Released in 1993,DOOMis considered to be what cemented the first-person shooter genre. Being a 90s MS-DOS program makesDOOMrather easy to run by today’s standards, and so it has become both a meme and a challenge to try to getDOOMto run on anything with an ounce of processing power and a screen,including a McDonald’s cash register. The challenge has continued to evolved, and now includes getting the classic shooter to run on a Pioneer-brand DJ table.
The trend has brought what many consider to be id Software’s perfection of the genre it pioneered withWolfenstein 3Dto unexpected places, such as Nintendo’s newGame and Watchre-release. It has also brought the game to places people may have thought impossible, like runningDOOMon a potato-powered TI-84 graphing calculator.
RELATED:Modder Gets Doom to Run on the Nintendo Game and Watch Re-Release
YouTuber TheRasteri shared a video of themselves loading and playing the first level ofDOOMon a Pioneer DJ controller. The XDJ-RX2 DJ table has two USB ports, which TheRasteri uses to load the shareware version ofDOOMoff a USB drive, and then connect a keyboard for controlling the game. The color LCD display on the turntable renders the game well in their demonstration.
A person in the comments asked if it would be possible to controlDOOMwith the actual knobs and switches of the Pioneer turntable for an extra challenge, like playingDemon’s Soulswith aDance Dance Revolutiondance pad. TheRasteri said it would be possible, but that it would require much more modification to the table, which they did not want to do with a table they borrowed for the video. However, they say they are considering buying and modifying their own table to make a “properDOOMport with proper controls and audio.”
TheRasteri notes in the video description that some other hardware and a working knowledge of soldering and Linux is recommended for those interested in replicating their work. It takes a bit of work to make controllers work outside their intended purpose, much like makingDonkey Kong bongos work on a PS5 to play theDemon’s Soulsremake.
DOOMwill continue to appear in unexpected places it looks like, though it may be a different version ofDOOMgoing forward. A modder by the name of vapingwithtwisted420 managed to make the newDoom Eternalrun on a Samsung smart-fridge. Now, it looks like anything with a screen and an internet connection can playDOOM, whether it has the processing power or not.
