Somari

Somari
Also known as: Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic & Knuckles 5, Sonic 3D Blast 6, Family Kid, Ji Qi Mao Xiao Ding Dang, The Hummer Developer: Hummer Team Publisher: Ge De Industry Platform: Unlicensed NES Released internationally: 1994 This game has unused areas. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has revisional differences. This game has a notes page

Somari is an infamous clone of Sonic the Hedgehog starring the titular character, who is essentially Mario wearing Tails' shoes.

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Notes

Level Select/Sound Test

Press Left, Down, B, A, Right, Up, A, B, Up, Down, Up, Down, Start at the title screen. For the Sound Test, 01-0B play sound effects while 20-2D play music. Oddly, the Spring Yard Zone and Special Stage options are misspelled.

The code was changed in Doraemon to A, B, Select, Up, Down, Left, Right, Start, though the Sound Test and Special Stage options were cut from this version.

Unused Continue Screen

An unused Continue screen can be accessed by changing the value in 00B3 to any non-zero value, with the value corresponding to how many continues can be used. Somari will start with 3 lives instead of 5 if "Yes" is selected.

Unused Graphics

A "Mario" logo, likely a name used early in development. The bottom of the logo was overwritten by tiles used in the Somari title screen.

Sprites of Eggman falling and running. You never chase him down after beating Final Zone, and he simply appears in his Eggmobile, rendering these sprites unused.

Three different animations of Somari losing his balance, based on the balancing animations from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Unused as Somari will just stand normally at the edge of a cliff. These can be seen in-game with FCEUX cheat 001D:??, where "??" is 11, 12, or 13 respectively. Interestingly, there are three sets of ledge animations like in Sonic 2.

A sprite of Somari with his mouth wide open, most likely to be used when drowning. His normal death graphic is used in-game. Interestingly, Somari's shoes appear more similar to Sonic's shoes in this sprite. In the rest of his sprites (including the unused balancing animations) his shoes are more similar to Tails's shoes.

Unused Objects

A checkpoint monitor from Sega's 8-bit versions of Sonic 1. FCEUX cheat 001D:11?04 will replace the first Crabmeat in Green Hill Zone with it. It does nothing when broken.

Monitor for the Speed Shoes. FCEUX cheat 001D:13?04 will replace the first Crabmeat in Green Hill with it. It does nothing when broken.

Unused Audio

The checkpoint jingle from Sonic 1, unused because there are no checkpoints. While this is technically used when the signpost is spinning, only the first note is heard.

The Chaos Emerald jingle from Sonic 1, unused because there are no Chaos Emeralds to collect. However, this was used in Kart Fighter and AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting.

The continue jingle from Sonic 1, unused because there are no continues, although there is an unused Continue screen (seen above).

Scrap Brain Zone

In both regular gameplay and the Level Select, the game jumps from Star Light Zone (ID 04) to Final Zone (ID 06), skipping Scrap Brain (ID 05). Using Game Genie code IEVAZZAA or setting memory address 04EA to 05 will send you to Scrap Brain after you lose a life, though sadly there isn't much: It has a title card of "Final Zone Act 1" and shares tiles from Star Light and Final Zone, using the former's music.

Download Somari Scrap Brain Zone Savestate (FCEUX) File: ScrapBrainZoneSomariSavestate.7z (2.35 KB) (info)

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  Title card

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  Wow, what a mess.

Though what's left of Scrap Brain Zone doesn't use it, there is unused title card data for Scrap Brain left in the ROM. Using Game Genie codes ALUEKPGI and XAUESOOE will display it in place of Green Hill's title card.

Revisions/Hacks

To do: Graphic rips and comparisons would be nice. Some of these revisions have unused graphics. Get those up on the page. There are [two revisions] of the original game. See if there's anything different between these versions and the common 1.0 version.

Several modified versions of Somari were produced in the years following its release, some of which restore Sonic to the game and change the starting level.

Official

These versions were almost certainly produced by Hummer Team themselves, given that their lineage can be traced through to the version featuring the company's own mascot.

Sonic the Hedgehog (NES)

This version replaces Mario with Sonic, simple enough. Unofficial versions of this exist under the name "Sonic 3D Blast 5" (although the title screen is unchanged) that have Spring Yard as the first Zone. Another version of this can be found on multicarts, which adds a crudely-drawn "5" below the logo.

Leftover Zones

In the Sonic 3D Blast 5 variant of this hack, the game starts at Spring Yard Zone, meaning Green Hill and Marble go unused. They're still there, though: Green Hill can accessed by selecting Marble in the Level Select, and Marble can accessed by selecting "Spring Yand" in the Level Select.

Small tweaks were made to the level design in this version, adding more rings and altering inescapable spike pits for example. All subsequent hacks in this series are derived from this version of the game, so inherit the newer versions of the levels.

Version Leftovers

To do: Make it display from start.

The "Somari Team Presents" screen still exists in the ROM. Leftover graphics include some running poses of Somari, the signpost with Somari's face as opposed to Sonic, and all of Somari's unused sprites.

Sonic & Knuckles 5

This version changes the title screen but is otherwise the same as the NES Sonic the Hedgehog. Even the same Somari leftovers are in this version. Sonic's outline in this version was changed from blue to black for no apparent reason.

Sonic 3D Blast 6

Appears to be a hack of Sonic & Knuckles 5 which replaces the title screen, adds a start screen based on the menu from Sonic 3D Blast, and starts at Marble Zone. Of course, Green Hill wasn't deleted and can still be accessed via the Level Select. The same leftovers as the NES Sonic the Hedgehog are also in this ROM, along with the Sonic & Knuckles 5 title screen, but some were deleted.

The Hummer

Known in Chinese as Speeding Hummer (超速悍馬), it is also a hack of Sonic & Knuckles 5, with some leftovers from the title screen of that game. Sonic has been replaced with Hummer Team's titular mascot and Green Hill, Marble, and Spring Yard have been palette swapped.

A later version of this hack starring the same character exists on the Samuri 60 in 1 plug-n-play, which has altered background graphics and a couple of glitched songs, as well as most of the separate Acts being split into their own games.

Unofficial

These were produced by other companies without(?) the involvement of Hummer Team.

Family Kid

Based on the original Somari, but replaces Somari with Family Kid, the sometime mascot of still-existent Thai electronics company Family TSI Ltd.

Ji Qi Mao Xiao Ding Dang (Doraemon)

To do: More screenshots. There's also Doraemon signposts. Also, add SW's documentation as listed in the discussion page.

A very extensive hack by Waixing, this version features Doraemon and replaces just about all the graphics, music, and level layouts.