''Somari the Adventurer'' (commonly known as simply ''Somari'' ( and 速音瑪莉;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''Sùyīn mǎlì'' )) is a

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

platform video game for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

. An unlicensed remake of

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

's 1991 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'', the game was sold primarily around Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and other regions where bootleg NES and Famicom cartridges were distributed. Like the original, players venture to defeat the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik, who plots to turn the animal population of the fictional South Island into evil

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

s. Unlike the original, the game features

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

's mascot

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

as the main character rather than

Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in, fast-food restaurant chain * Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities * Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...

. The title is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "Sonic" and "Mario". ''Somari'' was developed by Hummer 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 ''

''. The game follows the player's quest to defeat Dr. 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

as the main character, rather than

. 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 Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

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 pirate homebrew developer Hummer Team, though they are credited in-game as Somari Team. The game's levels are based on the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

version of the first ''Sonic'' game, with the exception of the Scrap Brain Zone, while the bonus stages are based on the

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

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 in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...

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 In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "Sonic" and "Mario". It is unknown precisely how, when, or where the game was created, though Asia is likely; a

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

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. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

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.

Reception

The concept of a crossover 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''. Velikij Drakon (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 ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and ''Computer ...

'' 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'' if they wished for a crossover featuring Mario and Sonic. ''

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

'', 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