Hint

Advice, or "Hints" are helpful information given to you during gameplay. The kind of advice given varies depending on the location. Sometime useful to the situation such as an obstical or new gameplay feature to useless well known advice such as rings sustaining life.

Hint Orbs
First and only apperance in Sonic Adventure, the Hint Orbs were orbs of pink and white light that hover just above the ground. On contact they will spin around the character as it gives advice to the situation the hero has to overcome.

The Hint Orb is also Tikal the Echidna spiritual form. Evidence is that the voice of the Hint Orb is her own and when Perfect Chaos threatened to destroy the world again, she appeared to Sonic as a Hint Orb before her regular apperance.

Floating Screen
Also first apperaing in Sonic Adventure, but mostly the Adventure Field. You talk to them like you would with any person.

They appear again in Sonic Adventure 2 giving clues to Knuckles or Rouge on where the treasure is hiding.

There current apperance is in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) but large and yellow qhwew you can do shopping business.

Omochao
Omochao (オモチャオ) is a robotic Chao with a propeller on its head. Its name is a portmanteau of the Japanese word omocha, meaning "toy", and Chao. He replaces the Hint Orbs in Sonic Adventure 2 dispensing a variety of advice both informative and useless. Omochao also had othe ruses such as a throwing weapon to sometimes humourus results.

Hint Ring
First appearing in Sonic Heroes. On contact, the playing character or companion (or sometimes even a narrator) will tell advice for the situation.

The Hint Ring is a golden question mark with colourful orbs circling it vertically. However in Shadow the Hedgehog it was more of a white question mark in a rainbow bubble around it.