Earlier this week, a creative tinkerer known as GaryOderNichts shared an intriguing project on Twitter: he successfully hacked the Nintendo Alarmo alarm clock to run the classic shareware version of Doom. Gary posted a captivating gameplay video, capturing the attention of gaming enthusiasts eager to see Doom running on yet another unlikely device.
In his Twitter thread, Gary explained that while sound isn’t up and running, he’d found a workaround for the USB loader’s memory limitations. To get Doom going, you have to compress the shareware .wad file before decompressing it upon boot. For those curious to try this hack themselves, there’s no need to tamper with your own Alarmo. All essential files and detailed instructions are conveniently available on GitHub.
Naturally, the question arises: how did he pull this off? Gary delved into the innards of the Alarmo, examining its hardware components. The device runs on an STM32H730ZBI6 Arm Cortex-M7 processor, a system that’s pretty well-documented. This familiarity allowed Gary to connect his Alarmo to a Raspberry Pi and begin his experiment.
In his own blog post, Gary recounted the soldering and modifications needed to execute the exploit successfully. However, the good news for DIY enthusiasts is that the GitHub-hosted version doesn’t require any hardware modifications to launch Doom via USB on the Alarmo.
Navigating Doom on the Alarmo involves a rather unique control setup. Everything revolves around the controls on the top of the device: just two buttons and a versatile touch dial that can be pressed or swiped. In this Doom iteration, swiping aims the view left and right, while shooting is managed with the notification button snug on the lower right. The demo showcases these controls in action as Gary conquers one of the first levels of Doom.
It’s mind-blowing to see such an unconventional $99 alarm clock running Doom, but let’s not forget this isn’t the first bizarre device to host the iconic game. Doom enthusiasts have managed to get it playing on various unexpected gadgets, including a smart lawnmower, a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 microcontroller, and even an inventive hack on an air hockey table. There was even an ambitious project that got Doom running on a souped-up ancient Commodore 64.
In this twist of events, the ever-expanding list of devices running Doom gets a quirky and exciting addition with the Nintendo Alarmo. It’s a testament to the creativity and enduring appeal of both the game and those who find new ways to keep it alive on modern (and not-so-modern) tech.
