Back in 1994, Doom was ported to the SEGA 32X, a piece of hardware that turned the SEGA Genesis into a 32-bit machine. In the name of science, someone decided to see about putting the FPS game on a vanilla Genesis console. The results are lackluster.
This handiwork comes from hardware modder krikzz on Twitter, who managed to get a Linux version of Doom running on a Mega EverDrive cartridge on the typical, off-the-shelf Genesis. Pushing the 16-bit retro console to its limits, the old game appears as a grey rectangle on the screen, though it does manage to run, albeit poorly. I say run, really it’s just the main menu and demo screen, because actual gameplay is a whole other kettle of demons on tech this limited.
Doom was one of many facets in the console war of the early to mid-nineties between SEGA and Nintendo. SEGA managed to get the horror game on home consoles first, but required the 32X, an add-on peripheral, and even then it wasn’t a perfect translation. Doom hit the SNES in 1995, a version that’s comparatively weaker, but didn’t need any other add-ons. The Atari Jaguar and 3DO got ports too, because even then Doom was put on anything that had a screen and buttons.
The list of appliances that can hold a bit of rip and tear continues to grow. Last month, the new Nintendo Game and Watch was made to run Doom, and you can build a PC in Minecraft to play Doom, if you want to get meta about it. Playing it on some sheep in Minecraft, and on a McDonald’s cash register, might still be the weirdest, mind.
If you ever wonder how doom may work on bare genesis hardware then here is the answer: Funny port based on linux doom sources is already here (:
Sources and ROMs on my github: https://t.co/Xw0CrkVtgq pic.twitter.com/xK4cmb1eni— krikzz (@krikzz) December 2, 2020
You can download the files and a step-by-step for doing this yourself here. Here’s how to play the classic Doom on Windows 10, and someone’s remaking it in Minecraft, too. In modern Doom news, Doom Eternal hit Game Pass this week.