Centipede

Centipede for Atari 5200 is Atari's home version of the celebrated 1981 arcade fixed shooter, released for the 5200 in 1982. Developed and published by Atari, it translates the insect-filled action to the console while framing the player as a rescuer in the Enchanted Forest. The game’s simple aim—survive and score by stopping a descending centipede—conceals a rapidly changing field of threats, obstacles, and increasingly hectic attack formations.

The action takes place across the lower part of a screen crowded with mushrooms. The player moves a wand-wielding character left and right, with limited upward movement, and fires sparks using either red controller button. A 12-part centipede enters from above, weaving across the field. It turns and descends whenever it meets a mushroom or the edge of the playfield, bringing danger closer with each pass. Contact with the centipede, spider, or flea costs one of the player’s wands; the game begins with three, and extra wands arrive at 12,000-point intervals, up to a reserve of six.

Every shot at the centipede changes the board. Hitting a segment leaves a mushroom behind and splits the creature, so the rear section gains a new head and continues independently. The opening wave begins with one full centipede, while later waves add detached heads until the twelfth wave contains 12 separate attackers. Heads are worth more than body sections, creating a scoring incentive to make the swarm harder to manage. Clearing every segment briefly resets the attack before the next, more demanding formation arrives.

Mushrooms are both cover and a source of trouble. They redirect the centipede’s normal side-to-side route, and four shots are needed to remove one entirely. The spider roams the player area and eats mushrooms, while its point value rises when it is shot at closer range. Fleas descend and seed fresh mushrooms when too few remain near the player, then accelerate after being hit once. From the third wave onward, scorpions cross the screen and poison mushrooms in their path. A centipede that touches one of those poisoned mushrooms dives straight downward, forcing a quick response before it resumes its usual movement.

Centipede Atari 5200 offers one- or two-player games, with players taking turns as the active wand is lost. Its keypad overlay makes selection straightforward: players choose Easy, Standard, or Hard Play, then start the chosen variation. The 5200 controller provides analogue-style directional control and continuous firing while a red button is held. Atari also designed the cartridge to support the separately sold 5200 Trak-Ball, an option that more closely recalls the arcade game’s famous trackball movement; players use it in turn during two-player sessions rather than mixing it with a standard controller.

The manual’s Enchanted Forest story gives this console release a playful fantasy identity: a lost traveler receives three magical wands from the forest animals and is asked to drive back the hostile insects. That presentation sits around the familiar arcade design rather than changing its core structure. The priorities remain spatial awareness, accurate fire, and deciding when to preserve mushrooms as protection or remove them to create a clear route through the field.

As part of Atari’s early 5200 library, Centipede brought one of the company’s most recognizable arcade games to its home hardware. The port retains the original’s signature balance of easy-to-understand controls and escalating pressure, while its system-specific manual, keypad selections, and Trak-Ball option give it a clear 5200 character. For players exploring the console’s arcade conversions, it is a direct example of how Atari adapted a fast, score-driven coin-op challenge for living-room play.