Blast Corps, for the Nintendo 64, didn’t seem to give much of a damn for accurate physics. You could drive on gas-giant Neptune and it had the lowest gravity of any of the game’s extraterrestrial levels (it should be the highest). But as GameXplain marvellously demonstrates, the map menu is jaw-droppingly true to life.
The orbital periods of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Neptune (the planets you may visit) — and their satellites — are all 100 per cent accurate. The Earth takes one minute to complete its trip around the sun; working from that, GameXplain calculated the orbital periods of the other celestial bodies and yep, they are all to scale, too.
The best part? Apparent retrograde motion even is included. Watch Mars’ moon (Phobos? Or Deimos?) dip below its surface on the right, then re-emerge at 2:30. Celestial bodies travelling different orbits can appear to move in reverse when the one you’re on overtakes its position.
It took GameXplain two hours and forty-five minutes of sitting in a map screen to prove all of this. Good work, for both them and for Rare, Blast Corps‘ developer.
Cool Bits — Blast Corps’ Shockingly Accurate Planet Orbits [GameXplain h/t Duderdude]
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