the blue shell

[Tuli0hWut]

The notorious Blue Shell, an unavoidable item (unless you're playing "Mario Kart Wii") used to knock first-place players off the track, may exist only because of the N64's processing capabilities, not as some sadistic trick of the developers.

As Hideki Konno -- director of "Super Mario Kart" (1992) and "Mario Kart 64," and producer of "Mario Kart DS" (2005) and "Mario Kart Wii" -- said in an interview with Kotaku reporter Stephen Totilo:


"With Mario Kart 64, we wanted to have the same thing where everyone was in it until the end, but some of the processing problems occurred that didn't allow us to do that. And what I mean by that is once you're in a middle of a race you'll get that natural separation. What we were trying to do was push them back together with 64, having eight racers on the screen all the time, didn't work all that well. So, because the processing power didn't exist, we weren't able to create the racing environment we wanted".

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/16...net_190484

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

I've read your post and the written article, but I still don't get why they wanted to place the players closer if they couldn't have them all on the screen at once. "having eight racers on the screen all the time, didn't work all that well"

"game developers wanted to keep good players from perpetually having the lead spot and jamming up the N64's processor"

I don't understand how that would jam up the processor?

If someone with technowizardy can chip in that would be great.

[Takahashi2212]

Since the courses in Mario Kart 64 aren't rendered at once, but rather as it is gotten to, having one person all the way in front would mean they would have to render later portions of the track while the other racers are forcing a different part of the track to be rendered, along with the extra background stuff on tracks, items boxes, racers, and the items themselves.

Although this is just an assumption based on what I know, it might be wrong.

[Tuli0hWut]

I've read your post and the written article, but I still don't get why they wanted to place the players closer if they couldn't have them all on the screen at once. "having eight racers on the screen all the time, didn't work all that well"

"game developers wanted to keep good players from perpetually having the lead spot and jamming up the N64's processor"

I don't understand how that would jam up the processor?

If someone with technowizardy can chip in that would be great.

I know right? they might've outdone themselves

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Since the courses in Mario Kart 64 aren't rendered at once, but rather as it is gotten to, having one person all the way in front would mean they would have to render later portions of the track while the other racers are forcing a different part of the track to be rendered, along with the extra background stuff on tracks, items boxes, racers, and the items themselves.

Although this is just an assumption based on what I know, it might be wrong.

true

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

That would make sense, thanks

[Tuli0hWut]

That would make sense, thanks

is this considered trivia or is just false information?

[SERIOUSLY THOUGH*]

That would make sense, thanks

is this considered trivia or is just false information?

I'd qualify that as trivia -- submit it in any case.