Source: 小坂学 Manabu Kosaka (@coca1127) - image used with permission

That’s paper!? Artist’s mindblowing Nintendo Famicom is accurate down to the circuit boards

Many of our readers, and especially fans of retro gaming, not to mention those who are old enough to remember playing with one, will probably recognize Nintendo's Family Computer (FC), commonly known in Japan as Famicom.

Stock photo for illustrative purposes

The first iteration of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it became a household fixture in many Japanese homes in the mid to late 1980s with a number of groundbreaking games, such as the platform game Super Mario Bros. and the action-adventure games The Legend of Zelda and Metroid, which became long-running franchises.

Japanese artist 小坂学 Manabu Kosaka (@coca1127) is one of those who have fond memories of playing with a Famicom console as an elementary student. That's why he chose it for his latest paper sculpture project. In fact, for Kosaka, the strength and depth of his feelings for objects he admires or feels attached to are crucial. He expresses these feelings by striving to reproduce the form of the objects as faithfully as possible in his preferred medium, Kent paper, pushing the boundaries of paper expression in the process. Whether it's a watch, a camera, or a transistor radio, he creates astonishing life-sized sculptures in painstaking detail, not only limiting himself to external appearances and the textures of surfaces but paying equal attention to the object's inner workings.

For example, look at how he approaches a pair of Nike sneakers:

Famicom by Manabu Kosaka

For the Famicom, he followed the same level of dedication, attention to detail, and passion, with amazing results. Here's his labor of love:

"Here's the Famicom I played like crazy as an elementary school student. I poured my heart and soul into this and made it out of paper."

Reproduced with permission from 小坂学 Manabu Kosaka (@coca1127)

As he Tweeted earlier, you can see how he used his own console as the model:

Reproduced with permission from 小坂学 Manabu Kosaka (@coca1127)

You can already see some of it in the first four images above, but he also designed the control pads, the wires, and spared no details when it comes to the console's insides, from the chassis to the structural elements, the circuit boards, transistors, circuits, and even all the printed text.

Reactions

Kosaka's amazing Famicom sculpture elicited numerous reactions on Twitter, such as:

  • "(...)It looks like the real thing, only in a different material. Amazing!"
  • "This looks just like a real Famicom console but all in white! You even made the wires and the circuit boards!!"
  • "Did you just sandpaper a real console and remove all the color? just kidding. Amazing!"
  • "Wow, you did indeed pour your heart and soul into it and it shows..."

If you'd like to see more of Manabu Kosaka's awesome paper creations, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

By - Ben K.

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