See ‘N Slay Makes Grown-Up DOOM Sounds from a Childhood Toy

ChromaLock had it with Fisher-Price’s standard See ‘N Say toys. Those farm animals and their obnoxious little bleats simply weren’t cutting it for someone who’d spent years shooting their way through hordes of demons in the original DOOM. He snatched one off the shelf, ripped it open, and transformed it into the See ‘N Slay, a version packed with the game’s distinctive scream-inducing enemy sounds. You pull the rope, spin the wheel to a face from the depths of hell, and a gravelly voice announces your doom before letting loose with a roar or screech straight from DOOM Eternal.

The disassembly process began with ChromaLock unscrewing the device, ripping out plastic clips, and desoldering the battery terminals in order to gain access to the original circuits. Grease was all over the place, and the wind-up gears inside were a sticky mess as he wrenched the thing apart, leaving him crawling around in a sea of it. When you rewind the cable and spin the wheel, the middle nub presses one of 12 buttons on the basic circuit board, depending on where you end up. He left that part in place, figuring he’d find a way to use the signals later. The colorful front sticker was removed with hot air and rubbing alcohol, revealing a bunch of painted-on plastic underneath, and then there was the fun of using acetone to remove some of the paint, resulting in this green sludge to clean up. He would have to sand for hours before the entire mess was smooth.

He had to clean up the mess first before he could start painting. The raw plastic was sealed with white primer, and then matte black spray was applied to give the shell a dirty, battle-worn appearance. He had to 3D-print a cover to protect the contacts in the battery compartment from spray paint, which can be quite harsh. To stand out among the demons, the red spinner need a new coat of paint. Putting putting all back together was a tremendous challenge; a loose screw needed to be tightened so that the spinner’s travel was not limited and could swing freely across the new artwork.


Sprites defined the face of the thing, so ChromaLock pulled 12 enemies from the original DOOM and DOOM II WAD files : Spider Mastermind, Baron of Hell, Revenant, Pain Elemental, Cacodemon, Mancubus, Arch-Vile, Imp, Demon, Zombie, Lost Soul, and Cyberdemon. Then he arranged them in a circle with some random Doom textures as backdrops, using the layout of a spare toy as a guide to ensure accuracy, and cut the entire design out of vinyl. The majority of the cutting was done with a laser, although the fumes irritated his eyes and throat severely. To make matters worse, he had to cope with laptop difficulties and a couple of dead SD cards, which was exactly what he wanted. So he ended up doing the entire thing by hand with a 3D-printed guide, with the ring sticker exactly aligned under the spinner and all the demons glaring out from a glossy black background.


The electronics were definitely the most difficult thing to get right, which is a shame because they also require the most work. ChromaLock had to basically glue a Raspberry Pi Pico to the original board so it could read the 12 button test points, and then he had to ensure that the audio files were properly stored on the SD card, which, by the way, kept crashing on him. He also needed to install a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a modest amplifier to power the speaker. However, power concerns were causing him a slew of problems, including distortion, until he discovered that a big capacitor needed to be added to stabilize the rails. And then there was the wiring, which he had to cram into every nook and crevice he could find. To make things even more entertaining, he had to convert all of the MP3s to mono WAVs so they would play faster. He even went so far as to add 12 LEDs to the shell that pulse in time with the music volume, all thanks to some software wizardry performed by a MOSFET driver. It’s a very cool system, because the Pico detects which button has been pressed, selects a random sound from the appropriate folder, and then turns on the entire system.


Getting the audio correct was a complete game changer. ChromaLock ended up recording his own voice for all of the announcements, such as “The Revenant goes” or “This is a Cacodemon,” and he combined these with some very cool Doom Eternal effects like zombie moans, lost soul screams, and mancubus fireballs. Getting the clean rips proved difficult at first, but it was worthwhile in the end. The mix is so varied that you’ll never hear the same sound on any two draws, keeping the entire experience fresh and unique every time. It’s powered by three AA batteries, exactly like the original toy.


The end product is very impressive; when you pull the rope, the arrow whizzes past all those looking eyes, comes to rest on a foe, and then, boom! The gears whir, the nub strikes its target, and the sound booms. “Spider Mastermind goes” erupts out of a cacophony of skittering legs and explosions. “Baron of Hell” is so furious that it almost shakes the rafters. The LEDs pulsate with each roar, creating a throbbing portal to hell. ChromaLock isn’t exactly thrilled with the technology, but the overall result is undeniable. Hours pass while you train your ears on those sounds, waiting for the next demon ambush in-game.
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