Lightning Shield

The Lightning Shield, otherwise known as the Magnetic Shield, is a power-up first introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and a variant of the standard Shield. In addition to serving as a one-shot barrier against damage and life loss, the Lightning Shield attracts rings towards the player if they get close enough. It is often considered a particularly useful power-up because of this feature.

While all variants of the shield drag rings in, minor details differ from game to game. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the shield would be lost if the player took it underwater; and when playing as Sonic, holding a Lightning Shield exchanged the Insta-shield move with a sparking double-jump, enabling the hedgehog to leap much higher and potentially access otherwise difficult platforms. Finally, the shield made Sonic invulnerable to both electric damage (like the crackling sub-conveyor-belt floors in Death Egg Zone (S&K)), and, curiously, the spiked projectiles hurled by IceCap Zone's Star Pointer. None of these features are in effect in any other game where the shield appears: namely Sonic R, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Advances 1, 2 & 3, and Sonic Rush.

The Yellow Gem in Sonic 06 gives Sonic an ability very similar to a Lightning Shield, but it is a move and isn't permanently active.

In Sonic Unleashed, while the shield did not appear, the Sonic Boost move attracted rings towards Sonic as he ran past them.

Other variants of the basic shield include the Fire Shield, Water Shield, and Gold Shield.

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  S&K Monitor

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  Active shield

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  Adventure 2 monitor