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In Sonic Mania, Special Stages resemble each other and have references to past Special Stages, such as a UFOs and the planned aspect, for Sonic CD, Blue Spheres, for Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, and even Sonic 1's birds and fish. As in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Special Stages are found in the stages themselves, secretly, through giant rings.
Gameplay
The Special Stages consist of a kind of planned track style Sonic CD with parallax backgrounds of varied themes. The objective of the player is to get to Chaos Emerald that is under the control of a UFO, which the player chases.
In order to collect the emerald, the player must collect: rings, which serve as time, soon increase the time limit and blue spheres, which serve to accelerate the player's speed in the form of marches, however there are also yellow spheres that reduce speed.