Pregnancy test and intestinal wand: the most unusual objects and devices that launched the legendary Doom (1 photo + 13 videos)

20 August 2024

It all depends on how twisted your imagination is.

The legendary shooter Doom can be ported to any device that can play at least some kind of picture. The game requires almost no special resources, so to run it on weak devices you only need to have straight hands and programming skills. It all started when the source code of the game was once opened and since then programmers from all over the world have been having fun. The game was launched on various unusual devices and we found some of them.

Sound waves

You can run the game on anything that supports the code. Any processor, even the smallest, can handle it. However, a craftsman with the nickname wojtek-graj from Reddit was able to run the game on sound waves. He turned Doom into an audio signal, which is decoded as a picture. Data comes through a microphone, and pressing different keys corresponding to certain frequencies affects the sound waves. You can even play the game, but the FPS is still low, you can't complete Doom, but for fun - why not?

Toothbrush

As we said, any processor can run the game. An enthusiast from America, Aaron Christophel, uploaded the code to a smart toothbrush with a color display. You can even play this game with a wireless mouse and firmware.

An old MP3 player

Even a three-color player can launch Doom using an unofficial Rockbox program. You can play and control, but you can see everything very poorly. By the way, the FPS is better than on sound waves.

That same Exel

In 2022, they managed to launch Doom for the first time using an Excel table. The thing is that each cell performed the function of a pixel. But it is impossible to play this game, the pixels change and light up very slowly.

Lego

Engineer James Brown was able to run a game on a Lego piece, which acts as a microprocessor with a monitor. However, it is impossible to play. Due to the screen size of 0.42 inches with a resolution of 72x40, nothing is visible at all except the main picture.

Suddenly! E. coli

In 2023, scientist Lauren Ramlan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched a game on E. coli. It sounds strange, but it is real. E. coli cells acted as pixels in black and white. The bacteria were in an experimental setup, and as soon as their glowing proteins were activated, the pixels lit up. But it's impossible to play this game. Given the speed, it would take 600 years to complete the game.

Apple Watch

Thanks to the source code, Doom was launched on the Apple Watch. Of course, it's not as surprising as E. coli. And you can't play the game. But as an experiment - why not?

Piano

To launch the game on the piano, indie developers created their own prototype of the musical instrument Doom Piano. For this, they needed an old piano, a bunch of wires and a monitor with a processor.

Teletext

Lukneu was able to adapt Doom for the network television service. The character can be controlled using the remote control.

Pregnancy test

Blogger and engineer Foone Turing continued the tradition of the Doom gaming community and published a video of the shooter running on an electronic pregnancy test. To do this, a mini-screen with a processor was placed in the test. It is impossible to play, but you can joke.

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