Sonic the Hedgehog is the Fastest Thing Alive, and has been since the 90s. You knew this already, but here’s something to consider: can the Fastest Thing Alive… get even faster? As it turns out, the answer is yes, though not without a little extra work. Here’s how to upgrade speed and ring limit in Sonic Frontiers.
How to Upgrade Speed and Ring Limit in Sonic Frontiers
Alongside his attack strength and defense, Sonic’s speed and ring carry limit are gauged by stats in Sonic Frontiers. While strength and defense are upgraded through collected Seeds of Power and Defense, upgrading your speed or ring limit requires you to seek out a different collectible: Kocos. Kocos are little stone head dudes that can be found wandering and crying around the Open Zones of the game. You can collect lost Kocos and bring them back to the Elder Koco, denoted on your world map by the big Koco picture.
Related: How to Level Up and Get Skill Points in Sonic Frontiers
For every 12 Kocos you return to the Elder Koco, he’ll offer to upgrade either your speed or your ring limit. You can only pick one per upgrade, though both of them max out at 99 points. There are more than enough Kocos in the game to get you a good amount of points in both, but you might want to choose one to prioritize.
Should You Upgrade Speed or Ring Limit?
Upgrading Sonic’s speed allows him to move more quickly around the Open Zones. If he seems a little slow at the start of the game, that’s because he starts at speed level 1. Once you start upgrading your speed, he’ll start to move at a rate you’d expect from him. Faster speeds naturally make traversal faster and easier, which can help cut down on grind and travel a bit.
Upgrading Sonic’s ring limit increases the number of Rings he can carry at once. Unlike in other Sonic games, he only drops a portion of his held Rings when attacked rather than all of them. Having more Rings on you is essentially like having higher health, so being able to carry more Rings means having even more health!
Generally, you should focus your first few upgrades on speed to make travel easier in the early game, then start funneling points into ring limit so you don’t get stuck against a boss, unable to take a punch. Basically, speed is for convenience, ring limit is for safety.
Seek out Kocos all over the Open Zone and drop them off with the Elder Koco on a regular basis. Besides the upgrades, it’s also just a nice thing to do for them.
