For Great Justice!

by CATS 

Old-school Zero Wingers are defined here as the people who knew about Zero Wing when it was new back in the late 80s. These gamers fondly remember actually playing the game, rather than merely seeing the screenshots. They laughed about it with their friends and made fun of it; the hours of enjoyment they garnered from this priceless game were their best-kept secret. The rest of the world rejected Zero Wing because it wasn't cool, but these gamers didn't care. It was theirs.

But somebody set up them the bomb, and in A.D. 2001, war was beginning. Suddenly Zero Wing became immensely popular. Advertisements and T-shirts shouted "All your base are belong to us!" and suddenly flocks of new-school Zero Wingers appeared. These people only liked Zero Wing from the screenshots. Rather than rejoicing in the fact that they had suddenly become "cool" and "elite" simply by doing what they had always done, the old-school Zero Wingers got upset. How, they demanded, could the new-school Zero Wingers possibly understand what it was like to play this game back in the 80s when the price was ridicule? The old-school Zero Wingers had suffered for their love of the game. Perhaps it was jealousy, perhaps it was disappointment, or perhaps it was a simple lack of something better to complain about, but the old-school Zero Wingers denounced the newest generation, saying that they only liked Zero Wing because it was cool.

And yet, who can honestly blame the new-school Zero Wingers simply for being young? Many of them found Zero Wing as hilariously entertaining as the die-hard 80s fans. They didn't just like it for its screenshots, but were truly touched by its message ("Study English, or people will laugh at you.") It wasn't their fault that they hadn't known about Zero Wing back when it was first released. Many of them would have found it just as funny before it became "cool" as they did when it finally made its way onto the pedestal of pop culture icons. These people didn't realize that they had tapped into something which had been fanatically loved by a small cult following for years. They only knew that they had found something good, and when the old-school Zero Wingers became defensive, the new-school Zero Wingers didn't understand what was going on. Some of them never attempted to play the game, but others did, trying to see it from the old-school Zero Wingers' eyes. Yet the old-school Zero Wingers had already formed their stereotype of the new-school Zero Wingers as a bunch of "gamer wannabes" who "did not appreciate" how great Zero Wing was, and the new-school Zero Wingers formed a reactionary stereotype of the old-school Zero Wingers as "prejudiced and inflexible die-hard nutcases."

And yet, all of this violated one of the most important ideals of Zero Wing: Great Justice. There was no justice at all in any of these stereotypes. I believe in not having any more schools of Zero Wing thought. I speak to you as one who is neither a new-school Zero Winger nor an old-school Zero Winger; I first discovered Zero Wing when a friend showed it to me last summer. That puts me in between the two groups: I had not played it in the 80s like the hard-core fans, but I knew about it well before the advent of T-shirts and billboards, before it became "cool" and the new wave of Zero Wingers emerged. As such, I identify with neither of these two groups, and I watch their flame wars with sadness (and fire extinguishers close at hand.) Such an issue should not divide the Zero Wing fan community. We have no chance to survive make our time, unless we stop thinking in terms of "schools," dividing amongst one another and in-fighting like this.

When the sun rises on a unified community of Zero Wingers supporting and helping each other instead of looking for ways to insult and tear each other's ideas to bits, then at last we can work together towards the common goal of getting other people to understand how great Zero Wing can be. Imagine a golden age of Zero Wingers, an age where one could say "All your base are belong to us" to teachers and parents and even grandparents, and be understood and respected. In this glorious age, Zero Wing would be a respectable hobby, even an educational tool which stimulates one's desire to acquire better English skills. This dream is real and it is possible. We have already come a long way through the efforts of many dedicated fans towards establishing recognition within the mainstream; Zero Wing has made its way onto a music video, a FoxTrot cartoon and even an article in Time magazine. But we still have a long way to go, and an important step is abolishing the dissent and in-fighting within the Zero Wing fan community. We must follow the Captain's advice and work together "For Great Justice."