Video Game / Zero Wing

Advertisement:

Zero Wing was a mildly successful Shoot 'em Up video game developed in 1989 by Toaplan. Compared to the rest of the genre, it is fairly simple and mundane; there is nothing in particular that makes it the least bit memorable... with the exception of the Translation Train Wreck that is its opening cutscene:

Narrator: In A.D. 2101 War Was Beginning.
Captain: What Happen?
Mechanic: Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What!
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's You!!
CATS: How are you gentlemen!!
CATS: All Your Base Are Belong to Us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say!!
CATS: You Have No Chance to Survive make your time.
CATS: Ha ha ha ha....
Operator: Captain!
Captain: Take Off Every 'ZIG'!!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'ZIG'.
Captain: For Great Justice.

Advertisement:

The poor translations gave way to Memetic Mutation due to how funny they are, most notably the "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" quote, which was supposed to mean "All of your bases are now under our control." The game is also notable for being the Trope Namer on the wiki for five separate tropes^note  And by that, we mean the game is not part of an existing franchise that has a collective amount of Trope Namers, as is the case with something like the Super Mario Bros. games, but all the tropes coming from one game! (the ones that are in bold in the above Translation Train Wreck excerpt).

Some uses of Intentional Engrish for Funny will follow the form used in this game.

Not to be confused with Wing Zero, or the game Giga Wing.

---

Advertisement:

This game providing examples of:

• Affably Evil: Before explaining that all their base are belong to him, CATS greets the heroes by politely shouting "How are you gentlemen!!".
• All There in the Manual: The instruction book has some more information on the storyline.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Trope Namer. The ship is informed that their headquarters has been invaded.
• Anti Poop-Socking: Apparently, some of the extra endings in the Japanese Sega Megadrive version that were cut from the European English version are this, with text of CATS begging you to stop and go to sleep or to just stop playing.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: The PC-Engine version shows that CATS is an empire, and the man with a half-metal head merely represents it.
• Attack Drone: The Zig is constantly fighting against them.
• Awesome Mc Coolname
• Better to Die than Be Killed: The PC-Engine version has the lead bad guy setting up the bomb on himself.
• Big Bad: The ambassador of CATS is the one who led the conquering of the heroes' bases, sparking their mission to retake them.
• Big "WHAT?!": What you say!!
• Bishōnen: The main bad guy in the PC-Engine version has some long hair.
• Bridge Bunnies: Classic famous is operator signal get who main screen turn on. Version PC-Engine CD another bridge officer is purple-hair chick.
• The Captain: He gave the famous order, "Take off every Zig!" and showed his great justice before his untimely death.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Three weapon Power Ups are colored as followed:
  • Red ones are Spread Shot.
  • Blue ones are laser beams.
  • Green ones are Homing Projectile
• Cool Starship: The 'Zig', which can move.
• Cyborg: CATS.
• Damsel in Distress: The PC-Engine version's romance subplot is based around the purple-haired princess being held captive by CATS.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: You simply start at the last checkpoint if you lose a life.
• The Dragon: The PC-Engine version shows that the blond ambassador has a red-headed female underling, who is the Final Boss.
• Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": CAPTAIN, OPERATOR, and MECHANIC.
• Evil Gloating: Ha Ha Ha Ha....
• Evil Redhead: In the PC-Engine version, The Dragon is a red-headed woman.
• Evolving Attack: Each weapon gets stronger if you collect the same colored power-up as your ship, otherwise it just changes the weapon to the same level but of a different kind. At most you can only reach 3 levels of your weapon and there is only a small chance of getting an upgrade at random after the 3rd level.
• Excuse Plot: CATS destroyed your ship and has taken over your bases. Get even with them.
• Fighter-Launching Sequence: This is declared with the line "Take Off Every Zig". All ships in the intro are caught in an explosion, but only one is safe from it.
• Flash of Pain
• Fling a Light into the Future: The original Japanese version had this instead of "For Great Justice".
• For Great Justice: Trope Namer. This is declared as soon as the Zigs are taking off.
• Gainax Ending: The first ending for the Sega Genesis version shows a group of Toaplan's mascot Pipiru dancing around the screen. The second ending is A Winner Is You illustration and the third appears to be a Sequel Hook and closes with a giant Pipiru winking at the player. The Japanese release, however, follows this with a series of 32 endings featuring CATS saying something amusing to the player.
• Gratuitous English: The PC-Engine version of the Zig launch sequence has people shouting "All green!", "Scramble!", and "Okay!"
• Homage: Go check out our reference page.
• Homing Projectile: The green shots.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: In the Japanese version, the 19th ending has the Big Bad declare that he's your mother. Don't bother asking how that's supposed to work.
• Multiple Endings: The Japanese Sega Genesis version has a whopping 32 endings after the first three. They're comical scenes featuring CATS, whose speech patterns are all over the place and he keeps making references to comedy routines or telling the player to stop bothering him. This is capped with a secret code only found 20 years after the game's release that had to be deciphered.
• The Only One: One Zig is only escape from exploded when "Take Off Every Zig!" sequence.
• Organic Technology
• Right-Hand Cat: Averted - CATS is the name of the empire represented by the Big Bad "Ass" in Ambassador who says the famous line that started it all.
• Shout-Out: The joke endings in the Japanese version involve several references to comedy routines and CATS attempting to sing the opening theme of the Astro Boy anime.
• Sole Survivor: Your Zig is the only carrier ship that is not destroyed during the famous opening, sadly.
• Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: Trope Namer. A bomb is set on a fleet ship, and the fighters have barely enough time to get ready for battle before it blows.
• Space Navy: CATS is in command of one, and there are also Zig houses, which only Zig can survive.
• Space Opera: The backstory of the game involves an interstellar war.
• Spread Shot: Red shots cover the screen with this.
• This Cannot Be!: In the original Japanese, the captain says this, as opposed to the Engrish "What you say!!"
• Tractor Beam: This was the game's main innovation. The Zig can project a short-ranged beam that traps minor enemies, which can later be flung at other enemies. You can only trap one enemy at a time, though, and you can't have both a captured enemy and a bomb. This can also be used as a shield to protect your ship, but only from the front and only for one shot.
• Translation Train Wreck: Oh, so much. The game is famous for this.
• War Was Beginning: Trope Namer, as the backstory involves this.
• A Winner Is You: Less notorious than the introductory cutscene, but still in "Blind Idiot" Translation.
  Congratulation!!
  A.D. 2111
  All bases of CATS were destroyed.
  It seems to be peaceful.
  But it is incorrect.
  CATS is still alive.
  ZIG-01 must fight with CATS again.
  And down with them completely! Good luck.
• "You!" Exclamation: "It's you!"
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The PC-Engine CD game has some characters with purple hair.
• You Have No Chance to Survive: Trope Namer. The enemy fleet leader says this after he's sure the humans have lost the war.

---