Forget Super Mario, Watch Doom Run Smoothly On A Hacked Nintendo Alarmo

Nintendo surprised just about everyone with its announcement of the Alarmo, especially with gamers waiting on the eventual arrival of the not-so-secret Nintendo Switch 2. Alarmo is a proprietary device with limited out of the box functionality, and so in time-honored tradition, someone figured out how to run Doom on it.

Reverse engineer GaryOderNichts shared the nitty gritty details of hacking the Alarmo. It involved connecting to the Alarmo’s board with a raspberry pi, dumping the firmware, and obtaining the key used for encrypting and decrypting files. This process led to the device being able to display the picture of a cat, but of course that wasn’t enough for the internet. “It was pretty clear what everyone wanted to see on the Alarmo. So, here it is - Doom running on the Nintendo Alarmo!”

It's a unique way to play Doom, as the controls are limited to the knob and two buttons at the top of the Alarmo. The knob is used to navigate and aim, while the front right button is used for shooting and the left front button is used for in-game interactions. The game itself runs well enough that it provides a playable experience albeit without any audio support. The knob even stays lit at an appropriate red hue while playing, too.

Nintendo will likely be less than enthused to see one of its devices hacked so quickly. Although, it’s difficult to tell if the Alarmo is important enough to the company for it to try and shore up its security. Hopefully, hackers can continue to poke and prod the device to see what else is possible, and do something interesting enough to justify paying the $99 price tag.