Shooter
The player-controlled cannon that moves around the lower part of the playfield and fires shots.
How it plays
The action uses a single-screen vertical playfield viewed from above. The player moves the shooter around the lower portion of the screen and fires at the centipede and other creatures.
Destroying a centipede segment can split or redirect the remaining body, while mushrooms alter enemy movement and create obstacles. Fleas add mushrooms, scorpions change mushroom behavior, and spiders threaten the player's lower area.
The objective is to survive successive waves and earn as many points as possible. There is no conventional inventory, branching story, or role-playing progression; difficulty comes from enemy density, speed, and increasingly demanding attack patterns.
Plan your run
Keep moving instead of remaining in one position, especially when spiders enter the lower part of the screen. Clear mushrooms when they obstruct firing lanes, but avoid letting the playfield become crowded.
Aim for the centipede's head and watch how shooting body segments changes its route. Prioritize threats that are closest to the shooter, then return fire to the main wave. Use the edges carefully: they can provide temporary space, but they also limit escape routes.
Meet the cast
The player-controlled cannon that moves around the lower part of the playfield and fires shots.
The main enemy, made of segments that traverse the mushroom field and descend toward the player.
A fast enemy that moves through the lower area and can destroy mushrooms.
An enemy that drops vertically and adds mushrooms when too few are present in the lower playfield.
An enemy that crosses the screen and poisons mushrooms in its path.
Before you begin
Clear dangerous mushrooms before the centipede reaches the bottom of the playfield.
Watch the lower screen for spiders and avoid predictable movement patterns.
Treat each wave as a score challenge; there is no long-term character upgrade system.
Centipede for DOS is a home-computer adaptation of Atari's classic fixed-shooter arcade game. The player controls a small shooter at the bottom of the screen and fires upward through a mushroom-filled playfield while a segmented centipede moves toward the player. Spiders, fleas, and scorpions add separate movement patterns and threats. The game is built around short, score-focused sessions rather than a story campaign or character progression. Atari Games created the original design, while Atari Corporation published this DOS release. Reception of the Centipede concept has historically been strong because of its immediate controls, recognizable enemies, and increasingly hectic action, although the DOS edition is primarily valued as a straightforward computer conversion of the arcade formula.
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