Centipede
Centipede is a vertically oriented shoot 'em up arcade game produced by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game was developed by Ed Logg along with Dona Bailey, one of the few female game programmers in the industry at the time. It was also the first arcade coin-op game to have a significant female player base. The player defends against swarms of insects and completes a round by eliminating the centipede that meanders across the playing field.
Story
The enchanted forest Once upon a time in a misty, enchanted forest lived a colony of good elves. However, these elves had a big problem. Their precious mushroom garden was infested with vermin: a giant centipede, a poisonous scorpion, a spider making mischief, and a pesky flea. The good elves tried everything they could to rid their garden of these pests. But nothing worked. One day, an elf named Oliver was picking at a poisonous mushroom in the garden. Suddenly, he saw an unusual stick shining in the ground. Just as Oliver picked up the stick, a spider jumped out from behind a mushroom and pounced on him. As Oliver waved his hands wildly to scare the spider away, sparks flew from his stick and the spider disappeared! "How did that happen?" wondered Oliver aloud. "Could that be a magic wand?" Soon Oliver had another opportunity to try out the wand. As the scorpion darted through a row of mushrooms, poisoning all the mushrooms it touched, Oliver pointed the wand at the scorpion and shouted, "Get out!" Immediately, the scorpion disappeared and the poisoned mushrooms were transformed back into normal mushrooms. "This is great! This is the tool we need to clean up our mushroom garden!" exclaimed Oliver ecstatically. Using his newfound wand, Oliver hid behind a mushroom. "Okay, you big centipede," he said. "Come out, wherever you are. I'm ready for you now!" -from the Atari 2600 Centipede instruction manual.