(Originally posted on 8/12/2022)
There’s been a couple of running jokes over the years in regards to running specific video games.
One you might have heard is the age-old question, “But can it run Crysis?”, referring to a 2007 first-person shooter game of the same name that was famous for its high system requirements at the time.
Another running joke that has been permeating Internet culture more recently is that people keep porting Doom, the classic 1993 first-person shooter game, to all sorts of random technology (most of which are practically unplayable but still a novel idea, nonetheless).
Before we continue, however, I find it important to note a few systems the original DOOM officially runs on (personal computers and consoles):
- (PC) Windows 95 and up
- (PC) Mac OS 7 and up
- SNES
- Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo Switch
- Playstation 1, Playstation 3, Playstation 4
- Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Nowadays, in order to actually play it on newer hardware, you have to use an emulator that supports DOS games, like DOSBox. In fact, DOOM is currently available on Steam and uses DOSBox to run.
With most of the general systems that can be expected to run DOOM normally out of the way, it’s time to show some truly unusual places that Doomguy can pop up in.
Starting off simple enough, one man set out to play DOOM on a Kodak DC260, a digital camera from 1998.
The video demonstrating this port was thanks to Clint Basinger, the host who runs a YouTube channel that is dedicated to reviewing retro technology and computer games.
Another person thought it would be a good idea to play DOOM on a Tesla car console.
Well, actually many people thought it was just a good idea to play video games in general while sitting in their Tesla car. This was to the point where Tesla themselves decided to redesign the console of their Model S sports car so that it could double as a gaming console. According to an article from TheGamer, it can not only play DOOM, but it can also play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
In one strange feat of science, someone boiled 100 pounds of potatoes and wired them all up to a single TI-84 graphing calculator to run DOOM.
According to Equalo, the person who accomplished this, the potatoes started to stink really bad due to mold cultures growing on them over the course of the experiment. A video showcasing the fruits (or vegetables) of his labor can be seen here.
In another example, somebody managed to run DOOM on their MacBook Pro’s touch bar…for some reason.
Special thanks to Adam Bell for revealing this project of his on YouTube. Sure, maybe it’s a little impractical to play this game with a screen resolution of 2170×60 pixels, but hey, nobody is asking whether DOOM should run on it.
Lastly, we have what I believe to be the absolute weirdest, most “must do it to prove that we can” kind of DOOM port ever to be created: VidFerris’ FaviconDOOM.
If you pay close attention to the top-left corner of both of these images, you will see a tiny, little image in the tab of the browser. That is the favicon. VidFerris, the person who coded this, made it to where DOOM (freeware version, not the full game) would be rendered through the favicon. Of course, for demonstration purposes, the game can also be displayed in the browser window itself.
Now you don’t have to imagine what DOOM would look like if it was played in a 32×32 pixel box in the corner of your screen.
Incredible.
Leave a Reply