Mario, Luigi and Yoshi made out of cans.

Amazing Video Game Characters Made From Cans

This article has been re-upped because we think it’s too awesome to forget.

Recycling has never been so cool; this crafty designer turns cans destined for the trash into works of gaming art.

Kazuko Hasegawa started making characters from empty Heineken and Coca Cola cans way back in 2007.  The process to make the characters may surprise you.

Here’s how Kazuko does it:
1. Print out a papercraft pattern of the character.
2. Cut out each piece of the papercraft pattern and tape it to the cans.
3. Cut the pieces out of the cans and assemble them as you would papercraft.

The ingenuity of incorporating papercraft techniques into making characters from cans is a masterstoke, and the results are incredible.

The above models of Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi took two months to make; Mario alone took 50-60 cans to create.

Check out some of the characters Kazuko has created:

You can view more works by Kazuko Hasegawa on Otaku Mode.

Written by John

I'm a 36-year-old gamer, clinging onto the gamepad despite real life responsibilities trying to pull me kicking and screaming away. You can follow me on Twitter: @johnlevelsup.

Current setup: Gaming PC with a 1080 Ti, Xbox Series X, Steam Deck, and retro consoles, on a Gigabyte M32Q monitor, sitting on a Flexispot E7 standing desk.