Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Image: Pigminted

We love a good bit of fan art every now and again, but sometimes you see something that just goes way beyond your expectations. While Twitter is a nightmare most of the time, occasionally you'll see something as you scroll through all the rubbish that makes it worthwhile. We stumbled across this artist's work by pure chance thanks to a well-timed retweet, and we had to share it with you.

Just take a look at these wooden sculpts depicting PlayStation game boxes:

We immediately fell in love with these things. It's the detail that impresses us the most; we love the layered 3D style applied to each box's artwork. All of them look stunning. There's something special about seeing these PSone and PS2 games rendered in wood; an old craft married to something so nostalgic. It makes us feel all warm inside.

Better still, these things are available for purchase. An artist by the name of Pigminted set up shop on Etsy in 2016, and has been making these gorgeous recreations since. You can order more or less any game you like to have it immortalised with a wooden model, complete with display stand so you can proudly present it on your shelf.

We caught up with Pigminted to talk about his craft. "I started working in the games industry as a 3D modeller," he says. "From there I started playing around with making comics and art prints, which led me to buying a laser engraver as a way to print on cardboard." This naturally progressed to engraving on wood, and the hobby grew from there.

One of the artist's favourites to make so far is Final Fantasy IX, "mainly because it's one of my favourite games of all time". It's worth noting, however, that Pigminted doesn't just make wooden models of PlayStation boxes; he'll turn his hand to NES and SNES cartridges, Game Boy games, trading cards, or even your favourite manga panel. "A particularly memorable one I’ve made is my Wonder Woman Day of the Dead prints," he tells us, referring to a series of engravings featuring skeletal depictions of the superhero through the ages.

One detail of the gaming-related items we've neglected to mention thus far, though, is their Raspberry Pi functionality. For those who aren't aware, a Raspberry Pi is essentially a tiny computer you can plug into a display. They're extremely flexible little things, and have become something of a boon for retro game emulation. Each of Pigminted's game models doubles as a Raspberry Pi case, and if you choose, you can order one which comes with everything you need in order to play your old favourites.

This aspect of the product simply came from a desire to find a decent case for the hardware. "I wanted to buy a Raspberry Pi Zero but I couldn’t find a cool case for it. After my coworker couldn't stand my complaining about not being able to find one, she said: 'If you can’t find one just make your own.' So I ended up making my own." Problem solved. That being said, these things take "up to 2-3 weeks" to make, with multiple steps required to get each piece looking right.

If you want to see more of these, Pigminted regularly posts short clips on his Twitter account, and you can always visit his Etsy store. What do you think of these meticulous wooden models? Which game would you want engraved? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Pigminted for answering our questions and allowing the use of these images. Please note that Push Square does not condone the use of emulators and ROMs. However, we really wanted to tell you about these gorgeous wooden sculpts.

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.