This Toaster Just Took Down A Dark Souls Boss

We've seen people play Call of Duty with Dance Dance Revolution pads. We've marveled as Destiny players soloed raid bosses using Rock Band drums. But we can safely say that we've never — NEVER — watched a Dark Souls boss fall to a man using a toaster as a controller. There's a first time for everything.

YouTuber TheRealSpidersGeorg_ somehow managed to wire up a toaster as an input device, using one lever for attacks and another for taking potions. The knobs were apparently used for movement, with another toaster button dedicated to the game's dodge mechanic. We're not sure why this person decided to make this contraption, as it certainly makes Dark Souls a lot more difficult than it has to be. But we're still pretty impressed by what we've seen. The Abyss Watchers never stood a chance.

Also: We could go for some bagels right about now.

Unfortunately, TheRealSpidersGeorg_ doesn't go into a lot of detail about his inspiration for this particular project. What made him decide to turn a toaster into a video game controller? Did he tailor the toaster specifically for Dark Souls, or are enough functions present that it could work with any game? Could we see more videos of the toaster pad slaying enemies in other titles? These are questions we were dying to have answered. And fortunately, after publishing our story original, the YouTuber reached out to give us a little backstory.

According to Georg, who goes by the name TheRealSpidersGeorg_ on YouTube, the idea of playing Dark Souls with a toaster came from a friend. Georg had just finished up a run of Dark Souls 3 on his Twitch channel, and his friend remarked that Georg hadn't done anything new. Plenty of people had beaten Dark Souls 3 already; some had even used Rock Band controllers.

That's when George had an idea.

"[W]hat if I do something ridiculous like that, like on a toaster?" he asked his friend. That friend encouraged Georg to go for it, and thus began the journey toward converting a toaster into a gamepad of sorts.

The process of building the controller, Georg says, was "a nightmare."

"At first I thought it would be pretty easy, open the toaster, connect wires to the buttons, plug it up to the computer, done," Georg told us. "But I always take the quick and easy way at first and [paid] the price [...]"

After haphazardly throwing together his first attempt, Georg realized he should probably spend more time on the toaster to ensure it both worked properly and the components would stay in place.

As far as the controls go, we weren't far off in our initial description. Interestingly enough, though, Georg didn't use inputs from an Xbox One controller or a DualShock 4 in the toaster; instead, he used a keyboard and mouse.

"So the two obvious ones are attack and healing," Georg said, "so I have the right toasting lever to be my healing button, and I have the left toasting level mapped to my left mouse click, which i remapped in [Dark Souls] to be my heavy attack."

Talk about ingenuity.

Now that we've seen Dark Souls played using a toaster, we had to know — would Georg consider running through other games with his new gadget? It sure sounds like he would.

"I have not tried any other games with the toaster yet, but I wouldn't be against it!" Georg said. "Really I can use the toaster on any game that supports keyboard controls so anything is in the realm of possibility!"

And why Dark Souls, exactly? Georg had an answer for that, too.

"As far as why I chose Dark Souls, I had seen so many creative challenge runs like this and I was always just so amazed, like, a Rock Band controller?? Bananas?? I saw all of this and wanted to leave my own mark, and maybe encourage others to experiment as well! The Dark Souls community is rad, and everyone craves a challenge and that's something I really admire about it."

It sounds like there are plenty more interesting videos in Georg's future, and perhaps some new controller projects, too. Georg told us that "if it has buttons, I can turn it into a controller," so we're anxiously awaiting what strange new device might come from the YouTuber next.

We'll be on the lookout for more interesting stories like this one, so stay tuned.