In just 3 days, the state of Nintendo Alarmo hacking went from 'it loads a cat jpg' to 'it runs Doom better than a lot of PCs back in the day'

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As sure as the seasons or the tides, DIYers will make Doom run on that proprietary new device.

Promo image of Alarmo alarm clock next to screenshot of it running Doom.
(Image credit: Nintendo, GaryOderNichts)

First reported by Eurogamer, Nintendo hardware enthusiast GaryOderNichts has subjected the Japanese publisher's new Alarmo smart clock to everyone's favorite hacker right of passage: Forcing the proprietary little device to run id Software's seminal 1993 FPS, Doom.

My first thought on seeing that Nintendo released a little smart device based on its games was "that's cute, I find nothing objectionable about this," but then I spied the gewgaw's $100 price tag. Now I want to see DIYers like GaryOderNichts punish the alarm clock by twisting it in horrible, warranty-voiding ways like it's trapped in internet of things Hellraiser.

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It started with GaryOderNichts figuring out how to run custom code at all on the Alarmo, a process which the enthusiast outlined on his blog and demonstrated by making the device display a picture of a cat. This naturally led GaryOderNichts' followers to request a Doom demonstration, which he provided just a few days later on November 2.

"There's currently no audio support," GaryOderNichts wrote in the description of a video demonstration of the hack. "To avoid USB loader memory size restrictions, the .wad needs to be compressed and then uncompressed to external memory on boot.

"However, it's possible to load the shareware version of Doom entirely from USB, without modifying the Alarmo."

I think my favorite part has to be that you can control Doom with the Alarmo's onboard controls⁠—twist its light up little "bell" to turn, click it down to move forward, and press its side buttons to fire. While Doom on anything projects are almost universally for demonstration (or shiggles), you can access GaryOderNichts' source code and learn how to replicate the hack over on Github.

Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.