Doom delivers five minutes of terminal violence on an IBM mainframe

You can now play Doom on an IBM mainframe using only a text terminal, no login required.

WND Software has successfully demonstrated Doom, the classic 1993 first-person shooter, running on an IBM Z mainframe. The game is rendered in ASCII characters through a text terminal emulator, eliminating the need for traditional graphics. This demonstration allows users to play a five-minute session, with up to 50 simultaneous users supported. The implementation, provided by Wojciech Graj's DOOM-ASCII, replaces visual effects with colored characters and omits sound. Access to the game requires no installation or login, only a willingness to engage with the text-based interface. This is a continuation of efforts to run Doom on diverse hardware, following previous successes on platforms ranging from databases to microcontrollers. However, the novelty here lies in its playable state via a terminal emulator, a feat previously achieved using VNC but now demonstrated through SSH.

The ability to run and play a graphically intensive game like Doom through a text-based terminal on an IBM Z mainframe signifies a remarkable, albeit niche, demonstration of software compatibility and terminal emulation capabilities. It highlights how legacy systems can still be leveraged for unexpected applications, pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible with older hardware and interfaces. This achievement, while largely symbolic, showcases the flexibility of modern terminal software in interacting with powerful, albeit dated, computing architectures.

While not a practical application for mainstream gaming, this demonstration serves as a "because I can" moment that validates the robustness of both the game's code and the mainframe's processing power. It underscores the potential for creative software solutions to overcome traditional hardware limitations, offering a unique way to interact with powerful systems. The five-minute session limit and the need for considerable squinting suggest that while playable, this is more of a proof-of-concept than a mass-market entertainment solution.