Donkey Kong doesn’t wear shoes. This is a defining trait of Nintendo’s famous barrel-tossin’ ape. But that hasn’t stopped Nike from creating a new pair of sneakers that seem to be directly inspired by Donkey Kong and his popular platformers.
On February 17, Sneaker News reported on recently released promotional photos that reveal a new version of the Nike Air Max 1 Low Poly that is seemingly a reference to Donkey Kong. The images show a brown, white, red, and yellow sneaker. These are the colors of Donkey Kong. Further cementing the connection is the fact that the brown parts of the shoe are furry and similar in hue to what you might find on an ape or monkey.
However, the big giveaway that these shoes are connected to Donkey Kong and his games can be found on the inside. The insoles of the new sneakers feature pixelated mud and dirt, DK-styled gold coins, and even a smooshed low-res banana. Oh, and a big gold coin can be spotted on the back of the shoes, too. Yeah, these are Donkey Kong-themed shoes all right! And they look pretty snazzy to me, but I’m not a sneaker expert.
It makes sense that Nike’s latest Air Max 1 Low Poly would be inspired by a retro video game character as the shoe was revealed with the help of a Twitch streamer and features a low-res version of the Nike swoosh logo. It seems Nike wants to combine two of the most expensive hobbies around—collecting sneakers and buying videos games—into one ultra-expensive combo.
There is no release date listed for these new Donkey Kong sneakers, though Sneaker News reports the upcoming Nike Air Max 1 variants might arrive in late spring or summer of this year.