Zero Wing

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Toaplan

Zero Wing is probably known more for its "All your base are belong to us" introduction than anything else…especially here in North America, where until a few years ago, it never actually saw a domestic release. Beyond that, though, Zero Wing is a solid shooter…it's a bit on the easy side, as far as scrolling shooters go, and because of that, it can sometimes feel a little tedious…especially if you get the homing weapon fully powered up…then aside from preventing yourself from hitting walls and dodging the occasional bullet, you've basically got smooth sailing until the later levels. Aside from the various type of fire power (spreading bullets, straight-shooting lasers, and homing missiles) you also have the ability to pull enemies in to both use as a shield and to "throw" at other enemies to use as an alternate weapon. Using enemies as a weapon isn't too effective much of the time, but using them as a shield can help out quite a bit - especially in tight areas where attempting to move out of the way results in you crashing into a wall. Anyway, Zero Wing isn't a perfect shooter by any means, but its lower difficulty makes it a nice starter game for folks new to scrolling shooters, and the gameplay is still fun enough where it'll likely keep grizzled scrolling shooter veterans happy enough to stick with it long enough to see the ending as well.

Review added: 04/20/2025