One of the most iconic console wars of all time has been immortalized by two pairs of shoes in a new and exclusive collaboration between Nice Kicks and Adidas, celebrating the glory days of the 16-bit era in North America.
The “Rivalry Series” project from Adidas uses the perfectly named Adidas Rivalry model first released in 1986–a shoe originally designed for basketball, but went on to find much wider casual appeal. In an exclusive partnership with Nice Kicks, this new drop, which lands on August 16, is inspired by the battle between the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which took place at the height of the sneaker style’s popularity.
Known as Rivalry Low Nicekicks, the pairs will be available in Low Core Black–the Genesis look that “honors the sonic blast of fun kids would have with the predominantly black console,” and White Tint for the SNES, which offers “a super color scheme” that also “pays tribute to a legendary console.”
Speaking exclusively about the collaboration with Adidas, Bryan Tang, the product lead and designer of the trainers for Nice Kicks, says: “The concept pitched to Nice Kicks was to tell a story about rivals, with given examples of famous sports teams and figures–just like how the Lakers and Celtics rivalry continues.
“Naturally, the Nice Kicks team thought outside the box and focused on something that was more niche and meant something to them. Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, we didn’t have very many options for gaming consoles like we do now, and if we were lucky enough to have one, we would have to pick between Nintendo or Sega.”
He explained that the design inspiration for the shoes comes from the team’s interest in gaming and hip-hop music. Tang adds: “We all shared similar stories of going to our local game stores to window shop for the latest game, and the graphics they would use for the covers.
“Over time, a lot of these games got sold back to the stores and had blemishes such as adhesive residues or fades from sun damage. We took all those nostalgic feelings and incorporated them into the shoes, focusing on wearability and storytelling.”
On both pairs of shoes, the Nice Kicks brand has been visualized in the style of each console’s typeface on the right tongue tags, while “Rivalry Series” adorns the left.
Most impressively, the SNES pair appears to lean into the U.S. NTSC-U console’s sunbleached look, turning it darker and more yellow with age. Still, in sneakers as in life, the Genesis shoes are my personal pick, especially with the single-sided red stripes–but then again, the design of the U.S. SNES, however iconic, isn’t quite as beautiful or colorful as the one we got outside of North America.
It’s not the first time the Sega Genesis has been celebrated in the sneaker world, but it’s definitely more attractive than Lavair’s $275 Mega Drive shoes from 2021, which offered a much sportier profile and a color scheme you simply couldn’t miss, for better and worse. In 2019, Nike–in an official partnership with Nintendo–offered more tasteful N64-inspired Air Max shoes, which came in at around $160.
Games and publishers have also tried their hand at designs in recent years. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla partnered with Reebok in 2020 for three “Like a Viking” looks; Atari joined forces with Cariuma to celebrate its 50th anniversary; perhaps most famous of all was the Nintendo x Vans collab from 2016, and every day I regret missing out on the Duck Hunt-inspired kicks from that range.
Whichever pair you prefer–why not both?–you can get your hands on these gaming-themed Rivalry Low Nicekicks when they launch on August 16 at Shop Nice Kicks.
