The Bug Blaster is destroyed when hit by any enemy, after which any poisonous or partially

damaged mushrooms revert to normal. 5 points are awarded for each regenerated mushroom. An
extra life is awarded every 12,000 points.

Development
Dona Bailey and Ed Logg developed Centipede for Atari.[9] Logg, a supervisor, said that he did the
design, while Bailey did about half of the programming. [10] Bailey was one of the few female game
programmers in the industry.[11] Logg stated that the game was intended to attract women players; he
believed that its design was not biased by sex, unlike a fighting or sports game. Bailey said: "I really
like pastels ... I really wanted it to look different, to be visually arresting". [12][10] Bailey had only recently
discovered video games when she heard the song "Space Invader" (1979) by The Pretenders and
then played Space Invaders (1978), but she was one of the few American women at the time with
experience in assembly language programming.[13]
Centipede was one of the top four highest-grossing arcade games of 1982 in the United States,
along with Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.[14] The Atari VCS port of Centipede sold
1,475,240 cartridges during 1982 to 1983, becoming the eleventh best-selling Atari game.[15]
It was also one of the first coin-operated arcade video games to have a significant female player
base.[16][17] How to Win Video Games (1982) estimated that half of its players and 60% of Pac-Man's
were women, while 95% of Defender players were men.[18]
In 1983, Softline readers named Centipede ninth on the magazine's Top Thirty list of Atari 8-bit
programs by popularity.[19] The game received the award for "1984 Best Computer Action Game" at
the 5th annual Arkie Awards where the judges described it as "pack[ing] a real roundhouse punch",
and suggested that some "insist that [the Centipede] Atari cartridge is the best home-arcade edition
you can buy".[20]: 28  David H. Ahl of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games said that the Atari
5200 version was "delightful fun".[21]
In a 1984 Video review of the Apple II version of the game, Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz commented
that "the graphic limits of the Apple crimp the style" and expressed disappointment in the game's
"sluggish" interfacing with trackball controllers.[22]
In 1996, Next Generation listed the arcade version as number 84 on their "Top 100 Games of All
Time", praising the cool concept, trackball control, and that it is accessible enough that "any human
on the planet can play it well enough to enjoy it" yet "hard enough that even excellent gamers find it
challenging".[23]

 The game is included in Arcade Classics for the Sega Genesis and Game Gear and a
similar Master System compilation titled Arcade Smash Hits.
 The game was released for Microsoft Windows 3.x as part of the Microsoft Arcade package
in 1993.
 Accolade released a version for the Game Boy in 1995, as part of their Arcade
Classics series. This version is notable for having background music in the title screen and
different sound effects compared to the other ports.
 The game is included in the Midway Games published Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari
Collection 1 for the Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the PlayStation.
 The arcade original was included in the PlayStation and Dreamcast versions of
the Centipede 3D remake, replacing the arcade mode from the PC and Macintosh versions.
 It is also included in Atari Arcade Hits 1, Atari Greatest Hits, Atari Anniversary
Edition and Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!.
 The game has also been made available for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 (in both arcade and
Atari 2600 versions) as part of Atari Anthology in 2004.
 The Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Portable's Atari Arcade Classics version was bundled
with the sequel Millipede, which included an "evolution mode", featuring high-definition graphics
and special effects like motion blur, trails, and particle-based explosions. [24]
 The game was released via Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 on May 2, 2007.
 Glu Mobile released a licensed cellular phone version of Centipede that includes the original
game as well as updated gameplay, skins, and modes. [25]
 In 2008, Atari released the game for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
 The game is included in Retro Atari Classics and Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1 for the
Nintendo DS.
 Both the arcade and 2600 versions are part of Atari Vault (2016).