Straight to the point: Centipede for Smash Ultimate

[Centishooter555]

Who is Centipede?

Centipede is the central antagonist from the 1981 Atari arcade game of the same name. You might of heard of it, as Centipede was one of the highest grossing arcade games of all time, and is one of many's first thought when people think of 80's arcade games. He definitely has the clout to be a third party character in Smash.

For those unfamiliar with the game itself, you play as a gun trying to clear the screen of the main target, the Centipede. Centipede acts like a giant serpent, quickly winding down the track along the mushroom field. If the Centipede touches you, you die. But the Centipede is the least of your worries, as you constantly have to watch out for the other insects that try and kill you, like the flea which drops down from the sky, the spider, which zig-zags in your movement area, and the scorpion, which make the mushrooms poisonous, and those make the Centipede drop right into your play area. These other obstacles garner more points than the Centipede itself, so it's a constant back and forth trying to deal with all the enemies.



Centipede's legacy has lived on in video game culture. It's received numerous ports on the Atari 2600, Gameboy, Xbox Live and countless others. It's received a sequel called "Millipede" in 1982, which is even more intense than the first. It's mentioned in the movie Wreck-it-Ralph in the Hero's Duty scene. It even got it's own board game by Milton Bradley, the same people who gave Pac Man and Donkey Kong a board game, and guess where they are now?

(On a personal note, isn't Centipede's design cool on the 80's promotional material?)

Why Centipede of all things? How would he work in Smash Ultimate?

Spoiler: He could look something like this...

The idea of Centipede being a playable character may be strange to some, but the way the game is designed helps Centipede fill a niche that isn't represented by any other fighter: a Serpent style of fighter. Other popular serpent characters exist in Nintendo's catalog, like Gyrados or Arbok, but these have the disadvantage of not having any arms to believably use items with. Centipede however, does have an arsenal of 117 pairs of arms at his disposal. Because his iconic appearance has him twisting around objects, he can do everything a snake (an actual snake, mind you) can do without being against the source material and more. This includes several abilities, like constricting, slithering, and of course biting. Centipede also has his own gimmicks that he can bring to the table as well, like using the other insects from his game as projectiles, and splitting himself into smaller centipedes, just like in his game.

Art would be appreciated, feel free to post some in the replies!​

 

[SEGAGameBoy]

I don't know anything about it, but I would love to be the first on your supporters list if you have one.

 

[MacDaddyNook]

You know, just the other day, I was thinking about how some classic arcade games like Centipede and Asteroids would make great Assist Trophies in the same vein as Pong/Color TV Game 15. In the case of Centipede, it would change the background to the 8-bit field of mushrooms and Centipede would travel down from the top and deal damage to anyone knocked into it (the mushrooms would be intangible). When stuck, it'd separate into smaller centipede as the section of impact, like in its game, and move about at faster rate.

As a fighter, the breaking apart would have to be it's key mechanic, though I'm not sure how they could implement that.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I dont think I played this... I remember a game with a worm that grew from eating apples.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I like Centipede. Gamestop sells these random arcade classic characters in these boxes and I was wanting to get one in hopes it was Centipede. But being random, I don't really want to risk it.