Resurrect Your NES with This Functioning Controller Coffee Table

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Resurrect Your NES with This Functioning Controller Coffee Table

April 12, 2012

So the “new aesthetic” may not be about 8-bit graphics or the wireframes and voxels that constructed the compressed worlds of 80s video games. The present retro attitude and affinity for 30-year old computer graphics are just part of an initial phase from which NA will pass onto other more complex and descriptive iterations. In the meantime, we’ll have to put up with a further onslaught of trivial pixelations and pop-gradients, not too mention retroactive hacks for long obsolete gaming system. Case in point, the NES controller coffee table.

Rather than simply hunt down a controller to replace a broken or lost one, furniture maker Charles Lushear decided to build his own that would suit all his gaming/lounging needs. He scaled up the classic NES controller to the size of a table and installed an operable D-pad plus start + select/ A + B buttons. A movable glass overlay sits directly atop the controller face to accommodate books or beverages and can be easily removed as soon as the disapproving adults have exited the room. While the proportions and details of the replica are exact, the classic color scheme has been altered with a blend of mahogany, maple, and walnut wood. The controller itself, however, is too long for just one person to use and so forces friends to work together, turning one-player games into a fun, if frustrating, play of planning and coordination. Here’s to teamwork!