Thread:Ultrasonic9000/@comment-26194462-20150311233029/@comment-26253917-20151224190748

What you failed to mention is that it is just for in game mechanics as stated here http://info.sonicretro.org/File:Sonic06_360_us_manual_11.jpg

It also is referred to money here http://info.sonicretro.org/File:Sonic06_360_us_manual_12.jpg So using rings to define a character abilities seems too  ambiguousness due to the different uses that it has as in Sonic Unleashed, Super Sonic had a health bar that filled with rings instead of the regular thing that base Sonic has.