this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
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I grew up calling it Sparkles. My wife called it Stars. Anyone have any others?

top 41 comments
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[–] HexagonSun@lemmy.zip 74 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Invincibility!

I just found a scan of the manual for Sonic 1 on the Master System, the first Sonic version I ever played, which refers to that monitor as “Invincible”

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago

Confirmation from the Sega Genesis Sonic 2 manual:

Two images, one of the front cover of the instruction manual for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (giant shadowed Doctor Robotnik head and arm in the background, reaching for and clutching a giant checkered numeral 2 in the middle ground, with Sonic and Tails in the foreground, with game title and the text INSTRUCTION MANUAL below them, with the console logo at the top with stylized text reading SEGA GENESIS / 16 BIT CARTRIDGE.
Second photo: the manual opened to page 10 (greyscale), title text Super Items, description text: Spin, bash or bounce to break open monitors any way you can -- to get the Super Items inside.
Five square pixelated images are arrayed in a row beneath the text: a shoe, a ring, Sonic's face, three four-pointed stars, and a circle with a horizontal gradient.
Beneath these is a bulleted list of names and descriptions:

  • Power Sneakers make you run like the wind!
  • Super Rings give you ten rings at once!
  • One-ups give you 1 more Life. (You also earn an extra Life when you collect 100 Rings and 200 Rings.)
  • An Invincible protects you from attacking enemies, but only for a short time.
  • Each Shield protects you from damage 1 time only.

Under this list is a cropped screenshot of Sonic in a shield sphere, with Tails behind him and a mechanical preying mantis in front, the latter of which has launched small curved blades at Sonic's shield.
The following page is visible in the photo but is outside of the scope of this post. It's about Star Posts.

[–] theherk@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Power Slippers? Red Shoes for sure.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

I always thought of it as the "go super fast straight into a spike" power up since that's how it usually worked out.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 9 points 2 days ago

Bro, the alliteration was right there!

Speed shoes!

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] JohnnyWishbone@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Speed boots

[–] hypnicjerk@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago
[–] cfi@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

Casting another vote for Invincibility

[–] msokiovt@lemmy.today 81 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

That is invincibility to me.

[–] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

This is the way.

Stars, but we all knew that meant invincibility.

[–] ADTJ@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago

Star shield, as opposed to shield, fire shield, bubble shield, lightning shield.

[–] meekah@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago
[–] whelk@retrolemmy.com 43 points 2 days ago

Another one who called it "invincibility" checking in

[–] DFX4509B_2@lemmy.org 37 points 2 days ago

Invincibility IIRC.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sparkly Star Juice. It even comes with a little song.

You cannot touch me, I've got sparkly star juice.

You cannot touch me I've got sparkly star juice.

STAR JUICE

STAR JUICE

sparkalilly sparkalilly sparkalliy sparkalily... repeat

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I heard this perfectly in my head to the theme tune.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Also, the lyrics to Chemical Plant Zone are "I took a job would you pick up Bob? I took a job, would you pick up Ba ba ba ba bada Bob?" And the ones for Metropolis Zone are "He's just a FATASS MAN!"

[–] SuperEars@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I love these. I'd make songs like this all the time, though never made one for this game.

I can't take credit for Chemical Plant Zone, that was Smooth McGroove.

Hedgehog juice

[–] stinerman@midwest.social 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Or star (singular)

We had all played Super Mario Bros first though.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

A trap. It always runs out right when I need it.

[–] LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Sparkles as well.

[–] MyDarkestTimeline01@ani.social 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Quick get the stars get the get the star no over ahhh you missed it it's ok

Sir/Ma'am, did you bug my brother and my room during my childhood?

[–] radiouser@crazypeople.online 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Huh, I never thought of naming it. I guess I thought they looked like a TV a little.... so I'm going to go with that lol.

The manual for the game calls them "monitors" so yeah. But I think we mean the specific power-up inside this one.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nobody ever talked to me about Sonic lore as a kid, so I never had a word for it. I was too busy playing Cyborg Justice and wishing I was good at it. That game pulled me in with the cool vibes then dashed me to bits with bad controls.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Cyborg Justice was great. I only learned recently that no, pits were not just a death sentence if you didn't have the pneumatic legs, you can transition out of a jump into a forward lunge to get the distance you need.
Pulling robot pieces off and attaching them to yourself was an amazing mechanic. Same as kicking legs back upright and slamming torsos on to resurrect enemies (and possibly allies?)
And the music is peak Genesis music.

[–] JohnnyWishbone@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

We called the shield power up Dome

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We just called it the WOOM.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We always called it the bubble, or the BWAA after it's sound effect.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 23 hours ago

Yeah we just called it the sound effect it made when you got it... it's just hard to type out the exact sound.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 2 days ago

Invulnerability.

[–] irish_link@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Strap power or invincibility

[–] BussyGyatt@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

Star power!

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago