By the early s, a GIF animation depicting the opening text became widespread on web forums. The original meme has been referenced many times in media outside of the forums.
Below are some other examples of text as it appeared in the poorly translated English release, alongside a more accurate translation from the original Japanese. Zero Wing is one of the most widely known examples of poor linguistic translation in video games.
The first references of the meme could be seen in and the early s when an animated GIF of the scene appeared on forums and sites like Zany Video Game Quotes, [ 9 ] OverClocked, [ 10 ] and TribalWar forums.
The meme was addressed by Toaplan representatives Tatsuya Uemura programmer and music composer of Zero Wing and Toaplan founding member and Masahiro Yuge fellow Toaplan composer and founder in interviews during the s. Uemura stated that the poor English translation in the Mega Drive version was handled by a member of Toaplan in charge of export and overseas business.
The 15th and 20th anniversaries of the posting of the remix on Newgrounds were recognized by numerous culture sites. The phrase or some variation of lines from the game has appeared numerous times in films, commercials, news broadcasts, other games, and social media posts.
