Somari
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Somari (portmanteau from Sonic and Mario) is a pirated hack of Sega's flagship video game Sonic the Hedgehog, produced for the Nintendo Famicom and sold primarily around Hong Kong. The game is notable in the fact that it contains a wealth of coding information from Sonic the Hedgehog, a 16-bit game produced for the Sega Megadrive, transferred into an 8-bit cartridge - something thought impossible by many video game experts at the time. The game features a character named "Somari" - Nintendo mascot Mario wearing Sonic the Hedgehog's trademark shoes, as well as possessing his abilities. The levels are based on the Mega Drive/Genesis version of the first Sonic game, with the exception of the Scrap Brain Zone, which is inaccessible unless save state hacking is used, while the bonus levels are based on the 8-bit Sonic games that appear on the Master System and Game Gear. The game even unusually supports Sonic's Spin Dash, which was added in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
It is unknown precisely how, when, or where the game was created. The game bears the copyright notice "1994 Somari Team", but Somari is not necessarily the game's original form, and it's possible that Somari was a more recent creation with an older copyright date to make it look like a "classic". What few other hints that exist of the game's origin can only be traced through the game itself: Though its basic structure is an imperfect transfer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, the actual sprite of Somari is based on the mechanics and physics of the Sonic character from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, possessing abilities exclusive to that game - thereby dating Somari to 1992 or later. (The overlaid artwork of Somari is based on the character artwork of Mario from Super Mario Bros. 3.)
As with many independently pirated games, the coding is flawed. Somari's physics are imperfect in comparison to the original game's, and certain areas have numerous glitches. There is only a short ending sequence - after the final boss has been defeated, the screen shows Dr. Eggman juggling Chaos Emeralds along with the text "The End" and "I will be back." The game has been known to lock up after the final boss battle when played on an emulator.
Sonic and Mario fans alike have shown interest in this game, but mostly for novelty purposes, as it is widely considered to be far too glitchy and annoyingly (and sometimes unfairly) frustrating.
Being a pirate game, it was probably released in fairly limited numbers. It has appeared in cartridges in South America, Asia and South Africa, where it was once even bundled with clones of Famicom machines (often called Golden China). The game has become more well known recently through the phenomenon of console emulation.
[edit] Other versions
Sonic 3D Blast 5 is almost identical to Somari, except the player plays Sonic the Hedgehog and lacks the first two zones (Green Hill Zone and Marble Zone), and the special stage was removed as well.
Sonic 3D Blast 6 is the same as Sonic 3D 5 with a new title screen and the addition of the Marble Zone, though it still lacks the Green Hill Zone.
These games are not to be confused with the legitimate Sonic 3D Blast.
There is also a hack of Somari called Family Kid.
In addition, there have been attempts off and on by various fangamers to create Somari games using Klik tools like The Games Factory and Multimedia Fusion.
The game bears the copyright "1994 Somari team" on some cartridges, though the copyright may be non-binding as Somari is an illegal derivative work. On another cartridge sticker, it simply shows Sonic and Tails much in the style of Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
