Hedkayse x Nintendo Life

We'll admit it, this is a bit of a random one. First, let's dismiss the myth – Nintendo Life Towers does not actually exist. In fact, most of our team have always worked remotely, although we do indeed have a small (shoe box-sized) office in a shared building at Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park, which we think sounds really fancy.

Shortly after we moved in to the building we attended a few of the Friday Coffee Morning pow-wows and got chatting to some of the other tenants, one of whom worked for Hedkayse, a UK firm which produces and manufactures the world's most indestructible cycle helmet.

Hedkayse | One

As keen cyclists ourselves, it's been interesting following the progress of their business over the past few months. First their "indestructible" claim was put to the test on Channel 5's "The Gadget Show" with huge success. Then, the firm appeared on the BBC's "Dragons Den" show but ultimately didn't accept an offer of investment. Quite the celebrity office neighbours, right?

Whilst these helmets are ridiculously indestructible, the plain colour designs weren't really our style. We were chatting one day with George Fox, Hedkayse's Managing Director, and he asked us: "hey, you guys are creative, what if you could design your own helmet, and we'll make it?" He went on to tell us about a new product they were planning on launching, Hedkayse Unique, where you basically design your own pattern for the standard Hedkayse helmet.

Challenge accepted! Naturally we pondered what Nintendo-inspired designs we could think of that might work, and this is what we came up with.

Design 1: Mario

We had to start with Mario and that striking pose from Super Mario Odyssey with Cappy. It's super bright, fun and uses the travel stickers from the game to give the design of a travel item, such as a suitcase or backpack. We love how this looks in person; the red really stands out.

Design 2: Splatoon

Next idea was the contrasting colours of Splatoon 2, whether it be a pair of Joy-Con or the grips on the Pro Controller; we love this pink/green combo and thought it would make an awesome basis for a split helmet design. Those octoling eyes also make a perfect accent for the side of the design, don't you think?

Design 3: Classic Mario

Finally, we had to go retro. Super Mario Bros. is iconic in whatever era you're from. We threw this one together quite quickly, so some of the blocks are mirrored or don't quite line up correctly, but you totally get the idea of having a "level" around the shape of the helmet.

Which would you wear?

We're pretty sure Nintendo are unlikely to get into the cycling helmet market, so this is the closest we'd ever get to the real thing. We're really happy with how they turned out, but what do you think?

Which is your favourite Hedkayse design?

Win Your Own Hedkayse Unique Helmet

Hedkayse were so impressed with our designs, they wanted to offer the same opportunity to you guys, the readers of Nintendo Life – and today we're launching a competition where you can design your own helmet (whatever design you like) and we'll pick our five favourites which will be made by Hedkayse and sent to winners.

Head on over to the competition page to find out more and submit your design.


We'd like to thank the guys at Hedkayse for making our designs, if you're interested in their products check out their website and Instagram/Twitter profiles.

Disclaimer: To be clear, these designs are NOT available for purchase and have been manufactured by Hedkayse for promotional purposes only to demonstrate the possibilities of their "Unique" product where a customer can provide their own design to be printed on the helmet.

[source hedkayse.com]