After someone figured out how to display pictures on Nintendo Alarmo, their next goal was to get a certain beloved shooter running on it.
We’re still not sure what possessed Nintendo to make an interactive alarm clock, and call it Alarmo. Whatever the case, it seems to have gone down well with diehard enthusiasts who don’t mind being woken up by the sound of Splatoon gunfire.
Like with any new piece of hardware, it didn’t take long for people to ponder that age old question: can it run Doom? This was something posited to Twitter user GaryOderNichts, who’s known for his work reverse engineering the Wii U. Last week, he wrote a blog post detailing the tech behind Alarmo and its inner workings, having figured out how to run custom code and display images on the clock face.
After demonstrating this with a cute picture of a cat, there was immediate demand for Gary to get the original Doom, from 1993, running on Alarmo. Getting pictures working on the clock is one thing, but a whole game? Is that even feasible? In the case of Doom, the answer is a resounding yes.
We don’t know what kind of technical wizardry had to occur but Gary has now managed to port Doom to Alarmo. Although considering he achieved it only a few days after the cat picture, maybe it’s not as difficult as we imagined. And no, it’s not just a single screenshot or video footage of someone playing Doom; it’s the whole game and it works.
Gary posted proof to Twitter over the weekend, with the bell on top being used for movement and the buttons for menu inputs and shooting. It doesn’t look comfortable to play in the slightest and there’s no audio support either, but that’s not what’s important. To misuse that Jurassic Park quote, it’s not whether Alarmo should run Doom, it’s whether it could.
It’s frankly a rite of passage for every new piece of hardware to run Doom to some degree. Either that or the gaming community’s longest running joke.
In case you weren’t aware, there’s very little that can’t run Doom, and we’re not just referring to gaming hardware either. From old cameras to kitchen appliances to even pregnancy tests, there are all manner of devices you can theoretically play Doom on. There’s a whole website listing them too, if you fancy falling down that particular rabbit hole.
Alarmo isn’t the only recent example either. Earlier this year, it was announced Doom could run on a lawnmower, specifically a new line of electric lawnmowers by Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna.
This wasn’t even a fan project; this was an officially licensed deal between Husqvarna and publisher ZeniMax Media. This was obviously a marketing stunt meant to cash in on the joke, and it was a short-lived offer since the game was removed from the lawnmowers in September.