I can think of a few reasons: 1. writing a game that movement happens along 8 axes, and needs to trace lots of rays 2. several other reasons similar to (1) 3

I can think of a few reasons: 1. writing a game that movement happens along 8 axes, and needs to trace lots of rays 2. several other reasons similar to (1) 3. had a clever idea to optimize a thing and went ham, for fun