Zero Wing -Mega Drive- 9

April 14, 2024

“All your base are belong to us!”

Zero wing is a side scrolling space ship shoot em up (aka shmup) that released for the Japanese Mega Drive in 1991, and later received attention from the numerous internet memes that made fun of the hilariously bad English translation in the intro cinematic. The game itself is very fun and well remembered by fans of the genre.

I just beat Zero Wing this morning on easy mode, which was still quite challenging. I died many times, but thankfully the game has infinite continues and frequent checkpoints.

The gameplay here is very characteristic of a classic shmup, and it is well polished. You have three types of colored weapons to choose from, and each of them upgrade as long as you keep grabbing the same color orbs. I always used the green color, which works as a series of homing bullets. You can also grab certain enemies and orbs, and hold them as a shield or projectile. Upgrading your colored weapons to a secret fourth level is possible by grabbing two projectile orbs in a row.

Zero Wing moves at a methodical pace, and there are speed upgrades that you can pick up. But if you pick up too many, it gets hard to control your ship through some tight spaces. There are eight varied levels in the game, and they should take you about an hour to run through, depending on how many times you die. Each level looks unique from the last, and there is a good variety of distinct enemies and cool boss battles.

The thing that elevates Zero Wing to greatness is the soundtrack. I played this with headphones jacked into a Genesis Model 1, and it was glorious. The music for stages 1,2,6,&8 (Natols, Legrous, Barricade Zone, and Gerbarra) are my absolute favorites. The Stage 2 Legrous Music in particular is one of the best pieces of music I have ever heard on the Genesis/Mega Drive, and I have to turn the volume up every time I listen to it.

Epic music is a big part of what makes a great shmup for me, and Zero Wing has that in spades. Challenge and replay value are also necessary hallmarks of a shmup worth its weight in gold, and Zero Wing delivers here, too. I only received the worst of three possible endings on my playthrough. I will later have to try the game on harder difficulties to recieve the two better endings. I’m rating Zero Wing a 9 out of ten.