DESCRIPTION

In Centipede, you control a ship that shoots vertically and moves in all directions along the bottom 1/4th of the playfield. You must fire at a multi-segmented centipede that starts at the top of the screen and crawls its way through a garden of mushrooms. Each time the centipede or a segment of the centipede hits a mushroom, it will turn the other way and continue its descent. If any portion of the centipede reaches the bottom of the screen, it reverses direction and begins crawling upward. This is unlike Space Invaders, in which you lose a life when an invader reaches the bottom of the playfield.

When you shoot a segment of the centipede, it turns into a mushroom. After you have destroyed the entire centipede, another will take its place. In addition to centipedes, you must contend with horizontally moving scorpions, falling fleas and bouncing spiders. The closer you are to a spider when you shoot it, the more points you will get. Fleas leave behind a trail of mushrooms while scorpions poison existing mushrooms. You lose a life any time a creature collides with your ship.

In this game.com version of Centipede, you can choose between the classic Arcade style or an updated version. The updated mode of play contains higher resolution graphics with more detail and, according to the instruction manual, is slightly more difficult. You can also set the speed at which your ship moves, choose the level at which to start, and select from three difficulty levels (easy, medium and hard). If you feel more comfortable with the directional pad on the right side of your game.com unit instead of the traditional left position, you can flip the screen. ~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide