Some sneakers, like the Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Method of Make,’ are inspired by handbags. Others, by hiking boots. But the upcoming Nike Air Max 1 Low Poly ‘GoldenEye 007’ hits different, because this belter borrows a move or two from what video game site IGN calls one of the “top 100 video games of all time.”
Released in the summer of 1997, GoldenEye 007 was basically an unassuming movie tie-in that had little to no fanfare out of the gates. But, weeks after it launched, it started gaining a pretty culty following; according to Mental Floss, it’s the third best-selling Nintendo 64 video game in history, coming just behind Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64.
Gamers realised that, not only was it an awesome first-person shooter, it was also one of the first ever games to really take advantage of split-screen multiplayer. In 2021, content creator Max Castillo even uploaded a TikTok that showed just how sick the ‘Pause Menu’ music was. Now Nike, a label that’s long pilfered from retro franchises like Tomb Raider and the Donkey Kong, has finally gotten onto the GoldenEye hype almost 30 years later.
Also known as the ‘Big Head Mode’ – a nod to a cheat code that gave Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond a, well, big head – this Air Max 1 works on top of a breezy mesh base that has been designed to look pixelated. Black leather overlays wrap around the sidewalls and mudguard (riffing on the British super spy’s tux), and gold accents pay tribute to the N64 game’s most powerful and mythical weapon: the Golden Gun.
Around the heel, the usual “Nike Air” branding is now surrounded by a red health bar and blue armour bar, and every single panel on this shoe is finished off with sharp, geometric edges, just like what you’d find on video games from the days of yore.