Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26167440-20160111225919/@comment-26253917-20160202214401

I think that that is gameplay mechanics because the Time Eater can not hurt Super Sonic but he is a lot stronger than Dark Gaia.

It would have made the game too easy if you think about it. Rings all over this enlarge area and once you are done, then it is nothing but quick time events. That just goes on to show that rings are nothing more than a gameplay mechanics to keep the game intersting. In canon, Sonic just needs all of the Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic.