I used to get 999999 if the machines high score wasn't already that. I used to play in the San Francisco Bay area and a whole bunch of people with EDG (Eric Ginner) all knew how to do it. Of course the spider jumping higher again once you get around 850,000 makes it really hard because it takes away all the mushrooms and then the flea falls non-stop. These two guys at UC Berkeley used to compete with one another, they knew it took having a certain number of mushrooms below a certain level on the screen to keep the flea from falling. So they would have just the tube and then deliberately add a whole bunch of mushrooms to its side, while the top was entirely empty. And then they would save the cycle of the centipedes coming out from.the sides once they hit bottom by just dying whenever it was before 800,000, so they could still clear a few waves when the centipedes hit the bottom at that advanced level. (You probably noticed the speed.at.which they come.out.from.the sides hits.a.frenzy and then recycles.back.to a much slower pace, so there's a chance there,.too.) But anyways, one of the guys, named LEE, which was the way he always left his high score initials, read a book by EDGs group on the secret to how they were able to.get.999999 and then improved on it. It's called a sidetrap, I was actually there watching when LEE invented it, along with his rival JA (Jorge Ancheta). I'm sure there's some demonstrations.on the Internet. This normal way of playing it is more fun though.

@dinktyke

Жыл бұрын

Great insight to how scores were improved on back in the day. Three of us competed against each other in the local arcade (in the UK) and pushed each other to the 900k mark. Looking back knowing what I know now, all of us playing straight shoot em up, no trapping, blob techniques etc, the 860k high spider which we didn't notice was the key to not getting higher. There's a book available to download nowadays on Centipede techniques, very basic for high level players but shows how folk manipulated the game. Since I made this video I went out and bought a cabinet, 6 weeks later, plus reading forums that Don Hayes posted on with advice I reached the magical 999,999. Some other videos of that on this channel 😀

I used to play this game in a Spaghetti Factory arcade over 20 years ago when I was a little kid. I wasn't very good at all, but my grandpa would keep feeding me quarters anyway to see how far I could get. He passed away a long time ago, but I'll always have those happy memories with him. It's absolutely insane to me how fast the game gets in its end stages. I could never comprehend what was happening past 100,000 points, yet alone 400,000+ points! Thank you for uploading this :)

@ATARIvision

3 жыл бұрын

Im so sorry for your lost. Atleast he is in a better place. May he rest in piece 🙏😞

Fun Fact: The playable character is a human-insect hybrid named "Bug Blaster".

It was an honor and a pleasure to watch that. Thank you for posting.

I flipped this once. Worked at a pizza joint for a few months, played it every break. Got on a roll and couldn't stop; finally just quit playing around 1,200,000 pts. Extremely intense, could not have done it w/out a really good trac-ball.

@dinktyke

Жыл бұрын

Superb work, completing a rollover without trapping, playing straight shoot `em up, puts you at a small elite level. Very few managed to bridge the gap between 860k and 996k where the intensity maxes out! Here`s a near 1.2m on a full cabinet streamed a few years back kzread.info/dash/bejne/amV73JKnkqjTnLg.html

@secretidentitynetwork6218

Жыл бұрын

@@dinktyke Thank you! I watched the video and it's the exact opposite of how I played. My strategy was to eliminate all mushrooms, from the start, and provide as much space as possible so the segments could not hit them. I would never have considered another way. Mind blown!

I remember playing these games as a kid and one time my parents almost left me because I was doing too well on a Ms. Pacman game. I used to spend tons of Hours in arcade after High school. I been a gamer ever since then. I don't think my parents even realized it was an addiction at the time. I enjoyed it though. I didn't get into trouble too much I just loved those games from the 80s. I used to borrow money from my younger brother then offer to pay him back 2 dollars for every dollar I borrowed. I usually went to bed not too late but I overslept a few times into first period at school. I never really tried to skip school to go to arcade. I was a good kid most the time. I think my grades slipped a little my Junior and Senior year but I still graduated.

My highest score was 838,000. I had the high score at the mall for over twelve years until they closed the arcade. I run into one of these now and then but the ball and buttons never work correctly and it is beyond frustrating.

@dinktyke

6 жыл бұрын

838k very decent! Got my own cab now... just need to sort out a decent way of capturing it... kzread.info/dash/bejne/i5iEzaqjccjek7A.html

@dlma03

5 жыл бұрын

Mine is 899,006

@Duvmasta

4 жыл бұрын

Cool story

@jasonheesch609

3 жыл бұрын

@@dlma03really

@dlma03

3 жыл бұрын

@@jasonheesch609 yep

so many of these arcade games I was able to play hours per game, but I could never figure this game out. high score maybe 30-40k. you gave me a lesson. thanks, brother.

My favorite game of all time. I never got above 230K or so, but it was nice to be good enough that a quarter lasted for awhile! More than once, I'd be playing at the local pizza parlor and my mom would yell "We are LEAVING!" It was the only game I played where I occasionally had to walk away with lives left. Good times!

A treat to watch! Thank you 👍

Fantastic gaming history right here, also this era of games had the best sounds!

Wow, this game player is just superb! As a relatively decent fan of this game, it really just doesn’t get any better than this. Just unbelievable game play. Oh, Man 😻

@dinktyke

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, D Scott! It does get better than this...here's me playing for a live video at Arcade Club, Bury, in 2019 😁 facebook.com/arcadeclubuk/videos/444609919648212/

This was so awesome to watch! This person is a BEAST!!!!

Oh so many memories from when I was a teenager in the late 70s playing centipede at the arcade....

Damn! Nerves of steel and hands of a surgeon. Very good game play. Thanks for this show.

Brings back memories ❤️ thanks for Sharing

I’ve not got a trackball,only joystick. This is how I’ve always played it. Clear low mushroom’s. Having joystick I’m lucky if i get 100,00+ on a good day. Fantastic performance 🙌❤️ it’s been an honour to watch you work

Yooooo, that's some amazing gameplay right there! I was born in '90, but I played a computerized version of this and other Atari hits on Windows 95/98. Even as an "old game" in that time, I thought it was ridiculously entertaining, and had so much fun playing!!! My strategy was identical to yours, but I never made it nearly as far. I struggled not to get trampled by the spider whenever the little heads hit the bottom and started cycling back up. Always lost sight of the spider or flea and ate it hard🤷🏾‍♀️ 🤣🤣🤣. Anyway, thanks so much for posting. It brought back some fantastic memories!!!!! 🤝🏾👏🏾🤗

i love playing this at 2am when my roommates are trying to sleep. i turn up the sound as high as i can and will play it for 8 hours straight. I also have a recording of it so when i am on vacation i can log in to my pc and play it when i am not at home. Just in case i can't log in I also have the task manager start it at a certain time. I get great pleasure out of driving people insane.

The way you play is quite interesting. There a lot of confidence, definitely, and just overall, you understand the game extremely well. I might return to this video a couple times so that way I can get more out of it. I built my own arcade cabinet and installed a trackball, and this is the game I play the most.

@dinktyke

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks, suppose it`s reckless to a point. Back in the 80s there were 3 of us as good as each other and all played it a similar way, never really had a strategy as never really ventured outside our local arcades to play it. Confidence and a decent read of the game is key for me and one of the few games i`ve retained any sort of ability on, no routes to remember etc.

@MajinWamu

7 жыл бұрын

There are two videos on youtube I watch, and take a note from. Yours is one, and another is this guy who scores over 500,000. He is more technical, and requires a lot of practice to master. I took some note from yours and it greatly improved my game. If I can master a similar technique to this other guy, I can really make a difference in my game. My score is still nothing compared to both of you. Right now my highscore is 57K. Reaching to hit 60K, which according to the manual, is when the game takes a massive change in difficulty.

@dinktyke

7 жыл бұрын

Think I've watched that one. Best tip i could give you then is really get a feel of the track ball, practice blasting all the fleas for a few games, blast away the mushroons for them to constantly drop, think 60k is when the fleas speed up btw. Once you get that feel and the precision of pointing it exactly where you want your scores will fly up. This guy is really good, shame about the quality... kzread.info/dash/bejne/e62krdioj9WscrQ.html

@MajinWamu

7 жыл бұрын

I have a feel for my trackball since I play the game about an hour a day, and afterall, I did assemble everything myself. It is all a matter of me making proper moves, I guess. Or maybe like you suggested, getting to know my trackball a bit better. Maybe my technique is pretty sore. The spider will just sweep me away. It seems to be mostly the spider. I will check out that video. I appreciate your help and humbleness. It means a lot to me.

Fantastic work!

That's just freakin amazing 😳

Great Score Thanks For Sharing

outstanding gameplay

Back in the early 80s I think I got into aroujnd 600,000. Not sure exactly. I was pretty good at the time. Can not remember how high I got. What I do remember was that I could play an entire evening on about $2.00 playing various arcade games. Generally preferred Atari games. I still own an original Tempest game bought in 1983. IMHO, best arcade game ever created.

@dinktyke

6 жыл бұрын

Neal Noble 600k, still a great score. Each of 3 of us pushed each other on and all finishing around the 900k mark. We'd all had a spell lingering around 700k for a while. Bit of competitiveness pushed us on. Got my own cab now and reached the grail in 6 weeks, 999999.. few newer vids on my channel :)

Nice!! Thank you!! 🤗

This game probably had the best sound effects out of any classic arcade game

My god rip headphone users

This is one of the masters of the Dark Souls Beta.

RIP so many of my quarters in the early 1980s

this is my all time favorite old school video game

Love this. The number one strategy is keep that bottom quarter space clear of mushrooms at all cost.

@dinktyke

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, but later in the game, planting mushrooms deliberately on the right edge or left edge can help keep fleas at bay 👍🏻

Wish I could have watched this play style back in the early 80s, would have saved me some of my paper route quarters. Our little arcade crew had the asteroids machine locked down.

Wow! I love millipede too.

Nice score. I like your style. Now-a-days my best score is 77k. Average around 30-40k (mame cabinet with trakball) Tough game. I usually fall apart once the centipede enters the screen all fragmented. I need to do a better job controlling the fleas and mushrooms too. If they start dropping when the centipede parts are around the bottom, it really throws a wrench into my game. Good stuff. Hope you post some more vids!

@dinktyke

7 жыл бұрын

Just seen this, posted on your video/channel... an addition to what i posted there, take care of the mushrooms at every instance in bottom 5 rows or so, they are a menace.

@Retrogaming-yh1lx

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I hit 95k earlier today. I have been working on the low mushrooms. I kind of abandoned the tunnel in the middle strategy. It's a pain to maintain, get back to at the center at the start of every round, and focus on keeping it clear along with lower mushrooms. I like having some extra time to clean up the bottom after a round instead of rushing to the center. I'll try playing around with the trackball settings too. A big part of it for me is just keeping a priority of targets/actions. I am prone to tunnel vision and then I forget about something (e.g. spider).

@FloydMaxwell

3 жыл бұрын

@@dinktyke Exactly the wrong strategy. Take care of upper mushrooms.

@dinktyke

3 жыл бұрын

@@FloydMaxwell We frown upon the blob strategy and the side feed trap. Straight shoot em up only for proper players.

@FloydMaxwell

3 жыл бұрын

@@dinktyke Brute force is not interesting

You're an awesome player. I remember playing it in high school for my 1st class period and not dying . I came back at the end of the day and someone was still playing off of the lives I had built up for 2 hours without dying . I cant remember the score . I wonder what 8 hours of play would equal lol.

Centipede drives me insane. It the sounds and relentlessness. I preferred Galaga in the arcade because you have time to breathe.

Wow, tnx for posting... not for fun this play, though my friends and I got the score of 800000. Tnx again, bring back memories, faces, friends. Only difference is that we had extra life after 20.000 points, i think

@Blippity_Bloop64

2 жыл бұрын

I believe the default setting was a free life every 12K, but I know it could also be set to 10K and 20K. Maybe even 15K ... not sure.

Played this in 2022 at that Stranger Things Store in Aventura, Florida. It was easier to play with the trackball compared to playing it on a laptop emulator a few years ago, allowed me to better move around and dodge the spiders easier. Had to LOCK IN with this one because of the spiders jumping around.

Sweet Rave Dance Music Remix ! :-) Let dah SPIDER Drop !

Keep calm and fire on!

The One!

My high was 312,000. You played this just like I did, every move and strategy was what I did. What a fun video to find.

@dinktyke

2 жыл бұрын

Nice score! Get yourself your own machine like i did! If you can move the trackball like it`s an extension of your arm 1 million points is within reach if you learn the details of the game in depth via online forums!

Wicked-

That DAMN SPIDER 😅

I remember me and my brother as 90's Kids during the turn of the Century having a small Atari Collection on our dads Gateway PC which included Centipede, Break Out, Astroids, Pong, and Tempest. Now I do wonder like Pac-Man, do all of the Classics when played long enough have a Game Breaking Bug or Glitch at some point?

@dinktyke

3 жыл бұрын

Not sure about all, there`ll be a lot more than .. Centipede 996k extra life bug... Defender 995k?extra life bug... Missile Command 810k extra life bug... Donkey Kong level 22 kill screen bug.. Galaga has a level 255 bug and the none firing enemies is down to 8 bit i think. Those are just some big titles i can reel off.

thats great especially for a logitech ball

@dinktyke

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks. I'd be 2nd on TG settings with about 530k mame, easily go higher and about 6th on upright cab with 1.78 million. Getting the stuff uploaded and verified is more trouble than it's worth!

Centipede: hits poison mushroom: KAMIKAZE MODE ON

It was a bitch to keep track of bonus levels while the game was this intense. When I got down to my last player I'd be counting "408, 420, 432, 444", etc. But I suppose it doesn't change anything to know what the next bonus is: you still have to get there. My max was 705k. There was some luck involved at that point and I got a lot of centipede heads clumping up and coming down on one side. The fleas can also drop mushrooms at inopportune points and screw you that way. The worst was when the flea didn't even drop a mushroom but it would be perfectly timed so a centipede head would hit it and turn around very close to the edge of the screen. Then you'd get the impossible, infinitely-multiplying heads.

here after watching Lud's event

I was pretty decent at centipede in the arcades. Highest score was 760,000 area. Never did the block method

Is this based on the song by Rebbie Jackson called "Centipede " Awesome song!

Guys boss!!! i got to 100,000 once never got it again in a while i was 11 at this time(:

Reminds me a bit of Space Invaders

I used to be a centipede

R.I.P ears.....

Happy anniversary to a fun and "buggy" game🎉🐛🐜

Who saw pixels (2015)? Cus I have. It’s a great movie

Great job! I am curious though as to why you shoot the mushrooms when they appear on the extreme left or right hand rows. (Example: 38:02) Those mushrooms can only help you, because the centipede heads can't get behind them and come down faster. And if you have more mushrooms on the bottom five rows you'll have less of a problem with fleas. The spiders will take out those mushrooms from time to time, and you can't help that, but I think it's better to leave the mushrooms on the end rows in the long run.

@dinktyke

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip, i`ll give it a try sometime, just something i`ve always done. I`ve always tried to keep the bottom 5 rows as tidy as possible cautious not to unleash the fleas. I`ve read somewhere since about 5 mushrooms below that line is sufficient?

@musicfan1517

4 жыл бұрын

@@dinktyke push the shooter as high as it can go...Count six vertical mushrooms beyond that above...The total number of mushrooms from that height to the bottom of the screen is what determines whether or not the flea will fall...In the beginning, the number is six mushrooms...The number needed to keep the flea from falling keeps increasing, the higher the score...I learned this from a guy named Jorge Ancheta, in the SF Bay area...He and the guy who invented the sidetrap used to compete with each other a lot, back in 1982.

@dinktyke

4 жыл бұрын

@@musicfan1517 Great story and the mushroom numbers confirmed in this manual I downloaded... archive.org/details/book_vmg_centipede Back in the day 3 of us scoring around 900k each, straight shoot em up style keeping the fleas away just by feel. I still play that way now on my 80s Cabinet knowing of the numbers without counting, just feel. That book has certainly helped me, and historical forum threads. Up to 1.7million now. 👍🏻

I die a lot at this game

After watching the testing of a repro pokey chip playing this game, I can honestly say that MAMEs audio emulation is god awful!

Thsi enemy is a predator

I swear you are more likely to get killed by the Spider than the actual Centipede in this game

hey @dinktyke is there a grasshopper in the game?

DOS sound effects

My highest is 1,032,824 and it was on one of those mini arcades you but at Walmart

@erickutepow

4 жыл бұрын

ALG_ Elclipse I was thinking of buying on of those arcade1up machines for centipede but heard mixed reviews of the track ball. What has your experience been like?

At the risk of asking the dumbest question, what causes them to sometimes bug out and separate and other times come down in a vertical line? I’ve played this game a million times as a kid and feel I should know this but don’t

@ohuehue1956

5 жыл бұрын

Rob S they separate when hit in between their body That is why, always aim for its head

@Rob-cz9ji

5 жыл бұрын

John XenXen At time index 15:33 for example a new centipede appears and comes down separated. This is what I’m wondering. At the beginning of the game it comes down all together but in the later screens the new centipede comes down in separate parts.

@bryanpierce813

5 жыл бұрын

@@Rob-cz9ji There are 12 round cycles, starting with the centipede in 1 piece, then a segment of 10 with 2 loose heads, and so on until there are 12 loose heads on round 12. Then they cycle repeats starting with the centipede in 1 piece again on the first round of every cycle.

@Rob-cz9ji

5 жыл бұрын

Bryan Pierce wow I didn’t know that but it makes sense. It really ups the difficulty of the game when they’re all separated. Thanks for explaining

@markushavers2283

5 жыл бұрын

There is that scorpion that gives the Mushrooms a different color. This Mushrooms are "poisoned" and when the Centipede hits one of those, he tumbled down to the bottom.

So the best strategy is to remain calm and move the shooter as necessary. Don't hunt down the moving pieces but wait for them.

@dinktyke

2 жыл бұрын

Mostly correct. But above everything this game is about trackball speed and accuracy. Without a good trackball you won't get very far.

@Blippity_Bloop64

2 жыл бұрын

@@dinktyke Yep. And some arcades did a cruddy job of keeping the trackball clean. It would jump all over. Sometimes, you could get the pad of your palm pinched. Oh, and don't get me started on wonky firing buttons!

i tried it once and got to the fourth level, but i wasnt trying at all. i had to go so i died on purpose lmao edit: i think it was level 2 actually

@dinktyke Do you use a trackball for your MAME setup? If so, which one do you recommend?

@dinktyke

3 жыл бұрын

No. Just a logitech trackball.... And for top gameplay nothing has been reproduced yet. Even the Arcade1up machines get nowhere near the precision needed to compete with a real cab.

@umjames

3 жыл бұрын

dinktyke Yeah, that’s what I thought. The arcade trackball was so good.

You're good, really good. But with my help, you could be the best.

My high score is 24000

Sam Brenner?

We can hear what you're saying under your breath.

that would be great if you actually played on the atari and not the computer with a mouse... it makes your movements way faster and way easier to dodge everything...

@dinktyke

6 жыл бұрын

Check out my newer videos. I now have my own machine Atari cabinet :)

At one time I got 700,000 at the most

Do not shoot the middle of the centipede. Shoot it head on.

Meh - some consider exploiting a known weakness in the game as cheating to a high score. Getting a high score on this game is easy if you build those channels, but it also takes all the fun out of it.

@dinktyke

8 жыл бұрын

Just read up about strategies, how boring does the Blob strategy seem? Each to their own but calculated reckless abandon is the fun way to play :)

@Blippity_Bloop64

8 жыл бұрын

I don't know how it could be considered "cheating"; it's the behavior of the game. If you build that channel and don't hit the group right, it's at the bottom in seconds. Once you've got more than 6-odd heads coming down, separate from the body, the channel isn't nearly as effective, anyway. The real skill is in navigating up and down in the bottom rows while the game pumps out head after head. What's more of a cheat is keeping the whole screen empty, except for a block down near the bottom that stops the fleas from dropping.

@MaterLacrymarum

8 жыл бұрын

I think it's considered cheating because it's not the intended behaviour of the game, it's just that in this situation you can exploit the fact that the game doesn't "fix" things, are goes on a kind of repeat, rinse, recycle mode. This method is mentioned in the Mame history tab. When I clicked on this video I was hoping for something more than what most people would have read in the game history tab, that's all. :)

@WinstonKnows

7 жыл бұрын

I used to see this guy and his brother play centipede for an hour or so, and they would clear the screen of mushrooms except for the bottom right side. The centipede would get trapped and the guy would shoot the spider over and over again getting 900 points at a time til reaching 999,999 or something close to that. I wish I knew how to time the shooting of the centipede to get the mushrooms to trap the centipede. The centipede was shot down to be a bit shorter than the full length, as well.

@FloydMaxwell

6 жыл бұрын

Here is an example of that "blocked side" technique. The player has no skill or ability, but it turns Centipede into "avoid the Spider". kzread.info/dash/bejne/aneimbqLprnRXZM.html

Did you have a roller ball for control?

@dinktyke

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, a Logitech trackball, but in all honesty, no better than a mouse. Nothing out there even comes close to original hardware for the speed and accuracy needed for a high level game.

6:49

Where Did Uou Play This

@dinktyke

7 жыл бұрын

Polar on my PC. Google MAME.

@MSNano

7 жыл бұрын

dinktyke On Google Mame?

@Tony-1971

7 жыл бұрын

Search for MAME. On Google

Ehehehehehe

The sound has too much treble

So do you believe Todd Rogers got 1.5 mill?

@dinktyke

4 жыл бұрын

Anyone but him. I've had 1.78m... Bet he can't even beat the 2nd side feed wave straight shoot em up style.

Do you still play?

@dinktyke

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, i have my own machine now though. Some videos on this channel.

@mlgsnip3rv291

2 жыл бұрын

@@dinktyke cool many years later you reply and play 80s games, I respect that

Ooo 😱 yes yuo know how to play well i ll give you premission to reach the last level of centipede 😱🐛🐛🐛

This was fake. The centipede does not reach the bottom, making it way easier to dodge than the actual arcade version.

@dinktyke

6 жыл бұрын

Nah, mate. It's real enough, MAME, ... as close as you can get to my own upright arcade Centipede..... kzread.info/dash/bejne/i5iEzaqjccjek7A.html

@themaritimegirl

5 жыл бұрын

I saw it reach the bottom several times. But nice try.

Using a mouse is cheating sorry.