Exposing Washington’s spinning permanent campaign
May 29th, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a White House full of Bush loyalists, none was more loyal than Scott McClellan, the bland press secretary who spread the company line for all the government to follow each day. His word, it turns out, was worthless, his confessional memoir a glimpse into Washington’s world of spin and even outright deception.
AP Article
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. 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*
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.
