Some sneakers, like the Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Method of Make,’ are inspired by handbags. Others pay homage to hiking boots. But the upcoming Nike Air Max 1 Low Poly ‘Big Head Mode’ hits different, because this belter borrows a move or two from GoldenEye 007, the beloved James Bond video game for the Nintendo 64.
Released in the summer of 1997, GoldenEye 007 quickly became one of the era’s defining video games. The third best-selling Nintendo 64 game of all time—coming in just behind Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64—the Bond movie tie-in was both an awesome first-person shooter and one of the first games ever to really take advantage of split-screen multiplayer functionality. Almost 30 years later, nostalgia for the game remains stronger than ever. In 2021, content creator Max Castillo even uploaded a TikTok that showed just how sick the pause menu music was.
Now, finally, Nike is giving sneakerheads the chance to pay proper tribute to the beloved game with a GoldenEye-themed version of the Air Max 1 Low Poly—a new spin on the iconic running shoe with blockier-than-normal lines that invoke pixelated graphics of yore. This year, the Swoosh has already dropped the Low Poly in colorways that evoked classics like Donkey Kong and Tomb Raider.
