The original Doom is one of those video games that helped define a genre. It was one of the pioneers in the first-person shooter category, and is still a noteworthy game to this day due to the genre it helped launch, and the franchise that spawned from its initial success. The Doom franchise is a massive catalog of games with frequent releases, including this year's Doom: The Dark Ages.

While Doom: The Dark Ages may be a game I use to test gaming performance for laptops and desktop GPUs, the original Doom isn't exactly an intensive game to run. It launched in 1993, after all. But there's an entire community of enterprising gamers who will look at a tech product and ask "but can it run Doom?" and some of these Doom installations are seriously mind-boggling. So here's a list of my top six favorite Doom installs.

On Proton Drive

And you can, too

To kick off our list of impressive Doom setups, we have Doom on Proton Drive. All you need is access to Proton's Doom page.

While Proton Drive isn't a specific piece of Doom-capable hardware that shocked us, the software integration is the real feat. After all, Proton Drive is supposed to be a cloud storage system. It's not a gaming platform at all. Which is what makes it so unhinged.

This particular Doom setup was detailed by XDA's Brian Burgess who uses Doom on Proton Drive as work break entertainment. Because playing Doom on your phone or Steam Deck is just too pedestrian.Proton's Doom

On a toaster

Well, kind of.

Technically, this isn't a toaster that's running Doom. Though there have been other instances of Doom on a toaster. This one is particularly ingenious because the toaster functions as a PC case, running an Intel Core Ultra 9 with a discrete Nvidia GPU. Which makes this something of a 2-for-1 special. Not only is it an impressive PC build, to put a mini ITX tower inside a toaster, it's also an impressive Doom install, since the game runs on a set of small displays in a 3 x 3 grid on the front panel of the toaster.

There are other Doom toasters out there, but previous versions of "Doom on a toaster" used the kitchen appliance as something closer to a controller than a PC. So SignalRGB's Doom toaster is one of a kind.

On an elliptical

Doom on the run.

Yes, you read that right. The 1993 first-person shooter can run on a Life Fitness SE3 Elliptical. The "Can it run Doom?" crowd looked at an exercise machine and found a way to make it happen. All we have to do is look on in sheer wonder and profit.

This particular find was detailed on the ItRunsDoom reddit by hobbyist grubbyplaya. The Elliptical is running Android 5, though using Android Debug Bridge to run Freedoom on the machine was too buggy to be useful. Instead, our noble tinkerer managed to find an official download of Life Fitness menus, which allowed grubbyplaya to install Doom via USB.

On a power bank

Charge your devices, and play Doom, all at the same time.

Yes, someone did put Doom on an Anker power bank. Doom enthusiast Aaron Christophel detailed the process of installing Doom on the Anker charger over on YouTube.

Anker Doom was made possible by the Anker Prime Charger's internal display, which makes running Doom possible. After all, it's hard to play a game if you can't see it. But the Anker Prime Charger also features and ESP32C3, 16MB of storage, and 8MB of RAM inside the power bank's case. Making the Anker Prime Charger capable of storing and running Doom locally.

On an LED Cube

Doom in 9x9x9 format, coming soon to LEDs near you.

This project comes from a veteran in the field of installing Doom on whatever hardware is nearby. YouTuber OHMbrew is responsible for installing Doom on the Holocube, a 9x9x9 LED light grid. The Holocube can run games other than Doom, but in typical fashion the best way to showcase the Holocube's gaming prowess was with a shooter from 1993.

What makes this one particularly fascinating is just how stripped-down the game is on the Holocube. And yet, it's still recognizable as Doom. Which is kind of mind-boggling.

On a fitness watch

The Xiaomi Mi Band 8, to be precise

Yes, you can install and run Doom on Xiaomi's version of the Fitbit.

This is another Doom project from YouTuber Aaron Christophel and it just might be the most impressive version of Doom we've seen so far. Not only is the Xiaomi Mi Band 8 got a tiny display, it's running Doom with a higher framerate and less stuttering than most gaming PCs in 1993 would have been able to. And as someone who wears a smartwatch every day, the idea of installing Doom on one and having a quick, easy way to pass my lunchbreak is incredibly compelling.

There are other crazy ways to run Doom

This list is by no means exhaustive and we've covered four other insane ways to play Doom in the past. And there are more and more out there every day, since enterprising Doom enthusiasts have found ways to play the game on just about anything with a screen. You can put Doom on your smart watch, your exercise equipment, your power bank, or your cloud storage system and still find new and exciting ways to play the game.

The best way to keep up with advancements in the field of ingenious Doom installs is to track the ItRunsDoom reddit, and enjoy the chaos.