When Sonic reaches the end of act one or act two of a zone with at least fifty rings , a large ring appears through which he can jump to enter a Special Stage ( a " Secret Zone " in the original Genesis manual ) . In each of six Special Stages , Sonic bounces off the bumpers and walls of a rotating maze in spin attack . Although the player earns a continue with each 50 rings found , their main goal is to obtain the Chaos Emerald at the end of the maze without colliding with a " goal block " ( which ends the level ) .