Play Millipede Online

Summary

Millipede for the Atari 5200 began life as a prototype conversion of the arcade hit, finished in 1984. Atari pulled the plug on the 5200 just as the cartridge was nearing completion, so the game never saw an official release. Decades later, the retro‑hacker community revived it: Atariage issued a homebrew version in 2017, finally giving the long‑shelved title a chance to run on its intended hardware.

The core loop is familiar to anyone who’s played Centipede – you fend off endless waves of insects while a giant Millipede crawls down the screen toward you. What sets this version apart are the extra critters that pop up and the DDT‑style bombs you can fire; a single blast wipes out everything in the immediate area, adding a strategic punch to the frantic shooting.

For fans of classic arcade shooters, Millipede on the 5200 feels like a hidden gem that blends the nostalgic feel of the original with a few fresh twists, all wrapped up in a cartridge that finally got its moment after more than three decades of waiting.