Skill


 * For the combat moves in Sonic Unleashed, see Skills (Sonic Unleashed).

Skills are customizable abilities for the playable characters in Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic and the Black Knight and Sonic Generations. They can be used to improve the characters' actions and/or abilities in gameplay.

Sonic and the Secret Rings
Skills first appeared in Sonic and the Secret Rings, where they are unlocked by increasing the power of Shahra's Ring. Skills can be obtained by increasing Sonic's Level to a certain number by gaining Experience Points (EXP), collecting a specific number of different Medals, or by obtaining a certain Medal from a single mission.

Most Skills featured in this game fall under categories that identifies their attributes and effects, such as Action type, EXP type and so forth. These categories are marked by the Skill Icon next to them. These categories include:

Besides the categories above, most Skills are further classified under three Element Groups, which is signified by the color of the Skill Icons. These categories separate the Skills into more general concepts:

The Skills advailable at the beginning of the game do not belong to any category or element. The number of Skill Points Sonic starts out with is at a set amount and increases the more his level rises.

Sonic and the Black Knight
In Sonic and the Black Knight, Skills are used by Sonic the Hedgehog and later by Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival and Sir Gawain during the second half of the game.

For Sonic, Skills are unlocked (expect for Soul Surge) by increasing the Proficiency Level of his combat styles (Knight Style, Cavalier Style and Paladin Style). For each level the combat style increases by, one or more new Skills becomes available. Also, if Sonic acquires an upgraded version of an old Skill (which is signified by the sign "+" followed by its rank), the former Skill will be replaced by the upgraded Skill. Some Skills, however, requires that the player has achieved a certain title before it can be used, even after the player has unlocked it.

For Lancelot, Percival and Gawain, the Skills they acquire are determined by the weapon they wield: each equipable weapon in Sonic and the Black Knight has a certain set of Skills tied to them, and by equipping them to a user, they acquire the Skills tied to the weapon.

Unlike in most games, the Skill tied to the specific combat styles and weapons are not customizable. That means that the Skill sets for each combat style and weapon are permanent and cannot be changed.

Sonic Generations
In Sonic Generations, Skills can be unlocked if the player can find all the Red Star Rings in an Act or purchase them from the Skill Shop using points the player has earned after clearing each act. Certain Skills can only be used for Classic Sonic, while there are some only meant for Modern Sonic. There are also some that can be used by both. Both Classic and Modern Sonic are at the start of the game given a hundred Skill Points to distribute. This number of Skill Points will neither increase decrease over the course of the game.

Trivia

 * The Blast Off skill in the console/PC version of Sonic Generations is similar to the free boost-giving move available in the Wii/PS2 versions of Sonic Unleashed.
 * Also the Endless Boost skill has the same icon as the Auto-Gauge skill.