The legendary arcade franchise evolves on Amazon Luna
This month, Amazon Luna and GameNight are introducing a worthy new entrant into the pantheon of iconic, classic game franchises finding new generations of players through home and mobile play. Centipede Swarm is a cooperative twin-stick shooter where one to four players battle through endless waves of pastel-glowing insect hordes on a dynamic battlefield, ultimately facing a Centipede that splits, mutates, and attacks from every direction.
The Graphite Lab team remembers back to their first interactions with Atari’s classic. “My first experience with Centipede was in the arcade,” says Matt Raithel, Studio Head at Graphite Lab. “As a kid, I would visit with my uncle, and drop what seemed like hundreds of dollars (of his quarters – not mine!) on games like Centipede, Missile Command, and others.”
Still, players might wonder, what does “reimagining” this game mean? “We like to say the core Centipede experience is the heart of Centipede Swarm. But now, it’s super-charged! We’ve introduced modern rogue-like mechanics, cooperative play, and ever-evolving swarms to give both longtime fans and new players a fresh, chaotic, and engaging good time! Players collect power-ups, evolve their weapons, and acquire temporary buffs that dramatically change how they approach each wave. The cooperative gameplay also adds a layer of strategy, as positioning, power-ups, and timing can all influence the outcome.”
The new Centipede Swarm was optimized to entertain and delight. Familiar design elements pair with modern renditions, while hand-crafted pixel art gives the appropriate retro feel. Centipede Swarm is a new game that’s easy to pick up and play, fun to master, and built for a dual-screen experience. “What’s wonderful about a mobile device as a controller is that we can change the inputs to suit the moment-to-moment play. Some screens are easier to explore and study when at arm’s length versus others close up. Thinking dual allowed us to deliver unique content to each device.”
On the way to creating a novel playing experience for couch co-op fun with family or friends, Graphite Lab also tapped into other media for inspiration. “While I confess that the original game is our singular north star, the fantasy themes of franchises like The Lord of the Rings crept into some of the naming and phrasing of certain elements in this game. As for music, the concept of Nature-synth shows up in the melodies. Music builds in layers as enemies spawn, intensifying as waves progress.”
In the end, Atari, Graphite Lab and Amazon reimagined Centipede so generations of players, old and new, could have fun. “We hope they enjoy it with their families, too. But if I’m getting greedy and can hope for one more thing, I hope it introduces a younger audience to the history of the original game and sparks some celebration of the joy that games have brought into homes over the last 40+ years.
“Centipede is a timeless arcade experience. Amazon’ Luna’s Game Night platform allowed us to move that classic out of the arcade and into the living room.”
Centipede Swarm is available now, part of Amazon Luna’s GameNight collection of easy to pick up social and party games that anyone can enjoy solo or with family and friends, right from your living room and phone.
