Super Ring

Super Ring (リング), also called as Big 10 Ring (ビッグ10リング) and Ring Bonus, is a power-up in the Sonic the Hedgehog series that grants the player a large amount of normal Rings, either by obtaining it from Item Boxes or obtaining it as its own separated floating item. In the earlier games, it only gave ten rings per monitor. Since then, the amount has been increased more, allowing different types of Super Ring power-ups that each grant a certain number of Rings. The player can see the amount of Rings that each Super Rings grant by a number displayed on them. However, there are also Super Rings with question marks on them, which gives randomly variable amounts of Rings.

The Super Rings were originally seen for the first time in the original Sonic the Hedgehog and has been featured in almost every game since then. In recent games, Super Rings are now separated items, as Item Boxes have become almost absent. Despite this, Super Rings have been featured both as separated, collectible items or Item Box power-ups, depending on the game where they are seen.

Overview
Super Rings in earlier games are one of the major monitor power-ups. Such monitors have a small icon of a Ring on the screen and usually grant ten Rings to the player. When the player breaks the monitor, the sound of Rings being picked up can be heard in the background, and the player has ten Rings added to the his/hers total Ring count. Rings granted by the Super Rings function just like regular Rings, as the player is able to lose them after taking damage and can be collected again after being dropped. Like others monitors, Super Rings can be hidden behind walls, palmtrees or in other places. In some cases, the monitor Super Rings can be set up in groups of three to five to be picked up. Since their debut, Super Rings have functioned identically in every game.

In the early Sonic games, there have been cases where Super Rings have been featured outside of monitors. When the player destroys one of UFO's in the Special Stages of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, he/she has a chance of getting a Special Ring, which is worth ten Rings to the player. Also, in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and it's add-on continuation Sonic & Knuckles, the player can find grey gumballs with yellow Ring symbols on them from both the Gumball machine or the Glowing Sphere types of Bonus Stages that work as Super Rings. The Bonus Stage in Knuckles' Chaotix also has blocks with Super Rings in them, while the game also features Combine Rings on monitors in normal gameplay, which function differently.

Since Sonic Adventure, Item Boxes for Super Rings have varied in the number of Rings they can grant to the player, ranging from granting the player 5, 10 or 20 Rings when opened. Additionally, certain games since then have featured Super Rings with question mark on them, which can awarded the player with a random amount of Rings, even more so than 20 Rings. These variable Super Rings are also featured in both Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush games as well. In Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, Super Rings are featured as randomized power-ups in Item Boxes, as there are only 10 Rings including ones seen in both games. However, there have been a few games after Sonic Adventure which have kept the original Super Ring monitors that only grant 10 Rings, such as Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure and Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

In Sonic Unleashed, Super Rings were introduced as items separate from Item Boxes. In this game, the Super Rings were presented as floating golden Rings that are slightly larger than regular Rings, with a number in the middle that tells how many Rings it will gain to the player, though the number of Rings they grant still only range between 5, 10 and 20.

Since their redesign in Sonic Unleashed, the Super Rings' status as items belonging to the Item Boxes or being sparate items of their own have been rather inconsistent, with the case depending on the situation and version of the game. In Wii version of Sonic Colors, Super Rings are their own items, while the Nintendo DS has them as Item Box power-ups. Also, in the Console/PC version of Sonic Generations, classic acts has the Super Rings as monitor power-ups, while modern acts have them as items of their own, while the Nintendo 3DS version only features Super Rings in monitors. Additionally, for Sonic Lost World, the Wii U version features them as items of their own, while Nintendo 3DS version apparently features as both items of their own and Item Box power-ups at the same time.

Combine Rings
Combine Rings have made only appearance in Knuckles Chaotix, where like Super Rings can be found at monitors with blue Ring icon on them. Combine Ring functions differently by combining all collected Rings in the player score to the one large Ring (hence the name). This is able to noticed by getting hit by the enemy or obstacle, as the player loses large Ring and is able to grab it back with all collected Rings in the score.