I'm sorry to read you encountered difficulties, but I did made the game harder than the average Sonic game intentionally, and I still think it aligns fairly well into the average difficulty of games in the nineties (which the game is trying to emulate).
The special stages have been tested a lot, and they are not as difficult as they first seem. I saw more than one person nailing them on first try, and I consistently manage to gather around 2x the required amount.
Each bonus stage contains more than 3x the required ring amount per phase, meaning that for example the very first special stage section with 30 rings requirement has more than 90 already there.
It's just a matter of practice and in identifying the ring patterns. The most common occurence is a left-right alternating sequence of rings, where you have to jump from a side to the other with almost no directional input.
Do not give up. Practice and get better. Special stages have usually been not on the easy side at first, not even blue spheres is without any practice, knowledge of the map and its jump mechanics.