Zero Wing
Contents
Zero Wing
Zero Wing is a horizontally scrolling shoot-em up that was developed by Toaplan and released to the arcades in 1989 by Taito in Japan. It is a slight departure from a typical Toaplan shooter as the spaceship does not have bombs but rather is equipped with a tractor beam that can grab some enemies. Mostly arcade faithful ports were made for the PC Engine CD-ROM in Japan and the Sega Mega Drive in Japan and Europe that added more story elements.
While Zero Wing is a decent and worthwhile game, most people know of it by the meme "All Your Base Are Belong To Us". The English translation of the European Mega Drive version with the added story elements was done very poorly and the opening story sequence became one of the most popular internet memes of all time.[1]
Gameplay Overview
Zero Wing has 8 way directional controls with 2 buttons for shot and tractor beam. Small enemies can be captured by the tractor beam. Captured enemies can be held and used as front shields or launched forward at other enemies.
Controls
- A (Press): Shoots a single shot
- A (Hold): Rapid shot of blue laser and homing missiles
- B (Press): Fires captured enemy forward
- B (Hold): Activates tractor beam
Unlockable Secrets
If a game features unlockable modes, extras, secrets character etc. such as the Mahou characters in Battle Garegga or Strong Style in DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu that are relevant to the basic system of a game, put these codes here. Otherwise, omit this section.
Weapons
Normal Shot (Red): Fires red bullets. Does not auto-fire by holding down the shot button.
Laser (Blue): Fires blue laser beams. Auto-fires by holding down the shot button. Can shoot through enemies but not walls.
Search Missile (Green): Auto-fires by holding down the shot button. Fires homing missiles that lock on to the nearest target
Items
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any Power Up items or Medals from Battle Garegga. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.
Rank
If the game features a relevant rank system, use this section to discuss it in more detail. Otherwise, this can be omitted.
Loops
If a game features a loop system, elaborate on it in detail here. Otherwise, omit this section.
Scoring
This section should cover a general breakdown of the scoring system of the game. Feel free to put the meat and potatoes here. A great example of a scoring section is the DoDonPachi page.
Strategy
See (Template Page)/Strategy for stage maps, enemy and boss descriptions, walkthroughs, and advanced play strategies.
This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.
(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)
Creating a new page
There are two ways to create a new entry in the wiki:
- Reference the new page that you would like to make on a page somewhere ( [[Your Page Name Here]] ), and then click the red link to be taken to the "missing page" screen. You can then click "create a new page" and start filling it out.
- In the search box on the top right, type in the name of the page you would like to make, and then search. You will be taken to a similar page as above, prompting you to create the missing page.
Story
Basic story breakdowns, plot information, and endings are included here.
If there is no story at all, or any information about the setting, then this section can be omitted. Try to include at least small things here when you can.
Development History
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.
Version Differences
Arcade Versions There are two version of the arcade game, a 1P and 2P version. Both play similarly but the 1P version has a higher penalty for dying and is considered the more difficult version. Both versions have a red flash that appears every time an enemy is destroyed. This is a natural part of the game and not a video error.
- 1P arcade version: This more difficult version has checkpoints where you start a part of the stage after you die. You also lose all of your weapons including power ups as well as both of your pod options.
- 2P arcade version: This version does not have checkpoints and you start where you die. You keep the weapon you had but it is powered down one level. You also keep both of your pod options.
Home Console Versions
- Japanese Mega Drive version: This version is a fairly faithful arcade port. It has a slight graphical downgrade due to the Mega Drive color palette. It has the same checkpoints and power down rules as the 1P arcade version. It provides more story and cut scenes to the beginning of the game. It contains 35 different endings that can be seen at the end of each loop completed. The latter 32 endings all have a picture of CATS with dialog underneath that makes reference to something in 1960's and 1970's Japanese pop culture.[2]
- European Mega Drive version: "All Your Base Are Belong To Us". This is the version with that famous meme and broken story introduction translation. It is similar to the Japanese version but with a tad more "great justice"
- Japanese TG-16 CD version:
Trivia
- Cool facts and random tidbits go here!
Gallery
See (Template Page)/Gallery for our collection of images and scans for the game.
Other
We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.
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