Ring/Miscellaneous

For other uses of the term, see Ring (disambiguation).

In other media

Animation

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Main article: Ring (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog)

In the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog television series, the Rings are blue objects from the Special Zone which are needed to access other locations from said Zone. In "The Mobius 5000", Sonic and his crew used them to take a shortcut during a race.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

Main article: Power Ring (SatAM)

In the Sonic the Hedgehog television series, the Power Rings were created by Sir Charles Hedgehog for Sonic to use when battling villains. They are generated by a machine, powered by the Power Rock, which is located in the Lake of Rings in the Great Forest. One Power Ring rises to the surface every day, which, if not caught, will simply sink back underwater.

The Power Rings' energies can only be harnessed by Sonic, which he can use to temporarily boost his speed. Additionally, they can be used to temporarily restore the free will of a roboticized victim and block a Roboticizer.

Sonic X

Main article: Ring (Sonic X)

In the Sonic X anime series and its comic series published by Archie Comics, the Rings are used by Sonic and his allies to give Sonic a power boost, much like the Power Rings in the Sonic the Hedgehog television series and the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs. Tails usually has them loaded into his various aircrafts so he can deploy them to Sonic during battle.

Sonic Prime

In the Sonic Prime television series, Rings are a naturally occurring phenomena in Green Hill. When gathered, Rings empower the user and prevent them from being hurt by damage. When attacked, the user will lose the Rings.

When battling Dr. Eggman, Sonic runs off to gather Rings in order to protect himself before confronting Eggman in battle.

Books and comics

Sonic the Comic

Main article: Golden Ring of Mobius

In the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions, Rings, here referred to as the Golden Rings of Mobius or Mobius Rings, are an apparently naturally-occurring phenomenon on Mobius. However, they only played a small role in the early issues before being nearly completely removed from the comics. The Golden Rings served as a vital component in the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor and were the catalyst for Sonic's first transformation into Super Sonic. Also, Dr. Ovi Kintobor's mind was as well preserved by imprinting it on a Golden Ring.

Archie Comics

Main articles: Ring (Archie) and Power Ring (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)

In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Power Rings were originally natural by-products of Chaos Emeralds. They were artificially created by the brilliant Overlander scientist Nate Morgan as a clean alternative to fossil fuels to protect Mobius' environment. After Morgan's banishment from his home city, the Mobian Sir Charles Hedgehog aided him in mass producing Power Rings to be used by the Kingdom of Acorn, allowing Mobotropolis to move out of the medieval ages and into a new Golden Age. In the years that followed, the Power Rings were also used to increase the power and capabilities of certain individuals, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna.

Following the Super Genesis Wave, Rings became a power source naturally produced by Lakes of Rings all around Sonic's World.

Films

Paramount

Main article: Ring (Paramount)

In the Sonic the Hedgehog film series published by Paramount Pictures, Rings are a prominent feature. In this continuity, they are objects used by all advanced cultures as portals between worlds.

Miscellaneous

Sonic Boom

Main article: Ring (Sonic Boom)

In the Sonic Boom franchise, Rings appear in the series' video games, where they serve the same role as their mainstream counterparts. In line with the series' primary focus on comedy, their functionality and purposes have occasionally been used for jokes.

Merchandise

Rings have been featured in many items of merchandise, mainly clothing and toys. Part of the Sonic Adventure action figure lines by ReSaurus, every character came with a golden ring. One of the 3" action figure releases of Jazwares' Sonic came with two golden Rings. For the release of Sonic Generations, Jazwares also produced a Commemorative Statue of Classic and Modern Sonic running on a large Ring base. A pack of two Role Play Ring toys with motion-activated sound were released in 2023 by Jakks Pacific.

The collector's edition of Sonic Generations for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 includes a collectible golden Ring, engraved with the number it is out of 12,000. Jazwares produced a large Gold Ring toy that makes sound effects from the games. Good Smile Company has produced a Nendoroid action figure of Sonic which also included a Ring as one of it's accessories. The collector's edition of Sonic Mania came with a golden Ring.#

Trivia

• The iconic Ring chime is heard in almost every game in the franchise, while being altered in several handheld games or having only at a slightly lower pitch in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut. In early games for the Sega Mega Drive and its add-on accessories, the sound effect is programmed to be heard between the left and right speaker as the player keeps collecting Rings.
• The Ring chime sound is made up of the Yamaha DX7 Sound Sources "ROM 128"B patch "Sloe Bells".
• By using Debug Mode or cheat codes in early installments of the series for Sega Genesis and its add-ons accessories, the Ring counter's limit is seen to be 999 Rings or even beyond. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, if the player collects more than 999 Rings, the counter will use letters in place of numbers in the hundred spot (i.e A93 Rings instead of 1,093 rings).
• Rings can form significant formations in several games, usually being arrows pointing to the direction. Examples include the first Special Stage of Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit) having further section with Rings formatting "SEGA" and one point at Sonic's version of Final Egg in Sonic Adventure having Rings formatted as a silhouette of Sonic's head.
• The Light Speed Shoes in Sonic Unleashed are said to be made of the same material as Rings.
• Rings are acknowledged several times as being part of storylines in certain games. These include games like Shadow the Hedgehog^[1] and Sonic Rivals 2.^[2] A joke was made in Sonic Generations in which both Classic and Modern Tails were discussing about how many rings Sonic collects and where he puts them.^[3]
• Rings are not the only form of currency in Sonic's world - for instance, when Sonic Colors is set to Japanese, the cutscene before the Tropical Resort boss has different dialogue in which Dr. Eggman, Sonic and Cubot haggle the price of the ride using yen. Yen is also referenced in some of Eggman's in-game announcements.
• Rings are also seen in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph; first when Sonic gets hit by an escape pod Ralph is piloting and later during the credits when it shows Sonic battling Eggman and also gets hit.
• According to the promotional ad for Sonic Jump (2012), Sonic has collected 70 billion Rings since his debut in 1991, which are enough to ask 70 billion girls to marry him.
• Not even Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team, is sure of where Sonic puts all his Rings.^[4]

References