If a gadget has a processor, then there’s a good chance that someone will try to hack to run Doom. A Nintendo Game & Watch? Naturally. A MacBook Pro touch bar? Right. Calculators? Why not. Now, thanks to the Games Made of Cardboard channel on YouTube, we can finally add “cardboard boxes” to this illustrious list.
Okay, so, technically, Bill Thorpe didn’t do the impossible and got the classic first-person shooter Doom II to work in a real cardboard box. But your 10-minute video is the next best thing. He recreates many of the game’s best moments using cardboard sets, characters and weapons. It’s a huge project that the video description says took nine months of work to complete.
Models are one thing, but perhaps the most impressive are the video’s special effects. Enemies occasionally spill real liquid on their cardboard surroundings or explode in real flames and burn until crisp. At one point, an enemy has its small head popped out, revealing a small cardboard skull inside. Original Doom II programmer John Romero even made a small appearance.
Unfortunately, it looks like Thorpe has plans for his Doom II cardboard recreation to be the last. In a video released last September, YouTuber said it hopes to come out on top after putting so much work into the project. Fortunately, you can find a significant catalog of other classic games recreated on cardboard on your channel, alongside a series of making-of videos about your Doom II recreation.