============================ Zero Wing Genesis FAQ 4.23 Game (c) 1989,1991 Toaplan FAQ (c) 2001 Frank Provo Author: Frank Provo E-mail: frank@frankprovo.com ============================ The current version of this guide is always available in text format at: http://www.gamefaqs.com This Zero Wing FAQ is a silly endeavor, but original portions are still the intellectual property of its author. This Guide is copyrighted to Frank Provo ((c) 2001), but don't let that stop you from launching every 'ZIG'. NOTE: DON'T LINK DIRECTLY TO THIS FILE ON GAMEFAQS. IT IS IN VERY POOR TASTE AND VIOLATES CJAYC'S RULES - USE THIS URL IF YOU WISH TO LINK -> http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/game/31239.html ================= Table of Contents ================= A. What is Zero Wing? Toaplan? B. The history of "All Your Base Are Belong To Us?" C1. The Infamous Introduction in English C2. The Introduction Translated from Japanese C3. The Introduction's Bearing on the Game's Plot D. How can I get Zero Wing? E. How do I play Zero Wing? F. Boss Guide G. Endings (Genesis and Arcade) H. More Information, Merchandise, Parodies, Etc. ===================== A. What is Zero Wing? ===================== Zero Wing is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up, in the same vein as R-Type, Gradius, or any other progenetor of the genre. It was developed by Toaplan in 1989 for the arcade (released by Taito) and later ported to the SEGA Megadrive (Genesis) and PC Engine (by Naxat) systems in 1991/2. A PC Engine CD version of the game also exists, which includes a CD audio soundtrack, a bonus extra level, and Japanese animation style cut scenes. Other popular Toaplan shooters are Truxton and Batsugun. However, none have achieved quite the same _cult_ status as Zero Wing for the SEGA Megadrive (Genesis). Why? _Engrish._ Toaplan couldn't find a US publisher for the game, but it sure looks like it came out in Europe. Sadly, they didn't exactly have the kind of deep pockets it took to localize AND publish a game in an English-speaking market, so their translation department was a bit minimal. In fact, by all indications, the person who localized Zero Wing was a lone Japanese guy who was taking English classes at night. As a result, a rather decent, albeit knock-off shooter ended up with one of the most memorable videogame intros ever created Only someone with a distinctly lacking knowledge of the English language could ever come up with something so nefariously humorous. (See next section) To whomever translated the game for Toaplan - THANK YOU! Sadly, Toaplan went bankrupt in 1995. Amusingly, the arcade game had no poorly translated introducttion, but it did have a poorly translated ending. Together, the Genesis and arcade versions of the game would make quite a pair. *grin* ==================================================== B. The History of "All your base are belong to us."? ==================================================== "All your base are belong to us" is the Zero Wing fad. It stems from The Laziest Men On Mars song, "The Invasion of the Gabber Robots" merged with a Flash animation that BAD_CRC did. Below is a chronology of events leading up to and beyond the phenomenon. Visit http://hubert.retrogames.com/article.php?sid=1 for a more detailed history. Before you read on, you should also view the catchy Shockwave Flash video that's caused Zero Wing to become a bonafide FAD: http://www.fffever.com/AYB2.swf or http://www.stileproject.com/base.html The Particulars- 1989: Taito releases Toaplan's Zero Wing into arcades. 1991: The UK Megadrive gets the poorly translated "Engrish" version 1995: Toaplan goes bankrupt. Batsugun is their last game. Early 1998: The Zero Wing animated .GIF is posted on Rage Games web site. A few months later, another animated .GIF is posted on Zany Video Game Quotes. It begins slowly circulating the internet. (http://zanyvg.overclocked.org) March 2000: Toaplan.com - a well-done fan site opens its doors. The site is SO well made that people mistake it for the "official" Toaplan web site! (see 1995 above) June 5, 2000: The Zero Wing Dub Project is posted at OverClocked. This consists of a parody comic that makes fun of the game's poor translation, as well as a Quicktime .mov file featuring badly impersonated voices. Check it out at these URLs. http://www.overclocked.org/OCzerowing.htm http://www.overclocked.org/OCalloscar.htm Fall 2000: According to one visitor, AYBABTU began appearing on Stile Project as the title for and within some images. (http://www.stileproject.com - Warning, not for younger viewers) Sep - Oct 2000: The forums at Lowtax's Something Awful (http://www.somethingawful.com) start to get infected. A gimmick poster there, going by the name of Alf no less, posts a picture of Alf on the phone. User Starscream adds a speech bubble saying "All your base are belong to us." It's a hit, and gets posted a few more times. A few people link back to the Overclocked dub. November 2000: The Something Awful era really gets into gear and the photoshopping goes into full swing. A thread is posted - The title is "ALL YUOR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!" (yes, it was spelled "YUOR"). The first image (Army of Darkness) was done by Starscream (again!). Around page 10, word begins to spread. Some sites temporarily add AYBABTU to their pages as an "official" link. The forum at HardOCP (www.hardforum.com) gets its own insanely popular picture thread - 2000+ posts. Dr. Eldarion opens the first two Cafe Press (http://www.cafepress.com) stores during this time. The Something Awful thread actually goes to over 30 pages and the server whigs out. Postings disappear, the thread is "hacked" closed. Nov. 14, 2000: JRR, one of the SA forum regulars, releases Invasion of the Gabber Robots, the Zero Wing remix. This is the catchy tune heard in the Flash animation. You can listen to it and visit their mp3.com site here: http://www.mp3s.com/tlmom Nov. 28, 2000: Ars Technica (http://www.arstechnica.com, a well know "geek" news site posts election coverage and wrap ups. "All your votes are belong to us!!" is the tag line. Dec. 16, 2000: Tribal War's (http://www.tribalwar.com/) thread begins. Jan. 12, 2001: Part 4 of "A Winner Is You," Hubert's game quote based storyline is posted. It passes completely beneath the pop culture radar. View it here: http://hubert.retrogames.com/awinnerisyou.htm) Jan. 14, 2001: www.Solidsharkey.com puts up a history. The Genesis version of Zero Wing was NOT a US release. In English, it was released only in the UK and South America for their Megadrive (Genesis) systems. Feb. 11, 2001: Eskimo Bob (http://www.eskimobob.com/), episode 12 - a precursor to the Flash Animation yet to come? Feb. 13, 2001: www.memepool.com posts about AYBABTU. They link to the Tribal War thread. In the "in" circles, the fad takes off again. Feb. 15, 2001: Bad_CRC of Tribal War releases the Flash music video. There are some copyright issues and a quickly updated version with credits is released. It spreads like wildfire and delivers Toaplan's Zero Wing unto the masses. Feb. 16, 2001: The "phenomenon" begins. Message boards, call-in shows, and pop-culture cannot escape. Feb. 19, 2001: Work on this FAQ begins. Zero Wing has a notable lack of coverage on GameFAQs.com and this document's author seeks to change that. Feb 21-23, 2001: According to CNet / ZDNet GameSpot's (http://www.videogames.com/) "Instant Poll" from 2/21/2001 through 2/23/2001: Question: How are you gentlemen !! Responses: (3,895 votes - 101%?!) All your base are belong to us. 1282 (33%) For great justice. 187 (5%) Main screen turn on. 127 (3%) Take off every 'ZIG' !! 137 (4%) What you say !! 821 (21%) No opinion 929 (24%) Somebody set up us the bomb !! 412 (11%) Late Feb. 2001: The San Francisco Chronicle (both print & web versions) runs a story about AYBABTU. OverClocked prints another Zero Wing comic. Sluggy Freelance (2/26) runs a comic. Salon.com runs their own AYBABTU story. UK's The Register (http://www.theregister.com) runs a story. NewsBytes (http://www.newsbytes.com) runs a story. A caller into the syndicated radio show, "Loveline," mentions AYBABTU (2/22/2001) - Check out the Retrogames history (http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm) for mp3's. TechTV and Wired.com run stories. Even User Friendly (http://www.userfriendly.org) gets into the act! Time Magazine (2/26) runs a story. GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com) runs an AYBABTU poll on their videogames page. Somebody chalks "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" on the roof of Wean Hall at Carnegie Mellon University. The AYBABTU fad is getting way, way overdone. Feb. 27, 2001: MP3.com pulls "Invasion of the Gabber Robots" from their site, citing copyright infringement. They quickly put it back up once they realize that Toaplan no longer exists. Feb. 28, 2001: AYBABTU debuts at #46 on the Lycos 50 as a bonafide web fad. Toaplan, T.L.M.O.M, the flash animation, and this FAQ are all cited. Yet ANOTHER User Friendly strip. UK's "The Guardian" (http://www.guardian.co.uk) runs a story. Feb/Mar 2001: A rash of AYBABTU taggings, defacements, and banner raisings occurs. The Georgia Tech, U. of Pennsylvania and Texas A&M capmuses experience leaflet and poster campaigns. Someone hacks the Dutch Railways web site to say the phrase, "All your trains are belong to us." Similarly, the dutch postal code web site gets tagged with the phrase "All your postcode are belong to us!!" The folks from the Netherlands musn't have much to do, as the Dutch Euro site was tagged with "All your Euros are belong to us!!" In the meantime, freaks hang banners from bridges in Australia and California, USA. AYBABTU is painted on Coolidge Bridge in Northampton, Mass. A laserprinted banner even appears in the windows of the Angelfire home office. At one University of California campus, someone even found the time to pilfer rock from a rock garden to make a huge ground pattern of "All your base are belong to us" Etc. Etc., people are nuts. March 1, 2001: The Detroit Free Press (print and WWW - www.freep.com) ran a story and even quoted this FAQ! "Spawn Web craze, game does": There are inaccuracies, but nothing this history or the Retrogames history can't resolve. (03/01/2001 Tech section) or on the web at: http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend28_20010228.htm March 3, 2001: The Daily Mirror (http://www.mirror.co.uk/), one of England's most famous newspapers, runs a story. One of Hewlett Packard's web gurus starts sprinkling Zero Wing images across monitor advertisements. Also if you visit the home page for Doom 3 located at http://www.ua-corp.com/, you'll see "All your base are belong to us!" if you highlight the entire page with your mouse or do a "View Source." - Amusing. March 4, 2001: In the coolest AYBABTU tagging ever, five students at Bowling Green State University displayed the phrase against a dormitory using ~125mW lasers. For as long as the site remains up, check it out here: http://avians.net/skan/aybabtu/ March 5, 2001: Ha ha! Rare's (http://www.rareware.com) website is currently showing "All your squirrel are belong to Rare." if you highlight the Conker's Bad Fur Day images. (Thanks NES Boy for this tip) March 6-7, 2001: mp3.com includes The Laziest Men on Mars in their newsletter. TLMOM has made more than $5,000 in mp3.com earnings since their 'Invasion of the Gabber Robots' was paired with Bad_CRC's flash animation. Still, the fad is now #36 on the Lycos 50 - up 10 spots - with no sign of getting old. USA Today and usatoday.com have features AYBABTU. mpXreview (www.mpxreview.com) has a great article up surrounding the phenomenon. You can check it at: http://www.mpxreview.com/reviews/983907810.shtml The Internet TOURBUS (www.tourbus.com runs a story bout the AYBABTU "conspiracy." Newgrounds (www.newgrounds.com) now has an AYBABTU page March 8, 2001: Jiminy Critic (www.jiminycritic.com) reviewed the flash animation. You can view it, with humor, at: http://www.jiminycritic.com/allyourbase.asp Acclaim Sports just posted 16 new shots of their upcoming All Star Baseball 2002. Among them, shot 13 features the AYBABTU catch phrase in a stadium advertisement. You can check it out while it's up: http://www.acclaimsports.com/asb2002/screenshots/13.html Mar. 9-11, 2001: Fox News - www.foxnews.com - runs a story both online and on their Fox News TV network. Fox 4 News, the Fox affiliate for the Dallas / Fort Worth area, ran a story. They showed a few photoshopped images, including the fake billboard featuring George W. Bush. (Thanks Jjukil for this report) ESPN.com mentions the fad. March 11, 2001: Dutch National Radio played "Invasion of the Gabber Robots" on their "Cyber Top 50." StarWars.com has AYBABTU as a mouseover highlight on some of their images now. Also, the WhenIGrowUp.net website has posted a HILARIOUS AYBABTU Scooby-Doo! parody. Check it at: http://www.whenigrowup.net/doodads/aytabtu.html March 12, 2001: The nationally syndicated comic FoxTrot, by Bill Adams, includes a running "All your base are belong to us!!" joke. The phrase is mentioned six (6) times! Read it on www.foxtrot.com at: http://www.foxtrot.com/comics/pages/ft010312.html (Thanks to G. Landis and KhalaBlade for this tip) March 15, 2001: The LA Times (www.latimes.com & Print) has run a story. Someone from the Eijiro English-Japanese dictionary contacted me to obtain screens of the US intro. It seems that not only was "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" included as a phrase, but an effort is being made to include the entire intro - in correct and "incorrect" versions. Their website URL is below, but I think you have to be a member. (http://member.nifty.ne.jp/eijiro/index.html) March 21, 2001: The Onion (http://www.theonion.com) ran this story in their 03/21/2001 issue: Congress Adds 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us' Amendment To Bankruptcy Bill (WASHINGTON, DC) -- Seeking to increase fiscal accountability among citizens who have no chance to survive make their time, the House of Representatives added an "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" amendment Monday to H.R. 333, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2001. "What you say!!!" shouted the bill's sponsor, Rep. George Gekas (R-PA), following the amendment's approval. "This bill will not only make debt-ridden Americans more accountable, but it has the added benefit of taking off every 'zig' for great justice." Opponents of the amendment protested that it would potentially set up U.S. the bomb. March 23, 2001: "Invasion of the Gabber Robots" and The Laziest Men On Mars is in the mp3.com newsletter once again. They've made about $8500 to date thanks to the popularity of AYBABTU and their catchy tunes. AYBABTU has "fallen" to #38 in the Lycos 50. March 28, 2001: The wily J Allard (yes, that one) gave props to Zero Wing in an interview he did with Planet X-Box. Check it: http://www.planetxbox.com/features/interviews/jallard/ April 01, 2001: In a fitting twist of fate, Zero Wing is #50 on the Lycos Top 50. It will likely be gone the next week. April 10, 2001: Zero Wing gone from the Lycos Top 50. Ad Nauseum: You get the idea - there's just too much out there to track any further. Historical documents you may wish to view: (history) http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm (SA Pics) http://www.planetstarseige.com/allyourbase/index2.html (entirety) http://www.allyourbase.net/ (info) http://www.engrish.com/ Since the phenomenon seems dead, I no longer track relevant AYBABTU news. ====================================== C1. The Introduction (English version) ====================================== In A.D. 2101 War was beginning Outside Ship - An explosion occurs. Ship's Bridge Captain: "What happen ?" Mechanic: "Somebody set up us the bomb." Close-Up of Excited Communications Officer Operator: "We get signal." Captain: "What !" Ship's Bridge Operator: "Main screen turn on." (CATS appears) Captain: "It's you !!" Close up of CATS CATS: "How are you gentlemen !!" CATS: "All your base are belong to us." CATS: "You are on the way to destruction." Close up of captain & CATS Captain: "What you say !!" CATS: "You have no chance to survive make your time." Ship's Bridge CATS: "Ha ha ha ha ...." Close up of Forlorn Captain Operator: "Captain !!" Ship's Bridge (ZIGs on monitors) Captain: "Take off every 'ZIG'!!" Shows a ZIG pilot powering up Captain: "You know what you doing." Shows a ZIG moving into launch position Captain: "Move 'ZIG'." ZIGs on monitors, Bridge Explodes Captain: "For great justice." The ship explodes. A lone ZIG zooms into view! To see the intro itself, visit: http://zanyvg.overclocked.org For high-rez stills from the video, visit: http://members.nbci.com/finagler/base/index.htm ======================================= C2. The Introduction (Japanese version) ======================================= A.D. 2101 The battle began Outside Ship - An explosion occurs. Ship's Bridge Captain: "What happened!?" Mechanic: "Someone detonated bombs all around us!" Close-Up of Excited Communications Officer Operator: "Captain! Incoming transmission!" Captain: "What!?" Ship's Bridge Operator: "Image coming through on the main monitor." (CATS appears) Captain: "You... you are...!!" Close up of CATS CATS: "You appear to be preoccupied, gentlemen." (sarcasm) CATS: "Thanks to the cooperation of the UN forces, all of your bases now belong to CATS." CATS: "Your ship too, shall soon be destroyed." Close up of captain & CATS Captain: "Im.. Impossible!" (or "F.. Foolishness!") CATS: "We thank you for your cooperation." (more sarcasm) CATS: "Enjoy the remaining moments of your lives...." Ship's Bridge CATS: "Hahahahaha ...." Close up of Forlorn Captain Operator: "Captain!?" Ship's Bridge (ZIGs on monitors) Captain: "Launch all ZIG fighters!" Shows a ZIG pilot powering up Captain: "All we can do is entrust it to them..." Shows a ZIG moving into launch position Captain: "Give us hope for our future..." ZIGs on monitors, Bridge Explodes Captain: "We're counting on you, ZIG!!" The ship explodes. A lone ZIG zooms into view! [translated by WooJin Lee, Mark Rosa, and two sheepishly anonymous persons from the #ga IRC channel on irc.gamesnet.net.] ========================================= C3. The Plot as the Introduction Suggests ========================================= Taking into account the three organizations mentioned in the actual Japanese translation, we're to believe three major powers control the spaceways in the year 2101. They are the United Nations, CATS, and a third organization - the one the hapless souls aboard that red ship belong to. Japanese animation and manga have been full of condescending references to the west ever since the end of World War 2, which leads me to believe that the third, unnamed organization is Japan. (Don't hold me to that) So you've got the UN (the west), Japan/Asia, and CATS (an alien race). So, in the year 2101 CATS teamed up with the UN and, in a surprise move, took over or destroyed ALL of Japan's planetary bases. For some wacky reason, the lone ship in the intro is the focus of the CATS leader's personal attention. A lone ZIG fighter (Code Name: ZIG-01) manages to launch before the ship explodes. You are the pilot of this lone ZIG. It is up to you to wipe the menace of CATS from the galaxy, hopefully showing the UN the folly of their ways in the meantime. Can a solitary ZIG defeat this alien menace and reunite east and west in peace? "Move 'ZIG'! For great justice!" =========================== D. How can I get Zero Wing? =========================== You want to actually play Zero Wing. It's not that great of a game, but alright. If you want to purchase the game, go to your local used game store or visit eBay - you're hunting for "Zero Wing" for the SEGA Megadrive. It was never released in the US on the Genesis, only in Europe and South America. You may need a country adaptor to play it in a Genesis, although probably not. If you want to emulate the game, the first thing you need is a Genesis emulator. A good site for this is http://www.vintagegaming.com/. Then you need to find the .rom image. Guess what, roms are copyrighted material, so I can't help you find one. However, if you check out sites such as http://www.emux.com/ or http://www.classicgaming.com/ I bet you'll strike paydirt. =========================== E. How do I play Zero Wing? =========================== Zero Wing is a standard side-scrolling shooter. The game's main selling point is its lavishly huge boss characters and the fact that it's not "b*tch hard" like most games in the genre. Your ship flies from left to right. Enemy ships and weapon fire will come toward you - don't touch any of that stuff. Once in awhile, you'll destroy a fat lazy ship that will drop power ups - those, you can touch. You get 3 lives. When you die, you'll restart from a set point within the level. Controls: D-Pad -> Steer your spacecraft A button -> Fire weapon B button -> Prisoner Beam The tractor (or Prisoner beam as it's called in the arcade game) beam lets you grab small enemies and use them as a shield, much like the renowned Genesis shooter, Gaiares. Power Ups: (names taken from arcade game) Green - Homing Unit Blue - Laser Unit Red - Valcan Unit, becomes a spread shot Blue Insignia - Speed Up Unit, increases speed AND earns extra lives Bomb - looks like an option, release it or get shot and it explodes! Collect 3 power ups to upgrade your weapon to maximum. The first RED power up collected will give you two "option" pods that will increase your firing range (automatic spread shot) AND act as a shield for shots above and below you. Once you've obtained the "option" pods with a RED item, you can safely collect other colored power ups to upgrade all three weapon streams. E.g. Always grab Red, Green, Green, Green if you wanna kick butt. If your weapon is at level 3 and you accidentally collect a different colored power up, you'll have that shot at level 3 instead of starting anew. Each time you collect a fourth similar power up, you'll get 5000pts. Sometimes, when you've collected enough insignias, you'll earn an extra life. RARELY, when you snag an insignia, you'll earn 10 lives! If you're already carrying a bomb and detonate an object that would yield another bomb power up - you'll get a Purple Tank power up instead. It's the size of a small enemy. Snag it and you'll get an EXTRA LIFE plus, GET THIS, A FOURTH SHOT POWER LEVEL. That's right - the homing unit becomes "giant arrowhead of death," the Laser shot becomes the "tree-trunk laser beams," and the Valcan shot becomes an INSANE spread shot. (Thanks to Grant King for clarifications) The game has 8 stages... but you'll need to play through it three times to see all the endings. (Bleah) ============= F. Boss Guide ============= Stage1 - Location: Natols - Big Purple Alien This alien looks like a giant mutated fetus. It'll launch blue plasma balls at you - avoid them. Try to shoot at its forehead or mouth. He'll stay on the right half of the screen and move up and down. Stick to the left and avoid his shots while shooting. Stage2 - Location: Legrous - Twin Ball Ships This pair isn't the best boss in a shooter. Near the end of the level you will encounter a round ship with a few gun turrets mounted on it. It will fire blue lasers, a few bullets, and launch semi-homing missiles at you. Keep firing anywhere at him and move up and down to dogdge his shots. You'll face a purple version of the same a few seconds later. Vanquish both to end the level. Stage3 - Location: Pleades - Blue Mech And you thought that spaceship mini-boss was big. You'll face a blue metal robot at the end of this level. He'll shoot lasers from his upper and lower body, as well as homing bullets from his stomach. Watch out for the big fireballs coming from his whopping hand-cannon too. The homing bullets will prove your greatest worry, although he'll walk quite close to you from time to time. Stage4 - Location: Aquese - Floating Weapons Platform Wow - this stage is short. After flying across a giant floating weapons platform, you'll come to the end of it. Shoot the big bundle of wires at the bottom with a homing shot to release it - if you want to. Either way it's going to break loose and go wild with purple spread shots and a few blue lasers, as well as plasma bubbles from time to time. This is a rather large boss, so you won't have as much room to move as you'd like. You'll need to destroy the front midsection and main body to beat it. Stage5 - Location: Submarine Tunnel - Fusion Reactor The mid-boss on this level is tough, so I thought I'd briefly mention something. Don't be lulled into flying into the center of its floating shield devices. Stay back and shoot it while dodging its purple spread shots. On HARD the shield orbs will fire straight blue lasers. As for the actual boss of this level, it's a giant reactor with five turbines - each of which fires out a volley of aimed purple shots. Destroying the two upper and lower engines is easy, but the one in back will take about 40 or 50 shots. Watch out for the worm creature that initially protects it, as it'll come out to harass you. On harder difficuly levels, that worm is insanely quick. Stage6 - Location: Barracade Zone - Armed Cubes After fighting some armed cubes, you'll face three LARGE armed cubes. Their weapons are weak - only forward facing blue lasers. Their main attack though is their mass, they'll move forward and back and up and down in an effort to ram you. Stay to the upper left and you should do okay. On hard difficulty, you may want to watch out for the middle one moving forward and then up. Stage7 - Location: Bellon - Floating Heart The boss at the end of this H.R. Giger reminiscent stage looks like an alien heart with a giant claw coming out of its behind. The heart has no attacks other than moving around. The claw will try and grab you though and has decent range. Note: If you damage the claw too much, it will shatter into a number of hovering asteroid fragments, which will then just wobble around blocking your shots. Your option tanks can destroy them, but they'll respawn. You can tractor and launch them too - whee! Stage8 - Location: Gerbarra - Alien Train Tank The mid-boss of this stage is no fun either, but if you remember to swoop between its purple shots and under it during its missile volley, you should be fine. The main boss of this level is annoying and huge. It will fire two homing charges from it's lower turrets, usually in tandem with a straight blue laser shot from the upper turret. The ugly creature at the top will also fly toward you, AND home missiles will launch out of the green orb on the machine's back. There are two strategies for beating this. 1. Sit in the back/middle of the screen and swoop low to avoid oncoming attacks, while firing at the red case on the back. 2. Park yourself just in front of the train level with the glass-cased creature and dodge it plus the missiles while constantly shooting the red case on the back. Once the escape pod launches, you've beaten the game. Guess what, each time you beat the game, you begin again on stage 1. Every time you beat all 8 stages, you get a newer and better ending. (Well, the first three times anyway.) ========== G. Endings ========== Don't have the stomach to beat the game once, let alone three times? I don't blame you - here's what you'd see in the Genesis version. ROUND1 ENDING "Congratulations!" Watch 10 little purple "raisin" guys dance for you. ROUND2 ENDING "Congratulations!" Art shot of the train in flames. Credits rolling off to the side. ZIG plane swoops into the frame and sits there. ROUND3 ENDING "Congratulations!" Your battered ZIG putters through space A giant red ship locks it in a tractor beam A green planet. The giant red ship floats into view. The giant red ship burns its engines and flies around the planet! A big purple "raisin" guy winks at you. (No credits this time?) Once you've seen all that, all you can do is keep playing until you run out of lives. If you're that good to make it through three times without using cheats, codes, or saves, you are a shooter God. Note: The raisin guys are a common appearance in Toaplan games. They've been in Donpachi, Dodonpachi, and Batsugun. And here's what you'd see if you beat the arcade version: ARCADE ENDING (thanks Remy - www.utterer.com) You'll see a text obscured by a bunch of dancing "raisin" aliens: "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 AGAINST CATS AGAIN. AND DOWN WITH THEM COMPLETELY! GOOD LUCK." ============================ H. More Info, Parodies, Etc. ============================ If you have any information to contribute to this FAQ, such as sightings, merchandise sites, MP3 sites, or other info, email it to me at: frank@frankprovo.com. If you want to find out more about Toaplan and their games, check out: http://www.toaplan.com SHMUPS at ClassicGaming.Com has a review of Zero Wing: http://classicgaming.com/shmups/reviews/zerowing/zerowing.htm TV's Ian's Zero Wing AYBABTU history is also a wonderful resource (mp3/apparel/info) document: http://hubert.retrogames.com/article.php?sid=1 Zero Wing Parody Stores on Cafe Press are popping up like flies! You can buy T-Shirts, drink mugs, and even mouse pads: (The stars are my subjective ratings of how the merchandise looks. And um, CafePress shirts tend to fade when washed, Caveat Emptor) If you want to support Dr. Eldarion, the FIRST Cafe Press Zero Wing Apparel guru: http://www.cafepress.com/dreldarion/ If you want to support toaplan.com, the VERY professional Toaplan / Zero Wing fansite: http://www.cafepress.com/toaplan/ If you want to support TLMOM, creators of "The Invasion of the Gabber Robots" theme song from the WILDLY hilarious flash animation: http://www.cafepress.com/tlmom (or tlmom2) If you want to support this FAQ's maintainer, who is still very poor even though he has a decent job and works like mad: http://www.cafepress.com/zerowingstuf/ The rest: http://www.cafepress.com/dreld2 **** http://www.cafepress.com/2101ad **** (two stores) http://www.cafepress.com/discobase/ **** (DISCO SCOTTIE!!) http://www.atomo.com/ayb.html *** (multiple stores) http://www.cafepress.com/movezig/ *** (multiple stores) http://www.cafepress.com/zwstore/ *** http://www.cafepress.com/dreambase *** (dreamlin.com) http://www.cafepress.com/gotbase *** http://www.cafepress.com/arebelong2us *** http://www.cafepress.com/zebenet *** http://www.cafepress.com/zero_wing/ *** http://www.cafepress.com/xarphnet *** http://www.cafepress.com/everyzig/ ** http://www.cafepress.com/allyour/ ** http://www.cafepress.com/setupbomb ** (two stores) http://www.cafepress.com/hanksstore ** You can buy AYBABTU bumper stickers now!: http://www.makestickers.com/all_your_base_are_belong_to_us.asp Want some MP3's? These links will take you to some AYBABTU & Zero Wing inspired tunes: http://www.mp3.com/tlmom - The Laziest Men on Mars. http://www.mp3.com/paradisedecay - Paradise Decay. http://www.mp3.com/lunaticdog - Lunatic Dog. http://www.diffusionuk.freeserve.co.uk/allyour.htm http://www.mp3.com/ayb - All Your Base http://evolution-control.com/mp3/allyourbase - ZW Karaoke http://www.spinnwebe.com/brainshots/?20010309 - AYFBA http://www.ampcast.com/dreamlin - Dreamlin & AYBABTU http://www.mp3.com/dreamlin - Same as Above http://www.mp3.com/hazama - Not AYBABTU, but very game-ish. This FAQ peaked at #11 on the GameFAQs Top 50 and was on the chart for 31 days! This FAQ peaked at #1 on the GameFAQs Genesis Top 10 and remained on the chart for 145 days! The Zero Wing / All Your Base FAD took #46 in the Lycos Top 50 for the week ending February 24, 2001 and #36 the week later. At week 4, it was at #38, and in week 5 it dropped to #50 and was gone. The translation from this FAQ was also quoted in the story - neat! THANKS go to Zany Video Game Quotes (zanyvg.overclocked.org), Overclocked (www.overclocked.org), and Something Awful (www.somethingawful.com) for starting this whole mess in the first place. Remember: "All your base are belong to us." ..end..