Earlier this week, a Twitter user going by the handle GaryOderNichts pulled off a unique hack by getting the shareware version of Doom running on Nintendo’s Alarmo alarm clock. He showcased the success of his project with a gameplay video shared in a Twitter thread.
In his Twitter updates, Gary explained that the hack currently doesn’t support audio. To make it work, the Doom shareware file (known as a .wad file) has to be compressed and then unpacked in memory upon booting. This process is necessary to bypass the limitations of the USB loader’s memory capacity. The good news for the curious gamers out there is that you won’t need to alter your Alarmo if you want to give this a shot—Gary has made the necessary project files available on GitHub.
Wondering how this hack was achieved? Gary shared an in-depth look in a blog post, where he described the initial steps of taking apart an Alarmo to study the hardware inside. The device uses an STM32H730ZBI6 Arm Cortex-M7 processor, which is luckily well-documented. This provided Gary with the groundwork to connect his hacked Alarmo to a Raspberry Pi.
Gary admittedly did some tinkering, including soldering and other modifications, but the version now on GitHub is much simpler. It doesn’t require any physical alterations to the Alarmo in order to run Doom from a USB drive.
The controls for playing Doom on the Nintendo Alarmo are ingeniously mapped to the device’s original buttons and touch dial. Swiping across the top allows players to aim from side to side, while the notification button on the bottom-right corner serves as the firing trigger. The video demonstration, which highlights a playthrough of one of Doom’s initial levels, doesn’t cover other potential controls.
While it might seem offbeat to have an alarm clock double as a gaming device, the Alarmo isn’t the first unexpected piece of tech to run Doom. The game has been ported onto a variety of unlikely devices, from a smart lawnmower to the Raspberry Pi Pico RP2350 microcontroller, and even an air hockey table. There’s even one creative individual who outfitted an old Commodore 64 with an expansion card to get it running Doom.
For those interested in tech modifications and gaming nostalgia, this hack represents yet another entertaining reminder of Doom’s versatility and its enduring legacy in the gaming world.
