A new game, with the centipede at the top and a spider in the lower right
The player controls the small insect-like creature called the Bug Blaster. It is moved around the bottom area of the screen with a trackball and fires small darts at a segmented centipede advancing from the top of the screen through a field of mushrooms. Each segment of the centipede becomes a mushroom when shot; shooting one of the middle segments splits the centipede into two pieces at that point. Each piece then continues independently on its way down the screen, with the rear piece sprouting its own head. If the centipede head is destroyed, the segment behind it becomes the next head. Shooting the head is worth 100 points while the other segments are 10. The centipede starts at the top of the screen, traveling either left or right. When it touches a mushroom or reaches the edge of the screen, it descends one level and reverses direction. The player can destroy mushrooms (a point each) by shooting them, but each takes four shots to destroy. At higher levels, the screen can become increasingly crowded with mushrooms due to player/enemy actions, causing the centipede to descend more rapidly.[9]
Arcade machine
Once the centipede reaches the bottom of the screen, it stays within the player area and one-segment "head" centipedes will periodically appear from the side. This continues until the player has eliminated both the original centipede and all heads. When all the centipede's segments are destroyed, another one enters from the top of the screen. The initial centipede is 10 or 12 segments long, including the head; each successive centipede is one segment shorter and accompanied by one detached, faster-moving head. This pattern continues until all segments are separate heads, after which it repeats with a single full-length centipede.
The player also encounters other creatures besides the centipedes. Fleas drop vertically and disappear upon touching the bottom of the screen, occasionally leaving a trail of mushrooms in their path when only a few mushrooms are in the player movement area; they are worth 200 points each and take two shots to destroy. Spiders move across the player area in a zig-zag pattern and eat some of the mushrooms; they are worth 300, 600, or 900 points depending on the range they are shot from. Scorpions move horizontally across the screen, turning every mushroom they touch into poison mushrooms. Scorpions are also worth the most points of all enemies with 1,000 points each. A centipede touching a poison mushroom will attack straight down toward the bottom, then return to normal behavior upon reaching it. This "poisoned" centipede can be both beneficial and detrimental to the player; the player can destroy them rapidly as it descends down, while at the same time, they can be very challenging to avoid, especially if already split into multiple segments.
The Bug Blaster is destroyed when hit by any enemy, after which any poisonous or partially damaged mushrooms revert to normal. 5 points are awarded for each regenerated mushroom. An extra life is awarded every 12,000 points.
Development
Dona Bailey and Ed Logg developed Centipede for Atari.[10] Logg, a supervisor, said that he did the design, while Bailey did about half of the programming.[11] Bailey was one of the few female game programmers in the industry.[12] Logg believed that its design was not biased by sex, unlike a fighting or sports game. Bailey said: "I really like pastels ... I really wanted it to look different, to be visually arresting".[13][11] Bailey had only recently discovered video games when she heard the song "Space Invader" (1979) by The Pretenders and then played Space Invaders (1978), but she was one of the few American women at the time with experience in assembly language programming.[14]
It was also one of the first coin-operated arcade video games to have a significant female player base.[17][18]How to Win Video Games (1982) estimated that half of its players and 60% of Pac-Man's were women, while 95% of Defender players were men.[19]
In 1983, Softline readers named Centipede ninth on the magazine's Top Thirty list of Atari 8-bit programs by popularity.[20] The game received the award for "1984 Best Computer Action Game" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards where the judges described it as "pack[ing] a real roundhouse punch", and suggested that some "insist that [the Centipede] Atari cartridge is the best home-arcade edition you can buy".[21]: 28 David H. Ahl of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games said that the Atari 5200 version was "delightful fun".[22]
In a 1984 Video review of the Apple II version of the game, Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz commented that "the graphic limits of the Apple crimp the style" and expressed disappointment in the game's "sluggish" interfacing with trackball controllers.[23]
In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version 15th on their "Top 100 Video Games".[24] In 1996, Next Generation listed the arcade version as number 84 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", praising the cool concept, trackball control, and that it is accessible enough that "any human on the planet can play it well enough to enjoy it" yet "hard enough that even excellent gamers find it challenging".[25]
The game was released for Microsoft Windows 3.x as part of the Microsoft Arcade package in 1993.
Accolade released a version for the Game Boy in 1992. This port was rereleased in 1995 with Super Game Boy support as part of their Arcade Classics series. This version is notable for having background music in the title screen and different sound effects compared to the other ports.
The arcade original was included in the PlayStation and Dreamcast versions of the Centipede 3D remake, replacing the arcade mode from the PC and Macintosh versions.
The game appears as a bonus unlockable minigame in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, that can be unlocked once the game is beaten.
The game has also been made available for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 (in both arcade and Atari 2600 versions) as part of Atari Anthology in 2004.
The Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Portable's Atari Arcade Classics version was bundled with the sequel Millipede, which included an "evolution mode", featuring high-definition graphics and special effects like motion blur, trails, and particle-based explosions.[28]
The game was released via Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 on May 2, 2007.
Glu Mobile released a licensed cellular phone version of Centipede that includes the original game as well as updated gameplay, skins, and modes.[29]
This article is missing information about Centipede Chaos. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(June 2021)
In 1992, Atari Games developed a prototype of an arcade game called Arcade Classics for their 20th anniversary, which includes Missile Command 2 and Super Centipede with co-op 2-player mode.[30]
In 1983, Milton Bradley released a two-player board game based on the video game.[51] Another board game based on Centipede was published by IDW Publishing in 2017.[52]
In 1989, a deadpan narration describing the original game appeared on side 2 of Negativland's third cassette release, The Weatherman (SSTC902), which consists of clips from the Over the Edge radio show sometime between 1982 and 1984. The narrator may be Ed Logg.[53]
American rock band The Strokes used promotional artwork for the game on their 2003 single "Reptilia".
Lego released a set based on the Atari 2600. Included is a cartridge for Centipede as well as a diorama showing the titular character.[57]
Competitive arena
The game was chosen for the final round of the 1981 Atari World Championships run by Tournament Games International. The men's champion was Eric Ginner and the women's champion was Ok-Soo Han.[58]
The world record score on the arcade version of Centipede was 16,389,547 points by Jim Schneider of the USA on August 1, 1984.[59]
^"Games". Orlando Sentinel. June 28, 1991. p. 308. Retrieved March 22, 2024. "Centipede is supposed to be better than Missile Command," Kubicki said, adding that the real test will come when Centipede is released in four to six weeks.
^Cartridge Sales Since 1980. Atari Corp. Via "The Agony & The Ecstasy". Once Upon Atari. Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in.
^"Bug Off!". Atari Mania. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
^ abLinzmayer, Owen; Ahl, David H. (Spring 1983). "TRS-80 Color Computer Games". Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games. 1 (1): 104. Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
^"Megalegs". Atari Mania. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
