Spring

In the Sonic universe, Springs launch Sonic and friends to help them get to otherwise unreachable places. Springs are usually colored red with a gold star in the middle of a blue circle (the star is where the characters usually bounce off of). They can be easily reached with a Homing Attack. In the classic Sonic games, (Sonic 1, etc.) Springs are just red or yellow panels with a spring underneath them. Red ones propel Sonic higher, while yellow ones only send Sonic a medium/low distance. Some Springs are hidden, some need to be activated by a switch, others push the player backwards or into a trap to waste time, and some are actually setbacks that are set up by Dr. Eggman. In more recent games, they come as one Spring, or a set of three. In Sonic Heroes, if the player bounces off of one of the springs in a three-setter, it lights up. If the player were to make all three light up, their team would get a 5 ring bonus. Also, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Sonic uses a spring as his Up+Special move. It acts like a personalized spring, which immediately appears underneath him and shoots Sonic up a great vertical distance. In the Sonic Advance series, hitting a Spring with Amy's Hammer causes her to be catapulted higher than regularly intended. Also, interestingly, in the Adventure mode of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Sonic is able to use Springs while Mario cannot.