We haven’t heard much about the upcoming reboot to the classic Atari franchise Centipede since March, so it’s time to correct that as we say goodbye to May.
In case this is the first time you’ve heard about Centipede Chaos, here are some links to our previous coverage: First look on location test / First Game Teaser / Hands-on At Amusement Expo 2019.
According to ICE, the game has gone through many improvements & changes since we last saw it in March. It has been doing the location test circuit (meaning that some of you might have seen it out there), while June will mark the first shipment of units to various Dave & Busters (NOTE: They are not getting an exclusive on this, but they have secured first wave units. This is similar to what has happened with other games in the past like House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn). While all location test units have been redemption only pieces, the production model will ship with an Amusement Mode, meaning that you can just play the game for points. That feature is similar to what has been found on other Raw Thrills videmption titles like Galaga Assault & Space Invaders Frenzy.
When I played it at Amusement Expo, certain aspects of the game were not finalized, but now ICE is stating that the game features “10 waves. 2 waves then Boss #1, 2 more waves then boss #2, 2 more waves then boss #3. Then the Mega boss. Effectively including the boss rounds there is 10 waves. After the 10 waves, it’s game over.” They were also kind enough to send me some clips of these bosses, which I stitched together with some other effects for this video teaser:
One interesting thing that comes to my mind about this, is the final boss being a giant spider does hearken back to Atari’s somewhat obscure 1982 release, Black Widow. Although said spider was the hero of that Robotron-style game. 😉
Centipede Chaos begins shipping this June, and for now will only be available in the 75″ monitor, 3-player cabinet. The next time I come across it, I’ll have to see if I can check it out in Amusement Mode to see how it fares as a standard video game. What do you think about this one from what you’ve seen, or if you’ve had the chance, played?
