Zero Wing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Zero Wing | |
|---|---|
 One of the two Japanese arcade flyers of Zero Wing. |
|
| Developer(s) | Toaplan |
| Publisher(s) | Taito Sega Naxat Soft |
| Distributor(s) | Williams Electronics |
| Composer(s) | Tatsuya Uemura Toshiaki Tomisawa Masahiro Yuge |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PC Engine CD-ROM, Sega Mega Drive |
| Release date(s) | Arcade 1989 Sega Mega Drive JP May 31, 1991 EU 1991 PC Engine CD-ROM JP September 18, 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Zero Wing (ゼロウィング) is a 1989 side-scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Toaplan and published by Taito. As with other shoot 'em ups of the time, it featured no real plot except to establish that the player is a lone hero who will save the universe from an evil force. However, it enjoyed a degree of success in arcades and was subsequently ported to the Sega Mega Drive by Toaplan on May 31, 1991 in Japan, and by Sega during the same year in Europe, followed by a PC Engine CD-ROM release by Naxat Soft on September 18, 1992 only in Japan.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
As with other scrolling shooters, the aim of the game is to shoot all enemies that appear on screen and avoid getting obliterated by lasers, crashing into enemies or into foreground scenery. There are mid-level and end-of-level boss enemies that stay with the player until they are defeated.
The player, a "ZIG" star fighter, has several ways to attack:
- Using the main cannon: scatter-shot (red weapon), lasers (blue weapon), or homing missiles (green weapon). Similar to configuring the Vic Viper in Gradius
- Ramming smaller enemies with the orbital cannons that appear above and below the ZIG. These cannons fire whatever weapon is equipped on the main ship at the time.
- Grabbing an enemy using the tractor beam and releasing it at another enemy, similar to the Kirby games.
- Releasing the spherical front shield once it is collected, like in R-Type.
Soon after starting, the player encounters power-up ships. If destroyed, they leave behind power-ups. These run in the sequence of red weapon, blue weapon, green weapon, and speed-up, and then start with red again. There is also an occasional shield power-up, which attaches to the front of the ship. Once the first weapon power-up is collected, two small ships appear above and below the ZIG, and follow its exact movements. These extra ships are impervious and can be used as shields. As they occasionally move nearer the ZIG when blocked by large enemies or foreground scenery, they can serve as a warning to the player that they should move carefully to avoid a collision.
Each of the three main weapons has three power levels. Each time the same weapon is collected, the power level increases. If a different weapon is collected, it starts back on level 1 power, unless level 3 power was already attained previously. If you have a spherical front shield while you're already holding one, a special power-up will replace it which increase all weapons to a special, otherwise unattainable, level 4. Another way to obtain level 4 is if you're already carrying a bomb and detonate an object that would yield another bomb power up. In the intro scenes, the ZIG's windows are green. In the game itself, the windows change color depending on what weapon the player has.
[edit] Ports
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2009) |
After it became fairly successful in the arcades and game centers, Zero Wing was ported to the PC Engine CD-ROM by Naxat Soft exclusively in Japan and the Sega Mega Drive by Sega in Japan and Europe in 1991. The home console versions of Zero Wing were never released in North America due to the release of the arcade version distributed by Williams Electronics. However, the European Mega Drive version of the game will play on American consoles due to a lack of region protection.
[edit] Reception
|
|
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2009) |
The Mega Drive version was infamous for its poorly translated opening scene, due to it being rushed into release in Europe (it was not released in America). Gametrailers.com listed the Mega Drive version of Zero Wing as the seventh worst video game in its "10 Best and Worst Video Games," though the focus was on its bad translation.[citation needed] The poor translation sparked an internet phenomenon in 2000 centering on the phrase "All your base are belong to us".
[edit] "All your base are belong to us"
In the Sega Mega Drive version, to expand on the game's plot, Toaplan added an introductory cut scene to the game. This introductory scene was translated by Sega of Europe to English from Japanese rather poorly for the European release, because of the European version being rushed,[citation needed] resulting in dialogue such as "Somebody set up us the bomb", "All your base are belong to us", and "You have no chance to survive make your time." The introduction does not appear in the arcade nor PC Engine CD-ROM versions.
In 1999, Zero Wing's introduction was re-discovered, culminating in the wildly popular "All your base are belong to us" memetic phenomenon. This also popularized the introductory and Level 3 background music by Tatsuya Uemura.[citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
In Warcraft 3 the cheat to lose is "someone set us up the bomb" with no spaces. The cheat to win is "all your base is belong to us" with no spaces.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Zero Wing |
- Arcade version
- Zero Wing at the Killer List of Videogames
- Zero Wing at arcade-history
- Zero Wing (Arcade version) at GameFAQs
- Home versions
