Alright. So these Flying Battery 2 ring counts.
You've had me and SkyLights stumped for ages.
We've tried everything. Anything and everything we could think of. I even tried starting the level with six emeralds. No dice!
But tonight eredani told us you put up a guide. So I went through it. These conflicting steps appear:
Go left until you are under the platform then fly up to the platform with Tails, or climb up to the platform with Knuckles.
...
When you see a passage going left, land on the passage then go left to get through a secret passage and collect a large ring for 50 rings.
I actually came up with a theoretical way to do this. If you started a level with six emeralds, picked up the seventh, and continued on your merry way, you could theoretically get more rings and avoid the lack of flight/glide issue.
You don't do this though. you don't even go near the only other large ring in the stage!
I'm going to have to call BS on the legitimacy of these two.