Zero Wing

Zero Wing is a 1980s Japanese video game developed by Toaplan whose opening cut scene for Sega Megadrive was translated into Engrish. It gave rise to the viral memes "All your base are belong to us", "move 'zig'", "for great justice" and "somebody set up us the bomb". It seems to be notable only for giving rise to these memes, as the game is merely a standard sideways scrolling shooter. It is also somewhat famous for the game music by Tatsuya Uemura which also appears in several remixed forms. The original arcade game did not have the opening cut scene.

The player has three different ways to attack:

• Missiles (press A).
• Ramming smaller enemies with the little option ships above and below the Zig.
• Grabbing a smaller enemy and throwing it at another enemy (press B), similarly to Kirby games.

The game becomes quite a bit more manageable after one masters "grab and throw."

In the intro scenes, the Zig's windows are green. In the game, the windows change color depending on what weapon one has. The green weapon (homing missiles) is the most versatile, clearing away hordes of enemies quickly and making boss battles merely a matter of dodging their bullets without worrying about aiming.

The console version of Zero Wing was never released in North America. The infamous Engrish translation of the game was for the European version (PAL) of the Sega Genesis console, the Sega Megadrive. The arcade version was distributed by Williams Electronics in North America.

The dialogue from the opening cut scene can be seen in full at All your base are belong to us.

External links

• Zero Wing Genesis FAQ
• Zero Wing at Toaplan.com (unofficial information source)
• Arcade version of Zero Wing at Killer List of Videogames