===========================
Zero Wing Genesis FAQ 4.0 
Game (c) 1989,1991 Toaplan 
                           
FAQ (c) 2001 Frank Provo   
                           
Author: Frank Provo        
E-mail: mosaic@innocent.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. What is "All Your Base Are Belong To Us?", a History
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, 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 what the Zero Wing fad is 
referred to as.  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.

(This history is based upon, and copies with permission, from the
 RetroGames historical document by TV's Ian, located at 
 http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm . This section is not 
 meant to be a complete history of missives, but the all-important
 gist. Really - you should visit the Retrogames one also.)


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.scene.org/redhound/AYB.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

  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.

         Beyond: The future is still in motion. This will update once
                 things calm down.


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/

In conclusion: Nov. 2000, Feb. 2001, and Mar. 2001 were HUGE months 
               for Zero Wing.


======================================
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
poor 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. The ship falls into CATS'
boobytrap just as all the rest did, but a lone ZIG fighter (Code
Name: ZIG-01) manages to launch before the ship explodes.

You are the pilot of this lone ZIG. You are to travel to the 
bases CATS took over and drive their forces away. It is up to
you to wipe this menace 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?
===========================

Okay, so you're curious - you want to actually play Zero Wing. 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
should have been released as a SEGA Genesis game in some countries 
though. Good luck in finding it, as it was a very limited release.

If you want to emulate the game, the first thing you need is a Genesis 
emulator. A good site for this is usually http://www.vintagegaming.com/.
I use Gens from time to time - it seems sufficient.

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 quite standard for a side-scrolling shooter. You play a
lone ZIG pilot sent on a mission to save the galaxy from the ruthless
CATS. 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 - more precisely, the screen is
scrolling towards you. Enemy ships and weapons 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. Don't hesitate to run these "options" into 
  oncoming bullets - it's better than plowing your ship into them.  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.
 
  Another cool thing. 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!

  Even MORE RARE, sometimes late in the game a round Purple tank (as in
  round container) will appear. 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.
 
 The game has 8 stages... but you'll need to play through it a few 
 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.

 Author's note: If the programmers were honorable men, they'd have
 wrapped all the endings into a single glorious end sequence. Also, 
 what in the blue blazes are those purple raisin creatures?!


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."

 Author's note: According to C. Moore, who decoded all the text
 in the arcade ROM, there is no second ending. I've seen the
 text dump and, sure enough, what you see above is all you get.
 Ah well, that would have been fun. I guess Arcade Zero Wing
 never ends!


============================
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: mosaic@innocent.com.

If you want to find out more about Toaplan and their games, check
out: http://www.toaplan.com

Toaplan's Zero Wing Genesis Page is here:
   http://www.toaplan.com/zerowing/zerowing_story.html
 
SHMUPS at ClassicGaming.Com has a review of Zero Wing you'll want
to read: 
   http://classicgaming.com/shmups/reviews/zerowing/zerowing.htm

TV's Ian's Zero Wing AYBABTU history is quickly growing into a
wonderful resource (mp3/apparel/info) document:
   http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm

Zero Wing Parody Stores on Cafe Press are popping up like flies!:
 (The stars are my subjective ratings of how the merchandise looks)
   http://www.cafepress.com/dreldarion/     **    (his was first!)
   http://www.cafepress.com/toaplan/        ***** (toaplan.com site)
   http://www.cafepress.com/zerowingstuf/   ***** (nice mousepad!)
   http://www.cafepress.com/dreld2          ****
   http://www.cafepress.com/tlmom           ****  (The TLMOM shop!)
   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
  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 29 days! This FAQ peaked at #1 on the GameFAQs Genesis 
Top 10 and was on that chart for 36 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.  After
four weeks, it's only fallen to #38. 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..