Centipede is a 1- or 2-player game with a color raster-scan monitor. The fast-moving game action takes place on a play field filled with mushrooms and includes a variety of insects that drop down from the top of the screen or enter from the sides of the screen, most of them to attack the bug blaster, controlled by the player. The bug blaster is represented on the screen by a somewhat humanoid head. The object of the game is to shoot at and destroy as many of these insects and mushrooms as possible for a high point score before the player’s lives are all used up. Player control consists of a mini-trak ball control and a fire button. The bug blaster is moved by rotating the mini-trak ball control. The bug blaster can be moved in all directions but only within the bottom fifth of the screen. However, the bug blaster must move around mushrooms since these are fixed, not “transparent”, objects. Pressing the fire button causes the bug blaster to fire individual shots upward, either singly or in rapid-fire mode, if held down constantly (only one shot appears on the screen at a time). Game play begins with a play field of randomly placed mushrooms. A centipede starts snaking its way across from the center top of the screen. The centipede changes direction when it runs into a mushroom or either the left or right boundaries of the play field. When a segment of the centipede is shot, it is destroyed and a mushroom appears where that segment was shot. When shot, the centipede breaks into two smaller centipedes, each with its own head. When a centipede reaches the bottom of the screen, it starts back up but remains within the area of the bug blaster (the bottom fifth of the screen). If a centipede reaches the bottom of the screen without being shot, it releases its tail. This tail changes into a new head. Also to provide the player a challenge, if a centipede is still alive when it reaches the bottom, new heads will enter the screen almost at the bottom of the sides. More of these heads will appear as time progresses. A round of play ends when all centipede segments are destroyed.
This two-player video game was also released as a three-player machine called “Super Sprint.” This type of cabinet design was deemed an upright cabinet. Many games of this era also came in cabriolet cabinets (a much smaller box for locations with minimal room) and sit-down cabinets (where one or two players actually sit on chair-like positions in front of the screen to give the illusion of actually driving a race car, in this example). This machine was relatively popular in its glory days and could be found in many arcades down the coast. The theme of this machine is the race around a twisty track. Occasionally, bonus items appear on the pavement. The first to run over these items gets the award for the item. Wrenches improve your car between races. You may race against the computer if one person plays. This game uses a medium-resolution monitor which Atari used before most companies for a clearer picture.
Yet another legendary, genre-defining game – in an era replete with genre-defining classics – in which a single player takes control of a ship trapped in the middle of an asteroid field. A number of large, slow-moving asteroids drift randomly around the play area and must be shot by the player. When shot, the asteroids will break into a number of smaller pieces, which must also be shot until, eventually, all of the asteroids and fragments will be destroyed and the next wave begins. Asteroids introduced real-world physics to video games for the first time, with speed and inertia all adding to the player’s problems. As well as the inertia of the player’s ship – forcing the player to allow for the ship slowing down and speeding up whenever the thrust button was utilized – shot asteroids would often send fragments flying in seemingly random directions, and at varying and unpredictable speeds. As well as the ever-present asteroids, alien saucers also make a regular appearance. These move diagonally around the screen, firing at the player’s ship and must be quickly destroyed.
