fuels to protect Mobius' environment. After Morgan's banishment from his home city, when his original tests failed, the Mobian Sir Charles Hedgehog aided him in mass producing Power Rings to be used by the Kingdom of Acorn. Following this, the city of Mobotropolis entered a new Golden Age as the Power Rings had brought their kingdom out of the medieval ages. After that, Power Rings was used not only as power supplies for technology, but also as a means to increase the power and capabilities of certain individuals such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna.

Following the Super Genesis Wave, the Power Rings became a power source naturally produced by Lakes of Rings all around Sonic's World.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)
In the Sonic the Hedgehog television series, the Power Rings were invented by Sir Charles Hedgehog for Sonic to battle villains. They are generated by a machine, powered by the Power Rock, which is located in the Power Ring pool in the Great Forest. One Power Ring rises to the surface every day (two very day later on) and if not caught, it sinks back underwater.

The Power Rings' energies can only be harnessed by Sonic, which he can use to temporarily boost his speed. Additionally, they can be used to temporarily restore the free will of a roboticized victim and block a Roboticizer.

Sonic X
In the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics, the Rings are used by Sonic and his allies to give Sonic a power boost, much like the Power Rings in the Sonic the Hedgehog television series and the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs. Tails usually has them loaded into his various aircrafts so he can deploy them to Sonic during battle.

Trivia

 * The familiar sound effect used for collecting rings has been adopted for use in cash registers.
 * Rings can also have other purposes. For example, Shadow's Inhibitor Rings keep his powers in check as long as he wears them.
 * The Sonic Storybook Series (starting with Sonic and the Secret Rings) is the first time a Sonic game has had the rings replaced with something else. In Sonic and the Black Knight, they are replaced with fairies. However, rings still appear in the Legacy missions (missions that play like the regular Sonic series) in this game.
 * In Sonic Colors (Wii version only), Sonic Unleashed (PS2/Wii versions) and Sonic Lost World (temporally on the Wii U version only, later fixed via downloadable-content), the player is not awarded an extra life if he/she collects 100 rings, unlike the rest of the Sonic series.
 * A joke was made in Sonic Generations in which both Classic and Modern Tails were discussing about how many rings Sonic collects and where he puts them.
 * Shadow the Hedgehog is the first game in the main series where a playable character does not drop all rings when hit. In this game, Shadow drops only ten rings when hit. Sonic Unleashed continues this with Sonic dropping fifty percent of his rings when hit (provided he has forty or more). In Sonic Generations Sonic loses eighty percent of his rings when hit (provided he has twenty or more).
 * Rings are mentioned in the cartoon Gravity Falls by the character Dipper Pines. In episode 10 (Fight Fighters), he rattles off a string of different video game power-ups, one of which happens to be "rings".
 * In Wreck-It Ralph, rings also appear; first when Sonic gets hit by an escape pod Ralph is piloting and later during the credits when it shows Sonic battling Eggman and also getting hit.
 * The ring collecting sound seems to be reused in every game that has them since the original Sonic the Hedgehog, only at a slightly different pitch, especially Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut which notably has a lower pitch.
 * Rings are not the only form of currency in Sonic's world - for instance, when Sonic Colors is set to Japanese, the cutscene before the Tropical Resort boss has different dialogue in which Dr. Eggman, Sonic and Cubot haggle the price of the ride using yen. Yen is also referenced in some of Eggman's in-game announcements.
 * In Sonic 3 and Knuckles, if Sonic collects more than 999 rings, the counter will use letters in place of numbers in the hundred spot. (i.e A93 rings instead of 1,093 rings)