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The phrase as it appears in the introduction to Zero Wing

"All your base are belong to us" is an Internet meme based on a poorly translated phrase from the opening cutscene of the Japanese video game Zero Wing. The phrase first appeared on the European release of the 1991 Sega Mega Drive / Genesis port of the 1989 Japanese arcade game.

By the early 2000s, a GIF animation depicting the opening text became widespread on web forums.[1] A music video accompanied by an techno remix of the clip, originally posted on the comedy forum Something Awful, gained popularity and became a derivative Internet meme in its own right. The original meme has been referenced many times in media outside of the forums.

Zero Wing transcript

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For the full English-language transcript, see the quotations related to Zero Wing at Wikiquote

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.

Original script[2] Basic translation from Japanese[3] English version of the game[4][a]
機関士：何者（なにもの）かによって、爆発物（ばくはつぶつ）が仕掛（しか）けられたようです。 Engineer: It appears someone has planted explosives. Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
通信士：メインスクリーンにビジョンが来（き）ます。 Communications Operator: Incoming visual on the main screen. Operator: Main screen turn on.
CATS：連邦政府（れんぽうせいふ）軍（ぐん）のご協力（きょうりょく）により、君達（きみたち）の基地（きち）は、全（すべ）てCATSがいただいた。 CATS: With the help of Federation government forces, CATS has taken all of your bases. CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS：せいぜい残（のこ）り少（すく）ない命（いのち）を、大切（たいせつ）にしたまえ・・・・。 CATS: Treasure what little time you have left to live... CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
艦長：たのむぞ。ZIG！！ Captain: We're counting on you, ZIG!! Captain: Move 'ZIG'.
艦長：我（われ）々（われ）の未来（みらい）に希望（きぼう）を・・・ Captain: May there be hope for our future... Captain: For great justice.

History

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External videos
video icon YouTube video of the opening sequence, featuring the line
video icon Newgrounds post where the music video was posted

Zero Wing was released in Japanese arcades by developer Toaplan on 1 July 1989,[5] and in North America in April 1990.[6] The European release of the game on the Sega Mega Drive, also known as the Sega Genesis, which contained the script of the meme's origin, occurred in July 1991.[7]

Zero Wing is one of the most widely-known examples of poor linguistic translation in video games.[8]: 249–250  Translations were handled internally by the design team, not with a professional translator.[8]: 250  According to game designer Tatsuya Uemara, the English skills of the team member who prepared the translations were "really terrible".[8]: 250 

The first references of the meme could be seen in 1999 and the early 2000s when an animated GIF of the scene appeared on forums and sites like Zany Video Game Quotes,[9] OverClocked,[10] and TribalWar forums.[11] In November 2000, Kansas City computer programmer and part-time disc jockey Jeffrey Ray Roberts (1977–2011), of the gabber band The Laziest Men on Mars, made a techno dance track, "Invasion of the Gabber Robots," which remixed some of the Zero Wing video game music with a voice-over of the phrase, "All your base are belong to us".[12] (The original music for Zero Wing was written by Tatsuya Uemura and arranged by Noriyuki Iwadare.) On 16 February 2001, user Bad_CRC posted an animated music video accompanying the song onto the Flash game and animation sharing site Newgrounds.[13] The video was shared rapidly, soon becoming an Internet meme and receiving widespread media attention.[14][15][16][17][18] The meme's popularity was seen throughout the early 2000s when it was broadcast unauthorized onto the ticker of a Raleigh, North Carolina, TV channel,[19] used as a placeholder message by YouTube while under maintenance,[20] and reproduced onto T-shirts.[18][12]

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 2010s. 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.[21][22]

The 15th and 20th anniversaries of the posting of the remix on Newgrounds were recognized by numerous culture sites.[23][14][24] The meme has been highlighted for its uniqueness in that, unlike other memes of the time, it lacked sexual innuendos or vulgarity.[13][25]

Mentions in media

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"All Your Base Are Belong To Us" graffitied on the side of U.S. Route 50 in Nevada

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.

On 1 April 2003, in Sturgis, Michigan, seven people placed signs through the town that read: "All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time." They claimed to be playing an April Fools' joke, but most people who saw the signs were unfamiliar with the phrase. Many residents were upset that the signs appeared while the US was at war with Iraq, and police chief Eugene Alli said the signs could be "a borderline terrorist threat, depending on what someone interprets it to mean".[26]

In February 2004, North Carolina State University students and members of TheWolfWeb in Raleigh, North Carolina, exploited a web-based service used by local schools and businesses to report weather-related closures to display the phrase within a news ticker on a live news broadcast on News 14 Carolina.[19]

On 1 June 2006, the phrase "All Your Video Are Belong to Us" appeared in all-caps below the YouTube logo as a placeholder while YouTube was under maintenance. Some users believed the site had been hacked, leading YouTube to add the message "No, we haven't be [sic] hacked. Get a sense of humor."[27]

On 19 January 2019, American Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted "All your base (are) belong to us" in response to a poll by "Hill-HarrisX" indicating that 45% of the Republicans who were polled approved of Ocasio-Cortez's suggested implementation of a 70% marginal tax rate for individual income over $10 million per year.[28][29][30]

See also

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Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Original broken English translation as it appeared in the released video game.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dibbell, Julian (18 January 2008). "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World". Wired. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  2. ^ Toaplan (31 May 1991). Zero Wing (Sega Mega Drive) (in Japanese). Taito. Scene: Intro sequence.
  3. ^ Mandelin, Clyde (13 January 2014). "How Zero Wing's 'All Your Base' Translation Compares with the Japanese Script". Legends of Localization. Archived from the original on 6 January 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  4. ^ Toaplan (1992). Zero Wing (Sega Mega Drive). Taito. Scene: Intro scene.
  5. ^ "Zero Wing (Registration Number PA000045123)". United States Copyright Office. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  6. ^ Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). "東亜プラン (Toa Plan); ナムコ（中村製作所）Namco; ゼ; Williams Electronics; Z". アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005) (in Japanese) (1st ed.). Amusement News Agency. pp. 50, 52, 84, 140, 172. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  7. ^ Rand, Paul; Boone, Tim (15 July 1991). "Review: Zero Wing - Megadrive by Toaplan". Computer and Video Games. No. 117 (August 1991). United Kingdom: EMAP. pp. 60–62. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Eyman, Douglas; Eyman, Douglas; Sun, Hongmei (2024). "Translation and Chinese Culture in Video Games". In Guo, Li; Eyman, Douglas; Sun, Hongmei (eds.). Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295752402.
  9. ^ TVsIan (1 January 2001). "Aybabtu: The History". Hubert. Archived from the original on 2 June 2001.
  10. ^ "OverClocked - #116 - The ZeroWing Dub Project". OverClocked. 5 June 2000. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  11. ^ Bad_CRC (16 December 2000). "OT: All your base are belong to us". TribalWar Forums. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  12. ^ a b Taylor, Chris (25 February 2001). "All Your Base Are Belong To Us". Time. Archived from the original on 21 June 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
  13. ^ a b Machkovech, Sam (16 February 2021). "An anniversary for great justice: Remembering 'All Your Base' 20 years later". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  14. ^ a b Walker, Ian (16 February 2021). "The 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us' Video Is Now 20 Years Old". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  15. ^ Benner, Jeffrey (23 February 2001). "When Gamer Humor Attacks". WIRED. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  16. ^ Kornblum, Janet (8 February 2002). "Odd phrase touches all the Web bases". USA Today. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  17. ^ Carroll, Jon (20 February 2001). "All Your Base Are Belong to Us". SFGATE. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  18. ^ a b Johnston, Rich (27 February 2001). "All your base ..." The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  19. ^ a b Poulsen, Kevin (5 March 2004). "Wags hijack TV channel's on-screen ticker". The Register. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  20. ^ Sandoval, Greg (2 June 2006). "YouTube: Our humor, not our hack". CNET. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  21. ^ Kiyoshi, Tane; hally (VORC); Yūsaku, Yamamoto (3 February 2012). "東亜プラン特集 - 元・東亜プラン 開発者インタビュー: 弓削雅稔". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 4. Micro Magazine. pp. 41–48. ISBN 978-4896373844. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  22. ^ Mosley, Brian; Brunner, James (March 2017). "Out Zone with guest Tatsuya Uemura – PA76". Pixelated Audio (Podcast). Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  23. ^ Stephen, Bijan (17 February 2021). "All Your Base Are Belong To Us has turned 20". The Verge. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  24. ^ Hathaway, Jay (16 February 2016). "We Get Signal: 'All Your Base Are Belong to Us' Is 15 Years Old". Intelligencer. New York. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  25. ^ Parish, Jeremy (1 March 2016). "For Great Justice: A Partial Origin Story of Gaming's Original Internet Meme". VG247. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  26. ^ Doyle, Holly (4 April 2003). "Men arrested for 'All Your Base' prank". WWMT Newschannel 3. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  27. ^ Sandoval, Greg (2 June 2006). "YouTube: Our humor, not our hack". CNET. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014.
  28. ^ Cole, Brendan (19 January 2019). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tax Rate Plans Find Favor Among Republicans, She Responds with Retro Meme". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  29. ^ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [@AOC] (18 January 2019). "All your base (are) belong to us 👾" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 February 2023 – via Twitter.
  30. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (19 January 2019). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made perfect use of this 20-year-old video game meme". Mashable. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
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