You Got Mario in My Sonic...

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is getting hype as the first meeting of those video game icons. Don't buy it. Mario visited Sonic's world more than ten years ago in a pirate game from Hong Kong called Somari. The two don't meet on-screen, but Mario is wearing Sonic's shoes, which suggests an off-screen meeting. I imagine Mario jumping out from behind a bush, turtle shell in hand, beaning Sonic from behind and making off with the shoes.

The programmers took quite a few liberties with the level maps, but this is more or less an 8-bit version of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game with Mario as the hero. The programmers also forgot to include the Scrap Brain Zone and the extra life for collecting 100 rings. And those checkpoints that let you start a level in the middle after dying? They forgot those too. You realize just how helpful those are when you have to start a level over from the beginning after misjudging a jump against a boss.

Oops. Back to the start.

On the plus side, you'll never notice the extra life reward is missing. Because you probably won't go long enough without getting bumped into by something or shot by something or bumped into by something while something else is shooting you to ever get anywhere near 100 rings. There are more enemies in this game than I've ever seen in any Mario or Sonic game. I challenge you to go ten steps without getting hit by something.

This being a pirate game, there are plenty more problems. The graphics are glitchy. In the Marble Zone, moving platforms appear that aren't really there. Some of the rings can't be picked up, or can only be picked up if Mario touches them while jumping. The first boss battle is extremely flickery. The physics are off. It's almost impossible to get Mario to stop from running speed. Oh, and the music is terrible. In fact, I recommend against ever getting the invincibility power up solely because, as bad as the music is, it's even worse sped up.

Somebody needs to clean the pool.

For all it's problems, Somari is an interesting novelty and infinitely better than Sonic's adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom...