Centipede, completed in 1981, was an Atari coin-operated game that swiftly won a wide following in the arcades. Apart from its smooth game play, Centipede was praised for its refreshing approach to screen colors and for its whimsical mushroom world.
The player takes the role of a garden gnome (which actually resembles a gun of some sort) and can only move in the bottom fifth of the screen. The player must eliminate the centipede that winds its way down to the player area, through a field of mushrooms, in order to complete each round. Other attacking enemies approach from all different directions, such as fleas, spiders, and scorpions. They also can be shot to earn points.
The centipede starts at the top of the screen, traveling either left or right. When it hits a mushroom or the edge of the screen, it drops one level and switches direction. Thus, more mushrooms on the screen cause the centipede to descend more rapidly. The player can destroy mushrooms by shooting, but each mushroom takes four hits to destroy.
Pressing the fire button causes the shooter to fire shots upward, either singly or in rapid-fire mode, if held down constantly. Shooting any section of the centipede creates a mushroom; shooting one of the middle segments splits the centipede into two pieces at that point. Each continues independently on its way down the board. When a centipede segment hits a mushroom or another segment, it reverses direction.
When a large Centipede (that hasn't been shot yet) reaches the bottom of the screen, it releases its tail, and this section changes into a new segment with a head. Also, when the centipede reaches the bottom of the screen, it moves back and forth within the player area and one-segment "head" centipedes are periodically added. This continues until the player has eliminated both the original centipede and all heads. When all the centipede's segments are destroyed, a new centipede forms at the top of the screen. Every time a centipede is eliminated, however, the next one is one segment shorter and is accompanied by one additional, fast-moving, one-segment "head" centipede.
A player loses a life when hit by a centipede or any another enemy:
SPIDERS:
bounce around within the player zone, but when it hits a mushroom, the mushroom disappears. This eliminates many mushroom targets for the player.
FLEAS:
drop from the top of the screen and fall all of the way to the bottom. They leave mushrooms behind as they fall when fewer than five are in the player area, though the required number within the player area increases with levels of difficulty.
SCORPIONS:
make any mushrooms that they touch poisonous, but these never appear in the player's movement region. A centipede touching a poisoned mushroom is sent plummeting straight toward the player's area.
In 1983, Milton Bradley released a board game based on the video game. Two players play against each other in a race to be the first person to the opponent's home base with a centipede. Each player could also utilize a blaster as well as a scorpion and spider to slow the opposing centipede's advance.
Every level, the centipede configuration is different. On the first level, all segments are attached. On the next level, one segment is independent. On the next, two are independent, and so on until all segments are independent.
During the Atari 2600 era, Atari released mini comic books that came with some of the games as an added bonus. They were produced by DC Comics. Centipede is one of the few of these comics to have been released.
Centipede Cabinets were released in several forms:
Uprights
Cabarets (Mini Upright Cabinets)
Cocktail Units
-With 19-inch monitors
-With 13-inch monitors (very limited).*The outline around the side art design can be found in yellow, purple or blue.
There were two different versions of side art made for this game, one with a yellow glow around the centipede and one with a pink glow.
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