I’m not going to sit here and bash the Big Ring special stages. They’re a unique and creative way to collect the Chaos Emeralds, and I actually like the concept.

That said, only getting **one chance** at each special stage is completely unacceptable.  
Whenever you’re introduced to a brand-new type of stage in a game, it’s normal to fail the first time while you’re learning it. That’s fine. The problem is that the game doesn’t let you immediately try again. By the time I finally find another Big Ring, I’ve already forgotten the layout of the special stage, so it’s basically like starting from scratch every single attempt.

It’s not like Big Rings are easy to find either, especially in the later levels. So you’re stuck in this frustrating cycle of hunting for another Big Ring, getting one attempt, failing because you’re still learning the stage, and then repeating the whole process until you eventually get lucky.  
And with Sonic games, there’s almost always a “true ending” that requires collecting all the Chaos Emeralds and becoming Super Sonic. If I’m playing a Sonic game, of course I want to experience the true ending. I don’t want to settle for what’s essentially the incomplete ending.

Instead of enjoying the levels naturally, I’m constantly distracted by searching every corner for Big Rings, all while knowing I only get one shot once I find one. That turns what should be a fun collectible into a source of stress.

Compare that to *Sonic Origins*. There, you can retry the special stages as many times as you want, as long as you have Star Tokens. Those tokens are easy to earn and can even be carried across all four games in the collection. That system encourages you to learn the stages instead of punishing you for not mastering them immediately.

Visually, this game looks fantastic, and the soundtrack is excellent. If you don’t care about collecting all the Chaos Emeralds, you’ll probably have a great time. But because Sega insists on locking the true ending behind them while also making the special stages one-and-done, it makes the experience much less enjoyable for players who actually want 100% completion.

I’m sorry, but not everyone has the time to restart an entire game just because they missed a Chaos Emerald in a special stage that only gave them a single attempt.

Sonic Origins > Mania