Why has no one attempted to make a Zero Wing sequel?

[Pretas]

Serious question.

I'm imagining it as a low-budget indie affair from a Western developer, with Flash-esque graphics and a deliberately nonsensical and irreverent script. There was a failed Kickstarter for a Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja sequel some time ago, why not Zero Wing? The license is probably easy to get a hold of. Not that I especially want someone to make one - it would almost certainly be a total bore and a disgrace to Toaplan's legacy.

Whether they know the title of the game or not, it's the only Japanese STG besides Space Invaders and Galaga that a large portion of the internet population has ever heard of. The fad even appeared in some mainstream media fluff pieces during its peak.

There could be a decent chunk of change waiting to be made from cashing in on early 2000s nostalgia. Just throw together a mock-dramatic "All Your Base Are Still Belong to Us" trailer that riffs on the famous original cutscene, and watch the funding flow in. The catchphrase from the Euro Megadrive translation is still very widely recognized, nearly fifteen years after it became a global meme sensation.

[Blackbird]

I have often entertained the idea of seriously remaking Zero Wing, because the story could be genuinely dramatic. However, this is probably a terrible idea.

[Pretas]

However, this is probably a terrible idea.

I do not disagree. But it seems like something that some people would have already tried to do by now.

[Jeneki]

The license is probably easy to get a hold of.

Sometimes older IPs get stuck in eternal limbo, not because the license is expensive or the license holder is difficult to work with, but because nobody knows who the actual license holder is anymore. That's the case with a number of old TV shows I like that will likely never get a new release anytime soon.

[Blackbird]

I think a lot of people don't know that the meme is from an actual game. I certainly didn't until I became involved in the shmup community. Maybe that is why there hasn't been a poorly-conceived Western remake?

[Doctor Butler]

Ugh. Memes.

[Ed Oscuro]

Serious question.

I'm imagining it as a low-budget indie affair from a Western developer, with Flash-esque graphics and a deliberately nonsensical and irreverent script.

The burning question, twelve years ago.

[Kollision]

As with all great shmups, Zero Wing deserves a real sequel
who cares about a stupid meme

[Squire Grooktook]

Perhaps because back when the meme was still really relevant (as in, all over the place. Now it's kind of old news like all old memes), the concept of kick starter and indie games and all this hallabaloo hadn't really take hold yet? I mean you never would have seen something like Shaq Fu 2 back than.

As with all great shmups, Zero Wing deserves a real sequel
who cares about a stupid meme

Was it great? I like Toaplan and all, but the few times I tried to play Zero Wing, it just felt uber slow and plodding. Always thought it was a pretty forgettable title from them, am I wrong?

[LordHypnos]

Who does own the rights to Toaplan games these days? anyone here know?

[Pretas]

Who does own the rights to Toaplan games these days? anyone here know?

I believe Taito owns most, if not all of their catalog.

And no, Zero Wing was never more than a mediocre game.

[LordHypnos]

I thought Zero Wing was alright. Not really exceptional for a Toaplan game, but it's decent. It speeds up a little once you actually get the speed up power up, which is unfortunately the last power up. And the pacing is pretty slow, overall, compared to like Fire Shark or something.

[Pretas]

It's been said in an interview that Zero Wing was made by some rookie developers who weren't part of the usual Toaplan staff. Also, the person responsible for the PAL Megadrive translation did end up finding out about the meme it created.

In its overall feel, Dogyuun almost seems like a spiritual sequel to Zero Wing. They both have a similar "tractor beam," although it's used for different purposes.

[GSK]

You could just make a new, non-terrible game and fill it full of wacky engrish if you really wanted to.

As for who owns the rights to the old Toaplan stuff... from what I can gather, the rights to specific home versions still reside with the external devs that made them, but most everything else is assumed to be owned by Taito, even though no-one's been able to ascertain where the rights actually ended up. My info's a few years old now, but I was told that Taito may not legally own any of that stuff but no-one's willing to challenge them on it because it'd be really difficult and expensive to contest, so they just don't touch it.

Speaking of, has anyone owned/tried those Taito Nostalgia plug-and-play dealios that feature arranged Toaplan games?

[BPzeBanshee]

You could just make a new, non-terrible game and fill it full of wacky engrish if you really wanted to.

There was a game in Development a long time ago that had wacky language and a Toaplan vibe, but it didn't get very far - "Dive Bomber Kirika".

[gray117]

Er... The main problem is that the meme was more to do with 'people on the internet' than the game Zero Wing...

Very few people know the game, even those who know the quote. License is likely impossible and until recently there's been zero general interest in licensing video game titles unless a publisher was farming out ports, and shmups - as a niche - have generally been low down that ladder.

All this being said there's probably been more meme followers than ever before who could jump on this if you just made an arena shooter they could score compete with... There's less casual interest in a shmup you 'complete'. From that point of view, a new game is probably slowly becoming more likely than less. The only problem is whether it'll be the game you really want or something more like an intentional flappy bird.

[Captain]

It needs to be called Cypher Wing.

[dunpeal2064]

.

[Kollision]

You can say lots of bad things about Zero Wing, but not that it boasts one of the best shmup OSTs of all time, the MD port at least.

[Pretas]

As for who owns the rights to the old Toaplan stuff... from what I can gather, the rights to specific home versions still reside with the external devs that made them, but most everything else is assumed to be owned by Taito, even though no-one's been able to ascertain where the rights actually ended up.

Zero Wing MD was an in-house Toaplan project. It was the PCE-CD version that was made by Naxat Soft.

[GSK]

As for who owns the rights to the old Toaplan stuff... from what I can gather, the rights to specific home versions still reside with the external devs that made them, but most everything else is assumed to be owned by Taito, even though no-one's been able to ascertain where the rights actually ended up.

Zero Wing MD was an in-house Toaplan project. It was the PCE-CD version that was made by Naxat Soft.

Yeah, I know. I didn't mean to suggest that ZWMD in particular was one of the exceptions.

[Ed Oscuro]

If any Toaplan hori deserves a sequel, it would be Hellfire.

[mehguy]

Zero wing would be so easy to acquire since the company hit the dirt in 94. I think zero wing hasn't gotten a sequel yet because zero wing is somewhat of a niche game to the mainstream gaming community aside from "all your base are belong to us".

[Despatche]

bump but:

-all toaplan games are "slow/plodding" and "mediocre" (a meaningless word but). really, take a closer look, they're all like that before grind stormer.
-there's not really much point in a "zero wing sequel". the thing is that even the toaplan sequels are still fairly different games from the originals; tatsujinou has as much as common in same! same! same! as it does with tatsujin. the idea of a horizontal three-weapon-items toaplan-formula game is alright, but good luck coming up with good weapons. maybe progear and deathsmiles will help a bit there though, somehow.
-oh and as for the part that doesn't really matter i.e. the topic (not even joking here)... as mentioned, noone really knows what zero wing is, or cares. if anything "the sequel to zero wing" you're looking for is one of the countless games with faux-engrish (yes) that are made by someone who supposedly cared about ayb to some extent.

[LordHypnos]

Personally think Same! Same! Same! has decent pacing. It's still overly long, though, maybe. 10 stages is a lot even if they're short. V . V is awesome though, yeah.

[gct]

If any Toaplan hori deserves a sequel, it would be Hellfire.

Before anyone gets a sequel, I think the entire catalogue from the MD era should first get proper ports without messed-up aspect ratios and colours and sound. And OutZone.

Hellfire is a masterpiece but for some reason I actually enjoy playing Zero Wing more.

[Despatche]

i know you're talking about straight ports from arcade, but i feel the need to defend the md ports.

nearly ALL of those ports are GREAT conversions. the developers understood that a good conversion to such hardware required that the game be changed in certain ways, which allowed for a different but similar experience to the original. unrelated, in some cases, the sound is better than the original; same! and hellfire come to mind, and zero wing (the whole port) was an interesting experiment, while many of the others are reasonable conversions.

for "messed-up aspect ratios and colours and sound" in that realm, you want the grind stormer conversion, and maybe the kyukyoku tiger conversion.