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Back when Space Invaders was deemed the height of videogame excellence, Centipede was something a little different. Like so many games in those days it took an already established formula and simply changed it a little to create a different game. Come to think of it, that still happens now!

Centipede takes the aliens from Space Invaders and pushes them together to make... well, a centipede! So, rather than taking on an armada of alien adversaries, all the player has to deal with is a long one which winds down the screen towards you. Sound easy?

To make things more difficult the centipede divides if shot, giving you multiple targets. Each mushroom appears on screen and each time the centipede hits a mushroom it drops one line down the screen - closer to you. The more centipedes you kill, the more mushrooms appear and the faster each successive centipede snakes down the screen.

This is a classic arcade shoot-'em-up at its best. With each successive wave, the action gets faster, and the addition of other creatures like spiders and various assorted insects keeps you on your toes. The various two-player modes including a superb co-operative link-up give a little something that the arcade never had without spoiling the simple fun. Centipede offers just the kind of quick fix that Game Boy owners love and it's a great travel game, but compared to the latest Game Boy Color games it's fairly dated and repetitive.