===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|ooooooooooooooooooooo|%%%%% ATARI'S CENTIPEDE %%%%%|ooooooooooooooooooooo|
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
| ~~~~~~~FAQ~~~~~~~ |
| o----------o |
| |by me frog| |
|----------------------+----------o----------o-------+------------+----------|
|cskull@frogdesign.com | Created on: May 23, 2004 |VersionFinal|THE ARCADE|
|----------------------+----------o----------o-------+------------+----------|
| NOT RATED | Last update: May 23, 2004 | AIM: me frog 12345 |
+----------------------+----------o----------o-------+------------+----------+
===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |%%%%% Table of Contents %%%%%| |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Ch.#| Name of Chapter/Sub-Section|Search | Description |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(01)| VERSION HISTORY | VER. | I'll describe the updates here|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(02)| INTRODUCTION | INTR | My introduction to Centipede |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(03)| FAQ | FAQ | The FAQ to Centipede |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(04)| LEGAL INFORMATION | LEGAL | The legal info for this guide |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(05)| CONTACT INFORMATION |CONTACT|The Contact info for this guide|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(06)| CREDITS/CLOSING | CRCO | The credits for this guide |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |%%%%% Version History %%%%%| VER. |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
+-----------+---------------+--------------------------------------------------
| Ver. Final| May 23, 2004 | The first and last version of this four-hour FAQ.
+-----------+---------------| The FAQ is complete, along with pretty much
| everything else.
+--------------------------------------------------
===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |%%%%% Introduction %%%%%| INTO |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
Alert the media. me frog is not doing a FAQ for a Nintendo game. HOLY CRAP!
Really, this is probably the only game I'll ever do a FAQ for that's not for
Nintendo. Actually, I MAY do some old Atari and arcade games later but not now.
Anyway, this is a very brief guide giving you 20 KB worth of tips on the game
of Centipede. Just when it looked like Atari was about to go out of business,
one of their female developers came along with this new idea. She was like, "I
have a great idea! Lets make a game with mushrooms where you have to run around
shooting a centipede who is going absolutely nowhere!" Everyone loved it and
Atari stayed in business. Centipede's legacy still remains today even,
surprisingly. But hey, it's a great game to play.
===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |%%%%% FAQ %%%%%| FAQ |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
This part of the guide will give you many tips and advice on how to get far in
the game of Centipede. First, your controls are simple: you have a roller to
move your ship with. You can move your ship up, down, left, and right within a
certain area. You use the single button to fire. Here's a map of the arena:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| M C M |
| M M C M |
| M M CCM M |
| M MCCCCCCCCCM |
| M CCCM |
| M |
|M M M M |
|M MM M M |
|M M MMMM M |
|M M |
|M M M M |
|M M M |
| M |
| M |
| M M M M |
| M |
| M |
| M MMMMM |
| M M |
| M M |
| M M |
| M |
|\ M M M /|
| \ M M / |
| \ M M M / |
| M\ M M / |
|____\______________________________________________________/____|
|MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN ST|
|AY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SH|
|IP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY|
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+
| KEY |
| |
| M = Mushroom |
| \ = Path Spiders enter from|
| CCCCCC = Centipede |
+----------------------------+
That's pretty much how all Centipede games are laid out. The Centipede will
always start from the top of the screen. At first, it is going straight down.
However, there are many Mushrooms and you won't be able to destroy them all.
Therefore, the Centipede will have to go around them. This can greatly change
the route of a Centipede. For example, let's say that a Centipede is going
straight down. It hits a Mushroom barracade. It'll switch to the left or right.
This can be used to your advantage sometimes. For example, look at this:
CCCC M
M M
M M
M M
M M
M M
M M
M M
As you can see, the Centipede is heading towards the Mushroom. When it hits the
Mushroom, the path will suddenly change to:
CCCCCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
And you can use your firepower to shoot straight up into the path of Mushrooms,
slowly destroying the Centipede section by section. Note that the diagram such
as the one listed above is very rare; you'll rarely have Mushrooms stacked like
that. But usually, it'll be wider and open up a better path. This is somewhat
useful in the beginning levels, but the Centipedes are moving slow anyway then
so it doesn't help TOO much. But it the later levels, when the Centipede begins
to move faster and faster, this becomes very useful. However, don't consider
yourself super lucky if the Mushrooms all appear in the single line that was
shown above. The developers were clever enough to realize that something like
that might happen so this is what they did: destroy a section of the Centipede
and it becomes a Mushroom.
So this is what can happen:
CCCCCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
|
|
|
The | represents your firepower. Anyway, here's the result:
CCCCCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MCM
MMM
When you destroy the first section of the Centipede it creates yet another
barrier. You need to VERY QUICKLY shoot the Mushroom as the Centipede turns
around and starts going in the opposite direction. If you're lucky enough,
you'll be able to destroy it and get in a few more shots before the Centipede
actually escapes the area entirely. A Mushroom will take four shots to defeat.
Usually, it takes about three seconds to fire four shots before your shots
disappear completely. But if a Mushroom is close to you ship, then it'll be
quicker. For example, look at this:
M
SHIP
You can fire a shot at the Mushroom and since it's so close up, the lasers will
dissapear instantly. Sometimes, the Mushrooms are so close up, it can take less
than a second to defeat it. The Mushrooms are usually in the middle of the
playing field and they take about two seconds to destroy one completely. The
Centipede's speed varies. The first level it moves fast, the second level it's
slow, the third level it's fast, the fourth it's slow, and so on and so forth.
Sometimes you'll have two slow levels in a row or several fast levels in the
row. Those (the fast levels) can be quite irritating, especially if there are
many Mushrooms blocking the way. You do NOT want the Centipede to get down to
the lower side of the map.
Look at it this way:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| M M M |
| M S M |
| Y CCCCCCCCCCCC |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+ If there's a Centipede coming at you from one
| KEY | side, the Spider is charging on the other
| | side, and there are Mushrooms littering the
| M = Mushroom | area that gives you VERY few room to maneuver.
| S = Spider | That means that (1) you can't really
| Y = Your ship | concentrate on destroying the Centipede and
| CCCCCC = Centipede | (2) until the Centipede starts moving up to
+----------------------------+ the top of the screen you have a great risk of
being killed. If this ever happens, then first
destroy the Spider. Once that happens, move up
to a higher area and start destroying the
Mushrooms. Then wait until the Centipede
starts to move up to the second row of the
arena and then return to the first row and
start shooting at the Centipede.
Very, very rarely the Centipede will make it to the bottom of the arena in one
piece. It's rare that the Centipede even makes it to the middle in one piece.
And it's uncommon that the Centipede gets three rows down before splitting.
Yes, the Centipede can split which significantly increases the difficulty of
the game. You'll now have to keep track of TWO Centipedes and along with the
Spider, this can get hard. Especially when there are a lot of Mushrooms. If the
Centipede splits into two (for example, a strand of seven and a strand of five)
your first intention might be to destroy the shorter one first to get it out of
the way. DON'T. If the longer one reaches the bottom of the level, then it'll
probably have split up even more by then.
That just means you'll have single unit Centipedes flying around. Let me show
you how this would look like:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| M M M C M M |
| M S C M C M |
| CC Y C C |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+ Look at that. Five Centipede heads flying
| KEY | around you and one two-piece Centipede. So
| | as you dodge the two Centipede heads coming at
| M = Mushroom | you, you'll also have to dodge the Spider and
| S = Spider | the Cenipede head above you and you can't go
| Y = Your ship | to the far right because (1) two Centipedes
| CCCCCC = Centipede | are coming at you and trying to go over them
+----------------------------+ would be impossible because of the Centipede
and Mushroom and (2) if you were to even make
it to the right side by some astonishing
miracle then you'd have to deal with the
Centipede head over on the other side. If you
ever get stuck in a situation like this (and
belive me, during the later levels you WILL be
in these situations and they'll be the death
of you) then you need to first shoot whatever
is above you. That may be a Spider or a
Centipede. Mushrooms should be ignored unless
you absolutely need to shoot them. Just
remember that they take four shots to kill.
Once those are gone, it is safe to move up
towards the second row. There, shoot whatever
is in the third row. The chances of you dying
have gone from extremely high to you having to
be a bit unlucky.
Now shooting the longer Centipede first is always a great idea. Of course, the
shorter Centipede might reach the bottom but there will be less heads to deal
with. On the way there, one Centipede might split on its own. This is not
uncommon; if a Centipede drives straight into a Mushroom (that's not on the
side, the Centipede has to charge straight into it) then it will separate and
go in two separate directions. You may have a bunch of stray Centipede heads
floating around the arean. This is not good news, especially when they're going
extremely fast. You'll have to focuse on the ones that are closest to you and
then slowly work your way up to the upper ones. Still, you're not going to be
able to defeat all of them by the time they get down to the lower area.
However, you should have taken out a great deal of them so you will only have
to deal with one or two Centipede heads. Now there is one incredibly annoying
thing that can happen. Once you get to at least level five, the Mushroom count
will be insane. As in, something like this:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| M M M M M M |
| M M M M M |
| M M M M M M |
| M M M M M M M |
| M M M MMM M |
| M M M M M M M |
|M M M M M M M |
|M MM M M M M M M |
|M M M MMMM M M M |
|M M M M M |
|M M M M M M M M |
|M M M M M M M |
| MM M M M M |
| M M MCM M |
| M M M M M MCCCCM M |
| M M M MC M M |
| M M M M M MC |
| M M MMMMM M C |
| M M MM CM M M |
| M M M M M M M CC M |
| M M C M M M |
| M M |
|\ M M M M M M |
| \ M M M /|
| \ M M M / |
| M\ M M M / |
|____\_______M____________M_________________________________ /___|
|MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN ST|
|AY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SH|
|IP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY YOUR SHIP CAN STAY IN - MAX BOUNDRY|
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+
| KEY |
| |
| M = Mushroom |
| \ = Path Spiders enter from|
| CCCCCC = Centipede |
+----------------------------+
If you notice, the Mushrooms in the area on the right are so cramped together
that the Centipede literally goes kamakazie and charges right through. This is
good ONLY when it's all lined up in a neat row (like listed at the beginning at
the guide). As you can see, however, these are all messed up but are still
going vertical. When you get to level six, the Mushrooms will start appearing
like that. They'll charge forward and reach the bottom of the level about three
seconds after the level begins. Unless you're experienced and can take out many
at once, you'll have a problem. However, you'll still be able to eliminate at
least half of them. If it's a little more wide open, then it can actually be
used toward your advantage if you've been playing the game for a while (by a
while I don't mean days, I mean hours).
But once you get to level seven, things get much more difficult. Let me show
you an idea of how the Mushrooms will be positioned in level seven:
M
M M
M M
M M M
MMM
M M M
M M
MMMM
MM
M
M
Now don't think that it's like that all the time. Usually, it's only a specific
part of the level. About seventy percent of the time, it's on the right side. I
don't know why, but it happened to me about twenty-nine times (yes, I DID keep
an accurate count) in the forty times I played (I spent exactly ten bucks on
this game, remember?). Let me show you how the Centipede makes its way through:
CM
M MC
MCCM M
MCCM M
MCM M M
MCMMM
CCCCM M
MMM
MMMM
MM
M
M
That may not seem that big but it can't get from the top part of the section to
the bottom in about one second flat. Seriously. And usually the Mushroom row
stretches from the top of the screen to the bottom. Since the Centipede always
starts off by going to the right and since the Mushroom row is usually located
to the right... well... put two and two together and you know. You have to be
ready for this. Starting at level six (sometimes at level five, mostly level
seven and up) you need to start each level by going to the right. Let's divide
the playing field into four "rows," shall we? Each row makes up a fourth of the
playing field. From left to right, the rows are one, two, three, and finally
four.
You'll always want to go to the middle of row three because that's where the
Centipede usually charges. Okay, I must finally tell you an ultimate danger of
the game. I like to call this the Trap and it GURANTEES your death unless you
know how to escape it. The "Trap" is pretty dangerous during the slow levels
and extremely dangerous during the fast levels. Here it is:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| /<-CCC CCC -> |
| S / <- C |
| C -> \/ Y <- C |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------+ This is just one example of the Trap.
| KEY | Basically, there will be a Spider and
| | at least three Centipedes involved. Two of the
| M = Mushroom | Centipedes will be coming at you at the bottom
| S = Spider | row from opposite directions and the Spider
| Y = Your ship | will be bouncing towards you from the left or
| CCCCCC = Centipede | right. Trying to go up to avoid the two
+----------------------------+ Centipedes is a no-go because the Spider is
trying to kill you. You MIGHT have a chance,
but it's slim. If a third Centipede is coming
at you on the second row from the left or
right, then you're in a huge amount of
trouble. Luckily, getting in this situation is
rare, happening only about 10% of the time in
each of the fast levels. Getting OUT of it
requires quite a bit of skill and a small bit
of luck. You need to be able to quickly shift
to once side and take out the Spider, then get
out of the bottom row. If there are Centipedes
on the third row, then you're in trouble
unless you've seriously mastered the controls.
Staying in between two rows is made difficult
with the rolling ball you're given as the
controls. With that in mind, I hope you never
get into this situation. This is all the
advice I can give you. Other than that I can
say one thing: good luck.
Well, I've covered basically everything there is to know about Centipede in
this short FAQ. This took me only two hours to type, heh. Anyway, I hope you've
enjoyed this!
LEGAL INFORMATION
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|MAJOR NOTE: This FAQ will be hosted by ONLY GAMEFAQS.COM, IGN.COM, |
|NEOSEEKER.COM, AND GAMENOTOVER.COM! NO! YOU CANNOT PUT THIS ON YOUR SITE! No|
|matter how many times I say don't, WAY too many people take my FAQs without |
|my permission. I have grown to trust only these four sites, who haven't |
|actually stolen any type of work from people. Even if you want my FAQ, sorry|
|but thanks to some certain sites, only these four are allowed to host it. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Note that if you DO steal my FAQs, you will regret it. Seriously regret it.
Stealing someone's work without asking is something that FAQ writers get really
pissed off at. Stealing someone's work and crediting someone else for it is
PLAGIARISM! That is a SERIOUS violation and I assure you, you'll pay dearly if
you plagiarize any of my work.
===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |%%%%% Contact %%%%%| CIFO |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AIM Contact rules
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My AIM: me frog 12345
PLEASE don't start whole conversations with me. Chances are, if I'm on, I'm
usually talking to somebody else, and I don't want to stop to have a
conversation
with somebody that I don't know. Just ask the question, you'll definitely get a
response, and then that's it.
Note that I don't know the answer to everything. If you ask a question that I'm
unsure about, I'll simply tell you that I don't know the answer and that'll be
the
end of it. Kthnxbye.
Also, if you IM me asking something about the FAQ, I'll simply say, "Look in
the
FAQ" and then won't say anything else. I really don't like having to stop other
conversations for a few moments to answer some question that's obviously
already
typed.
If you don't get an answer in a minute, don't flip. I might be away for just a
couple of minutes, or I might be talking to a bunch of other people at once.
I'll
usually answer within ten minutes of your question, so just keep the text box
open
while you do something else and you'll get a response. If you have no patience
and
keep posting, "What's the answer?" a dozen times, I simply won't answer you. If
it
gets too far, I might even block you, though I rarely do that to people who ask
me
questions.
Don't pop up later and start chatting with me. I personally don't like it when
I
start to get into conversations where I don't know you. If it happens
constantly,
I'll simply block you. Note that you don't have to worry about warnings; I'll
never warn someone, I'll just block him or her completely.
Well, that should be it then. Now on to e-mail...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E-mail contact rules
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My e-mail address is cskull@frogdesign.com. There are a few things that
you can e-mail me about, and few things that you can't. First the
things that are okay.
Information on the game. No this does NOT mean full world guides,
because if it isn't there I haven't gotten to them yet but I will. It means
additional TIPS on beating a world or correcting information that I messed up.
Secrets are _TOTALLY_ accepted.
Praise mail. I used to be against this, but now I realize how rare praise
really
is. Just don't send me things like, "Yer faq is kewl, lol!!!"
Suggestions for the FAQ. Something like, "Why don't you add such and
such in your FAQ. NOT "Why don't you totally re-do your FAQ because it
sucks!" That is just plain rude and annoying. If you don't like my
FAQ, tell me things to make it better!
The things that you CAN'T e-mail me about are...
Spam. This is the NUMBER 0NE thing that you must not send. I get at least
twenty
spam e-mails a day and I don't need yours it doesn't help. Please don't send
any.
Asking permission to use this FAQ. No, you can't, so don't bother. Only four
sites, which I have listed at the top of the guide, can use this FAQ.
Hate mail. No I don't appreciate it if you send me an e-mail saying, "Your FAQ
is
the biggest piece of **** ever created! It sucks!" That just
fills up my inbox and it really annoys me.
Spelling/Grammar mistakes. I used to get about ten e-mails a day
saying, "You spelled these two words wrong." or something like, "You
used inappropriate grammar in this chapter." Please people! I can find
those on my own!
And that wraps up the contact. Once again my e-mail is:
cskull@frogdesign.com
===================--------------------====================-------------------
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |%%%%% Credits/Closing %%%%%| CRCL |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
-------------------====================--------------------===================
CJayC: His awesome game site, and for posting this guide on it.
shoecream: he created that cool ASCII art at the top.
GameFAQs Codes and Secrets page: for the codes I couldn't track down, I was
able to
use this page as a referance.
__
/ _|
_ __ ___ ___ | |_ _ __ ___ __ _
| '_ ` _ \ / _ \ | _|| '__| / _ \ / _` |
| | | | | || __/ | | | | | (_) || (_| |
|_| |_| |_| \___| |_| |_| \___/ \__, |
__/ |
|___/
You can check out all of my other work at:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/11408.html
This FAQ is copyright 2004 Colin Scully.