Summary

  • 1) Doom runs smoothly on an Anker Prime Charger’s built-in screen.
  • 2) Device uses an ESP32C3 with 16MB storage and 8MB RAM to store and run Doom.
  • 3) Controls are a single side wheel; click/turn combos map look, move and fire—playable but clumsy.

At this point, it feels like anything with a screen that can't run Doom is an oddity. We've seen so many different devices running the classic FPS, that it's hard to keep track of them all. However, to my knowledge, this is the first time anyone has gotten Doom running on a power bank. You know, because they tend to lack screens.

You know what doesn't lack a screen, though? The Anker Prime Charger. And because the Anker Prime Charger has a screen, that leaves it ripe for people to play Doom on it. So, one person did what we all expected and got the title running on the Anker's screen. And the best bit? It actually runs really smoothly.

Getting Doom on an Anker Prime Charger isn't as bad an idea as you think it is

As spotted by Tom's Hardware, this cool trick was performed by Aaron Christophel on YouTube. They uploaded a video demonstrating Doom running on an Anker Prime Charger, and while the controls are a little finicky, the game runs better than you'd think. Aaron confirms this by saying, "So, well, this works better than expected," before explaining why Doom runs so well on a power charger of all things.

Well, it turns out that buried deep within the Anker Prime Charger is an ESP32C3, which Aaron claims "would be able to run Doom on its own." It also has 16MB of storage and 8MB of RAM in the case, which means the device can both store and run Doom all on internal hardware. The end result is a cool game you can play while you wait for your phone to charge.

So, yeah, about those controls. The only real way you can "control" the Anker Prime Charger is via a wheel on its side. So, to play Doom, you need to spin to win. Aaron says that they mapped firing the gun to clicking the wheel in, looking up and down to turning the wheel, and looking left and right to clicking in the wheel and turning it. You're probably not going to beat Ultra-Violence mode on it any time soon, but in terms of actually playing the game, it's serviceable.

If you're in the mood for more Doom-based schenanigans, we've covered a few eccentric examples in the past. For example, there was that one time someone got Doom running on an exercise bike, and you had to keep pedalling to keep the game running. Or, if you want a fun way to pass time in the office without your boss catching you, you can try running Doom in a Word document instead. Finally, we have to give a shout-out to the coolest way to play Doom: on a volumetric display.