Game of the Week: Centipede

Okay, I admit right up front, Centipede was never my favorite arcade game. I didn't hate it, but I never found it all that fun to play.

Released to the arcades by Atari in 1980, the player uses a roller ball to control a little head-shaped figure at the bottom of the screen while shooting away at mushrooms, centipedes, spiders and more further up the screen.

Like I said, I never enjoy the game all that much, but tons of people did. Centipede was a hugely popular game in the arcades back in the 1980s, so much so that it had a sequel game in Millipede and was ported to nearly every home video game and computing system at the time. There have also been several handheld versions of Centipede, versions to cell phones, even modern versions for home gaming systems. Heck, Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 even has Centipede and Millipede available.

So, obviously, I must be one of the ones who didn't get it. I never hated Centipede or anything like that, because I've definitely played worse games. The graphics were a bit simplistic, in my opinion, but they were bright and equal to most other games in 1980.

I guess I'm saying there were just other games I found more interesting. Still, I've put more than a few dollars worth of quarters into a Centipede game machine over the years, and I wouldn't ask for any of them back.

Whether my favorite game or not, Centipede has more than earned its place among other classic games from the golden era of video games.