Published on May 31st, 2017 | by Guest

Design classics: your favorite consoles reimagined as cars

While everyone knows that in cars, as in computers, it’s what is beneath the hood that counts, us geeks can’t help but get excited about a sleek, bold and iconic chassis – for consoles and automobiles alike.

There are certain vintage cars of which even a glimpse will get your heart racing. Likewise, the fake wood paneling and chunky plastic of an early Atari 2600 conjures instant memories, for some, of weekends wasted playing Pac Man, Pitfall!, or Donkey Kong.

And that unwieldy grey crate we knew as the Nintendo Entertainment System? Her graceless right angles are still more moving to those who played her than the design of the subsequent SNES. There’s just something about the original that stirs the nostalgia like no other.

So what if these classic consoles were used as the basis for a new fleet of high performance, retro design vehicles? The Sega Genesis (or Megadrive if you were in Europe) becomes a contoured black sports coupe with shielded hubs and disc-shaped sunroof – which also happens to be the quickest way to the driver’s seat.

Nintendo’s Gamecube and Game Boy Color, meanwhile, prefigured the colorful plastic of the iMac G3 – and they’ll certainly be more fun to race in their new life as a souped-up Mini Cooper or ultra-versatile Buddy.

It’s a modern classic though – the Nintendo Switch – that may leave most onlookers gasping. Like the Switch itself, the car version has two chief operating functions: as a low-riding two-seater or, when it ejects its wings, a serious contender for the new Batcycle!

Jennings Ford Direct have produced a series of new posters imagining these console-to-car transformations in all their iconic glory. Check them out, and have a think about which classic consoles you would like to see on the road – and how you might go about transferring some of the original features.

Atari 2600

Atari brought the arcade experience to your home in the early 1980s. With its faux-wood panelling and chunky black chassis, you’ll be eager to flick that satisfying ‘On’ lever in our street level version.

NES

The NES car is inspired equally by the early Nintendo’s blocky 8-bit graphics and the boxy console itself. Just as the Nintendo Entertainment System took gaming from geek territory into family pastime, you’ll be able to fit the whole tribe into this one!

Sega Genesis/Megadrive

The Sega Genesis, or Megadrive as it was known outside of North America, dragged console culture into the 16-bit age. The machine that gave us Sonic the Hedgehog was a sleeker number than its predecessors. You’ll want to get its pacy automobile equivalent onto the open road to put it to the test.

Playstation 2

With a 128-bit, 294 Mhz Emotion Engine running under the hood, Sony’s breakthrough games machine is the godfather of 21st century consoles. Just one look at the powerful Playstation car will tell you that now we mean business.

Gamecube

Nintendo’s PS2-rival was a prettier machine both inside and out. The superior graphics of the games were matched by the elegant indigo box that powered them. The vehicular version is similarly elegant – and easy to park!

Game Boy Color

It’s funny to think that the graphics of handheld consoles used to be in black and white. Sega and Atari both beat Nintendo off the mark when it came to producing a color screen – but when the Game Boy Color arrived, its batteries had far better staying power. The Game Boy car, therefore, is a neat little runaround that’ll keep going as long as you need it.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 introduced console gaming as we know it today. With its superior graphics, built-in hard drive, DVD player, web access and usb ports, the machine is ready to communicate with the outside world. We reckon this makes the car version just about ‘driverless’-ready – and versatile enough for town, arena, and off-road.

Nintendo Switch

Finally consoles have gone truly mobile: the Switch is a powerful home console that you can pick up and play on the go. Naturally, its car version is a sporty 2-seater that looks like it’s ready for anything!

Tags: cars, classics, consoles, design, favorite, reimagined