Every now and then, a sneaker pops up that makes you sit back and rethink your life choices. The Nike AIR SNES might be one of those. Designer Gustavo Bonzanini clearly woke up one morning and thought: What if you could literally game on your kicks? Imagine slipping off a shoe, plugging it into your TV and destroying Bowser.
Bonzanini cooked this up for the 35th anniversary of the Super Nintendo’s 1990 launch in Japan. Back then, it wasn’t even called the SNES. It went by Super Famicom, which sounds way fancier and way more expensive. To celebrate, he took a pair of Nike Air Max 90s and turned them into a wearable gaming tribute that hits the nostalgia button harder than a kid mashing the A button in Street Fighter II.
The Sneaker Design Pays Tribute To The Super Nintendo Era
The Nike AIR SNES didn’t take the Frankenstein route of cutting up an old console and trying to bury its guts inside the midsole. Those SNES cartridges were chonky. Bonzanini went smarter and stuffed a Raspberry Pi Zero W into the tongue. This tiny microcomputer runs RetroPie, which he re-skinned to match the sneaker’s aesthetic. You get around 30 minutes of battery life, so maybe don’t expect to finish anything with too many levels.
A Raspberry Pi Inside The Tongue Powers The Gaming
Because the Pi has a Mini HDMI port, he could’ve just used a modern cable, but no. Bonzanini was committed to the bit: “make the design feel like it could exist in 1990.” So he slapped on an analog converter and boom. RCA cables. The red, white and yellow snakes of every ‘90s kid’s gaming setup live again.
Yes, You Can Play Using A Real SNES Controller
And the controllers, you might wonder? Of course, he thought of that. The Nike AIR SNES works with an original SNES gamepad. He upgraded it with an 8BitDo Mod Kit, so it connects wirelessly over Bluetooth.
These are inspired by other gaming sneaker icons like Bull Airs’ ShoeBoys, but there’s a big difference here. Those looked cool. The AIR SNES plays games. Real games. It’s like the ultimate flex for anyone who collects both rare sneakers and retro consoles.
Sadly, The Nike AIR SNES Is A One-Of-One Custom
Sadly, this masterpiece is a one-of-one custom job. No release date. No preorders.
PlayStation, since you’re always looking for new accessories, how about a PS5 version next? A sneaker you can plug into your TV and run Spider-Man 2 at 60fps. We’re all waiting.
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