Zero Wing

Zero Wing is a 1989 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed by Toaplan and published by Namco for Japanese arcades; in North America, it was distributed 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. 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 as well as the Nintendo Classics service.