''Somari''; also known as ''Somari the Adventurer'' is a side-scrolling

platform video game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

, originally released in 1994 for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

. An unlicensed recreation of Sega's 1991 Sega Genesis game '' Sonic the Hedgehog'', the game was sold primarily around Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and other regions where

pirated Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

NES cartridges were distributed. Like the original, players venture to defeat the mad scientist

Doctor Robotnik Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, Ohshi ...

, who plots to turn the animal population of the fictional South Island into evil

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

s. Unlike the original, the game features Nintendo's mascot

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

as the main character rather than Sonic. The title is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsHummer Team. The title caught the attention of contemporary video game journalists, who commented upon its accurate recreation of the original game.

Gameplay

The gameplay and plot of ''Somari'' is substantially similar to that of the original '' Sonic the Hedgehog''. The game follows the player's quest to defeat

, who has converted all the animals of South Island into evil robots.Eremin, Roman. ''ХИТ-ПАРАД – 8 бит: SOMARI''. Video-Ass

Velikij Drakon ''Velikiy Drakon'' ( rus, Великий Dракон lit. "Great Dragon") is a defunct Russian video game magazine initially launched as ''Video-Ace Dendy'' ( rus, Видео-Асс Dendy) in 1993. The magazine was Russia's first wholly video-game ...

(Great Dragon). Issue 20. Pp.24–27. 10 October 1995. . However, the game features

as the main character, rather than Sonic. Mirroring ''Sonic''s emphasis on speed, Mario can run at high speeds, although gameplay as a whole is slightly slower. Items, bosses, levels, and enemies are all identical to ''Sonic''. Somari must collect 100 golden rings in order to enter the bonus stage at the end of the level, but being injured by enemies causes him to lose rings. The game employs a timer as in ''Sonic'', however regardless of what time is scored the player always gets a "Time Bonus" of 5000 points. As in ''Sonic'', each level is divided into three acts, and the third act ends with a boss fight with Robotnik.''Коллекция Крутого Геймера: Somari''. No.10. Pg.248. Dendy. Moscow. 2003. Although ''Somari'' borrows the concepts for its game dynamics from the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', the implementation of them differs in many ways. Unlike the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game, the player character can use the "spin-dash" feature first implemented in ''

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. It follows Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Eggman from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space stationnamed The Death Egg. Like the first ''S ...

'' (1992). Other notable differences include the fact that whereas Sonic would lose all his collected rings after being injured by an enemy, Mario always loses a maximum of 3 rings even when carrying a single ring. Each area in ''Somari'' is taken from the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game, borrowing many elements from the original stages, but some level layouts are completely new. Significantly, elements of level design from the ''Mario'' series, such as off-screen secret areas high above the player's field of view, make appearances in certain areas.

Development

''Somari'' was developed by the homebrew developer Hummer Team, though they are credited in-game as Somari Team. The game's levels are based on the Sega Genesis version of the first ''Sonic'' game, with the exception of the Scrap Brain Zone, while the bonus stages are based on the Master System and

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990, in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear pri ...

versions. The game features Sonic's Spin Dash, which was not introduced until ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2''. The audio of the game is similar to the original, but suffers from a poor conversion to the NES's sound system. The word "Somari" is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words though Asia is likely; a

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ese trademark for "Somari" was registered on March 1, 1994. In 1995, in an article regarding an editor visiting

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

to try new games there, ''Game Urara Vol. 4'' states that ''Somari'' has been introduced to Japan. The movement of Mario is based on the mechanics and physics of the Sonic character from ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2''. The game was marketed in gaming magazines in Hong Kong and in RussiaSuponev, Sergei. ''Dendy: The New Reality'' (Dendy Novaya Realnost). Season 1. Episode 11. 26 November 1994. during the late 1990s, and it can be found today in the United States in specialized gaming stores. The game also remains a popular title for

emulation Emulation may refer to: *Emulation (computing), imitation of behavior of a computer or other electronic system with the help of another type of system :*Video game console emulator, software which emulates video game consoles *Gaussian process em ...

Reception

The concept of a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

and/or mashup title bringing the popular video game characters Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog into one game had been a long-running dream in video game culture. Although ''Somari'' does not feature both characters in the same game, the fact that Mario had been placed into the world of Sonic the Hedgehog was registered with astonishment. Russian gaming magazine '' Great Drakon'' scored the game 4/10 (only 2/10 for sales volume) and commented in a review that at last 8-bit console gamers could roughly gain the experience of 16-bit gaming as with Sonic. Despite the similarities between ''Somari'' and the original game, reviewers were quick to point out the many differences between them. Commentators on the Russian TV program ''Dendy: The New Reality'' stated that "Somari for Dendy is not the same as Sonic for SEGA. ... Everything's different". Contemporary criticism of the game emphasized its difficulty relative to the original ''Sonic'' title,Sergeyevich, Alexander. ''Игра на разных компьютерах: Итальянский сантехник японского происхождения – Налево от лифта''.

(Great Dragon). Issue 59. Pg.75. and the game was characterized as having complex controls (although reviews claimed that these could be mastered in time). '' GamesRadar'' listed ''Somari'' on their list of "Crazy ass rom hacks", calling it "Less mash-up and more train wreck" due to poor physics and unresponsive controls, and recommended that players instead purchase ''

Super Smash Bros. Brawl ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 crossover fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, it was announced at a pre-E3 2005 press conferenc ...

'' if they wished for a crossover featuring Mario and Sonic. '' GameSpy'', however, described the game as "a remarkably good port/hack of Sonic to the NES," and ''Atari HQ'' described it as "amazing yoriginal" with "more than adequate[]" level-porting. ''1UP.com'' considered it "excellently coded" for a homebrew NES game.

Gameplay

Development

Reception

Notes

See also

References

Further reading