Zero Wing

Zero Wing
European Mega Drive box art European Mega Drive box art
Developer(s)	Toaplan
Publisher(s)	Sega (European Mega Drive release)
Composer(s)	Masahiro Yuge Tatsuya Uemura
Platform(s)	Arcade, PC Engine, Sega Mega Drive
Release	1989 (Arcade)
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player

Zero Wing (ゼロウィング, zero wingu) is a 1989 Japanese "shoot 'em up" arcade game developed by Toaplan. Like other shoot 'em ups of the time, it featured no real plot except to distinguish that the player is a lone hero who will save the universe from an evil force. However, it enjoyed a degree of success in the arcade and was subsequently ported to the PC Engine and Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis in 1991.

Gameplay

As per other shooters, the aim of the game is to shoot all other enemies that appear on screen and avoid crashing into bullets, enemies, or 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" fighter ship, has several ways to attack:

• Using the main cannon: scatter-shot (red weapon), lasers (blue weapon) or homing missiles (green weapon).
• Ramming smaller enemies with the little extra ships that appear above and below the ZIG.
• Grabbing a smaller enemy and throwing 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 shot, they leave behind power-ups. These run in the sequence of red weapon, blue weapon, green weapon, and speed-up. 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. 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.

"All your base are belong to us"

Main article: All your base are belong to us

The reason for Zero Wing's popularity beyond its release as an arcade game and video game is due to the additions made to the European Mega Drive version. To expand on the game's plot, an introductory cut scene was added to the game. This introductory scene was famously translated to English rather poorly for the European release, because of the European version being rushed, resulting in dialogue such as "Somebody set up us the bomb" and "All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time!" The introduction does not appear in the arcade version.

In 1999, Zero Wing's introduction was re-discovered by members of OverClocked ReMix, culminating in the wildly successful "All your base are belong to us" memetic phenomenon. This also popularized the introductory and Level 1 background music by Tatsuya Uemura.

The console version of Zero Wing was never released in North America for the Turbo Grafx (PC Engine) or Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) due to the arcade version distributed by Williams Electronics, which never had the AYB intro.

Image Gallery

• A simplified version of the opening cut scene from Zero Wing
  A simplified version of the opening cut scene from Zero Wing
• Zero Wing Title Screen.
  Zero Wing Title Screen.
• The Level 4 weapon power-up
  The Level 4 weapon power-up
• 
  The famous phrase from Zero Wing

See also

• Engrish
• Zero Wing (translations)
• All your base are belong to us

External links

• Zero Wing at MobyGames
• Zero Wing at The Killer List of Video Games
• Template:GameFAQs
• Category at ODP