Rank

Ranks are grades that are obtained by completing a stage or act in the games (sometimes mini stages), and represent how well you did in that particular event. The rank you receive is determined by how many rings you collected throughout the stage, how fast you cleared the stage, the number of enemies defeated, number of tricks done, highest speed reached, and other such varying scores. Originally, ranks made their first appearance in the Sonic the Hedgehog games in Sonic Adventure, but they were called levels instead of ranks. Starting from Sonic Adventure 2 onwards, they were referred to as ranks. Since then, ranks have appeared in the majority of Sonic games released to date; but sometimes the scores are represented by Stars instead of Ranks. Since Sonic Rush, S-Rank became the highest rank, replacing A, and it has been this way in the most recent Sonic games that use letters for ranks. The exception to this rule is within the Sonic Riders series, where the highest rank recieved is an X and the lowest rank recieved is a C. The order of Rank grade was A to E starting with Sonic Adventure 2, and S to D starting from Sonic '06. However, in PS3 and 360 versions of Sonic Unleashed the E rank returned as the lowset rank and the results tuned plays badly just for the rank. In Sonic Colors, the E rank was no where to be seen, meaning in that game a D was the lowest rank that could be received; this is the same in Sonic Generations. The E rank may or may not return in future games.

Rank list (in order)

 * X Rank: Purple colored (Only appeared in the Sonic Riders games)
 * SS Rank: Gold colored (Sonic Riders games only)
 * S Rank: Crystal colored
 * A Rank: Gold Colored
 * B Rank: Silver Colored
 * C Rank: Bronze colored
 * D Rank: Steel colored
 * E Rank: Rusty Metal colored
 * F Rank (It was supposed to appear in Sonic Heroes, but it later got scrapped, so the E Rank is the lowest of them all.)

Sonic

 * A: "[Whistles] That was Cool!
 * B: "Too easy. Piece of cake.
 * C: "Just made it.
 * D: "Huh, no problem.
 * E: "Barely made it.

Tails

 * A: "I did it, Sonic!"
 * B: "Very good."
 * C: "That was easy."
 * D: "?"
 * E: "I gotta do better next time."

Knuckles

 * A: "Yeah, this is perfect!"
 * B: "Yeah, I feel good."
 * C: "Not too bad."
 * D: "Whew, that was tough."
 * E: "I have to try harder."

Shadow

 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"
 * E: "?"

Eggman

 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"
 * E: "?"

Rouge

 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"
 * E: "?"

Team Sonic (Sonic/Tails/Knuckles)

 * A: "[Whistles]. That was Tight!"/"?"/"Perfect!"
 * B: "Too Easy!"/"?"/"?"
 * C: "Barely made it."/"?"/"?"
 * D: "Hmph! No problem."/"?"/
 * E: "Shoot. Not my day."/"We can do better."/"?"

Team Dark (Shadow/Rouge/E-123 Omega)

 * A: "Perfect is always"/"?"/"I am Omega! The ultimate E-Series robot!"
 * B: "?"/"?"/"This proves my power!"
 * C: "?"/"?"/"Satisfactory level."
 * D: "?"/"?"/"Power balance adjustments needed."
 * E: "What's wrong with me?"/"?"/"I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta..."

Team Rose (Amy/Cream/Big)

 * A: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * B: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * C: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * D: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * E: "?"/"?"/"?"

Team Chaotix (Espio/Charmy/Vector)

 * A: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * B: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * C: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * D: "?"/"?"/"?"
 * E: "?"/"?"/"?"

Sonic

 * S: "That was Incredible!"
 * A: "Too Easy! No Sweat."
 * B: "Just made it."
 * C: "Hmph! No problem."
 * D: "Aw Man! Today's not my day."

Tails

 * S: "?"
 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

Knuckles

 * S: "?"
 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

Elise

 * S: "I don't belive it."
 * A: "I'm so happy."
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

Shadow

 * S: "Perfect"
 * A: "Not even a challenge!"
 * B: "Hmph! Guess that was alright."
 * C: "Need to stay foscued."
 * D: "Mabye I wasn't strong enough."

Rouge

 * S: "?"
 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

E - 123 Omega

 * S: "?"
 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

Silver

 * S: "Perfect!"
 * A: "Looks like I'm on a roll!"
 * B: "That was easy!"
 * C: "That took too long."
 * D: "I need to pull it together."

Blaze

 * S: "Can't complain."
 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

Amy

 * S: "?"
 * A: "?"
 * B: "?"
 * C: "?"
 * D: "?"

Sonic (Day Stages)

 * S: "Piece of Cake!"
 * A: "Yes!"
 * B: "How's That!"
 * C: "Eh, can't win 'em all."
 * D: "Hmph! Well that was lame."
 * E: "No!"

Sonic (Night Stages)

 * S: "Oh Yeah! That's right baby!"
 * A: "How do you like that huh?!"
 * B: "Wow! I Rule!"
 * C: "Hmm, not so bad."
 * D: "Hmph! Can I start over?"
 * E: "Darn!"

Trivia

 * In the Wii/PS2 versions of Sonic Unleashed, the rankings went from S to C, although the D and E ranks were present in the 360/PS3 versions. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes ranked A to E while Sonic 06 and Sonic Generations ranked S to D.
 * In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors, the ranking is given by the time score and most likely rings and your score. However, in Sonic Generations, even if you have at least one ring or just a short kind, you will get an S rank; but only when you don't lose a life in the stage. This means that in Sonic Generations, the ranking is given by time.
 * In the PS3/X-Box versions of Sonic Unleashed Sonic and Chip look directly at the ranking. What it is determines what they do; They will get annoyed if the rank is low (E or D), remain calm if the rank is average (C or B) and will dance for joy if the rank is high (A or S).
 * Since Sonic Colors, after getting any rank Sonic will do a pose to the player. But in that game that happens when the time to interact with the results screen stops. In Sonic Generations, after getting your score results and your rank, Sonic will do a pose, perform a move or just dance (depending of what rank the player gets).