Somari

''Somari''; also known as ''Somari the Adventurer'' is a side-scrolling platform video game, originally released in 1994 for the Famicom. 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 NES cartridges were distributed. Like the original, players venture to defeat the mad scientist Doctor Robotnik, who plots to turn the animal population of the fictional South Island into evil robots. Unlike the original, the game features Nintendo's mascot Mario as the main character rather than Sonic. The title is a portmanteau. 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 Doctor Robotnik, who has converted all the animals of South Island into evil robots.Eremin, Roman. ''ХИТ-ПАРАД – 8 бит: SOMARI''. Video-Ass Velikij Drakon (Great Dragon). Issue 20. Pp.24–27. 10 October 1995. . However, the game features Mario 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'' (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 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

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