Middle Rings are a recurring type of object in the Yoshi's Island series. They first appear in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, then later return in its remake Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, followed by Yoshi's Island DS, and Yoshi's New Island, which names them Checkpoint Rings.
Description[]
A Middle Ring marks a checkpoint partway through most levels, so if a Yoshi loses a life some time after passing through a Middle Ring, he can restart from where the Middle Ring had been activated. In addition, passing through a Middle Ring increments the Countdown Timer by ten and turns all onscreen enemies into stars. Despite their name, Middle Rings are not always found exactly midway through a level, but sometimes either shortly after the starting point or before the end, including just before a red door leading to a boss fight. Some levels consist of several Middle Rings, in which case losing a life resets the Yoshi from the Middle Ring he most recently activated. If the player gets a Game Over or the Yoshi completes the level, the effects of the Middle Ring wears off.
In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island DS, if a Yoshi loses a life some time after reaching a Middle Ring, the Yoshi retains his star count (including the extra ten from reaching the ring) and eggs that he had when he activated it. This is not retained in Yoshi's New Island, in which losing a life after activating a Middle Ring instead resets the Countdown Timer to its default number of ten and Yoshi's egg count to zero.
