HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

is a horizontally
scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character m ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by
Toaplan was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. It was best known for its catalogue of scrolling shooters and other arcade video games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was established in 1984 by former Orca and Crux ...
for arcades. It was released in Japan by
Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
in 1989 and North America by Williams Electronics. Controlling the ZIG space fighter craft, players assume the role of protagonist Trent in a last-ditch effort to overthrow the alien space pirate organization CATS (Abigor in the PC-Engine version). It was the eighth shoot 'em up game from Toaplan, and their fourteenth video game overall. Headed by development chief Toshiaki Ōta, ''Zero Wing'' was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan, initially starting as a project not intended for commercial release but to train new recruits before being ultimately released to the market. Although first launched in arcades, the game was later ported to other platforms, each one featuring several changes or additions compared with the original version. ''Zero Wing'' enjoyed a degree of success in arcades and its home
conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...
s were met with mostly positive reception from critics. The European
Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
version later gained renewed popularity due to the "
All your base are belong to us "All your base are belong to us" is an Internet meme based on a Engrish, poorly translated phrase from the opening cutscene of the Japanese video game ''Zero Wing''. The phrase first appeared on the European release of the 1991 Sega Mega Drive P ...
"
internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
, which plays off the badly translated introductory
cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
. The rights to the title are owned by Tatsujin, a Japanese company formed by Masahiro Yuge. The Mega Drive version was later released in North America by independent publisher Retro-Bit in 2020 as well as the
Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...
service.


Gameplay

''Zero Wing'' is a
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
-themed side-scrolling shooter similar to '' Hellfire'', where players assume the role of Trent taking control of the ZIG space fighter craft through eight increasingly difficult levels, each with a boss at the end that must be fought before progressing any further, in a last-ditch effort to overthrow the alien cyborg CATS as the main objective.''Zero Wing'' arcade flyer (Toaplan, JP)''Zero Wing'' instruction manual (Sega Mega Drive, EU)''Zero Wing'' manual (PC Engine CD-ROM², JP) As far as side-scrolling shooters go, the title initially appears to be very standard, as players control their craft over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until the stage boss is reached. A unique gameplay feature is the "Seizer Beam" system; during gameplay, players can grab certain enemies and hold them as shield against enemy fire or launch them against enemies. There are three types of weapons in the game that can be switched between after destroying incoming carriers by picking up a color-changing item ranging from the "Red Cannon" shot, the "Blue Laser" and the "Green Homing" missiles. Each weapon can be upgraded by picking up an item of the same color. Other items can also be grabbed along the way such as speed increasers, 1UPs and a bomb module capable of obliterating any enemy caught within its blast radius that can also be triggered after taking enemy hits. Depending on the settings in the arcade version, the title uses either a checkpoint system in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying, or a respawn system where their ship immediately starts at the location where they died. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles will result in losing a life, as well as a penalty of decreasing the ship's firepower and speed to his original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. The game loops back to the first stage after completing the last stage as with previous titles from Toaplan, with each one increasing the difficulty and enemies fire denser bullet patterns as well as spawning extra bullets when destroyed.


Synopsis

The backstory of ''Zero Wing'' varies between each version, but the plot within the game itself remains consistent. Set in 2101, the game follows the signing of a peace treaty between the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
(also translated as the
Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
Federation) and CATS, a
space pirate Space pirates are a type of stock character from science fiction. A take on the traditional seafaring piracy, pirates of history or the fictional air pirates of the 19th century, space pirates travel through outer space. Where traditional pirate ...
organization, who later breaks the covenant and takes control of the Japanese/Federation space colonies. The protagonist Trent leads a ZIG space craft, which had managed to escape from a mothership destroyed by CATS' representative, with the aim to defeat enemy forces, avenge the mothership and its crew and liberate the Earth. On the PC Engine version however, the story is different. CATS are replaced with an organization called Abigor led by a man named Ludwig and his right-hand woman Seiren. Abigor attack the Galactic Federation and the ZIG, piloted by Masato Tachibana, is send to repel them before it is eventually revealed the Federation dispatcher's sister Airen, who had worked as an undercover spy alerting the Federation of Abigor's attack, is arrested by Seiren who turns her in to Ludwig. After Ludwig chooses to spare Airen's life, Tachibana then ends up getting into communication with Ludwig who challenges him to a battle with a condition to give Airen back if Tachibana wins. Tachibana accepts and blows up Ludwig's ship, Ludwig giving up Airen before committing suicide. Airen and Tachibana then celebrate their victory before returning to Earth offscreen.


Development

''Zero Wing'' was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan, with members of the development staff recounting its history through various Japanese publications. Toshiaki Ōta was at the helm as development chief and also served as
programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...
alongside Hiroaki Furukawa and Tatsuya Uemura.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Uemura also acted as
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
along with Masahiro Yuge and Toshiaki Tomizawa.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).

Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
s Miho Hayashi, Naoki Ogiwara and Shintarō Nakaoka created the artwork while Sanae Nitō and Yuko Tataka served as
character designer Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * Character (novel), ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * Characters (Theophrastus), ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek se ...
s.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Uemura stated that ''Zero Wing'' originally started as a project not intended for commercial launch to train new recruits at Toaplan, handling training for new hires while using his work and engine from '' Hellfire'' before ultimately deciding with releasing the game to the market, which made it a more practical learning experience for the new developers.
Translation
by Gamengai. ).

Translation
by Shmuplations. ).

Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Uemura, however, felt that both stage design and characters were "cobbled together", leading the game's world being "kind of a mess" and he also stated the project turned into a "
battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...
e", as staff from both ''Hellfire'' and '' Truxton'' were mixed with the new recruits. Sound also proved to be very divisive as Uemura, Yuge and Tomizawa wrote several songs for the game with their own individual styles, though Uemura claimed this was due to dividing the work, while Yuge stated he would go to rest and drink after being stuck when composing for the title during work hours. Due to being a training project, Uemura stated that the team had freedom to "just fool around" and several features were integrated into the title such as warps, which was taken from '' Slap Fight''. Uemura also revealed that the reason for enemies spawning suicide bullets during loops of higher difficulty was in response to hardware limitations regarding sprites. Both the single-player and co-op versions were also planned from the beginning of development due to pressure to make two-player games at the time. The alien Pipiru was designed by Ogiwara, though Uemura claimed such character was not planned. The
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
version of ''Zero Wing'' was created by the same staff from the original arcade release, with Uemura overseeing development in-house. Both Uemura and Tataka have stated that working with the Mega Drive proved to be difficult due to several restrictions imposed by the hardware. According to both Uemura and Yuge, the poor English translation in the Mega Drive version was handled by a then-member of Toaplan in charge of export and overseas business, whose English was "really terrible". The Mega Drive port features arranged music by Noriyuki Iwadare. The
PC Engine CD-ROM² The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched in ...
version was outsourced by an "acquaintance" from defunct developer Orca, with Uemura handling sound.


Release

''Zero Wing'' was first released in arcades in October 1989 by
Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
in Japan, and then by Williams Electronics for North America in April 1990. In 1989, an album containing music from the title was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and
Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...
. ''Zero Wing'' was first ported to the
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
by
Toaplan was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. It was best known for its catalogue of scrolling shooters and other arcade video games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was established in 1984 by former Orca and Crux ...
and was first published in Japan on 31 May 1991 and later in Europe by
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
in July 1991. The game was later converted to the
PC Engine CD-ROM² The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched in ...
add-on and was published exclusively in Japan by Naxat Soft on 18 September 1992. The Japanese release is able to play fine on American Sega Genesis consoles. Like most early titles it had no region protection, nor had the European release been PAL-optimized. To expand the plot, the Mega Drive version added an introductory sequence to the game. This introduction does not appear in the arcade original nor in the PC Engine CD-ROM² versions; rather, a different intro takes place with a blue-windowed ZIG. The PC Engine CD-ROM² added two new levels — 5th (Deeva) and 10th (Vacura). The Mega Drive port was later released in North America by independent publisher Retro-Bit in 2020. ''Zero Wing'' was included as part of the ''Toaplan Arcade 1'' compilation for
Evercade The Evercade is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by British company Blaze Entertainment. It focuses on retrogaming with ROM cartridges that each contain a number of emulated games. The Evercade was released on 22 May 2020, and ...
, released in December 2022. ''Zero Wing'' was re-released on the
Nintendo Classics Nintendo Classics is a line of Video game console emulator, emulated retro games distributed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch family of systems and Nintendo Switch 2. Subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service have access to games for ...
service in June 2022. Bitwave Games and Toaplan jointly released ''Zero Wing'' on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
and GOG.com in February 2023, both as a standalone title and as a game bundle with ''
Twin Cobra ''Twin Cobra'', known as in Japan, is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Toaplan and released for Arcade game, arcades in 1987 by Taito in Japan and Europe, then in North America by Romstar. It is a sequel to the 1985 arcade game ''T ...
'', '' Truxton'', and '' Out Zone''. The Steam version includes several game enhancements, such as an updated graphics, rewind option, achievements, online leaderboards, sidebar indicators, and a new Very Easy mode.


Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Zero Wing'' on their 15 November 1989 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles such as ''Jitsuryoku!! Pro Yakyū'' and '' U.N. Squadron''. The game received a positive critical reception upon release. ''
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...
'' scored it 93%, including ratings of 92% for graphics, 93% for sound, 90% for playability, and 89% for lastability. They praised "the great intro sequence", "super-smooth gameplay, beautifully defined graphics, rocking sound track, amazing explosions and incredible end-of-level bosses", concluding that it is "the game which breaths (''
sic The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...
'') new life into shoot 'em ups on the Megadrive". ''
Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game journalism, video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. History In the late 1980s ''Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generatio ...
'' scored it 91%, including ratings of 92% for presentation and graphics, 88% for sound, 90% for playability, and 89% for lastability. They praised the "ace" opening sequence, "detailed" graphics, "real good" music, and skill-based gameplay, and called it one of the best games for Mega Drive. '' Sega Force'' scored it 86%, including ratings of 84% for presentation, 89% for visuals, 83% for sound, 89% for playability, and 82% for lastability. They praised the "animated intro" sequence, "smart" graphics, "up-beat Jap tune" music, and the accessible but "highly involved" gameplay, concluding that it is "almost as good as '' Hellfire''" but "not quite". ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' ranked ''Zero Wing'' 98th on their "The 100 Best Sega Genesis Games" list.


Legacy

''Zero Wing'' was the last side-scrolling shoot 'em up title to be developed by
Toaplan was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. It was best known for its catalogue of scrolling shooters and other arcade video games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was established in 1984 by former Orca and Crux ...
, as the developers believed they did not know how to make a side-scrolling shooter interesting, despite positive reception from players. ''Zero Wing'' is one of the most widely-known examples of poor linguistic translation in video games. Translations were handled internally by the design team, not a professional translator. In 1999, the introduction cutscene for the
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
version of ''Zero Wing'' was re-discovered, culminating in the wildly popular "
All your base are belong to us "All your base are belong to us" is an Internet meme based on a Engrish, poorly translated phrase from the opening cutscene of the Japanese video game ''Zero Wing''. The phrase first appeared on the European release of the 1991 Sega Mega Drive P ...
"
Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
. ''Zero Wing'' is also of interest in the field of translation studies in the context of its multiple endings. As noted by Clyde Mandelin, who reverse engineered the original game, while the English-language version had three different post-credit endings, the Japanese version had thirty-five. Many of those endings referenced then-current Japanese popular culture in ways that would have been hard to translate across cultures, and suggests that the text was written by someone who grew up in the 1960s or 1970s. In more recent years, the rights to ''Zero Wing'' and many other IPs from Toaplan are now owned by Tatsujin, a company named after ''Truxton''s Japanese title that was founded in 2017 by former Toaplan employee Masahiro Yuge, and is part of
Embracer Group Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company comprises 8 operative groups: Amplifier Game Invest, CDE Entertainment, Coffee Stain Studi ...
since 2022.


Notes


References


External links


''Zero Wing''
at
GameFAQs GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active Internet forum, message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom (website), Fandom, Inc. since October ...

''Zero Wing''
at
Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time (maga ...

''Zero Wing''
at Killer List of Videogames
''Zero Wing''
at
MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

''Zero Wing''
at The Toaplan Museum. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zero Wing 1989 video games Arcade video games Horizontally scrolling shooters Multiplayer and single-player video games Video game memes Sega video games Sega Genesis games Namco arcade games Namco games Nintendo Classics games Toaplan games TurboGrafx-CD games Video games scored by Masahiro Yuge Video games scored by Noriyuki Iwadare Video games scored by Tatsuya Uemura Video games scored by Toshiaki Tomizawa Williams video games Video games developed in Japan Kaga Create games