Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Items

Sonic 3 contains many items from previous Sonic games as well as new ones. Most notably, the shield is now available in three versions. Each shield has a unique power that can be used by Sonic. Tails is unable to use these powers as he can fly and swim instead.

Rings
Rings protect you when you are hit. If you are hit when you are carrying rings, you lose all of them, and if you are hit when you have no rings you lose a life. Every 100 rings collected gives you an extra life.

Item Boxes
Sonic/Tails must attack these to get the contents.

Shields
Shields protect you from harm. If you are hit when you have a shield, you lose the shield instead of your rings. In Sonic 3, there are 3 different types of shield. Each shield gives Sonic an extra attack while he has it (Tails can't use these extra attacks, but can fly instead).

Giant Ring
These are hidden around the levels. When you go through them you will be taken to a special stage. If you have collected all the Chaos Emeralds it will give you 50 rings instead. 

Chaos Emeralds
There are seven Chaos Emeralds in total. Each Chaos Emerald comes in a different colors: red, blue, green, orange, purple, white, and aqua, respectfully. Collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds will turn Sonic into Super Sonic, and result in a special ending upon the completion of the game.

Star Post
These are placed at random through out most levels. If you die, you restart at the last star post you ran through. If you have 50 or more rings when you pass through a star post, a ring of stars will hover above. You can jump into these to go to the bonus stage.