Zero Wing

Zero Wing
Developer(s)Toaplan
Publisher(s)
Producer(s)Toshiaki Ōta
Designer(s)Sanae Nitō
Yuko Tataka
Programmer(s)Hiroaki Furukawa
Tatsuya Uemura
Artist(s)Miho Hayashi
Naoki Ogiwara
Shintarō Nakaoka
Composer(s)Masahiro Yuge
Tatsuya Uemura
Toshiaki Tomizawa
EngineHellfire
Platform(s)Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, PC Engine CD-ROM²
ReleaseArcade
Sega Mega Drive
  • JP: 31 May 1991
  • EU: July 1991
  • NA: 2020
PC Engine CD-ROM²
  • JP: 18 September 1992
Genre(s)Side-scrolling shooter
Mode(s)

Zero Wing[a] is a 1989 side-scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by Toaplan and originally published in Japan by Namco and in North America by Williams Electronics.[1] Controlling the ZIG space fighter craft, players assume the role of protagonist Trent in a last-ditch effort to overthrow the alien cyborg CATS. 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 conversions were met with mostly positive reception from critics. The European Mega Drive version later gained renewed popularity due to the "All your base are belong to us" internet meme, which plays off the badly translated introductory cutscene. 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.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ATVGL:JaO1971-2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference RePlay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Zero Wing (Registration Number PA000045123)". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved 13 July 2021.


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