Centipede (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)

Hall of Fame Inductee
Centipede
Original Release: 1980
Designers: Ed Logg and Dona Bailey
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari

Centipede could have easily been dismissed as a Space Invaders clone. It’s not like the world didn’t have enough Space Invaders knockoffs by 1980. However, Atari did enough to reinvent the game that not many people think of Space Invaders when they’re playing Centipede. The game has grown into its own and is one of the most famous arcade games of all time.

The game grew out of the ashes of the Space Invaders revolution. While games like Galaxian offered a similar formula with better graphics and more improved gameplay, the makers of Centipede did not feel that this would be enough. If they were going to beat Taito’s super popular game, they would need to create a game that offered more than simple upgrades. The idea of the game is that a giant centipede comes from the top and runs left to right and then back again. Each time it hits a side of the screen or a mushroom in the middle of the playing field, it will inch it’s way down towards the bottom of the screen. The player is at the bottom of the screen armed only with a simple laser cannon. Each shot that hits a part of the centipede will turn that area of the centipede into a mushroom. If the centipede is hit in the middle, it’s cut into two pieces and they move independently of each other. Once the entire centipede is killed, a new one replaces it from the top and the colour scheme changes. As you defeat more centipedes, extra enemies come out to attack like spiders, fleas, scorpions, and extra centipede heads. It becomes a frantic mess. The player can move side to side and up to a certain degree (which helps to avoid centipede pieces that have made their way to the bottom). If a player isn’t careful, the field can become occupied with a lot of mushrooms which blocks cannon shots. The only way to get rid of the mushrooms is by firing multiple shots upon them. The game keeps going until the player runs out of lives.

Even though Centipede was a very popular game, it was notable for a couple of reasons that most players didn’t even realize. Dona Bailey was a co-designer of the game. She was the first woman to design a commercial video game. Coincidentally, many of the people who played the game were women. This was a first because previously video games had been more of a male-dominated activity. Another interesting aspect about the game is that the player uses a trackball to move around the screen. Although it wasn’t the first game to use a trackball, Centipede led the way for the input device to become more mainstream.

The game has a strong legacy as well. It had its own official spinoffs with games like Millipede but there were many clones to attempt to capitalize on its success. Centipede itself was ported on many home computers systems and consoles; although it has never graced a Nintendo home system. Atari did release a reworked version of the game in 1998 for Windows, in 1999 for the original Sony Playstation, and in 2000 with a version for the Sega Dreamcast). The game was a 3D retelling of the original game with power-ups, missions to complete and other modern upgrades. It also helped that the game had a port of the arcade original. There were also mass market products made during the height of its popularity with items like board games and other toys.

The future remains stable for Centipede as Atari continues to release the game on multiple platforms. However, Atari seems content with just releasing ports of the original product and hasn’t turned Centipede into a franchise. It’s finding its way into the hands of newer gamers as it was released in 2007 for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console through its Live Marketplace with an option for more graphical effects that are common to modern day shooters like Geometry Wars.

The one thing that Centipede has that many arcade games prior to the video game crash do not is that it is still very fun to play thirty years after its release. The game is instantly accessible to anyone but it isn’t slow and plodding enough to bore modern gamers used to everything running at hyper speeds. It’s colourful enough (with the colour scheme often changing throughout the game) to distinguish itself from some of the older classic games. It’s still fantastic fun to this day. Centipede arcade cabinets are still found in some arcades around North America and is one of the most sought after games by collectors and avid gamers alike. Centipede will continue to remain in the hearts and minds of video game players young and old for many years to come.