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Somari (音速瑪莉) (full title: Somari the Adventurer) is an unauthorized port of Sonic the Hedgehog to the Famicom, featuring Mario in place of Sonic. It was created by Hummer Team under their Somari Team alias and published by Ge De Industry Co.

Overview[]

Somari Gameplay

Green Hill Zone.

Somari includes the Spin Dash, a move introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Also notable is the usage of the Special Stage and the background graphics for Green Hill Zone from the Master System version of Sonic 1, almost certainly due to hardware limitations of the Famicom.

All of the zones from the Mega Drive/Genesis version are included, except for Scrap Brain Zone. The controls are similar to Sonic the Hedgehog, albeit including the Spin Dash and Somari suddenly slowing down when going into a jump depending on what speed he's going at, a problem also encountered in Hummer Team's Famicom port of Super Mario World. Oddly, the game includes loops and ramps, although these have somewhat glitchy programming such as the player being able to get permanently stuck on a loop if hit by a Badnik as well as passing through one ring when the player runs through it, a glitch also present in Jurassic Boy 2 by Sachen. Also, unlike Sonic 1, while rolling you cannot control yourself at all.

Somari is considered to be significantly more difficult than Sonic 1 due to the enemies always re-spawning in the same places whenever they appear on the screen, poor programming and physics, as well as a lack of continues and checkpoints. The level design is somewhat flawed, from frequently repeating areas of zones, most noticeably in Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone, to inescapable pits in Green Hill Zone. However, in some versions, you can't get out via 'Time Over' as the timer resets to 9:00 whenever it expires. Unlike the Mega Drive version, there's only one ending in this game which shows Dr. Robotnik juggling the Chaos Emeralds, which is odd considering that they're nowhere else to be found in the game.

The graphics are mostly taken from Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive, with a few exceptions. The background for Green Hill Zone and the Special Stage graphics are from the Master System version, the sprite of Somari is an edited version of Mario's sprite from Super Mario Bros. 3, and some other graphics were modified on the title screen; namely the removal of the Sega copyright on the title, the edit in the title to read "Somari," and Sonic himself being replaced with Mario. The "Sonic Team Presents" screen from the original was also modified to read "Somari Team Presents". The music is mostly taken from the same game, although some tracks are not the most accurately recreated. The Special Stage music is also lifted from the Master System version.

Hacks[]

Somari has been hacked to produce many other games (the Sonic games listed are in order of release):

  • Sonic the Hedgehog / Sonic 3D Blast 5 (Identical to Sonic the Hedgehog with redrawn title screen; in Sonic 3D Blast 5 version, the player will start in Spring Yard Zone. Published under NT)
  • Sonic and Knuckles 5 (Uses Sonic & Knuckles' title screen and music, the game starts in Spring Yard Zone. Published under NT)
  • Sonic 3D Blast 6 (uses Sonic 3D Blast's title screen and start screen, starts in Marble Zone. Published under NT)
  • Family Kid (Replaces Mario with an original character. Published by Family TSI Ltd)
  • Doraemon (Replaces most of the graphics and music to be more Doraemon themed. Published by Waixing)
  • The Hummer (Hacks which replace the title screen, the main character and alter the graphics)

A common misconception with these games is that Somari was released after the Sonic the Hedgehog hacks. Not so, because while Somari was released in 1994 (with development starting in 1993), the others were made afterward and contain some unused graphics from it. (Such as Somari's titles and the unused "Mario" title) Many enemies in the game use Somari's color palette which makes them use the right colors when compared to the first Sonic the Hedgehog. However, in some hacks, they appear blue instead. These hacks are also known to have been developed by Hummer Team themselves, as their hack, The Hummer, is based on one of the later iterations of them.

Official[]

These versions are made by Hummer Team themselves.

Sonic the Hedgehog / Sonic 3D Blast 5[]
Sonic the hedgehog-3d blast 5 title screen

Sonic the Hedgehog/ 3D Blast 5's title screen.

Sonic the Hedgehog (better known as Sonic 3D Blast 5) was the first to be released, with the title screen graphics being replaced and the "Somari Team Presents" screen being removed. The first version known to be released is called Sonic 3D Blast 5, although it could have been released under a different name earlier. A couple of bugs in the game were fixed, like the inescapable pits in Green Hill Zone, as well as the addition of rings on the starting point of its first act, despite the game starting at the Spring Yard Zone with the earlier zones being available only through the level select cheat (although some variants of this version do start at Green Hill Zone). A hack of this exists which adds a 5 on the title screen. This incarnation of Somari is relatively common on multicarts, especially those made by J.Y. Company.

Sonic & Knuckles 5 / Super Sonic 5 1997[]
Sonic & Knuckles 5 title screen

Sonic & Knuckles 5's title screen.

Sonic & Knuckles 5 (also known as Super Sonic 5 1997) changes the title screen graphics and music in an attempt to copy Sonic & Knuckles. Like in Sonic 3D Blast 5, the player starts in Spring Yard Zone. Although present on the title screen in Sonic & Knuckles 5, Knuckles is not a playable character present within the game.

Sonic 3D Blast 6[]
Sonic the hedgehog-3d blast 6 title screen

Sonic 3D Blast 6's title screen.

Sonic 3D Blast 6 was based on Sonic & Knuckles 5. While the title screen graphics are ported from Sonic 3D Blast and a "Start" screen (based on S3DB's main menu) was added between levels, the theme song is reused from Sonic & Knuckles 5. This time, the player starts at Marble Zone. It is also notable that when doing a soft reset on this hack, the title screen switches between its normal state and some garbled graphics, which is likely a result of removing Somari's title screen graphics and the game switching between two CHR banks, one of which is not meant to be used in this hack.

The names on the level selection screen in this version also no longer correlate with the actual zones. For example, whenever the player picks the Final Zone, the game brings them to Special Stage instead.

The Hummer[]
TheHummerTitle

The title screen of "The Hummer".

The Hummer AKA 超速悍馬 (Chāosù Hànmǎ) is a hack of Somari released in Super New Year Cart 15-in-1 by 鴻景 (Hong Jing). This hack replaces the title screen, with the one used here having an original character possibly modeled after Sonic the Hedgehog, a logo in English and Chinese and some graphics reused from Final Zone. The main character's sprite is different in this hack and some of the backgrounds are recolored. This game might be a hack of Sonic & Knuckles 5 as it uses the same music on the title screen and they both start in Spring Yard Zone.

Samuri variant[]

SamuriHummer

Speed Hummer (Green Hill Zone Act 1), from the Samuri version of "The Hummer".

A variant of this hack was featured on the Samuri. This particular version features background graphics that are nearly completely different compared to the version on the Super New Year Cart 15-in-1. Unlike the 15-in-1 version, the version on the Samuri is not a single game, with select levels being isolated into separate games on the Samuri's game menu (Star Light Act 3 from the 15-in-1 version is listed on the menu twice while Green Hill Act 3, Labyrinth Act 2 and the Final Zone all go unused). These levels lack their title cards and appear to run in the VT03's standard Famicom/NES mode instead of using its enhanced features (i.e., 16-color graphics mode) like most of the games on the Samuri. The music in these separated levels are also somewhat glitched. The Hummer himself appears on various other games for the Samuri, acting as a mascot for Hummer Technology.

Unofficial[]

These versions are not made by Hummer Team.

Family Kid[]
Famillykidtitlescreen

Family Kid's title screen.

Family Kid is a basic hack of Somari, replacing the "Somari Team Presents" screen with the Family logo (which appears in several other pirates, except smaller) and Mario with Family Kid, presumably named after Family TSI Ltd. who published it. However, they didn't change the signpost graphics which still have Mario's face on them. As well as this, Family Kid's left leg and a part of his head in his standing sprite is missing in some versions for unknown reasons. Family Kid's palette also wasn't completely changed for unknown reasons, as his black outline color reverts to the same blue outline color as Somari in levels after Green Hill Zone.

It's unknown when this hack was made, but it was released on a 2-in-1 multicart along with Aladdin 4 (a hack of Hummer Team's Aladdin).

Doraemon[]
Doraemon (Somari Hack)

Doraemon's Gameplay.

Doraemon was made by Waixing and it's probably the most extensive hack. Somari is replaced by Doraemon, the character from the manga/anime of the same name. Except for the Final Zone, the level designs are completely different and most of the graphics and music have been redone. It should be noted that like many of Waixing's games from the time, many graphics are stolen from other games including Little Samson, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu, Wacky Races, Aladdin (the cobras under the spikes in the first zone), and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2. Somewhat notably, in a similar way to Sonic Triple Trouble on the Game Gear, you lose 20 rings when hit and not all of them like Somari did (but only 3 still fly out). Unlike Somari, Doraemon also can't drown underwater. The Special Stage was omitted entirely although still accessible through save state hacking; it includes the music and graphics from the original level, although the background is grey as opposed to black for unknown reasons.

Reception[]

  • Sergei Suponev made a quick look at Somari in Dendy: The New Reality (perhaps, it's one of the few Hummer Team's games that got a spotlight in here, alongside Street Fighter II), noting that the port is somewhat accurate to its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog. The game was reviewed in episode 11.
  • A level-by-level walkthrough of the game has been given in one of the issues of Great Dragon.

Trivia[]

Somari Comparison

Comparison.

  • Somari, as he appears on the title screen, seems to have his pose and facial expression taken from the Japanese box art of Super Mario World.
  • The trademark for this game (森瑪麗) was filed in 1993, less than a month after "Sonimari" (most likely a working title for the game). It was also trademarked by a company called Ge De Industry Co., who likely distributed it.
  • The level select screen can be accessed by a cheat code at the title screen: Left, Down, B, A, Right, Up, A, B, Up, Down, Up, Down for Somari, the Sonic hacks, and Family Kid; A, B, Select, Up, Down, Left, Right, A for Doraemon.
  • The Special Stage is misspelled as "Spacial Stage" on the level select screen and "Special Zone" on the title cards. Also, Spring Yard Zone is misspelled as "Spring Yand Zone" on the level select screen. These spelling errors are present in all of the hacks except for Doraemon, which is in Chinese instead.
  • A bootleg Sega Mega Drive game released in 1998, Sonic Jam 6, can be considered the inverse of Somari, as it is a clone of the Super Mario All-Stars remake of the first Super Mario Bros. that features Sonic the Hedgehog from Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Development of this game is attributed to Gamtec, and Hummer Team were likely not involved with its production.
Somari's Mario Title Tiles

Unused "Mario" banner tiles. Mockup

  • There are unused tiles in the Somari ROM which have the banner on the title screen read "Mario" instead of "Somari". This was most likely a development name at the time because the title doesn't seem to fit in with the banner.
  • Somari Team is spelled "Someri Team" on one of the cartridge label designs, with the same cart having a 1994 copyright. This spelling is also used on the circuit board and cartridge art of AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting.
  • You can get 255 lives in the game if you beat a level but at the same time die from a 'Time Over' (The timer exceeding 9:59). Your life counter will say 0 and everything after that will be all tiles.
  • A version of the boss theme in Somari would later be used in the Seals, and Cute Heads mini-game on the ZDog, a virtual pet raising plug & play system with 44 games, all of which were developed by Hummer Team (going by the name Hummer Technology).
  • This game and some of its hacks are common on J.Y. Company's later multicarts, typically Sonic 3D Blast 5.
  • Even though Somari's shoes are based off of Tails' shoes from the Sonic series, the sprite of Somari taking in air from an air bubble in Labyrinth Zone, as well as an unused sprite of him drowning, depicts him with Sonic's striped shoes. Somari's artwork on the cartridge and the box art depict him with Mario's standard shoes.
  • Somari appears on the front page of BootlegGames Wiki.
  • Some of Somari's hacks are speculated to contain DIP Switches, it is unknown what the use for them are, and the game refuses to load in Nestopia, most likely as a lock-out method, or some sort of check.
  • When loading the first level in Somari, before the title screen completely fades out, the tiles, or CHR data are loaded before the level is.

Gallery[]

Main article: Somari/gallery

See also[]

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).
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