New Incredible ‘Will It Run Doom?’ Challenger Emerges

I am confident that everyone is well aware of the ‘Will it run Doom?’ challenge. People all around the world coming up with new ways of running a classic game on a rather bizarre list of devices.

We’ve seen cameras, calculators, printers and smartwatches, to name a few, all being able to run Doom, with each one being a reminder just how far technology has come.

Well it seems a peak may have been reached, this new addition to the challenge will take some beating. A video was uploaded to Radioactive Channel on YouTube showing Doom 2, running on a single keyboard key.

The keyboard is the Optimus Maximus, and I won’t lie, I didn’t even know this keyboard existed. Each key is an individual display and can be customised any way you want, with an SD slot at the back to save and swap configurations.

The keyboard was released in 2007, but is no longer available, and cost around $1000-$1500.

Many of the Doom challenge contenders we have seen so far have not actually been playable, but this one is. It may be on a tiny 48×48 pixel display and it may not be the smooth gaming experience you’re used too, but the video does show the player walking around and shooting.

I’m sure at some point there will be an even crazier contender in the long running ‘Will it run Doom?’ challenge, but for now at least, this has surely got to be the clear winner. It is not very often you’ll need a game controller to play a game on your game controller.

I will point out it is actually Doom 2 they are running, not the original Doom. I don’t think that can distract from how impressive this latest addition is though.

What is the best ‘Will it run Doom?’ contender you have seen so far? Could you do better?