The newNintendoalarm clock, aptly named Alarmo, can officially be added to the ever-growing list of devices that can run the originalDoom. The Alarmo wakes fans up with immersive music from their favorite Nintendo franchises, likeThe Legend of Zelda,Super Mario Odyssey, andSplatoon 3, but it’s not a game console itself. However, that hasn’t stopped the gaming community from finding ways to runDoomon almost anything.
As spotted byEurogamer,Wii U reverse engineer GaryOderNichts dissected the Alarmo to discover its capabilities,initially confirming a picture of a cat can be displayed on the device’s 2.8-inch LCD screen. Of course, the real question everyone wanted an answer to was “what games could be played on a device with two buttons and a rotational dial?“GaryOderNichtswas happy to find that answer, starting withDoom.
What Makes The Nintendo Alarmo Tick?
The Simple-Looking Device Has Just WhatDoomNeeds
The Alarmo stands out from other alarm clocks by responding to theuser’s movement with sounds from Nintendo video games. The device will also have additional themes added over time for fans to choose from, such asAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. This is all achieved with a 24GHz mmWave presence sensor and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi to download software updates,GaryOderNichts explained in a blog post. With the ability to download files,GaryOderNichts uploaded source code forDoomto the Alarmo and discovered the 90s shooter runs fairly smoothly,with the rotational dial acting as a joystick.
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Naturally,there are some caveats to running a decades-old game on a digital alarm clock. There is currently no audio support for the game on Alarmo, and to avoid memory size restrictions on the USB loader, the .wad has to be compressed and uncompressed to external memory when turning the Alarmo on. The good news is that the shareware version ofDoomcan be loaded entirely from a USB connection without extensive modification of the Alarmo, GaryOderNichts wrote. At the time of writing, it’s unclear if any future updates to the Alarmo will get in the way of runningDoomon the device.
Our Take: We’re Still Waiting For The Switch 2
The Alarmo Is A Fun Diversion Until The Switch 2 Arrives
Doomrunning on the Alarmo adds to an ever-growing list of strange places people can play the groundbreaking shooter, such as one fan running the title ona pregnancy test. This might make the steep price of $99.99 for the Alarmo worth it for some,but it’s ultimately a fun distraction for fans until Nintendo gives official news on the Switch 2.
The current Switch is at the end of its lifecycle, and there’s been little information as to what the next major Nintendo console will be. Reports claiming that theSwitch 2 will have an 8-inch LCD screen and boast 12GB of RAMhave yet to be confirmed by Nintendo. For now, fans can watch a decades-old game run on the Alarmo and wonder whatDoomwill appear on next.
