Zero Wing is a 1989 Japanese shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Toaplan. Like other shoot 'em ups of the time, it featured no real plot, except to distinguish that the player is a lone hero who will save the universe from bad guys. However, it enjoyed a degree of success in the arcade, and was thus ported to the PC Engine and Sega Megadrive in 1991.

The reason for Zero Wing's popularity beyond its release as an arcade game and video game is due to the additions made to the European Megadrive version. To expand on the game's plot, an introductory cut-scene was added to the game. This introductory scene was poorly translated to English for the European release - one section read "All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time!". Correctly translated, it should have read something like "All your bases are now in our possession. Do what you will, you have no chance of surviving!"

In 1999, Zero Wing's Engrish intro was re-discovered by members of overclocked.org, culminating in the wildly successful "All your base are belong to us" memetic phenomenon. This also popularised the introductory and level 1 background music by Tatsuya Uemura.

The console version of Zero Wing was never released in North America, however the arcade version was distributed by Williams Electronics there.

Each of the three main weapons has three power levels. Each time the same weapon is collected, the power level increases. If a different weapon is collected, it starts back on level 1 power, unless level 3 power was already attained previously. There are also two special powerups, one in level 1-1 and one in level 4-3, which increase all weapons to a special, otherwise unattainable level 4. In the intro scenes, the ZIG's windows are green. In the game, the windows change color depending on what weapon the player has.

The mission was named after and headed by Iwakura Tomomi in the role of extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador, assisted by four vice-ambassadors, three of which (Okubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi, and Ito Hirobumi) were also ministers in the Japanese government. The historian Kume Kunitake was the official diarist, keeping a detailed log of all events and impressions. Also included were a number of administrators and scholars, totalling 48 people.

In addition to the mission staff, about 60 students were brought along. Several of them were left behind to complete educations in the foreign countries, including five young women who stayed in U.S.A. to study, among them the then 7-year old Tsuda Umeko who after returning to Japan founded (in 1900) the renowned school now called the Tsuda College.

Kaneko Kentaro was left in the U.S.A. too as a student and later met Theodore Roosevelt in university. They became friends and their relationship resulted later in Roosevelt's mediation at the end of Russo-Japanese war and the Treaty of Portsmouth.

Nakae Chomin, who was a member of the mission staff and the Ministry of Justice, stayed in France to study the French legal system. Later he became a journalist, thinker and translator and introduced French thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau into Japan.

On December 23, 1871 the mission sailed from Yokohama, bound for San Franscisco. From there it continued to Washington, D.C., then to Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, Prussia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. On the return journey, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong, and Shanghai were also visited, although much more briefly. The mission returned home September 13, 1873, almost two years after setting out.