A new video reveals that it is entirely possible to run Doom using only a calculator and potatoes. The method requires far more effort than most people would be willing to put in, but reinforces that Doom really is playable anywhere.
One of the longest-running endeavors in gaming is porting Doom to every possible device. Although the game has received a huge number of official ports, fans have ported it to devices on which no one would ever feasibly use. In recent weeks, this has included Doom running on a pregnancy test and a refrigerator. Still, not all fan ports are gimmicks. Some, like a fan-made port to the TI-84 graphing calculator, have likely been enjoyed by thousands worldwide.
YouTuber Equalo posted their unique potato setup earlier this month, in what is not the only potato-related gaming news of 2020 given a Pokemon potato chip brand deal. Equalo relied on the fact that inserting a galvanized nail into a potato causes a reaction that generates a very small amount of electricity.
Over the course of a few days, Equalo boiled a huge number of potatoes and cut them into over 750 slices total. Equalo had initially intended to run Doom on a Raspberry Pi Zero, but when that failed instead used a TI-84 graphing calculator to run Doom, which was a successful venture.
Although Equalo’s achievement may seem humble in comparison to some major Doom fan projects, there were unique constraints. His garage could only hold so many potato slices. If he had the space, money, and patience to boil a greater number of potatoes, Equalo would likely have made the game work on the Raspberry Pi Zero. Equalo also had to work under a strict time limit, as the potatoes became less able to generate electricity as they rotted, and apparently the smell almost made Equalo physically ill.
It is possible that someone might repeat this experiment with more resources, and run Doom on more devices as a result. Bethesda recently worked with a group of overclockers to run Doom Eternal at over a thousand frames per second. This shows that the creators and publishers behind the Doom franchise are willing to help enthusiasts push games to their extremes.
Not all changes to the original Doom come from fans. For example, id Software added brand-new features to current-gen Doom ports in September, including support for gyro controls and a new difficulty setting. Wherever Doom goes in the future, one thing is clear: The game will appear in unexpected formats, potato-driven and otherwise, but it’s still the same game fans know and love.
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