239. Millipede (HAL Laboratory, Famicom, 1987)

Millipede is a console port of the sequel to 1980's Centipede, one of Atari's most popular arcade games and one of the first video games designed by a woman. I'll admit, I've never been a huge fan of Centipede; My least favorite thing about centipede is the trackball controls, I could never get used to the trackball controls and would usually just end up with my hand getting pinched by the ball. But because this is the Famicom version, there is no ball and you just move around with the d-pad, so I was able to actually consider the mechanics of the game. 

Millipede has the same basic formula as Centipede, but has a lot more extra going on. Beyond the shooting at a bug train as it winds its way down the screen and dealing with spiders, there are also DDT capsules that act like bombs when shot, and fleas that physically move the playfield when they are killed. Level types have slightly more variety than Centipede, as you get levels where flying enemies are raining down and it's more about dodging.

I have to wonder what prompted HAL to release Millipede 5 years after its arcade release, or how they even got the rights, though they also published ports of Joust and Defender II in 1987. Maybe by 1987, Famicom development had finally caught up with early 80s arcade technology, but the game plays very well on the Famicom. Like in the arcade, your shot speed is ridiculous up close, and your ship moves so much faster than other Famicom shooters of this time, the mobility is a blast. Plus, when you die there's a great death screech.

My main gripe is that Millipede does not look great. While it looks like a decent facsimile of the arcade version, the whole game is on a tiny screen with a huge ugly blue border. There is also basically zero variety: you can select a game B, but it's just a slightly harder version with extra spiders.

3/5, an ugly, screeching game that is fun and frantic