Released in 1981 in the arcades, Centipede was easily one of the most popular games of the early era of video gaming.
The success of Pac-Man gave developers Atari, Inc. great confidence in developing a title where the action would all take place in one screen at one time. It was also one of the first in the industry to have been co-developed by a woman, Dona Bailey.
The premise of the game was simple: defeat the centipede before it made its way down the screen.
Once a gamer shot out the middle of the centipede, they inadvertently created two separate centipedes that moved independent of each other, making the game even more challenging.
Centipede was ported to the Atari 2600 in 1982, and holds the distinction of being one of the most imitated games in the industry, and spawned many copycats.
The game was ported to the Apple II computer, Microsoft Windows 3.x computer, and the Game Boy handheld system in 1989.
Often thrown in bundle packs and “classic games” category, Centipede has made a small comeback lately in the mobile gaming world (available for both iPhone and iPod Touch) as well as in handheld TV games on commercial airline flights.
Though it didn’t break the mold in gaming, Centipede is often mentioned in the same breath as Pong, Pac-Man, and Asteroids as one of the first titles to become a household name.
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