Star Post

In the video game series Sonic the Hedgehog, lamppost-shaped items called Star Posts (named by the distinctive star design) were used as "save points/checkpoints" - whenever a character lost a life, he would return to the last Star Post he touched.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, if Sonic or Tails touches a Star Post and has 50 gold rings, a ring of stars appears above it. If Sonic jumps into the ring he is transported to a Special Zone, where he would compete for a Chaos Emerald. In later games, the Special Zone would be accessed instead through giant gold rings (similar to how Special Stages were accessed in Sonic 1 and Sonic CD, albeit not only at the end of a stage), and the Star Posts were used for accessing Bonus Stages, where characters could collect power-ups such as lives, shields, and rings.

The starposts were then replaced by giant rings in Sonic 3D Blast and became gate-shaped lampposts in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 (because a lamppost would be much more difficult to utilize in a 3-D environment), although retained in its Sonic 1 form in Sonic Advance and its sequels. In Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, checkpoints were red circles on the ground with a yellow star inside them, surrounded by a blue glow. In Sonic the Hedgehog, the two Adventure lampposts reappeared.

In Sonic the Comic, Star Posts acted as both a warp to various places on Mobius and the entryway into the Special Zone, which in the comics was an alternate dimension. However, unlike the games, they were not the only such entryway.

In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, there is an episode when Sonic and Tails are in a car and evade heavy traffic in the road by going into the special stage via a Star Post next to the road.

In Sonic the Hedgehog, there has recently been the introduction of Star Posts. They are a device built by Rotor which allows Sonic and Tails to enter the former Zone of Silence. After the gathering, it has been transformed into a world which resembles both the special stages from Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It is here that the now seven Chaos Emeralds reside.