Giant Ring

The Giant Ring or Special Ring(スペシャルリング Supesharu ringu?) is a singular large variant of Rings. Like its small counterpart, the Giant Ring has multiple uses that can help and benefit the character. Another shared aspect is it also made its first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog(game) and transcended into other Sonic-related titles. Other names for Giant Ring are Dimension Rings in Sonic 3D Blast and Factory Rings in Sonic Advance 3. There are key differences to what it provides and thus has purposes greater than normal Rings.

Portal
The Giant Ring functions as a significant portal to the Special Stages in most Sonic games. With the exception of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Blast, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Chaos, and the Sonic Advance series, fifty(50) Rings is necessary near the end of each Act for the Giant Ring to appear and gain access. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, collecting a certain amount of Rings is not required to gain access of the Giant Ring. There is also more than one hidden in each level; awaiting to be discovered by the player. Exclusive to the game is a glowing, multi-colored version of the Giant Ring if the player chooses to pursue the Super Emeralds in the second half of the game.

Sonic Blast has a similar system of Sonic 3 & Knuckles relating to the Giant Ring, though only one is hidden in each Act instead of multiple. In Sonic Chaos, multiple Giant Rings are within a Special Stage; each having the value of 10 Rings and collected by the use of Rocket Shoes. In Knuckles Chaotix, a Giant Ring can transport the player to two different places; the Special Stage and the Bonus Stage. This game also confirms the Giant Ring has story-related relevance pertaining to it was used by Knuckles' ancestors in Angel Island long ago. The second game to mention plot information of its purpose is in Sonic 3D Blast. The Giant Ring can used for dimension travel, which special Flickies use to go to different worlds. In the game, Sonic uses these to transport to the next act and stage.

Sonic Advance 3 continues to display the Giant Ring is used as a portal, but it is renamed to "Factory Rings" and does not transport the player to the Special Stage. A Factory Ring can take the player to the Character Select Screen, the Chao Playground, and the Zone Portals(which leads to each level in the game).

Bonuses
A Giant Ring can provide bonuses to the character like regular Rings, but with a larger reward. As previous stated, each one has the value of 10 Rings within a Special Stage in Sonic Chaos. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, if the player has already obtained all the Emeralds and finds a hidden Giant Ring, he or she will instantly be awarded 50 Rings.