Everyone's got their favourite items when it comes to the Mario Kart franchise, but we'd be willing to bet that it probably isn't the Blue Shell.
Introduced in Mario Kart 64 and subsequently becoming a mainstay in the franchise to this very day, the Blue Shell is a veritable nightmare for those cruising along in first place, particularly if you've got nothing at your disposable to mitigate the impact.
Of course, we've no doubt that the Blue Shell has its fans (we know you're out there somewhere!), so you might be pleased to know that the item is being added into the original Super Mario Kart, albeit in an unofficial manner.
As spotted by our good friends at Time Extension, romhackers MrL314 and ScouBsmk have successfully added the Blue Shell into their ambitious romhack title 'Super Mario Kart Deluxe', introducing a hefty dose of carnage into an already action-packed game.
In the announcement, MrL314 acknowledges that not everyone will want to play with the Blue Shell activated, so has endeavoured to ensure that the settings menu will allow for an option to toggle its availability. It will also only be available to real players who are in the positions 5th-8th on laps 2-5, so CPU opponents will not be able to use it.
Super Mario Kart Deluxe is still in active development at the moment, but will be playable on original hardware upon completion. In speaking with Time Extension, MrL314 says that the game is "a love letter from us fans expressing our appreciation of the game, and we’re working hard to make sure it’s fun for all levels of players!".
What do you think of the addition of the Blue Shell in Super Mario Kart Deluxe? Do you welcome its inclusion, or do you think the game is better off without it? Let us know!
[source twitter.com, via timeextension.com]
Comments 12
I do miss the Mission Mode from DS, not sure why that's never come back?
Anyway, this is impressive but not for me. I'd much rather enjoy each entry for what it was, and going back and adding newer features to the older entries feels counter intuitive? But I am glad for all the people excited for it, looks like it's in good hands!
Winged design suggests like the current blue shell rather than the original. I wish they’d revert the Blue Shell back to what it was like originally. Traversed on the ground taking out everyone in the way before homing in on the leader. This meant the lead car was usually not the only one affected and wouldn’t loose their 1st place because someone far back got lucky with the item box and actually never ends up passing the kart they hit.
In its current guise, the item feels like it was purposefully designed to annoy the player when I’m singleplayer.
@FX102A They did revert it to the original non-winged N64 version in both versions of Mario Kart 8.
I wonder how you get away from the spiky shell on this hack, if either Wii style or MK8 style.
@abdias there was a second tweet where they stated this:
https://twitter.com/LF_MrL314/status/1579439413498904576?s=20
On top of this:
something I like most about smk is lack of blueshell, makes it more skill based
@Bunkerneath so it wii style then, with possibility of a new item on the future, so MK8 style
@FX102A
yes! this is also what bothers me about the blue shell. it used to benefit the lagging player who fired it, by hindering everyone in front of that player. now it pretty much only benefits whoever is in close second place, when they have plenty of "conventional" weapons to do the job themselves.
we need the next Mario kart to be "Mario kart ultimate," with every racer and track from the series, and the ability to turn on and off every weapon, item, and other variables, a la smash ultimate.
then, make Mario kart maker, for custom rides, characters, and tracks. it doesn't even seem that ambitious to me!
edit - as for this article, "Boo blue shell in SMK! Boooo!"
also obligatory comment about "Nintendo legal dept. C&D in 5... 4..."
@Ogbert Nintendo probably has some stupid reason for not including mission mode. I do miss it too.
Such a banger fan hack, hopefully someone made a repro cart of this so I could play it on my original Super NES and Super Nt.
This looks amazing, one of my favourite games of all time. I think the original super Mario kart is the best and requires the most skill to play. Hopefully this will be playable on the Analogue pocket.
@FX102A I played the N64 version very throughly just recently, and man, that blue shell would collide with any wall it possibly could.
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