A timeless classic. You may have played copycats, but the original still reigns supreme.
Without the trackball you lose two things: the authenticity of the arcade and more precise control of your on-screen ship.
Centipede is a 2D game in which you pilot a ship in the bottom quarter of the screen while a centipede methodically moves down the screen from left to right towards you, dropping one line closer each time it hits the edge of the screen. Your goal is to destroy the centipede before it reaches you. There's a problem, though. The centipede is segmented so that when you destroy a link in its body it splits into multiple centipedes that need to be destroyed. There are also obstacles in your line of fire, mushrooms that are slowly destroyed by your blaster as you chip away at them. Unfortunately, every time you shoot a mushroom you are not shooting the centipede.
Bonuses occassionally floy by at the top and sides of the screen that give you points if you hit them.
Graphics: It's an atari. The graphics are bad. The game is better today. At the time, they were pretty standard graphics.
Sound: Blip, bloop, bleep. The gunfire (Zop!) is satisfying. No music.
Gameplay: Awesome. The game is still emulated today for a reason: it's really, really fun.
If you've never played centipede before I would attest you are living under a rock. Chances are that you've played a version of centipede and not known it. Go online, google centipede, and find a flash version to play for five or ten minutes. It rocks.