NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Centipede (video game)

Centipede is a vertically-oriented shoot 'em up arcade game produced by Atari in 1980. It is regarded as the first arcade game designed by a woman, Dona Bailey. The player takes the role of a garden gnome, defending against swarms of insects. In order to complete rounds, the player must eliminate the centipede that winds down the playing field. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... A fixed shooter game, also known as a 2-D shooter or shoot-em-up (shmup for short), is a video game where the player has limited control of their character and the focus is almost entirely on annihilation of their enemies. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Logitech TrackMan A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball housed in a socket containing sensors to detect rotation of the ball about two axesâ€”like an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball. ... This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ... CPU redirects here. ... MOS Technology, Inc. ... The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by MOS Technology in 1975. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... A sound chip is an integrated circuit (i. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Atari POKEY (C012294) pin-out The Atari POKEY is a digital I/O chip found in the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and many arcade games in the 1980s. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... A computer display is an interface between the computer and the operator. ... The RGB color model is an additive model in which red, green and blue (often used in additive light models) are combined in various ways to reproduce other colors. ... Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... An object is in a vertical position when it is aligned in an up-down direction, perpendicular to the horizon. ... In mathematics, diagonal has a geometric meaning, and a derived meaning as used in square tables and matrix terminology. ... Galaga, a famous shoot-em-up from 1981. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Created in 1981, Centipede was one of the first videogames to incorporate AI. It was designed by Dona Bailey - one of the only female game programmers in the industry at that time - in collaboration with Ed Logg. ... This article is about the mythical creatures. ...

Gameplay

The player is represented by a small, insect-like character, actually meant to be a gnome, at the bottom of the screen. The player moves the character about the bottom area of the screen with a trackball and fires laser shots at a centipede advancing from the top of the screen down through a field of mushrooms. 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. Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrates that are taxonomically referred to as the class Insecta. ... The GNOME project is an international effort to create an easy-to-use computing platform built entirely from free software. ... Logitech TrackMan A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball housed in a socket containing sensors to detect rotation of the ball about two axesâ€”like an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball. ... A LASER (from the acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is an optical source that emits photons in a coherent beam. ... Orders Geophilomorpha Lithobiomorpha Scolopendromorpha Scutigeromorpha Centipedes (Class Chilopoda) are fast-moving venomous, predatory, terrestrial arthropods that have long bodies and many jointed legs. ... The relative sizes of the Cap (pileus) and Stalk (stipe) vary widely. ...

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.

If 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 another enemy, such as a spider, or a flea. A flea leaves mushrooms behind when fewer than five are in the player area, though the required number within the player area increases with levels of difficulty. There are also scorpions, which poison mushrooms they touch, but these never appear in the player's movement region. A centipede touching a poisoned mushroom is sent hurtling straight toward the player's area. Diversity 111 families, 40,000 species Suborders Mesothelae Mygalomorphae Araneomorphae See table of families Closeup image of a Wolf Spider Wikispecies has information related to: Spiders Spiders are predatory invertebrate animals with two body segments, eight legs, no chewing mouth parts and no wings. ... Families Tungidae â€“ sticktight and chigoe fleas (chiggers) Pulicidae â€“ common fleas Coptopsyllidae Vermipsyllidae â€“ carnivore fleas Rhopalopsyllidae â€“ marsupial fleas Hypsophthalmidae Stephanocircidae Pygiopsyllidae Hystrichopsyllidae â€“ rat and mouse fleas Leptopsyllidae â€“ bird and rabbit fleas Ischnopsyllidae â€“ bat fleas Ceratophyllidae Amphipsyllidae Malacopsyllidae Dolichopsyllidae â€“ rodent fleas Ctenopsyllidae Flea is the common name for any of the small... Superfamilies Pseudochactoidea Buthoidea Chaeriloidea Chactoidea Iuroidea Scorpionoidea See classification for families. ...

Several strategies were subsequently developed to circumvent the normal play of the game, leading to scores in excess of one million points and games lasting several hours.

One popular strategy, "The Blob", involves deliberately filling the rows immediately above the shooter with a field of mushrooms, thereby neutralizing the disruptive effect of the fleas. Clearing the screen of mushrooms above the blob greatly slows the descent of the centipede, allowing the player to amass points by hunting spiders.

A second successful strategy is "The Trap", whereby the player creates a mushroom trap one column from the edge of the screen and strategically deposits mushrooms at the 2nd, 4th and 6th rows, creating a centipede trap. The player can then rack up points indefinitely by defending the trap from spiders.

Legacy

Centipede was followed by Millipede in 1982, a somewhat less successful, though respectable, game. Millipede is a 1982 arcade game by Atari. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1992, Atari Games developed a prototype of an arcade game called Arcade Classics for their 20th anniversary. The game included Missile Command 2 and Super Centipede. Super Centipede screen shot Atari Games was an American producer of arcade games, and originally part of Atari Inc. ... Prototypes or prototypical instances combine the most representative attributes of a category. ...

World record scores

Eric Ginner of Mountain View, CA, was the first Centipede champion, winning the 1981 Atari National Championships, held in Chicago, October 18, 1981. The contest featured play on Centipede. By the end of 1982, both Darren Olsen of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Billy Mitchell, of Hollywood, FL, had attained over 25 million points on Centipede, primarily using the "trap" technique of play. Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. ... This article is about Illinois largest city. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. ... Hollywood is a city located in Broward County, Florida. ...

To verify differences in gameplay, the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard divided Centipede gameplay into two categories: Marathon (using the trap, the blob and other tricks) and Tournament (using no tricks, just constantly firing -- commonly called the "shoot-em-up" method.) Twin Galaxiesâ„¢ is an organization which tracks video game world records through a website, a Book of World Records and through a diverse program of promotions designed to crown the champions of the electronic gaming industry. ...

Today, Twin Galaxies only accepts submissions on Tournament play. The world record for Tournament play now stands at 7,111,111 points, achieved by Donald Hayes of Salem, NH, on November 5, 2000 at the Funspot Family Fun Ctr. in Weirs Beach, NH. The feat took approximately 9 hours of non-stop play on one quarter. On February 5, 2001, Hayes was honored by his local City Hall for his accomplishment. Twin Galaxiesâ„¢ is an organization which tracks video game world records through a website, a Book of World Records and through a diverse program of promotions designed to crown the champions of the electronic gaming industry. ... Salem is a town located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, USA. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 28,112. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Lake Winnipesaukee at Sunset The largest lake in New Hampshire, Lake Winnipesaukee is the sixth largest natural lake lying within the United States. ... This article is about the year 2001. ...

Ports

Image File history File links A7800_Centipede. ... Image File history File links A7800_Centipede. ...

Other Consoles of the Time of Game Release

This game, like many other Atari arcade games, was ported to the Atari 2600 and many home computer systems of the era (for example, Apple II, Commodore 64, etc.) for home play. The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, was the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. ... Children playing on a Amstrad CPC 464 in the 1980s. ... The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ...

Today

Today, it is also often included in the TV Games-style series that have become popular in recent years. TV Games are becoming popular as adults are able to play the nostalgic games, such as Asteroids, without the need for an Emulator. ...

Consoles of the Late '90s

Playstation and Dreamcast

A new version for PlayStation and Dreamcast was released in the late '90s. The game itself was more or less a completely new game (allowing free movement around a map). Also, the original version of Centipede was available in this version, albeit with slightly updated 3D graphics. The Sony PlayStation ) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... Sega Dreamcast The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト; code-named Katana during development) was Segas last video game console. ...

In 1998, a new version of the game was released for the PC. This version, apart from including free movement around the map, included different types of views, 3D graphics and a campaign which could be played in single player or multiplayer mode. 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... // PC may stand for: Society & linguistics Political correctness, language that appears calculated to provide a minimum of offense Police Constable (also Pc), in the UK and Canada Presbyterian Church (USA), a Christian denomination Privy Council, a body that advises the head of state of a nation (see also Queens... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Main article: Centipede (1998 PC Version) Centipede is a remake of the 1980s classical game, produced by Atari and designed by Dona Bailey. ...

Xbox and Playstation 2

Centipede has also been made available for Xbox and PlayStation 2 (in both arcade and Atari 2600 versions) as part of Atari Anthology in 2005. The Xbox Live Arcade 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.[1] Centipede is scheduled for release via Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 in 2007 Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console produced by Microsoft. ... The PlayStation 2 (PS2) ) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ... Atari Anthology is a collection of 83 Atari games released in 2005 for the XBox and Playstation 2. ... Xbox Live Arcade is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to distribute video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners. ... Millipede is a 1982 arcade game by Atari. ...

Centipede Shockwave Version

Clones

Like most other popular arcade games of the era, Centipede was widely imitated by third-party software vendors for home computers. These clones included the following: Children playing on a Amstrad CPC 464 in the 1980s. ...

Here are a list of clones released in Arcades: Apeiron was a very popular Mac computer game developed and released as shareware by Ambrosia Software. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ambrosia Software is a predominantly Macintosh software company located in Rochester, New York. ... The BBC Micro, affectionately known as the Beeb, was an early home computer. ... The BBC Micro, affectionately known as the Beeb, was an early home computer. ... The Acorn Electron Acorn Electron BASIC - the first thing displayed when an unexpanded Electron is switched on The Acorn Electron was a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Superior Software is a software publisher whose titles are mainly computer and video games. ... 4k TRS-80 Color Computer from 1981, 26-3001 The Radio Shack TRS-80 color computer (also called Tandy Color Computer, or CoCo) was a home computer based around the Motorola 6809E processor and part of the TRS-80 line. ... The ZX Spectrum is a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Compute!s Gazette was a computer magazine of the 1980s, directed at to users of Commodore home computers. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 4k TRS-80 Color Computer from 1981, 26-3001 The Radio Shack TRS-80 color computer (also called Tandy Color Computer, or CoCo) was a home computer based around the Motorola 6809E processor and part of the TRS-80 line. ... The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 were home computers built in the 1980s. ... 4k TRS-80 Color Computer from 1981, 26-3001 The Radio Shack TRS-80 color computer (also called Tandy Color Computer, or CoCo) was a home computer based around the Motorola 6809E processor and part of the TRS-80 line. ... Mushroom Alley was a Centipede clone released by Victory Software for the Commodore 64 in 1983. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Look up nemesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The BBC Micro, affectionately known as the Beeb, was an early home computer. ... Micro Power was a British video game publisher established by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the early 80s. ... The ZX Spectrum is a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... The BBC Micro, affectionately known as the Beeb, was an early home computer. ... The Acorn Electron Acorn Electron BASIC - the first thing displayed when an unexpanded Electron is switched on The Acorn Electron was a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost (budget) computer game software founded in 1983. ... VIC-20 with accessories. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Song

In 1982, Buckner and Garcia recorded a song called "Ode to a Centipede", using sound effects from the game, and released it on the album Pac-Man Fever. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Buckner & Garcia are the duo of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia. ... Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. ...

Board game

In 1983, Milton Bradley released a board game based on the video game. The board game pitted two players 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. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Milton Bradley Company was an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1860. ...

External links

Contents

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